Latest long overdue Update

Max passes his driving test 

Max has learnt to drive here in India and has now passed his test. Yay! 

The experience has been hair raising to say the least. The instructors speak English (in a fashion) and turn up, eventually, to do the lesson. Andrew had to have several shouting sessions with the driving company. Once, he and Max had to wait over 2 hours for a guy to turn up who didn’t seem to understand that 9 am means 9 am and not 11 am! Another day, nobody turned up, hence Andrew got his Mr. Shouty head on.

Unfortunately, this seemed to be the normal pattern of behaviour, be paid for a service but make everyone wait and not fulfil what you said you would deliver. Everything seems to be a struggle to get someone to do something on time without coercion or shouting, it gets quite tiresome, to be honest.

Max got on well with his lessons and the instructors were impressed because they said that Max was good at listening and following instructions. Apparently, most driving students seem to struggle with this skill.

One lesson he had was nail biting. Although, I am pleased that I found out later and not at the time. Arjun went with him because the guy didn’t speak English. Therefore, Max spent the whole of the lesson with Arjun sat close behind, head between the two front seats, translating as fast as he could to give Max the instructions.

Now, on the motorway in India, I spend most of the time trying to airbrake in the back seat and I close my eyes when we get close to other cars. Here, the driving rules are non - existent and driving safely is not considered an option. Basically, cars and lorries just compete against each other, overtaking, undertaking, lane switching, driving into the smallest spaces and, worst of all, not leaving a gap between the car in front and then darting out to overtake, like Disney’s Lightning McQueen, driving almost to each other’s bumpers.

Max was learning to drive on the motorway like this. He is good at driving and enjoys it. If he can drive here, he can drive anywhere.

Taking the driving test was another experience. Andrew and Arjun went too. Max’s first problem was that he was wearing shorts and he got shouted at because he needed long trousers. Nowhere did it say this, but as India is not that good at informing anyone about what to do, again, there was no surprise. Reluctantly, they went off to find a shop to buy trousers.

On his return, Max had to stand in line, in the baking sun, waiting for his turn to take his test in one of the designated cars. While waiting, Andrew, Max and Arjun watched as people tried to drive in a figure of 8, reverse around some cones and do the 15- minute test that is not taken in any traffic but on a dusty field.

Some people managed to knock over the cones and still passed their test! Some people seemed to line up twice to take the test....

In the car there was a man in the backseat, giving instructions. Max said it all went ok and it was soon over and he came home to await his call to see if he had a passed. Arjun had to stay so that he could translate.

Max passed his test. Yay! It was a relief. We were all so pleased, no more lessons!

But, actually getting a physical licence has been a nightmare because the place where they produce the licences ran out of chips. It has taken several months to get the license. Now, he has to have it converted to an international driving license so we haven’t finished yet.

Even though Max has passed his test, he is so disappointed that we won’t let him drive here. (We are going to Sicily soon so he can drive there). Our reluctance to let him drive is due to the fact of all the near misses that we see and the actual accidents. In fact, one day when I was going to fetch him from a lesson, as Arjun overtook a huge lorry and proceeded into the fast lane, there was a tuk- tuk coming slowly towards us in the wrong direction! Arjun managed to dive back behind the lorry. These types of idiocy and the fact that cows and people saunter across the motorway, is not for the feint hearted nor newly qualified drivers. Max has accepted our decision but I do feel for him as both Andrew and I had learnt to drive at 17 and Max couldn’t do it until he was 18.

But his time will come.

University for Max

 

We are extremely proud because Max applied to universities in The Netherlands and the UK.
In October, he went on his own to visit The Netherlands and the UK to look at the universities that he thought he would like to apply to. I offered to go with him but he wanted to be independent. He stopped with some of his friends from Bangalore who are now at university there. He looked at Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Groningen. He fell in love with Rotterdam and actually stopped there for 10 days. He visited Chester university and applied to Lancaster, Nottingham, Manchester and Bath. He enjoyed his time in Chester, stopping with Julie and Mal. Grandma and Grandad came across to see him, bringing food treats. Max managed to put on weight with all the extra eating. But it is Rotterdam that he has selected and he will be starting there next year, in September. He will be studying History, International Relations, and Economics.

We are so pleased.

Milo

I don’t what has happened to Milo, but he has blossomed. His grades are amazing and we don’t know quite how he manages to write so fluently, as most of the time he just grunts at us like Kevin the teenager. I sat with him, to check that he was not copying from the internet, and couldn’t believe that he can beat me hands down with his vocabulary and sentence structure.

We are so proud of him.

He auditioned for the school performance, that will be on in February, and he has a major part, singing and dancing in it. He is thoroughly enjoying school and is so enthusiastic about going. Milo is continually dazzling people with his musical talent and he has now written a song ....

Update

The play was spectacular and Milo enjoyed the performance. We all went to see the performance- twice.  Milo was enthralled at being a "star"!

Family golf

As we live on the golf course, we are allowed to walk around the course in the mornings and in the evenings. It is breathe taking every time.

When the course is not so busy on a Sunday afternoon, then they have a family golf activity. This means we can play on a few holes, have a drive in a golf buggy and then have dinner at one of the restaurants with the other families. Very enjoyable.

Not so enjoyable

Is the fact that some wild dogs got onto the golf course and have savaged and killed a cat. Andrew and I were walking one morning, with Andy, when we came across about 9 dogs all howling and barking. We decided the best idea was to beat a hasty retreat, Andy is not the most ferocious dog and would not be any good at defending himself. After complaining to the golf course people, we were told that a fence had come down and that the maintenance department were trying to sort it out. We now have metal batons, an umbrella, a spare lead to swing dangerously, and snacks when we walk, although it does look like they have solved the problem- for now.

