New pastures!

Thursday 14th March 2019

I have just woken up to the fact that I need to let you know that Luke has set me up on a new very smart site!  The first time I travelled to Seoul to be with them, he coined the term - shoe string swallow, saying that this is what I was, as I managed to travel to wonderful places on a shoe string!!

He has now come up with the idea that this is what my new blog address should be called. So he has set it up - from now on if you want to see what I am up to, please type in shoestringswallow.com 
He has given himself some work as at this stage it is not set up for me to be able to post, instead I send him the blogs which he then posts.

So please visit the new site so you can keep current with the Ramsey to-ings and fro-ings.

Wednesday 6th March 2019

Wednesday 6^th March 2019

Wow – the days do speed by!!! Well not really but it is a few days since I last wrote.

So Sunday was fun – Nadia dropped her baby Olivia off with friends so we (Dylan, Nadia, John, Pru and Dot and David – Dylan’s parents here from SA for a few days) could all go out on Dylan’s speed boat. It’s a very natty boat – even has a loo on board!! With seating in the front and the back all under awning. We headed out from their marina towards the open sea turning right / north to find our house. We then doubled back south towards Le Morne Brabant peninsular, a beautiful spot, where we anchored – time to chill… Round tables were set up with holes for glasses – followed by a wonderful spread of snacks / finger lunch and drinkies!!!  We then armed ourselves with noodles and leapt into the beautiful clear clear sea – the skipper threw bits of bread roll into the water and the next thing we were surrounded by a myriad of wonderfully coloured reef fishies – magical!  I used Dylan’s full face mask which I definitely felt easier using than the usual goggles that cover only the nose and eyes. It’s a strange love fear thing for me using a snorkel but I was so happy with what I saw. The view of the island from the boat is spectacular – one realizes how few people live here – there is so much uninhabited rich tropical vegetation and these incredibly beautiful stark strangely shaped mountains. The sky is endless and the clouds towering – the water glistens and glows in so many shades from deep blue to pale green.  We saw the two little pinnacles of rock called Crystal Rock – extraordinary – rock sticking out of the ocean – maybe between 2 and 4 metres high and covered with vegetation – even a little tree!!- the tenacity of nature…  It was a really super outing.

On Monday I came across a house/pet sitting possibility for two weeks in April – on a Golf estate about 10 kms away so we joined the House Sitting site – really reasonable fee of R 1600 and I sent the owner a couple of messages. Wondrously I had been invited to lunch with a mutual friend of a Cape Town friend who also lives on a golf estate – I figured they had to be the same estate – anyway long story short – John and I are meeting the home owner tomorrow before my girl’s lunch!! It would be truly wonderful if we could move there for two weeks in April and have the company of 2 doggies and 2 kitties!! One of the dogs is a 4 year old Lab who needs a harness to get around – the big test will be that we can manage to lift her to get her into the harness – so here’s hoping that Ramsey is strong enough to do the deed!! Hold thumbs!!

So yesterday (Tuesday) Zodic and John carried the kayak onto the beach where – halleluiah!!! we put it in the little ‘bay’ in front of the house and I climbed in and felt really stable. John proceeded to give me LOTS of coaching and advice as I learned to maneuver the kayak using the rudder and paddles.  It was a bit windy so we decided I shouldn’t venture out beyond the rocks and certainly not towards the reef. I eventually very politely told him I would prefer it if he stopped saying left, right, back, forwards… so that I could figure it out myself relying on intuition and HA! that’s exactly what happened and I managed to ‘steer’ in the confined space!!  So I was thrilled and John was happy and felt confident that I could venture out later to more open spaces!! I chatted to a French woman who is staying next door and she told me that she had gone out on her kayak that morning at 6.30 and had kayaked among the dolphins just beyond the reef which is about 200 – 300 metres out – she said there were a lot of vessels following the dolphins – some too close to her but it was enormous fun.

Last evening, the breeze – hardly a wind, had died down and I went for a walk on the beach at about 6.30. I found a comfortable rock to sit on backed up next to another to lean on and just sat quietly gazing out to sea and the horizon, the sun had gone to bed already – a few moments to still the monkey mind!!  So comforting and so healing to be able to just sit and enjoy the beauty in that and in the next and in each moment. 

Saturday 2nd March 2019

Saturday 2^nd March 2019

I persuaded John to have another look at the three kayaks in the garden. We had been told we could use them so I was interested to find out if we might be able to manage them on our own and get them into the sea!   Things move very slowly here….. a bit like a malaise… the heat is really something else though. Even I who far prefers heat am finding it challenging – it kind of turns us into slothful slugs!!  So days really do tend to be spent lolling under a fan, reading, writing, playing cards, watching tennis or playing bridge or patience on my laptop!!

