beasties

Simon has named every milk cow on the cliff Daisy, all of the stray dogs Chico and every gecko Gary.

How can you tell when there is a lizard in your fridge?  It freezes when you open the door and waits for you to close it again.

I have begged for chickens and a goat.  Simon thinks that they will attract snakes.  Loads of people keep farm animals and we have a family of mongoose (what is the plural?) in our yard to protect us, but Simon is firm on this point.  The black cat is hardly a replacement and the mongoose family are a little creepy and always on the run.

The shop beside us has had a litter of kittens hatched behind one of their displays.

I will post photos tomorrow.

the eye of the beholder

Everyone agrees that this is our most attractive carpet.

  

The "girl" is a flat plastic doll that Adil includes in every one of his window displays along with two little cats in baskets (see one pictured below).  Both of these treasures creep Simon out.

update

Well, I have really lost the camera cord and cannot upload the photos I have, so I will just give a few basic highlights:
Simon has ordered the coffee and blender from a company in Italy and we are starting to get the counters etc. sorted for the cafe.  Simon and I are now on a first name basis with the good men at "Indian Hardwares"
The computer desks will be finished today as will the jewelry counter.
The computers will be delivered tomorrow.
The computer chairs should be in in a few days- they had to be ordered.

We have had rain almost every day as it is still the tail end of the monsoon season.  We have been assured that it will get hot soon.  I almost burst into flame last night during the nightly power outage when the ceiling fan was not on.  I can't wait for the really warm weather (?).

I will post tomorrow with pictures-I promise.

fictional family festivities

Simon viewed the Family Glamping photos with his cousin Adil.  This led to a variety of questions, such as:

” Is it common for first cousins to marry?  

Are campground weddings traditional?” 

And (my personal favourite) “Which of these people are boys and which are girls?”

True to form whenever asked about a topic which either seems too difficult, or personal to explain-Simon made up an elaborate story about Canadian wedding rituals.  It always reminds me of the time I had to explain to our neighbour on Cynthia street that his sister was not in fact eaten by red ants in the African desert.  A story told because he was tired of explaining that he didn't in fact have a sister.

 I really wish he wouldn't.

Internet at last

We are posting today on our own Internet connection-YEAH!  The cafe Internet was hooked up yesterday. It is a little slow, so we will call tomorrow to see if we can upgrade (everything is closed today because it is Sunday- damn Christians).  Apparently our desks will be delivered on the 25th and the computers on the 26th.  Now we just need coffee for the cafe.  Simon and I have been researching our brains out and I fell that we may have this little oversight solved quickly.

No photos again as I have misplaced our camera cord.  You will just have to believe that we are here in an empty cafe.
Later,
M & S

God knows better

We got drinking water and cooking gas at home last night and have found someone to cut down the coconuts in our yard so that they do not fall and hit us on the head and kill us.  Simon and I are afraid of yard work because of the potential for snakes.  The Kashmiris think it is unlikely that there would be snakes in our yard despite the fact that one has been seen recently "walking" on the road.  They cannot give a reason why they think our fears are unfounded.  When pressed they can only explain that "God knows better".

The photo is of the offending tree, but it is difficult to see the killer coconuts in this light.  You really will have to take my word for it.

Killer kittens

So, Simon and I arrived at our new house to stay for the first time at night.  Although we the nightly blackout held off until we arrived (Thank God) it made setteling in difficult.  Simon begged until I gave in and took him to the hotel next door.  It had only Indian clients at the time, so the generator was not working and the place was in complete darkness except for my LED lantern.

We selected a "delux" room for about 26.00 Canadian- an outrageous expense that we must now keep secret from the family.  The room is fine and very clean.  There is a contraption over the toilet upon which they have hung a "disinfected for your safety"  sign. The purpose of the contraption seems to be to keep people from using the toilet, so that it does not get dirty.

It goes without saying that there was a cockroach living in the kitchen and one in the bathroom hiding behind the garbage can and Simon refused to pee.  I figure the word delux must mean that the nice man at the desk will take care of the problem, so I called him in.  Needless to say, he does not kill the suckers-he knocks them on their backs and carries them outside.

Simon and I stood in the court yard as the hotel man is working on this special version of Pet Rescue.  In our defense we were a little creeped out by cockroaches and the dark jungle garden.  All of a sudden Simon screamed, I saw a flash and shrieked and the hotel man came running to our rescue.  Simon and I had enough time to figure out what had happened, but not enough to collect our senses and we ended up admitting to the man that we thought we were being attacked by the hotel kittens-Two little tiny cream coloured kittens that we had obviously disturbed from their corner of the garden.

  

He just looked at us and said- 

"THIS

IS

INDIA!"

Simon said that this was the single most mortifying moment of his life....and now we see the same hotel man every morning on the way to work.