Snakes

At the moment, I feel like I am in the Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom film, the part where he is surrounded by snakes. We have had more snakes in the first few months here than we ever had at the other house.
From sunbathing on the patio step, climbing up the patio windows, hiding under the step (just right next to my feet as I opened the nets in the dark. New rule- always have all the outside lights on at night) to swimming in the swimming pools, wrapping themselves around tree trunks, climbing through the fence posts or being caught in the mouth by the neighbour’s dog, the snakes are silent and everywhere. (The neighbour’s golden retriever was fine after a dash to the vets for some anti -venom)

One evening, as dusk was falling, we were out walking and were surprised by a snake that popped out from the low bushes, making us jump. Andrew quickly pulled Andy out of the way. Just as this snake had slid out, Milo was on his bike on the opposite path and yet another snake shot out in front of him.

He sprinted straight home to recover, phoning us so we knew where he was. He was so spooked he wouldn’t bike to find us.
We now make sure we have torches trained just in front of us as we walk when it is getting dark. 

Andy and his friend Solo who enjoyed a stay with us whilst his human parents were on holiday!.

Added to this, we have seen and heard the local monkeys becoming more confident, climbing the fences and the trees, sitting on the perimeter walls, watching us with interest. They are particularly loud at about 3 in the morning! Their latest escapade includes jumping down into our garden. One tried to outstare me as he landed about 2 feet away. I waved a cushion from the outside sofa as I had nothing else to hand. The monkey looked at me like he was about to roll his eyes in disgust at the thought that I thought I was in charge. He just sauntered off to the fence and jumped back up.

Again, we are now armed and ready for any adventures with them too.

Strange power and water

There seems to be a power surge when the power goes off and comes back on again. This has happened several times. It is more unnerving in the middle of the night because every single light in the house comes on. It is quite startling to wake up to such bright lights, it is how I imagine being in prison!

It then means we have to go around switching them all off again.

  

But on the whole, the power is far more stable here than in our last home. We were having multiple daily power cuts there for long periods of time. Here, it comes straight back on again. It means I can actually cook without worrying that everything is going to go off.

We still have one strange electrical phenomenon that the electricians can’t explain, though. If the lights on the outside wall fail, and the electricians switch the power on and off again, then the downstairs bedroom lights come on. They are not connected, there is no fathomable reason why this should happen, it is a complete mystery!

Other good news is that we have a constant water supply and we can have proper showers!

Deliveries

Deliveries here are a bit hit and miss. The community is quite a way out of the city. Some companies can be bothered to come, some can’t. But it is not that difficult to find as this golf course has been voted the number one course in India, and it is beautiful.

There was a new company advertising British sausages and cheese. We went into overdrive with excitement. The products would be delivered still frozen – apparently.

We ordered a few things and paid online. But this is how it went:

Day 1- The company contacted me to say they did not know where we lived- It is on the map, you know!
Day 2 : They said, we sent a van but they couldn’t find the community.- Ok... think that’s a fib!

Day 3 : They said, the people we were using to deliver said that they can’t deliver.- Mmm..ok.

Meanwhile, we had had no end of deliveries: bread, groceries, Amazon ,quiches, pizza etc.

Day 4 : They said, we think we can deliver today but we are not sure. So, I said, please don’t bother just refund the money, I can’t be bothered with all of this – Get yourselves sorted out.

The money was refunded. Phew!

Then, every day I got a message saying that they would deliver. I tried blocking them, I tried all sorts of computer and phone tricks but they still got through.

THREE WEEKS LATER; the delivery guy turned up on the doorstep. I couldn’t stop laughing when I opened the box!
The frozen products were running at 26 degrees centigrade.

The cheese had disintegrated into mush - it was supposed to be cheddar. I think that box had been going around in circles for the whole three weeks.

The sausages were cooking happily on their own in the warmth of the “cooler “ box.

I tightly bound all of the things into several bags so that nothing could be taken out. I did not the local dogs to be poisoned!

The company contacted me to see if I was pleased with the products and would I recommend them.

Er..no!
I told them to never, ever, contact me or send anything again.

I managed to dine out on this story when I met with the local ladies at the coffee morning so that they would not get sucked into the same promise from this company, which obviously had latched onto the idea that ex- pats are desperate for European food and that they could make some money. Their downfall was their inability to organise themselves efficiently.

At the time I was speaking to the ladies, I was waiting for a delivery from IKEA. Initially, 4 pillow cases would be delivered and the rest of the bed linen, that I had ordered, would follow in a few days. I had pressed the “ leave on the doorstep” button on the online order.

However, I got a phone call asking if I was at home; it was the delivery driver. I said that our helper was at the house and he could leave the goods on the doorstep like I had selected. He asked for my address (?). I said it should be on the box like it always is!

This guy seemed to find it difficult to follow any instructions or listen to what I was actually saying, just like the driving students that I mentioned above.

Now, I know we live in India but English is wildly spoken and understood and this guy was easy to understand. Sometimes, when people ring, I have absolutely no idea what -so- ever what they are saying as they speak quickly and, I think, they are reading from a crib sheet that they don’t understand or that they don’t know when to pause. Indian languages have no capital letters and do not have all the punctuation that the English language has so it is difficult for some Indian people to read in English in a fluent, understandable way.

But this guy was clear. He rang me again, it was definitely the same guy, the same number. Mam are you at the house?
No, but my helper is at the house....etc etc etc.