Breakthrough today – after we separated the smallest kayak from the other two, I hosed it down sending daddylong legs and ants skittering…  I enjoyed the exercise of removing bits of snail shells, webs and dead noonoos from the webbing and seat, every so often giving myself a cooling squirt. John then came and inspected the kayak – happily called ‘feel free’.  He tested if we could move it on our own, which we can although it’s pretty heavy. He pointed out that getting to the beach we would have gravity on our side but not getting it back again!! I wondered if we mightn’t be able to coincide the use of the kayak with the time that the gardener Zodic was here so we could enlist his help!! Such are the important issues we face in this new life of ours!!!  John then declared he needed to get a screw driver to tighten a few things – he was now happily busy with a prodge (project). A kitchen knife was carried out to the kayak and the next thing he had dragged the kayak to the edge of the pool and voila … the next thing it was in the water and this is where it is now!! All remaining creatures removed saved by John by being scooped up in an ice cream container and tossed onto the lawn. He announced that he had saved at least 20 ants and 6 flies from drowning!! So who is the buddhist in the family!!!  As I write, John is in the pool with the kayak, giving it a good clean – much better than his original comment to me of “leave it to Zodic to do”….. will colonialism ever die…!

I have just climbed into or is it, onto the kayak in the pool. John has many concerns – how will I get back into the kayak if I fall out – my answer – it will be shallow enough for me to walk along side the kayak to bring it back to the beach – the water is so shallow here and I certainly do not plan on venturing far from in front of the house; next question – and if it drifts away from you, you will let it go won’t you…. Answer - can’t we tie something to my arm, thinking of something like the cord that is attached to my boogie board, no reply but doubtful look speaks volumes!!!

Anyway I got into the pool and realized that I would not be able to get into the kayak while in the water as we couldn’t get the seating spot close enough to the shallow end. Then decided that we should position the kayak parallel to the side of the pool, I sat on the edge of the pool and lifted myself into the kayak seat – ha – no ungainly splash – I was in the seat!! John then adjusted the foot rests and showed me how to steer using them to guide the rudder.  Yay I was afloat and felt really stable – when I said I was quite excited and encouraged by all of this, John admitted he had hoped that I would be discouraged. He expressed that he thought the reason I wanted to kayak was so that I could put a tick in the “Ï kayaked in Mauritius box”- wow – anyway disavowed him of that saying actually I was hoping for some fun…. I do think it might make sense though to wait until Johnny and Susie are here or maybe Dylan can help me once we get the kayak to the water, even Richard my nephew whom I hope will be here next weekend.   I guess the obvious truth is that John does not want anything to happen and particularly does not want to be in a situation in which he is not in control??

Anyway whatever the next step is, I have enjoyed the exercise and activity. There is no doubt that I have been feeling the effects of not doing something other than the tasks / options listed earlier. I did go out yesterday – decided to catch the bus to the Charity Centre to get some more books. I walked a couple of stops – it was after 3 pm so a little cooler, I did take my big black umbrella which I didn’t need all the way as the pavement is in shade of the beautiful tropical trees that grow along the walls of the private homes that line the main road in this area.  When a bus did come along, I hopped on and was glad I had as the Centre was further than the one or two stops I had thought it was.  There were a couple of women sitting outside, sorting clothing, who informed me they had closed at 3, but that if I wanted to browse for books that was fine and they would record the money as received next week.  What a pleasure to get inside into the airconditioned space. I took my time, finding 5 books for the princely sum of Rs 165 (R 67!!) I love when it all works out like this – I set off with Rs 225 and a card – the first bus fare was Rs 10 so I had exactly what I needed in correct change for the Charity Centre and then Rs 50 for my bus fare back – which in fact was Rs 26 – Natasha reckons the conductor ripped me off but it was a different bus – more upmarket with two doors. Anyway all good as I then popped into the Food Lovers Market for a couple of things, before walking home – gave me a fulfilled feeling – like I’d done something with my day!! The need for purposeful activity dies hard…!!

So back to the kayak – in the meantime, my darling husband has being giving this a lot of thought whilst I have been scribbling and has just announced that on reflection, he thinks it should be fine for us to take the kayak into the sea!! A long discussion followed about the best time of day to do this – high or low tide – my thought is high tide which is hardly high, with waves etc, it just means that there is more or deeper water near the shore which will mean we do not have to go too far from the shore to kayak.  So add that to the time of the day – we do not want to be mad dogs and Englishmen and come out at midday – it really is so hot and I do not want to be burnt or uncomfortable, we are looking at venturing out at about 3 ish!! So watch this space.

Last time I said watch this space was about catching the bus to the north of the island to see Richard – well that has not happened yet.  A couple of reasons – I am still trying to get clarity about the times of the busses but have now decided that I’ll just take my chances – have my destination clearly written on a piece of paper to show the conductor. The other concern was arriving in Pereybere while Richard and Lisa, both teachers, are still in  school. They finish most days at about 4 pm depending on what extra mural activities the twins are involved in. They leave in the morning  for school at about 7.30 so I will be on my own from then so I need to establish that I can get to a bus stop on my own or maybe leave with them – an interesting thought being up that early again – feels like another life tine that I got up at that time!!!  There is a Hindu holiday on Monday – I had thought that would be a good day to go as they would be free then but Natasha says there will be no busses at all and that the roads will be blocked with marches – sounds as if we would not even be able to get to see the marches and celebrations!!

We are off to Dylan and Nadia’s tomorrow which will be fun as Dylan’s parents arrived yesterday and he is planning on taking us all out on his speed boat – now you can indeed watch this space!!!

I wish there was a quick way to post photos up as I took a bunch of John getting the kayak into the water – lets hope we can figure this out very soon…..  off now for some lunch – salami and salad. Incidentally our seared tuna was delicious the other day.  

Once again will post this while I is current and hopefully add pics later.