Week Twenty-Nine at Sleeping Indian

Sunday the 4th of October. Extremely strange not to have boiled eggs and I can’t say I will ever agree to such a thing ever again. I may go so far as to say it put me right wrong, right wrong indeed. Then it all went very wrong. I straightened my side of the bed. Bear never wants the quilt on him so I lay on my side and wrap his side on top of me. Now and again I sneak my feet under when they get cold but it is rather like robbing a bank…. Mmmm. Anyhoo, as I was at the foot of the bed I saw lots of little tiny black dots. Flax seeds ??? Chia seeds ??? stuffing from one of the team ??? something leaked ??? all random thoughts. I wet the end of my finger and tasted (as I would for anything). Nutcase. No, it’s often the quickest way to identify something. Mmmm, I still think you are a nutcase. Probably but no taste, dry, biteable. I know, I’ll look online. OH MY drywood termite poo. Well you can guess who laughed so hard he got wet eyes. I swept all the dots and saved them in a container, then smoothed the sheet and watched. After ten minutes we could see a small number but after an hour a significant number in a fine sprinkling. We both stared up. Nothing, nudda, nunca to see. A few more dots fell. Message to the nice people at Terminix. Loaded cappuccino much needed. Bear went off to paint his box (to support the hurricane shutter poles) and made a box to replace the shabby one behind the two-seater settee, electric box that is. I was dismayed over the black dot business but managed to second coat the bi-folds for the utility room Desert Island Disc Archives for company. Indian takeaway tonight completely threw what day of the week it was, but delicious nonetheless. I only eat half so I know what is for supper tomorrow night. I settled closer to Bear and trained my mind not to let my feet go anywhere near ‘The Pile’.

Monday the 5th. Sat up quick at six thirty to find the bottom of the bed looked like someone had emptied the contents of a dry tea bag…… Growling. We stared up again. I settled to accounts and dead on nine rang the nice lady at Terminix. “Francis is out on a job but I will try to get hold of him,” Thanking her I went to tidy the kitchen and set ‘Big Boy’ into motion. My first time. Time indeed was spent studying the dials but soon he was purring and forty minutes later my first wash was done. Tumble dryer on and the phone rang. Francis had just finished a job and could he come round immediately. We were delighted to greet him and up he came to see ‘the pile’. He confirmed drywood termite poo, laughed at my tasting but warned us that we may have to cut out the area and replace it. Our hearts sank. “Let me try something for you.” Bear brought up the piece of trusty plywood, placed it on the bed along with the stepladder and with our support up went Francis and he competently tapped the ceiling, we heard the tone difference. “Pass me a screwdriver.” Francis had a poke about and as we had used him for the garden and he had a bit of mix in his truck, off he went. Back in a jiffy, masked and primed, he went back up and pressure squirted into the screwdriver holes. “If this works, leave it to dry for a few days, fill and repaint.” Fingers tightly crossed. I struggled through putting the second coat on the wood panel and bi-fold supports in the utility room and once I had put the washing away did little else. Bear felt as woofed as I did. Miff video called us and there we were again at supper time.

Tuesday the 6th. When I wake in the night I do The Daily Challenge (Solitaire) on Bear’s IPad and then have a quick look at the BBC News headlines. Great. My old age pension and bus pass have been put back until the 28^th of September 2026. Growling. In my Junk Mail an advertisement for Huge Thighs, more growling. Back to sleep for an hour.

I did a quick whizz round with the emulsion pot dealing with a few dinks here and there while Bear hung the bi-folds. Bit of adjustment required. Err yes. The shopping bag hanger went up far easier.

I made (with Bear’s help) four portions of tuna pasta bake and five of carbonara. At one point, as I chopped an onion, I asked ‘himself’ to put a three inches of water in a saucepan – I turned and oh, never, he was actually measuring…….and with ‘that’ look of pure mischief. I snarled and gave out several threats punctuated with a few expletives and heard nothing but giggles……have you ever seen a packet of spaghetti used with such menace, Bear has, Run Bear, Run.

