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!