He rang another 4 times but all the time he was nowhere near our community, as he told me he was on the motorway.

Each time, I patiently, and quietly, repeated that he should leave the box on the doorstep.

On 7th call, and these calls were within a short time, I told him quite loudly that he was delivering pillow cases and not gold and to get on with it!

As I said this, the ladies in the room all seemed to have a lull in their conversation so they all heard me.

“Oh, that’s a good line,” someone piped up.

The guy didn’t ring again and when I got back to the house, the 4 pillow cases were there in their box- which had the address on it and a “leave on the doorstep “ instruction.

This happened with the next delivery guy that came. I had to threaten to call security as he kept asking aggressively for money and wouldn’t leave. I rang the lady that supplied the present that I had ordered, and she had paid the delivery charges. I gave the phone to him so he could hear her and she was telling him off (in Kannada). He went away, muttering, but then rang me to say I had to pay him. I told him that I would call security.

I was not in the least bit polite! He did not come back.

The weather

All of our friends from Bangalore are excited because this is the first time in many years that the temperature has dropped to a level where we have had to put on our jumpers and tracksuits. It even dropped to about 16 degrees one night. Apparently, years ago it was always cool in the winter but in recent years, it has been warm enough to manage without the extra jumpers. I know it is not quite British weather but it has been a while since we have actually shivered (apart from when we are in Sicily in Winter) We realise just how used we are to a stable climate that doesn’t get truly cold.

I have even put a blanket on each of our beds.

 

 

 Christmas to May 2025

Christmas

We escaped the madness to go to Sicily at Christmas and we had a wonderful time, eating nutritious food and doing things that we can't do in India, like drive on our own, walk along the beach etc.

It even snowed and the boys were straight outside, sliding down the drive on plastic bags. They went snowboarding on Etna where the ski schools are. Meanwhile, Andy was stopping with Michael and Ken and our other friends and wallowing in sunshine.

Christmas Day was spent at beautiful vineyard called Murgo. We got to taste lots of wine. Milo said he felt wobbly when we had to leave. 

The weather change to sunny days and cold nights. We were able to layer up when it was cool and then go to T-shirts as we walked or worked in the garden.

We had three relaxing weekends then it was time to go back to India.

Back to India

We had 3 flights on the way and 3 flights on the way back, taking about 21- 24 hours in total

(Catania- Rome, Rome - Dubai, Dubai - Bangalore)

The flight from Rome to Dubai takes about 6 hours and the food is very good. We even get a snack of ice cream about an hour before we land, which is very exciting. The flight is calm, quiet and enjoyable.

But then, we get on the flight from Dubai and our stress levels always start to rise.

This is mainly because in economy class towards the back of the plane, where we tend to sit, people seem to have little or no experience of flying. That is fine as we all had to have a first flight but this is different. There are people wandering loose like lost souls, people arguing and, worst of all, over- entitled people demanding unimaginable things.

It is very entertaining, but I do feel sorry for the cabin crew. People try to just sit where they want, not understanding that there is a seat number on their ticket. The cabin crew will politely guide them to the correct seat, only for the newbies to spy another seat that they would prefer and to rush to that one, a bit like musical chairs. There is no understanding that not everyone has got on board and that those seats will have a corresponding person. The cabin crew have to play a game of spot the one who has moved and move them back.

 We watched in amusement as 3 ladies attempted several different rows of seats until one of the cabin crew had to be really firm and told them to sit where they were told and not to move. They all had seats in different rows in the end. As the plane is always full ( this is 3:20 in the morning) there is no swapping seats, there isn't time.

As the plane takes off then the next level of stress is engaged. Most of the journey is over the sea and it is so bumpy. There are lots of films to choose from and different types of entertainment so that helps with the  wobbles. 

Then, the food arrives! After having had Italian food for 3 weeks, the smell of Indian food can seem quite overpowering. 

Well, for me anyway! The boys can manage to eat a curried breakfast at 4 in the morning but I definitely can't.  I did consider a glass of wine to help me with the bumpiness and to block out the dreadful smell, though.

After 3 and a half hours, the plane lands in Bangalore. This is when the Cole family start to bet with other. As we have just spent the journey with the other passengers, we think we have a good idea of what will happen. We put forward a number of how many people will undo their seat belts as the wheels of the plane touch the ground and is still braking and hurtling down the runway. It happens every time.

Some people think they are on a bus and that they can just stand up to get their bags. The cabin crew will yell very loudly " Sit down , sit down" as we are rapidly counting how many people have stood up in our part of the plane. Think it was 8 this time, so not too bad. 

The final part of our increasing stress level saga is the Immigration Desk. The new terminal is peaceful and calm. Luckily, there are toilets in the hall, so if we are delayed for a long time, as we plead to be let back in, then we have some respite.

Immigration is always fun. We have to present our passports, visas, boarding pass/ticket and we have to fill in a registration card as we are " foreigners". We have to go in the "foreigner " lane. 

Usually, there will be about 6 people in that queue, with us being 4 of that number. But the whole plane of 400 people can be through and with their baggage before even on of us has been buzzed through the electric gate. I really think that India does not want any " foreigners" in their midst.

The questions are weird and at least one of us will be accused of having the wrong visa. You can't argue or raise your voice as you can be arrested, or even deported, which actually happened to one of our friends. 

When you have been travelling through the night, this is the point when you have to have a fixed smile and the patience of a saint, when really all you want to do is to be extremely sarcastic and use the most colourful swear words. Thoughts cost nothing and no one knows what you are thinking, although if I look at Andrew, I can read his mind easily.