The weather is so very humid, the garden and drive – don’t go there and I really felt a bit dodgy. A very close five four at backgamon, yes but you snuck the win and for the first time in ages a game of Mex Train, yes and you beat me hollow.         

Wednesday the 7th. Bear added a piece of wood and modified the bi-folds. I did the first coat on the green edged mirrors in the morning, second coat in the afternoon. How pleased will I be not to hear Bear ticking about no mirror to shave in – as bad as whining about Christmas sprouts. We went to the beach at three thirty for a change, after a great game of Mex Train, I got 54, 51 and 57. Bear’s total was 666. My turn to growl loudly.

We took a Lilo we found in the cupboard and Bear settled on this steed but it soon began deflating through a hole he found. The sunset was quite pretty and it was quite nice to see a few tourists for a change.

Thursday the 8th. Mirrors cleaned, bathroom one glued. Bear drilled, I did bi-fold folds and the first coat on the new shelf. I fancied a ‘happy’ lunch so did us eggs on toast with beans, five nil win at backgammon. More growling. Fed up Bear went back to his drilling and I washed up the lunch things. I emptied the washing up bowl and heard a cascading water sound, opening the cupboard below the sink. Oh. A flooded cupboard. Help. Fortunately Bear had emptied the cleaning material baskets out and had laid a work towel inside, I mopped as my beautiful assistant ran upstairs to get another towel. Soon settled Bear went back to drilling.

Beach at four for a bob about. The trumpet flowers are in bloom at the back of the beach bar and the sunset was pretty as we walked over the water inlet.

Friday the 9th. Well, as it happens I was awake at 00:15 when all of a sudden the headboard bucked and shook for about ten seconds. This morning Bear read that there had been a 5.1 earthquake about 118 kilometres north-west of us. Something different to write about I suppose…. Off we went at nine to pop in to say ‘Hi’ to Lord and Lady Ronnie before hiring a new, bright yellow car for our Visa run. Did the usual shops before arriving at ten past two for our two thirty appointment. Filled in our forms and I was called first. Bear came in and as he was having his fingerprints and picture taken, the nice lady at Window 5 called me over in a conspiratorial fashion. “Can you fill in another form for your husband, his has been misplaced.” Pleased it wasn’t one of our Passports, soon done, we were stamped until the 8^th of January. (Our last Visa ran out on the 31^st of September……..) Last stop was the big supermarket and we began collecting bits for Christmas. Frozen sprouts – just in case. I cannot ever face the thought of not providing Himself with the Devil’s Testicles. I have only missed three times (twice because we partied aboard Nauti Nauti (it wasn’t the season for them and I never saw a one in South Africa) and once as no one had heard of them in Polynesia…. Butterball turkey, cranberry sauce and sausages for the stuffing, a good start methinks.

Cows at a main junction, nothing new there then…. I haven’t put a ‘One Careful Owner’ in for ages and ages – what the red one lacked in rust was fully made up for by the foliage, oo did it rain just after I took the picture.

The majority of this week seems to have seen Bear laughing at me one way or another. This evening was no different. I had rolled some large tissues and poked them in his bedside holder, he complained about not being free-flow enough for his needs…….I especially searched in the supermarket, found the right size and settled to replace the big ones on the left. I ripped the side of the new box and heard a roar of laughter as I showed what came out of the ‘specially purchased box’ on the right. I cannot say that I have had the luckiest of weeks……….

Saturday the 10th. A bit of general pottering. Lady Ronnie rang in the afternoon with some really good news. One of the booked clients has been in contact and changed their dates to the 2nd of December – a relief as we may have needed to sleep on Beez for three nights in the boatyard. We now have a firm target to get ‘the girl’ ready for us to live out at anchor. Ah and oh, we will have to rent out the turkey in the freezer as well….. We have been so very worried about people turning up expecting a holiday to find the old property management locked and closed (all signage now removed from the office) and no one on hand with keys. Two gorgeous returning families have messaged, so now we only have the worry of two more. A corker of a sunset behind the Sleeping Indian Hill, Indian takeaway and thoroughly enjoyed Vexed before starting Bodyguard.    

ALL IN ALL A MIXED OL’ WEEK

                    THE SUN IS SHINING AT LAST