Wednesday, January 6

In the middle of the night we had a power-cut. The overhead fan became noisy until it was switched off and the room heated up rapidly. When I got up the modem was flashing which means, I think, that it needs recharging very soon. Which means we may be offline for some or all of the next forty eight hours, which bothers me not at all.

We started the lengthy process of packing up; deciding what to take home, what to store in the trunks for next year, and what to use or give away. I had a shower.

At 15:30 Ani came and we took the rickshaw to Uday’s house by the multigym. We spent an hour or two with Uday and Lekha, who had made us jackfruit curry, pakora and paisa (which could well be spelled wrongly). Uday told us that, as far as he knows, the Zero Waste Centre is still at Kovalam Junction We had thought, from an email we received a couple of months ago, that it had lost its premises.

Now we are walking down to the beach. We are passing the cafe and lodging house owned by the Surf Club, and their rickshaw is outside. I suggest that it should have a surfboard strapped to the top like a woody, and Naa says that she has seen it driving along exactly like that.

The building is completely closed which means that everyone is at the beach. In a minute we will pass another small cafe where Mani, who is the actual owner, will be sitting. We will say hello and promise to see him next year.

We will walk to Uday’s shop to collect some bags and then down to Jeevans where Michael will give us all crowns and we will sit and have a farewell beer. We will walk along to Leo for a second farewell beer, and Anu will join us.

Finally we will walk to Hawah Beach where Ani will meet us with the rickshaw.