20 Years and a Day

Yesterday was Paul's and my 20th wedding anniversary.

He had left me a card in his car.

A delivery man arrived in the afternoon with a large box. It was (wrongly) addressed to Paul and the man seemed very concerned about his health - not often men get sent large bouquets of flowers I guess...

Dog Days

I drove Paul to the airport on Sunday.

Two weeks in Pau with his 'other women' and I am now the sole focus of the dogs.

I feel trapped on the sofa - every move is watched and if I attempt to reposition myself they are both up and looking at me expectantly. I have to be careful with what I say as well. I told them to chill out yesterday. This was obviously heard by them as '????? OUT' and had the opposite effect of what I wanted.

Two weeks of getting up early - at least I am clearing my cardbox before the morning walk, and have started adding more in again. I won my match against Allan last week - well, I had a winning draw 4.5-4.5 but had a better spread of 43 points after nine games. A nail-biting finish if I had any nails left after my gardening...

Spring Sales

It was the Jim Clark rally last weekend and we decided to have a barbecue. Alex was up for the weekend - gold cup bridge match with Paul on the Sunday. We had also invited a few more friends over.

We had bought a cheapo Aldi's gazebo last year and it got its first outing last Saturday. It was perfectly adequate but we did have a few worries as every now and then there was a strong gust of wind. We could just see the Berwickshire News headlines - gazebo causes rally chaos.

Geoff and Joy, friends of Paul who he had met via the BBO online bridge site arrived first - they were up in this area for a short holiday. Penny arrived next armed with enough home-made scones to open a shop. Jean and Sandy next, with a rhubarb crumble which needed to be cooked and home-made icecream - this was a big hit. We were getting worried whether Reg would make it before the road was closed - he did.

I had noticed an advert in the paper for a wool/yarn sale at Moondance Wools, Springhill Farm at Coldingham over the bank holiday weekend. With my newly refreshed enthusiasm for knitting I thought this would be worth investigating. Jean not only knew exactly where it was but also knew the owner and her friend who holds weaving/craft workshops. We arranged to go together the following day, and also to visit the fuchsia nursery near Grantshouse which neither of us had ever been to.

I arrived at Jean's a little before 11 a.m. and after a cup of coffee we set off. Jean told Sandy we would be back around 1 p.m. for lunch, but he was very sceptical. He was right - we spent far too long at Moondance Wools as there were just so many to choose from. I eventually settled on some Shetland wool in pale blue, turquoise and mauve, one ball of pink silk/cotton and two balls of silk/mohair/wool mix multicoloured turquoise/purple/blue. We decided that there was not enough time to go to the nursery...

I have started on my next jumper. It is not going as smoothly as the last one - a couple of the sections hadn't quite worked for the colours/design so I have been ruthless in undoing them. I think I am back on track now.

On Friday it was the Paxton plant and goody sale. I had been planning on taking or going with Anne but she emailed me to say that she would meet me there as she was planning on filling her boot so may not be room if I bought a lot too. As it was I arrived before her and managed to park in the village hall car park. I was on my second spree when I saw her, Jenny, James and Emma. All in all I was very pleased with my haul. First load - one hosta, verbascum and campanula. Second load - one geranium Kashmir (white), two Dicentra (white), and two unknowns (one is low growing ground cover, the other looks like a perennial of some sort) but both in nice large clay pots. Total spent £11.50.

I planted them all except the ground cover yesterday, along with two alpine asters and a carex I got in Homebase's half price section, in the trellis bed and in the space I gained from the osteospermum die-back. I got an extra bargain with the campanula - I found there were two in the pot!

This afternoon was the Allanton plant sale. There was no sign of Anne...

This was a lot better than the last time I went, when I thought it was overpriced. So now waiting for a new home are: one hardy geranium - type unknown but I think it is more of a ground cover type, one peach-coloured day lily, one small rosemary, one small sage, one polemonium and six dark blue irises in a plastic planter. Total spent £9.40.