January/ February Max gets an internship. Derek and Christine arrive.

The week after we got back, Max started an internship on the other side of the city, working for a big pharmaceutical company. Initially, the travelling was ok but over 3 to 4 hours travelling a day was too much so he stopped closer to where he was working. He had developed an infected toe again ( his other foot) and he started to limp.

Max went to one of the hospitals close by and the doctor said to keep an eye on it.

During January and February some time was spent attending various business functions, with both UK and Indian ministers involved. Several British company business leaders were involved with specific trade missions to India and were part of the round table events. We even managed to get invited to a few parties which is one of the welcome aspects of an expat life, generally being away from the regular family and friend gathering for birthdays anniversaries etc. 

In the beginning of February, Derek and Christine came as they were celebrating their 60th Wedding anniversary. We went to the local JW Marriott hotel where they laid on a private room filled with balloons and banners. It was beautiful. We had wonderful food that was a mixture of Thai, Japanese, Chinese. The food was very fragrant and tasteful. 

We also took them along to the Ed Sheeran concert in Bangalore and enjoyed the event, even bumping into Bangalore 3 times Grammy winner Ricky Kej, for a quick chat and photo. 

Another important and moving part of the trip was to take them to see the local orphanage and care centre that we try to support. Some very kind charitable donations have come from the UK and it was a good opportunity to meet the team and see how things are progressing. 

That's it for now folks, sorry for the technical delays that have prevented the normal posts...

More updates soon, keep checking!

September 2024 -We have moved – again!

 We now have power and water all day long, a proper kitchen and modern bathrooms that don’t run out of hot water, it is so exciting! Our new home is in a newer community that is set in the middle of a golf course. It is absolutely beautiful, peaceful and clean.

 The reason for the move culminated after various stressful factors started to spiral, which included constant interrupted power supplies, water being cut off and endless noise and dust, but the main reason was the traffic congestion and the travelling times for Milo and Andrew.

Milo had moved schools and was extremely happy and doing very well, his marks having increased substantially due to the new school and its suitability for him. Initially, his journey was 1 hour in the morning and 1- 1 ½ hours in the evening, still quite a trek. This was fine but the evening journey time started to creep up to 2 – 2 ½ hours, sometimes it was 3 hours! Then, one day, he didn’t get home until 7pm when he had finished school at 3 pm. It was getting ridiculous. He was so tired.

Meanwhile, Andrew’s journey was getting longer and bumpier as the roads were being ripped up and rebuilt to widen the main road. He was beginning to find it stressful too.

Therefore, we started to think about moving closer to Milo’s school and Andrew’s work once Max had finished school. He was doing his final exams and we didn’t want to move in the middle as that would make his journey longer.

 At the same time, all the landlords around us were putting up the rent to extortionate amounts without modernising the houses, so more money to pay out but still the same unsolved problems which were actually becoming worse.

It was time for action, so I set about targeting communities in more suitable areas.

The estate agents were a nightmare. They wanted to know what the potential rent level would be. This is because they put up their fee to suit themselves, not the value of the house. It was quite amusing as I looked at various houses, some of them were so expensive and definitely not worth even half the money. They were old, grubby and not what we would live in. I enjoyed telling the estate agents what I truly thought, especially as they thought they had won me over. Their cries of this is India or“mam, you don’t know”, fell on deaf ears when I explained that I had lived here for 7 years and to cut all their rubbish and just show me houses that I wanted to look at and not the ones they wanted me to. They didn’t like that.

Anyway, I found that if you deal directly with the owner then the price is not so eye- watering so I started trying to find out houses to rent in this way. 

I was getting nowhere because some houses were just as old and run down as the house we were in ( although I would just like to say, our landlord had asked us several times if we were going away for a couple of months so he could renovate but Andrew doesn’t have that level of holiday time for us to do that, so some parts of our house were not in such a good condition) 

I found one community that was quiet but again the houses were older – and expensive…

Then, one day, while I was looking at another community close by, I went to a friend’s house for lunch  This house was quite a way away from the main city area. We had been there for a party once, but it was an evening party and it had been dark outside. 

I was absolutely star struck at the position of the house, now I could see it in daylight. The house was modern and overlooked a golf course. There were no renovations or rebuilding work nearby which meant no dust and no noise. In Palm Meadows, I had to sit with my earphones in all the time to drown out the drilling and loud noise while inhaling vast amounts of red dust. This didn’t affect the boys as they were out all day but they had to battle with the traffic instead.

This community just had the clink of golf clubs hitting the golf balls and lots of birdsong and insect noise (and not pesky mosquitoes)

Our friend told me she was moving back to Europe and so were some neighbours.

On the way back, I was in full blown plotting mode. I googled everybody’s journey times from this house and to various other places. Milo’s journey would be down to 40 minutes and Andrew’s down to 50. The airport is 25 minutes away instead of 1 hour- 20 minutes or more. This would make life much easier. Above all, Andy (the dog, not the husband) would be able to go on long walks on his extended lead instead of going around in circles, up and down the repetitive lanes, sniffing the same old trees. We might be able to walk more quickly too.

 

I told the boys all about it and persuaded them to come with me to look a few weeks later.

 

After our group viewing, we all agreed we liked the community, the club house served lovely food and we liked the houses.

We viewed several more houses and we decided on two, our friend’s house and their neighbour’s house. But I might add, Andrew did not actually go inside the neighbour’s house, only I had visited on another day, so he was relying on my judgement! We knew they were leaving but the house hadn’t been advertised. I had gone round on one of my visits for coffee but we hadn’t managed to contact anyone when Andrew went to look.

