Monday 25th February 2019

Monday 25^th February 2019

Well today three weeks ago we arrived in Mauritius or on the island as Mauritius is referred to locally.   It’s interesting that a couple of friends have asked me how it feels to have no permanent home.   I guess the thought is that one will feel homeless or ungrounded or vulnerable or exposed  - maybe none of these?  But I don’t feel these things – I feel more relieved and light than weighed down by the uncertainty of not knowing where we will hang our hats. I do think though in the short term – that we have one more month in this beautiful home and then where or what but it is not an all consuming concern – I know that something will present itself. I also believe that we have to do some homework, put some effort into finding something – I guess it’s a case of the old maxim – god helps those who help themselves!! Or help me here Paddy – at least buy a lottery ticket!!!

I have spent the last two days reading a Mariam Keyes novel – I wonder when the feeling of ‘maybe this is not all right to just do nothing but read’ first kicked in….. in fact maybe it is not a feeling but rather a thought!! Why is it not all right? What does all right even mean? Is this not purposeful enough! Having been someone who has worked most of my life – all be it mostly flexi-time, it is quite something to find myself in this situation where I do not have a dead line to meet or a place to be.  Being someone who has tended to fill my days with activity – aqua classes first thing Monday and Wednesday mornings, tennis Tuesdays and Thursdays, pilates some Fridays, bridge on Monday evenings and Wednesday or Friday afternoons, plus two book clubs on the second Tuesday and third Wednesday night each month, besides the training and other Montessori related work.  

The great WASP work ethic is hard to shrug – but here we are – and maybe it is because we have such a long time here that it feels Ok to not feel compelled to ‘do’  anything other than simply choose to do nothing if indeed reading a novel is doing nothing!! Maybe that’s it – why is doing nothing not a good thing – why is there a judgment about it – it is so incredibly strong in me – is it good or is it not good and what does it matter what it is as long as it is what I want to do right now – it is such an unusual space to be in – where I can just anything that I want to do – and its Ok to  do just that - to actually serve me and not anyone else – yes - I guess that’s what it is …. it is such a rare place to be in – where we can just not do anything other than what we do – I see I have slipped into using the we word rather than the I word – another way of being – it is Ok to say what I feel or what I think.

It's so interesting to me to reflect on this – I do still believe that we are / I am here to serve and to love – but here’s the wonder – I have also got to the place where I realise that in order to serve another, I need to serve myself so I am strong enough to serve another – and maybe here I have being given the chance to experience serving myself and that is doesn’t have to be for any deeper cause than simply that. This is a time to quietly reflect, to quietly be, to quietly experience, to quietly feel each feeling and thought without judging or deeply analysing – a time of spaciousness and timelessness.

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So a day or so ago we went for a walk along the beach – right or north out of the gate – it had been raining for a lot of the day and was sometime between 5 and 6 pm. The beach was fresh and the evening cool and I took lots of photos which I will post below. It is hard to find words to express the beauty and the mood and the peace here so I will leave the photos to talk to you instead. 

Lovely cooling rain frightening away the mossies! 

Then the rain cleared and we went walking - looking south 

Houses a little way up the beach from us

Quiet beauty

 

Walking on the beach in my new rubber shoes!

The water is so clear

Paddlers having fun on the swells

Folk chilling on the beach

John entering the gate to the house after our beach walk - it was about 7 pm 

Then yesterday I walked to the local shop, Food Lovers Market  to see if I could buy some fish for lunch - sadly none available so found some salami and baguettes instead. So here are some pics from the walk....  

The front of the house

The gates leading to our home to the left and the neighbouring house  

 I am going to post this and then add the other piccies later -am still very nervous of suddenly losing everything!!