Extension Part 4 - The Hole

Roy came back on Friday to dig the porosity test hole whilst I was over at Allan's for the next session in our best-of-25 match number 4.

The bad news is that he hit rock about a metre down. Thinking about it afterwards we should not have been totally surprised - there was a small quarry behind Margaret's farm. The bucket load of water Paul had thrown down the hole was showing no signs of soaking away.

Craig from Building Control came over on Monday to take a look. He picked the moment it started tipping it down. There we were in wellies with brollies looking at a big muddy and puddle-filled hole. Craig took some photos and was hopeful we could get around the problem of a soakaway with a 'rumbling drain' and would get back to us. He phoned later that afternoon to say this would be okay and we made an appointment to see him this morning to discuss the details and some other issues that had come to light - the main one being getting the grey water from our proposed utility room linked into our sewerage system.

It was stair-rodding it down this morning, so much so that the dogs refused to go out. We hadn't re-covered our hole so now it is more like a pond.

We saw Craig at 11 a.m. and the news is hopeful. As we are laying a path from the utility room down the side of the house our waste-pipe does not need to be as deep as otherwise if it is located under the path, so it looks very likely we will be able to achieve the required drop when we reach the rodding point at the front of the house. We will find out for sure when the builder comes round next week to measure the levels. The other good news is that we can position our proposed gates a lot closer to the road than we had thought - there are no actual restrictions as long as we are sensible - so we will be able to enclose a much larger area.

I had also received quotes and a rough sketch of the proposed design for the gates/railings from David (blacksmith) last week. I phoned him this morning to say I was happy with them, but proposed a small change to the detail which he said would not be a problem - it was likely that there would be other changes once the building work has been done and we have a better idea of what it all looks like...

Extension Part 3 - The Clearup

Roy started work at 8 a.m. again yesterday - it was just him doing the clearup - loading tractor/trailer and then taking the rubble away. The weather was a little dreary yesterday and then drizzle after lunch so I was not out working in the garden. When Roy finished for the day there was not much rubble left.

Jen woke me early this morning and at 7.30 a.m. I decided to get up. There is only so much whining I can take. As I was getting up I heard the first sounds of rubble being moved. I took the dogs out and Roy went past me with the first load of the day at the far side of the bridge.

At around 8.30 a.m. the digger bucket going past the sitting room window caught my attention. I went outside to see what was happening. Roy was driving the digger up and down, flattening the surface of the ground.

He said he couldn't do anything more until all the wood that had been dumped in the old barn area was removed. I got onto the phone to let Ray and Janet know that there was now access to the lengths they had cut. They arrived shortly afterwards, and we started moving it all down to nearer the road. They had not managed to get hold of Clive who has a trailer which could be used to move it up to their bungalow.

I phoned Allan to let him know the hayricks were down as he wanted some of the struts to mend a broken fence. I asked if he could do me a big favour and bring his trailer to help Ray and Janet out of their predicament. He needed to organise his day - a leaky washing machine/flooded room - and would phone me back. He got over here around midday with trailer.

We took a load up the hill and then Ray drove back down with his chainsaw to cut the ends of the longer pieces which were just a little too long for comfort in Allan's trailer. In a little over an hour all their timbers were despatched, and I had moved a large amount of the remainder that is only good for burning down to the bottom out of the way.

Allan loaded his trailer with his bits and after a coffee departed for home. Mega thanks to Allan not only for his help today but also for his suggestion of enrolling in the Berwickshire Freecycle group.

I continued clearing up what I could, dodging the showers. I cleared all except the heaviest bits that I could not move on my own, and then wandered around to Margaret's to see if she could find out when Roy was coming back. She will let me know tomorrow - the hole for the porosity test needs to be dug for Monday.

When I got back Paul was home and between us we dragged the broken trellis out of the way and cleared the remainder of the rubbish. I am now feeling quite shattered but extremely pleased with how it has all gone.

Extension Part 2 - Demolition Day

I was awoken at 8 a.m. by the sound of the start of the demolition job.

