Sunday, January 7

I woke at 7:00 and got up to spit out a big ball of phlegm. Either I have got my cough and cold back or Anu’s massage treatment yesterday loosened some of the content of my lungs. I suspect the latter.

Bruno woke me up at 8:00 so I left Irma sleeping and got up to take him for a walk. This took forty minutes.

Irma had woken when I returned but Naa slept on. I decided to walk down KS Road to see if we will actually take a rickshaw down KS Road to Kovalam Junction before we leave. Short answer: not a chance. The road comes to a neat conclusion at a small junction about one hundred metres before the big church. Moreover, the equipment and supplies have all disappeared. It looks as though the road might never go further.

I turned back and then decided to walk down Vallajani View Road to see where it goes. I walked downhill for ten minutes or more, past some large and grand houses, until I got to a huge mansion, the biggest I have seen around here. I noticed the road continued down at a forty five degree slope for about four hundred metres until it turned a corner.

I decided to turn back.

After a shower and breakfast we all took a rickshaw to the beach. We walked aimlessly and found a large BJP rally at the Hawah Beach end. We looked at what seemed like an afternoon party with flags.

We then walked back seeing if we could find Michael, whom we have hardly seen this year. We walked right down to the Black Cat to learn that we could find him at the Sunset. We couldn’t.

On the way we pass a nativity scene in the front of an empty shop next to Impresso Café. I love Indian nativity scenes. This one shows the famous scene when the Two Pirates dock at Bethlehem Harbour in an effort to beat the Three Wise Men to the manger. The display depicts their abject failure as they realise that they have arrived too late to change history.

After this excitement we will walk back to Leo and eat there. Naa’s giant prawns will please her no end. She will have half a kilo – which equals six – for 900 rupees. I will have fish tikka masala, which will consist of large boneless cubes of swordfish and tuna. Irma will have chicken noodles.

We will walk back to Temple Place feeling full and happy.