Rub-a-dub-dub! All we need to find is a candlestick maker – as this is India, I bet there’s a few of them around! 🤣🤣

Another few days gone by and we are getting nearer to the end of our stay in Goa… just 18 days left now!

Tuesday (7th January) we took off to our new favourite beach cafe, Sea Pearls, at Fatrade beach. Although we went for a walk, we couldn’t do any swimming as the current was very strong and, having tried going for a dip the day before down at Mobor, I knew that, even though it’s on the mend, my poorly ankle and sore toe couldn’t take it as just standing up with the pull of the current dragging you sideways, was pretty difficult, so I didn’t risk it!

We went back to Fatrade yesterday (8th January) too as it’s only about 5 mins drive away by scooter and we’d had a bit of a frustrating morning due to the power keep going off. Just after we set off and reached the next village down, we got stuck in traffic! 🤣

The reason for the jam (which was only a couple of cars and bikes) was that a guy was up a cherry-picker cutting down a palm tree with a chainsaw to make way for the new electricity telegraph poles… which is the reason why we keep having power cuts too!

I previously mentioned the complete lack of Health and Safety in India when you contrast it to the UK – see the photos below for examples!

Once we got to the beach, we had a nice walk and a great swim as the sea was much calmer! A hour or so in the sun and a nice lunch too and then we were off to fill the scooter up at the local garage (we reckon we’ve spent about £8 so far on fuel which is pretty good seeing as we use the scooter most days!), followed by a trip to the supermarket and the electrical store as we needed a new lightbulb for a bedside lamp (80p)… When we got home, we were able to catch up on the news from home via the iPlayer and heard about the really cold weather… I am not looking forward to that when we get home! Here’s the current comparison from this evening! Brrrrrr 🥶🥶🥶

Last night, we headed off to Ida’s restaurant – it was nice as there were a few new couples in there we got chatting to. Pete decided he wanted to have a drink after our dinner (I had a lovely Paneer curry – yum!) and then Gerry turned up so it turned out to be a few drinks! We left Ida’s about 12.45am and, although I slept well, I woke up a bit out of sorts… not sure why but I woke up worrying about Mum😔 – must have been a dream I cannot now remember! Anyway, I emailed the Raikes and, once it had got to a reasonable time back in the UK (eg., people had actually started work – 9am being around 2.30pm here in India 🤣) they sent me a lovely email saying what she’d been up to and how she was – which was very reassuring!

Today, we made our way down the coast to Mobor Beach as, on the way back, we needed to (a) go to the jewellers to pick up my new chain to go with my pendant and earrings (am so pleased with these!); (b) drop into the Cheers bar to pick up our pies for dinner this evening and (c) bob in the tailors to collect my new trousers and Pete’s new shirts… it’s been a big spend day for us! 🤣🤣 My trousers cost 1500 R/s each (about £14 at today’s exchange rate) and Pete’s shirts (tailor-made just for him!) 2000 R/s (about £19)… whilst I am sure there are people out there who will probably say we paid too much, for us, we always say if you’re happy with what you have paid, it doesn’t matter if the next person can get it for 50p or a £1 cheaper! And we are very happy with all of our purchases… especially the pies which were delicious!

That’s all the news from Goa today… TTFN all &, if you’re in the UK, keep safe & check on your neighbours (if you’re able to) whilst the cold weather persists! ❤️&✌️ xxx