I quickly got up and wandered out. I had missed the gates coming off and the first wall coming down. Margaret was out there and introduced me to Roy. I confirmed what was to go - i.e. everything except the house and Margaret's wall.

After I fed the dogs I went back out for the next update. The wall adjoining Margaret's was down - there had been some concern that it may have been tied in but that did not prove to be the case. Work was now well underway to remove the feeding troughs.

Paul skyped me from the train to find out what was happening and to see if Jen was okay with the noise. She was pretty relaxed until there was a very loud thud when she jumped up. She soon settled back down.

At 10 a.m. it was time for the next update and dog walk. The troughs were all down, the right hand wall of the cowshed lowered and Roy was just about to start the delicate task of the wall by the road. I took the dogs up to the field.

At 11 a.m. I decided to get out in the garden. I have been making the most of the good spell of weather, and this was to be the third day in a row I have made it out there. The last two days I have been weeding the long bank, starting at the house end. Today's mission was to clear/salvage the osteospermum at the top of the drive. Most of the outside wall was down now.

By midday there was nothing left of the cowshed. Work had started on removing the concrete base. Roy pointed out that where the cowshed had been attached to the house there was a largish hole as the plaster/mortar/whatever there had been rotten and just crumbled away. This was not a total surprise - I had been fearing much worse.

I phoned Paul to let him know. He told me to phone the builder - I did but got the answering machine. I continued working in the garden, but I took the phone out with me. Roy completed the rest of the concrete removal before stopping for lunch.

After lunch the clearup started. There was a mountain of bricks, stone, earth and concrete to remove. A phone call had been made to call the tractor/trailer.

An hour later and there was still a mountain of bricks, stone, earth and concrete to remove...

And at 4 p.m. ... I phoned the builder again, and again got the answering machine. He phoned me back about 15 minutes later. He will drop in tomorrow morning to take a look. Some stone has been put to one side that could be used to patch it up.

I think they stopped working at 5 p.m. - I don't remember hearing the tractor/trailer going past for the last hour or so I was out in the garden.

State of play at end of day 1. It is going down - it must be.

Wood Wood Glorious Wood

I thought I would have no trouble getting rid of the wood from the cowshed timbers, and this is both true and untrue. If time wasn't an issue then life would be hunky dory, but we really need to get it cleared in time for the cow shed et al being demolished.

Ray and Janet came over on Wednesday to cut up some to burn on their open fire. They were having to load it into the car boot, and thus cut it up into fairly small pieces. I got out in the garden for an hour or so while they were here - up the high bank getting rid of nettles again, but each year there are less :)

I have told the neighbours with open fires that they are welcome to just come and take any they want.

Anne phoned me back on Thursday afternoon - yes, she would like it. I said I would like it taken by the end of the weekend, and there may be some other takers.

I have put aside about half a dozen large planks and some rather nice long thick poles for myself - I am contemplating making some raised beds in the new back garden sometime in the distant future.

Allan came over on Friday and took a trailer load for his garden. He mentioned trying freecycle.

This afternoon I decided to take up his suggestion and joined Berwickshire freecycle. I very quickly had two responders. One is coming over tomorrow afternoon. I have told the other I will let him know after they have been if there is any left.

I called back in on Ray and Janet on the afternoon dogwalk to see if they wanted more. I found out that Ray's chainsaw had broken whilst they were here on Wednesday, and that was why they had left relatively early. It is now fixed, so if the weather is good they will come back over tomorrow morning to cut some more.

Fingers are being crossed that it all works out...

The Taxman Cometh

Day one of the new tax year and wild horses could not have stopped him.

Paul on his laptop sorting out our tax returns and filing them online. If you know they owe you money it is great motivation...

We both did our transfers of the maximum cash allowance into ISAs.

Today we got our letters from HM Revenue and Customs. Tax rebate has been credited. God Bless 'Em!