 

Our friend’s landlord didn’t seem interested and was slow to reply but the other landlord was like lightning. The offer went in Friday, we met him on the Saturday, the deal was done there and then, the contract was signed on the Monday! 

 

But now came the awful bit we had been dreading. What about Arjun, Rashida and Momo ? This new house was over an hour away. They had all been good to us and very trustworthy and loyal.

 

We decided to tell Arjun and Rashida at the same time, a two -pronged, gentle approach.

Andrew was so worried because Arjun has been with us for the whole time we have been here in India and he is wonderful. We wanted him to come with us if he could.

Rashida is the best maid anyone could wish for, but she has a young daughter and son. We also wanted her to come with us.

 

Andrew came back and said Arjun had just said, ‘ yes sir. Ok sir ‘ No expression or clue to his thoughts. This made us very nervous.

 

Rashida cried for the whole day ! I felt awful!

 

The suspense was dreadful. Then, Arjun said one morning that the new house is better for Milo to go to school. Then, he continued, he would move with us, get a room and go backwards and forwards to his home. Yay!

 

Rashida tried persuading her husband but realised it was too far for her to travel or stay, so we set about trying to help her get another job ( which, happily, has happened)

 

Momo, our wonderful dog walker was just happy that Andy was going to get to walked properly. Andy gave him a mug with his photo on as a gift.

 

So, we were set to move and just had to wait for the current tenants to move out in August. This meant we had two months to sort ourselves out. It was going to be fun trying to change our address on everything, fingers crossed they didn’t block our bank accounts again.

 

 Meanwhile, we were off to Sicily, Goa and the UK

 

As usual, I went to Sicily at the end of May to get all the tiny jobs done that Andrew doesn’t want to do. When he goes to Sicily, he needs a holiday, not a list of jobs to do (so he says)

 

I was really proud that I managed to leave India without any challenges or strange questions about why I am living in India. It can be interesting at times at the immigration desk, it is like another world with abrupt unhinged questions that you have to smile through so they don’t put you in a side room and you miss your flight. Coming back into the country is usually more challenging than leaving.

 

I was trying the new route again, Bangalore-Dubai-Rome-Catania. Three flights all in one day with a 2am start. Tiring but doable.

 

On the first leg, I managed to get upgraded to Premium Economy on Emirates, but I was so tired that I slept the whole way to Dubai and so didn’t take advantage of the “extra” luxury, although I could stretch out more. I only woke up because the guy next to me was snoring so loudly. 

The flight was a bit late setting off from Bangalore which meant it was a dash across Dubai airport to get to the flight to Rome so I didn’t have time to test out the lounge area.

Then it was 6 hours to Rome.

I had to get my luggage and then check in again in the next terminal to get the flight to Catania. This wait of 3 hours meant the chance to find Italian food and coffee. Another hour’s flight and I was in Sicily.

 Avril met me with the car and off we went to her house for pizza and decent red wine.

 

The next day, I was up at Vena early and looking forward to the prospect of three weeks to garden, shop and iron out any snags. Also, three weeks to stare at the view and enjoy the clean, clear air and eat Italian food. I really enjoy my freedom to drive, to go shopping and to walk along the sea front, all without having to be super alert to dangling electrical wires, gaping holes in the pavement, street dogs, rubbish ( and the accompanying rats) and mad traffic going the wrong way. Everything is so calm and organised -and this is Italy. People tend to think Italy is chaotic but it is not.

Best of all, I like to get my favourite pizza and drink the red wine that suits me the most.

Off I went to the local vineyard and stocked up on the wine that we liked and I got some for Avril too. It was a struggle to carry it all up the steps and into the house but I managed it after several trips. This is the problem with having a house on a hill and a local vineyard .

 

Meanwhile, Max had finished his exams and was busy being a student, partying in Goa until the early hours of the morning with his mates. He wasn’t exactly slumming it though, as he stopped in his friend’s luxury villa complete with staff and several drivers. Afterwards, back in Bangalore, Max continued to meet up with his friends before he came out to Sicily with Andrew and Milo. That’s why he didn’t come with me.

 

I managed to miss Andrew’s birthday (-again!) but our friends threw him a party (he claimed I had abandoned him, obviously looking for sympathy) They all had a fantastic time. They did facetime me as I sat with my pizza and glass of wine on my own.

 

As soon as Milo finished school, they all flew out and I picked them up from the airport. The jobs were done and we had plenty of food so they didn’t need to go round the shops. They stared at the view too!

 

Our nephew, Joe and his girlfriend, Elena, arrived in Sicily for a week, so we spent some time with them and it was our friend’s Ignazio’s 60th birthday. He had invited us all to a rural restaurant for lunch. It was a splendid Sicilian meal, relaxed and unrushed, as Sicilians like to spend time talking and enjoying themselves.

 

Andrew and I managed to celebrate our wedding anniversary together this year, so that was a treat! Last year, I was in Sicily and Andrew was out partying with the boys. This year we went to a new restaurant with our boys. Pizza, Pizza, Pizza! The wine was so good, so drinkable and so plentiful. 

 

But this trip to Sicily was different as we had one week and then we were going to the UK for a wedding.

 

The boys didn’t have outfits for the wedding but I had visited the local shopping centres to find suitable shops. I think the shop that we chose thought they had won the jack-pot, we were in there for over 2 hours. The clothes fitted really well and the quality was so good – not like India. It is hard to get good quality clothes in India. Even though they produce lots of the world’s fabric, someone told us that they export all the good quality. We have found many clothes we buy here don’t last too long when washed, they shrink or fade quickly. Our plan of filling our suitcases with food was fading as we realised they would be filled with clothes.