Tomorrow I will post pictures of the hotel with the killer kittens.

The Day After

It turns out the carpenter and the painter and landlord did show up. Still no cleaning lady, so I spent the day scrubbing.

The carpenter will not start our display case until next week because he is so sick.  I think it is me that makes him sick as he seems to have a lively step as he visits his other jobs on the street.

The painters are painting one of the rooms at the guest house today with oil based paint.  It is a small 10 X 10 room, but one painter has to hold the paint brush, one has to stand up against him in the hot windowless room to give him moral support and the boss must lay on the bed and sleep (likely due to fume inhalation).  They are charging $12.00 Canadian for the job, which may, or may not be too much I am not sure.  Regardless, they will start painting at our house tomorrow if God is willing.

The landlord turned on our water and the tank was full this morning when I dropped off our luggage.  He kindly left us a rope and pail so that we could hire labour to pull water out of the well as a temporary solution.  I have finally managed to purchase and pre-wash cotton fabric for sheets.  (Although I could buy pre-made sheets if I was willing to take a trip to Delhi)., so Simon and I will sleep there tonight finally.

Sorry, not pictures again today.  I will just leave you this one piece of wisdom: sometimes people on the street are yelling at you because there is a guy in the tree above your head hacking coconuts with a machete.

Tomorrow, always tomorrow

I can't manage to send photos tonight....too tired.  Went to town to get cell phones activated (We will send numbers soon) and purchase things for the house.  Discovered that our house seems to be the property of a small white street dog and a little black cat, but they seem friendly enough.

Also discovered that there is no running water.  Spent many hours at the house waiting for the human landlord to arrive.  Maybe tomorrow he says- In fact the cleaning lady the Internet guy the carpenter and the painter also missed today's appointments and intend to show up tomorrow.  Can't wait to see how it all turns out?  I promise I will be here to post tomorrow.

Simon's Plea

Family and friends, we are in dire need for your help. our house is able to fit up to four more people! we need company and you all need vacations, come visit us soon

If God is willing

We are collecting towels and the like for the house and hope to move in tomorrow (Tuesday). Simon is learning that things move at a different pace here- not as quickly as he would like.  He is learning how to sell Kashmir shawls, cook and walk slowly.

Below we have posted two pictures from an early morning walk on the beach.  I am in the second picture in case anyone thinks that the pictures are stolen from the Internet.

Simon is also learning how to deal with the bugs (mammoth spiders) - better than I am anyway.  He inadvertently stepped on two cockroaches yesterday after vowing not to.  We are told that an increase in cockroach and ant populations is propitious, so maybe this is a sign.

The pictures of the trees is the view from the door of the shop and the last photo is of the front of the shop (I am not sure who is pictured in the reflection in the glass).  We are told that this is the nicest sign on the street and every one is jealous because it lights up.

Will post again tomorrow

Proof

Simon finally woke up and he is helping me post photos for the curious monkeys left behind.

Finally there is proof of our arrival.  Above is a photo of the rocks at the base of the cliff outside our guestrooms.  The second photo is Simon having breakfast with his cousin Audol on the first day.

We will post more photos in the profile section of the blog.

40 winks

So far we are staying in the guest rooms on the edge of the cliff. I thought that  this would be easier until I was sure we had everything we needed in the house.  Simon is eager to set up house as there is rumour of a tv there.

Simon has been sleeping since breakfast and I have been reading waiting for him to wake.  Just as well, we were to go to see our house today, but there have been some delays in town getting the paperwork for the business renewed.

Simon is concerned about bugs and food so far.  There is a cockroach living in our bathroom at night. I left him hiding on the shelf behind the toothpaste last night.  As long as I can deny he is there I am not forced to deal with him. With the way he was wiggling I would say he has come to a similar conclusion about me.

I have many pictures to post, but there isn't a usb key on this computer for me to plug in to.  I will post them as soon as possible.

we have arrived

Because of plane delays, tight connections, a lack of wifi and the need for sleep, we have been tardy in this post.  Rest assured we are here and in need of rest.  Our time from first take-off to final landing was 24 hours.  We have had a long few days when you add in transportation to and from airport and the hairy waiting time in Pearson (we will tell you later)

I should add that we are in the dark currently as the power has gone out.  Welcome to India!

count-down

25 Hours to take-off.  

Today Grace helped me sell my car and rent a one to drive to the airport.  

We are almost ready to go!

My first selfie 
(the photo was taken with the camera Simon got from the Dempsy-Davies family for his birthday)

The deal

Simon and I are going to India and you can follow our adventure.  We will both be posting our progress.

This blog will include many photos of us along the way.  I obviously can't be in the pictures because I will be taking them.  Julia Roberts was busy, so my part will be played by a sock monkey I made for the job.

We hope you enjoy our blog!