Christmas in December

So the package finally arrived on Tuesday afternoon in this tiny yellow truck.  I could not believe that two grown men fit in to the cab of the vehicle.

This event taught us that the term "COD" means pay with a certified bank draft only in India.  Eventually, with the entire street supervising, we got the issue sorted out and were able to have the boxes (there were 2) unloaded off of the truck.

This is the first Christmas morning part.  Simon was a little miffed that he had so much help unpacking the boxes.

This is the second Christmas morning part- empty boxes.

The next part of the story will be told by the head barista at Simon Cafe.

IT HAS ARRIVED!

Our coffee machine, coffee bean grinder and blender have arrived!  It was an exciting event on the street.

I will leave the details for tomorrow's post as I do not have permission from my head barista to publish on the topic.  In the mean time- here is a stock photo of the coffee machine.

deck the halls

Christmas has arrived!  All of the local "Fancy" shops (stationary-ish stores) and grocery stores have pop-up shops selling neon paper Christmas decorations.

The good people who mounted this display do not use a plastic clip on every second light like they do in Peterborough

Simon has gotten in to the spirit of things and has decorated the cafe. 

 I think we will add more in the next few days.

He seems happy reading in this winter wonderland.

Just a note for those of you asking if we have air con in the cafe-  as you can see, we don't even have walls.

dog days

When we moved in to our house it was immediately obvious that there were 3 little cream coloured dogs living in the yard.  They bolted at the site of humans and although we would see them on the street regularly, they no longer entered our yard.

Life is hard for street dogs and now there are only 2 (and one of the remaining dogs has a serious leg injury).

About a month ago they began meeting us on our way home from work, throwing themselves in front of us and wriggling on the ground- obviously an instinctive maneuver to make themselves more attractive to us.  Unfortunately, it worked on me-I am now feeding them nightly much to Simon's dismay.

They are now living in our yard all of the time despite the fact that they can crawl out under the gate. They would prefer to live in the house and try to sneak through the door every time it opened- much to Simon's dismay.  They are too dirty to make this an option even if Simon was not refusing to acknowledge their existence.

I have named them Chico and La la, because that is what Simon calls every dog here anyway. La las's leg has improved dramatically and they seem healthier now than before. I hope to have then placed in a local puppy shelter before they become too old to be cute.

This is a picture of La la (the one with the injured leg.  She likes to lay on my feet to prevent me from walking away.

While I was taking the picture of La la, Chico grabbed my camera bag and headed in to the yard.

I took quite a number of photos, but they are all fuzzy shots of fur and teeth.  I will try to get them to behave for better photos.

road trip

I have been looking after a friend's dogs while she is home in France for the Christmas season (she is married to one of the relatives as I am sure you suspected).  She had the dogs fixed in early November and they have had many related medical issues since.  How do you get a dog to the vet?

First, you talk the boy who works for the family hotel to help you.

Then you find a Tuk-tuk driver who is willing to stop (when I only had one dog to take a Tuk-tuk was enough).  This part is a little difficult.

 It is not so difficult getting the dog to settle in for the ride.  She even fell asleep on the way home.

My next vet trip (with my neighbour this time) was with two dogs and required a larger vehicle.  It is quite an impressive little thing and made almost as much of a splash at the vet as we did.  The women with the truck full of chickens in cages and the man with the goat thought the fact that we were bringing two dogs on leashes to an animal doctor was HILARIOUS!

Luckily there were no animals using the horse and cow stalls, so we were allowed to tie them up right away and the crowd lost interest.  Apparently dogs tied to posts are not so fascinating.

getting around

Simon and I have so far refused to buy a scooter to get around and rely on tuk tuks (autorickshaws) despite the horrific expense ($2.10 for a round trip to town).  Below is a photo of a line of tuk-tuks on the helipad waiting for tourists.

There is a disco Tuk-tuk that drives on to the helipad regularly at night- or maybe I just notice it at night.  It is festooned with flashing LED lights and plays loud Bollywood tracks.  It is really something special.

This is a typical Tuk-tuk with garlands of flowers.  Since being in Kerala I have had to abandon my long held resolution to never ride in vehicles operated by drivers who believe in reincarnation.

The most expensive taxis are Ambasadors.  They are large, impressive cars in a variety of colours (black and white). We have never been inside one, but intend to one day spend the money to find out just how fancy they are.

A final word:  One morning on our way to Varkala for breakfast we had a guy in a large car stop and announce he was a taxi.  Simon and I had been waiting by the side of the road for some time for a Tuk-tuk, but we were hesitant to accept the offer at first.  It seemed improbable that his car was a taxi as it was neither white nor black and it certainly was not an  Ambassador.    The ride to town was relatively uneventful despite my initial reservations and eventual observation that the driver was not very sober. 

Epilogue

Just a few words to update readers on some of our more popular topics from the last two months:

One of the plants curled up and died (the others are healthy and flowering).  I think it may have been the victim of ant eggs, but I am not certain.  The tropical plant that sits next to it is thriving, so it remains a botanical mystery.

In mid November the cats were promoted from window duty to more permanent positions in the paper mache section of the shop.  This move has done nothing to make them more attractive.

The girl was taken from the front window display in late October and was later seen in the ally after being thrown out of the side window by one of the cousins.  She has since been rescued by the shopkeeper next door and is being stored with all of the other "good junk" that he keeps behind the curtain along the side of his shop.  I expect to see her on display again soon.