 

 

The UK

We flew in on the Friday from Catania, landed in Luton and had a stress -free journey down to Hagworthingham where we were staying in the same cottage as our previous trip, two years before. It helped that we had lots of Marks and Spencer sandwiches to eat (proper sandwich bread) on the journey down! 

After gorging on fish and chips in the evening, we went to see the bride and groom at The Elms, near Spilsby, where the wedding was taking place. 

 

Saturday

The wedding was so wonderful. The venue is perfect for small weddings as everything takes place there. We were lucky with the weather as the sun shone all day. The recent forecast had said rain but we were pleased that they got it wrong this time.

Milo helped to give Diane (his Granny) away and Max did a reading. 

There were tasty snacks after the ceremony and then a BBQ later in the early evening. The boys were pleased to have hot dogs with proper sausages, not the rubbery kind we get in India.(they try hard to make sausages but need some lessons).

It was nice to see all the family together after so long. 

 

 

Sunday 

It was time for the other side of the family and our first activity was a walk on the beach. We did miss Andy as he would have loved it. As he wasn’t with us, we made a fuss of Wilf, Mal and Julie’s dog. Abbie and Joe had come over too.

Then, we went to the pub in Hagworthingham to celebrate Derek’s big birthday that he had had recently.

 

Afterwards, Milo was pleased to see his old friends from school and disappeared with them. We went round later to Matt and Janette’s and sat on their patio admiring the view.

 

Monday

We popped into Skegness to see Grandma Fossey and then dashed round the supermarket to stock up on British essentials that we miss. We got a big supply of medicines too that we can’t seem to get in India.

In the afternoon, our friends Diane and Duncan came round and it was so lovely to see them.

 

Tuesday

That was it, UK visit over and we were our way back to the airport ready to go back to Sicily. 

 

Sicily again.

Our flight back was early in the morning and we flew on EasyJet. We had the most entertaining steward who had the whole plane hanging on his every word. He was so funny.

 

Andrew’s uncle, Geoff, and his wife, Sue, landed 15 minutes after we did and we met them in the arrival hall.

 

They came over for a BBQ and we had a great catch up all day and late into the night. We even ended up dancing on the terrace. Much wine was consumed and we enjoyed the Italian food and the fine weather.

 

We continued to try the different local restaurants close to the house although the closet one had lost their pizza chef and so only offered pasta and meat meals. Usually, we find we need the pizza option as well. Fingers crossed they will have a new chef when go back next time.

 

Avril had treated Geoff and Sue to a helicopter ride and we got ready to wave to them as we stood on the terrace.

Oh, my goodness me! Marcello, the pilot and Avril’s new friend, managed to hover above the swimming pool so they could wave to us from inside, then he swooped around and flew directly over the house. Talk about exciting! I thought he was going to clip the roof ,though.

 

For Andrew’s birthday present, I had arranged a trip on a boat where he could steer the boat, anchor up somewhere in the bay, we could all have a picnic and then swim in the sea. Unfortunately, on the days that we had chosen, the wind decided to pick up and the guy who owned the boat said that he thought it was be an uncomfortable journey as it would be too choppy. So, Andrew and the boys decided to go quad biking on Mt. Etna instead. 

That was an exciting adventure too. They got to drive the quad bikes and to go hiking.

 

Mt. Etna erupts.

All was going smoothly and we were having a fantastic time. Then, it became even better. One evening, we were returning from the local restaurant when I saw, out of the back of the car, a huge mushroom cloud come out of the top of Mt Etna. As I had consumed quite a lot of wine and was rather happy, no one believed me.

 

Pulling onto the drive of our house meant we were facing Mt Etna and we could all see that it had erupted in a rather spectacular fashion. 

 

The light was fading. By the way, it still is exciting to us that the days are long in Europe in summer- in India it hardly changes, its dark by 6:30 and light by 6. It doesn’t change. We miss the long summer nights but we don’t miss the short winter nights.

 As the light was fading, we could see the red glow of a lava fountain coming out of the top.

 

We stayed up and watched the display. We could see huge boulders being thrown out of the top when we used the binoculars. Otherwise, it still looked like a lava fountain.

 

The next morning it had stopped so we carried on as normal but kept looking at the mountain. We could hear it booming every now and again.

 

Max IB exam results

 

While we were sunbathing, eating nice food and generally really enjoying ourselves, Max was getting more and more nervous as his IB results were looming. They are the equivalent of “A” levels but there are 6 subjects plus 2 research papers to do ( I think A levels are perhaps easier to achieve as you have to pass all 6 subjects in order to get the IB Diploma, so if you have applied to university and you get one low mark then that is it !)

 

There is no going to school, getting the paper and waving it for all to see. Oh no, you have to wait for the allotted time and then put in your code online, all on your own.

Max is in eagerness got the wrong time (easily done considering all the times zones we had been in) then he put in the wrong code and so he was blocked from the website for 30 minutes. All his friends were announcing that they had their results on their group chat. Max went back to his room and we sat patiently waiting downstairs, pretending that we weren’t anxious, when he shouted that he had passed!

 

Yay! This means that he has fulfilled all the criteria to apply to university with his total score. You get a mark for each exam and research paper which are added together.

 

We were all so pleased. We had some champagne and celebrated. 

 

Sadly, it was almost time for us to leave and go back to India.

