March 2022
Leopard at the farm
We went for the weekend to Savi mango farm. It means that Andy can run and run along the fields and play with his friends, Finn and Solo. It is quiet and peaceful there, the food is good and it is not far away.
Meena, who runs the farm with her sister, Manjela, had said about the sightings of the leopard in the area which we had discussed before, with us taking care not to leave the kids trailing behind us when we went for a walk.
This time, they had had a family party and some of the family were not keen on dogs, so Meena put their dog on a long lead and tethered her to the cattle post just in the farm yard that is close to the farmhouse
The party finished and Meena went to get the dog back but it had been eaten by the leopard. They were shocked that the leopard attacked so close to the farm and in broad daylight.
It was very upsetting for them all.
Not long after that, the family lost a calf. Watching their cctv footage, they had captured a clear clip of the leopard who had dragged the calf and was eating the calf on the film.
We decided to not let the dogs run too far ahead of us while we were there.
Andrew and Covid
We already had the record for the villa with the greatest amount of quarantine, when Andrew came down with a cold. Of course, it was not a cold but Covid, so we were back in quarantine again.
Andrew really had the bad cough with his covid and spent the first week in bed. As the rules had changed, after the 7th day we could leave quarantine so the boys went back to school but Andrew was still not too good so he worked from home.
Before the end of our quarantine, we had a snake incidence. In our garden, we have a swing with a tiled roof above it. I always go outside and sit on this bench everyday as Andy plays in the garden. Every day, I always look up, suspiciously, just in case there is a snake. On this day, as I looked up, there was a snake’s tail hanging from between the tiles. As I proceeded to scream and run around the garden flapping my hands, there was a round of unsympathetic yells for me to be quiet as everyone was online listening. When they realised that there was potentially a snake, then they all appeared without delay.
As I calmed down, I tiptoed back to take a closer look but it wasn’t a snake but a snake skin. This means that the snake had been there in our garden. We are not sure what the snake was but either a cobra or a rat snake. I am reluctant to sit on the swing any more. The gardener got a bit of the skin but we could not see how long it was as the skin is wedged deep within the tiles. So ,now we have our eyes peeled for a snake in the garden.
Andrew started to feel better and went back to work, only to feel unwell again and ended up back in bed for another week. He has hardly ever had any time off work so this was not like him.
When he recovered again, he took it steady and worked from home. I think I developed my stamina, as I had to go up and down the stairs so many times a day getting food and drinks for him. He is quite demanding and even sent me a message claiming he was suffering from dehydration and malnutrition as I wasn’t quick enough with my food catering services. He’s a cheeky monkey at times.
School
The boys were so excited as they could now go back to school. Both are thoroughly enjoying going and are up in time ready to go and get the bus. They both seem to be making more friends as all the kids are full of relief at being back together.
Milo went on his school camp for 4 days and had a fantastic time. He came back full of confidence, which is good. Max has the equivalent of his GCSE’s coming up so his grade is not going to camp and he is having to study, so he’s not too pleased.
Goa
We had had a trip booked for Goa a while back. Max and Milo’s granny and her partner were supposed to come, but as the flight and visa situation was so uncertain, they decided not to come and rebooked their flights for later in the year.
We decided that we would still go and it would be a further time for Andrew to recover from covid.
Our friends, Petra and Andreas and their children, Tomek and Maja came with us. Our other friend, Sheetal and her children, Thea and Nikita went the day before and we met them there.
We caught the stupid o’clock flight, which means leaving the house at 3 in the morning but means that we are on the beach by 9, eating breakfast. The only thing that threw us this time was that we were on a smaller plane with propellers. Milo was convinced that it wouldn’t be able to take off. But to be fair, the flight was smooth but just extremely noisy. As the flight is only about 50 minutes (on the way out, it was 45 minutes on the way back, as we had a 'proper' jet) it’s not too bad.
We had 5 wonderful, tranquil days on the beach. It was hot and we had lovely food and enjoyed the company of our friends. Wonderful.
Andrew’s bad leg
So, we get back from Goa on the Tuesday evening and Andrew went to work on the Wednesday. When he got back, he was complaining that the back of his leg was itching under his trousers.
It appeared to be a mosquito bite, although we don’t really know what it was.
The next day, the bite had swollen and was really red. It continued to swell and so did his leg and Andrew began to feel uncomfortable. Being a typical man, he refused to see a doctor until the Sunday, when I insisted on calling Arjun to take us. We went to the local hospital and got some antibiotics and various other things. The doctor said to stay off his leg and that the leg would swell even more for a another 3 or so days. Which it did. He was back to working from home.
Then, his ankle starting swelling and it was even more alarming. We went back to the hospital and got even stronger antibiotics (and a big bandage) The doctor was impressed with Andrew’s pain threshold but prescribed him pain killers to help. She reckons that his immunity was low due to his covid.
By now Andrew was dragging his leg like the zombies do in the movies and he couldn’t get up and down the stairs easily, so I was back to my waitress duties, keeping fit by running up and down getting food and drink. (I also found out that I would not have made it as a nurse as I don’t like yukky things.)
Anyway, after 4 hospital visits and 3 weeks down the line and he can now walk without dragging his leg and the swelling has gone down.
I am not going to post the photos as it might put people off their food.
British Business Group Meeting
We were invited to the British Group Meeting on Saturday evening in the city centre.
The idea of the group is to encourage more trade between the UK and India (in Bangalore), although there are several groups all around India. We were the only ones from the UK. Ravi, who is the chairman at the moment, was correct when he said that there is so much potential for trade but nothing much seems to be happening. He is hoping that the new discussions for a trade agreement may change all of this. It was a lovely evening and we met some very interesting people.