 

Etna

 

Etna wasn’t finished! At 4 in the morning, as we were about to leave at 8 for the airport, there was an almighty eruption and the fountain of lava went really high into the air. Our house is quite close to the mountain top, as the crow flies, and it was quite a spectacular site. Now, when this happens there will be an ash cloud and its path is dependent on the direction of the wind. The other day, the direction of the wind had gone the other way from us (but we still did a family dash and covered the pool, just in case) But this time, it was heading our way.

We knew that the airport might get closed again but we decided to go to the airport and see if we could get the flight. 

 

We went down to Giarre to put the car into Avril’s garage and there was enormous boom. All the windows, doors and metal shutters rattled around us, as we were in the street getting into Ignazio’s truck. Off we went along the motorway and as we did, we went through an area where the ash was falling lightly on the roads and cars but we could drive through it. Luckily, we made it in time to the airport.

 

 

3 flights

 

In theory, we had plenty of time to get our first flight to Rome and then check in our bags to fly to Dubai.

 

But Etna was slowing down all the flights, as they restrict how many come in each hour, and we were delayed for over an hour.

When we arrived in Rome, we were at the furthest point that anyone could be from the next terminal and we decided that we might need to start running. We got to the baggage hall and no baggage was coming through - nothing, not one bag. We were getting very twitchy when after 40 minutes there were still no bags (and we had booked priority). An hour and nothing! We had run for no reason too!

 It looked like we were going to miss the flight to Dubai. Then, the conveyor belt started to move. The bags slowly arrived. We had 5, one for the extra clothes and food! But one case (new and only 2 days old) had lost a wheel. Never mind, we started running again to the next terminal, we had 5 minutes until the check- in desk closed. It was rather a hot and sweaty arrival at the check- in desk and we were the last people to arrive. But we were on the flight. The check- in lady said to hurry to get through to the gate so off we went again at full speed (but not running anymore, just fast walking). In fact,I couldn’t run anymore because my beautiful new Italian sandals, which are not meant for running, had blistered my feet! 

We walked through the airport and got straight onto the plane. Phew!

 

 

Back in India

 

Holiday over, it was time for some ordered and strategic packing. The last time we had moved, we had been invaded by all the men packing and I couldn’t keep track of where everything was, so this time I was determined to be in charge. I started to pack any boxes that I could, labelling them very carefully and having a list on the computer.

Oh, I thought I was so organised.

 

 

Milo’s birthday

 

Milo turned 15 and we went out to The Hard rock café in Whitefield and had some lovely food. He had money which he is hanging on to and he is still trying to decide what to buy, if anything. We didn't take any photos so he is the neglected child this time!

 

 

Singapore

 

As I carried on packing, Andrew went off to Hyderabad, Malaysia and Singapore for work. 

 

Max internship

Max had got a small internship as he has taken a gap year.  He had got it through our friend, Rikin, and he was happy to go and see how one type of business worked.

 

But ever since he had been in Sicily, Max had had a swollen big toe and he was limping. Max needed surgery on it. It wasn’t very pleasant and rather painful so it meant he had to have a week off so his foot could heal. Then, he was back at the office listening hard.

 

 

 

Max’s birthday

It was Max’s 18^th birthday and the day before we had gone to Niska and Tarun’s lovely new home for a BBQ. They found out that Max was going to be 18 the next day and they quickly arranged a cake and everyone sang to him. They enjoyed giving him lots of shots of alcohol, but he handled it well. 

 

On his actual birthday, it was quite a strange day. He had joined the driving school a few days before and was ready to have his first lesson. I tried not to think about all the mad traffic out there but he was really keen.

 

I had to go and supervise the cleaning of the new house so the plan was that I would come back and we would go out for lunch. 

Meanwhile, Sidd came over to see Max and he had bought him a wonderful present of some designer trainers. Max was so surprised and extremely happy but they were too big. Sidd bravely let Max have a go at driving his Mercedes.Then, Andrew, Max and Sidd set off for the city centre to exchange the trainers and as it was late, they had lunch. I had taken an emergency sandwich with me and it was just as well because I couldn’t get from where I was to them, before having to return to Palm Meadows in order to let Milo in from his first day at school. So complicated. He had forgotten his key! 

 

When Max got back from his boozy lunch, it was nearly time to go out again for his family dinner. It was quite mad.

 

 

Moving day 

 

We realised that both houses were ready early and the packers at our end said that they could move us a week in advance. 

This meant that Milo’s 3- hour home trek every day was coming to an end.

I set about packing even more boxes. The first day of moving arrived and because I had packed so much it meant that everything was nearly done on the first day, but not all.

It also meant that we had nowhere to sit other than our beds and watch our phones.

On the second day, the plan was for us to go across to the new house with Arjun with the main cases and, of course, Andy. Milo was at school and coming on the new bus.

But that plan had gone to pot by 7am as we realised Max had his driving lesson and Arjun couldn’t get back in time. Therefore, the new plan was that Andy and I would go with the main things. Andy could have a big sniff and settle down. Arjun would go back to get Max and Andrew, they  would arrive and then the removal van. 

 

Now, this is India remember and things rarely go smoothly. The driving instructor didn’t turn up! Andrew and Max spent ages waiting for him, only to be told he was busy/forgotten about the lesson, even though the lesson was booked the day before!

This meant that they were late coming to me.I had taken Andy’s basket and after 4 hours, I decided that it was actually quite comfy to sit in,I had no other furniture. We both sat on the balcony in the basket watching the golfers, avoiding the sun.

 

Finally, the boys arrived, about two minutes before the removal van arrived. 

 

Then, it was pandemonium.

 

As the boxes came in, I was proud of my organised packing system. But it only worked up to a point. As I had left so early, I wasn’t there the supervise the final boxes. When the boxes came in, I had no idea where they were going. They were just labelled box 4, box 5 etc, with no clue as to what was in them and where they should go. My labelled boxes had the room they should go into labelled in several places on the box. At the other house, I had left some of my boxes open ready to close them at the last moment, but the men had just randomly shoved obscure things in the boxes that had no relation to the rest of the contents. One box I had packed with documents in, then had a candle in the top. It was like they had found things around the house and then gone and just filled up the boxes with anything, just anything! I reckon they had done it on purpose. It was as annoying as finding things in the wrong place in a supermarket. 

 

It is now three weeks later and I still have mystery boxes shoved in either the maid’s room or under the stairs. I have no idea what is in them. 

 

 

 

Our new house, snakes and monkeys and frogs

 

Our new house is absolutely beautiful and we have views onto the golf course. Andrew and Milo are more relaxed. Max is chilling and applying for universities. Andy likes sitting outside and watching the golfers, he sits outside more than he did in Palm Meadows. He also has more places to sit.

We have an area for one sofa and chairs downstairs and an outside table. We each have our own balconies and the master bedroom has along balcony that looks onto the golf course so we have our other cane sofa there. The house has large windows that do not have bars on them so it is much lighter inside.

Between 6-8 am and after 6pm, we can walk on the paths around the golf course and we can go for miles. On a Monday, the golf course is closed, so we can walk all day if we want.

 

We knew that there would be snakes and one night, when walking with Andy, Andrew got lost and had to ask a guard the way home. The guard was really insistent on not walking on the greens in the dark as the snakes might be there. We knew there would be snakes.

One afternoon, I opened the downstairs patio doors to be greeted by a very long rat snake a few feet away resting on one of the door window ledges. Andy was intrigued and shot forward as I screamed (I always scream with snakes as I am not keen). But Andy did come back to me as I called him in the house. Meanwhile, Max had heard all the kerfuffle and run downstairs but the snake had gone. 

The next day, I was telling our new maid, Susheela, who had worked for the previous tenants, and she said a snake had been found along the inside of the patio door and that we must always close the mosquito nets. She also said that one day she had gone into the kitchen and a monkey was sat eating a banana on the kitchen sink! Our friend had told us about the monkeys invading sometimes. When we go around the community there are some replica tigers hidden in the foliage to try to scare them off. So, we wait and see with the monkeys but in the meantime the mosquito nets are all closed.

Although, I was rather shocked as I was writing this when a frog hopped out from under the sofa in the house. Where there are frogs there are snakes so I have my feet up !

 

 

Shopping 

As we are further out of the city, there are not so many shops or delivery companies and the boys are devastated that they can’t have a KFC! I am quite pleased with that one. We can get deliveries from the club house  and from the Marriott hotel nearby.They bring the deliveries in a golf cart. We think we are really posh now because of this!

I have been given all the other companies that deliver bread, meat, groceries etc. It just means being more organisation as they come on set days and are not there instantly like in other parts of Bangalore.

 

There is new mall 40 minutes away that has been opened a year but  going there is an adventure in itself.

 

It is beautiful inside but no one seems to have thought sensibly about the parking and the roads leading up to the mall. The approach road is next to a housing community and there is usually traffic going the wrong way and cutting across the main traffic. It takes a while to get through. shutting your eyes means you don't see the near misses. I hope Arjun doesn't close his eyes!

Once inside, we also spotted an emergency exit chained so there was no quick exit.

Getting out of the car park is chaotic too and, in fact, on one day when there was a power cut, the staff couldn’t work out how to operate the barriers and all the cars were stuck. Andrew got out and went to kick away the flimsy barrier and yelled very loudly at all the staff standing doing nothing. I think this did the trick and they were able to escape. 

We have decided not to go there on a weekend when the locals are going for their day out riding on the escalators. It is just too crowded.

 

Yesterday

We went shopping at the supermarket on the bottom floor and Arjun and I were subjected to a dreadful guard who tried to grab the cool bag off Arjun. As I tried to intervene, the guard completely ignored me and continued yelling at Arjun. I went to find the manager. I complained very loudly about how we had been going to their other branch and had never had a problem taking in the bag and that the guard had completely ignored me and was rude. I said I am paying for the shopping, not Arjun, and I have told him to bring the bag so the guard should deal with me. He really was an ignoramous. I kept giving him evils all the way round as I could see him watching us. The manager kept popping up beside me apologising as I shopped. He also said that the guard was new. I told him that didn’t matter, he was rude and a person who liked his moment of power and I don’t expect to have to have such a stressful time shopping. But in between, Arjun and I were laughing because more and more staff were following us to try to help. 

 

I had had the same stupidity the other day when I went to another local supermarket. The lady guard wanted to tie my very small handbag up. I said no and refused. I got the head wobble but I walked off. Again, I complained because how was I supposed to pay for the shopping if my bag was tied shut? What was I going to steal with such a small bag?  I did think about doing the shopping and then seeing what happened when I pointed out that the phone and cards were tied in my bag because of the guard, but I couldn’t be bothered, it was too hot. 

 

But the really positive thing, is that there is a new Pret a Manger that has just opened up in the mall, so we can get 'British' sandwiches. Yay! No spice and proper bread, cheese and pickle. We went to the open evening .We just hope they don’t 'Indianafy' them by adding in spice.

 

We wait and see on that too.

 

 

Socialising

 

We have already been to a party here in the community in a “ get to know you BBQ”. It was a wonderful evening and we got to know a lot of people who live here, all very kind and friendly. We have also had some of our friends over for an  lunch and the rest will be invited soon!