Extension - Part 1

We had been away for a long weekend in Herefordshire with Paul's family, to celebrate Alex's fortieth birthday. We got home at 4 p.m. yesterday and then collected the dogs back from the kennels. I then wandered around to Margaret's to find out the latest on the cowshed. I noticed the cows were no longer occupants. Weather permitting the roof would come off today.

Paul was up early this morning to catch a train down to London. The dogs were very well behaved and did not wake me up. When I took them out around 10 a.m. a tractor had just arrived at the cowshed but I did not recognise the driver. I gather from Margaret that he is Ian's youngest brother. When I got back Ian was here and work had already started. I plugged in the extension cable for them through the lounge window and headed off to get my hair cut.

They had originally thought it was only going to be a couple of hours work to take the roof off, which we thought was ambitious. We were right. The tin was off when I got home, but it took the afternoon to remove the timbers. Luckily the weather has been kind today - especially having to have the window open all day - and the job is now finished. Now I am being inundated with dishomed pigeons flying into the windows. I am sure I will get some takers for the wood - a lot of houses with proper fireplaces around here.

Roll On April

March has been a very boring month. The weather has been cold/wet/windy/sleety/snowy and I have only got out into the garden one afternoon this month to prune the fruit bushes.

The plus side is that I have been ploughing on with my cardbox studying, now having reached the top 12000 mark for sevens and eights. I sometimes wonder why I spend so much time after my last couple of tourneys, but it should pay off in the long run.

I have also continued knitting, and have completed the front, back and most of a sleeve - I am making up the design as I go along, just basing the size on another pattern.

One of the highlights of the month was actually getting into the dental practice in Duns. I hate to think how much work will need doing after two and a half years...

If all goes to plan the next couple of months will be more interesting. The big thing happening is the extension. It has been about two years since we set the ball rolling on extending the house with a utility room and a sun room, using the extra land behind the house and the site of the cowshed.

The cowshed should be demolished in a couple of weeks time. We then need to get a big hole dug for a 'porosity' test, and hopefully it will pass to get the building warrant. Then work on the extensions should begin in May. We have a blacksmith coming on Wednesday to discuss gates and railings. It's all costing well over the original budget, even allowing for inflation. Still, Paul is going to be doing a few weeks work over the next couple of months so should pay for the patio and garden walls...

Knitting Is Like Riding a Bike...

I can't remember how many years it has been since I last did any knitting. This is quite amazing considering how much I used to do.

When we moved up here the wool mountain of Europe, as Paul likes to call it, came with us. I have one large camphor chest, one small handicraft box and one large removal company utility sack all filled with wool that I have accumulated from various holidays. In amongst all that I had one started jumper and one almost complete jumper that had been sitting on the needles for however long. It was probably the latter one that caused my extended break. I had realised I had gone wrong and at the time did not have the heart to work out quite how far back I needed to go.

Yesterday all that changed. I have been wasting far too much of my time hooked on games on my laptop. After clearing my cardbox in the morning rather than wasting half an hour losing at spider solitaire I got the almost finished jumper out of the camphor chest. This was from a pack bought in Iceland way back in 1995. I really cannot remember when I started/stopped working on it. I undid the last round stitch by stitch, counting as I went, and discovered I only had to undo one more round to get back on track. I appear to have skipped a row completely in the pattern.

I then started knitting. And I kept knitting. I had a break to clear my cardbox again. And then continued knitting. Before I knew it I had finished the patterned yoke and was up to the neck. Hmm - this needed to be done on a set of 4 double pointed needles. Luckily I had a set of the right size. And I could remember how to do it...

I had a phone call from Paul, who had been out playing bridge, saying they had overrun so he was only just setting off for home. I kept going. By the time he walked in the door I was just casting off.

I saved the delights of sewing it up until today. I hate this bit - I cannot understand why anyone would buy a knitting machine. At least having been knitted on a round needle it was only really the cuffs and armpits that needed doing.

A Blustery Day

We had been hearing all day reports of the bridges up here being closed to all but cars due to the high winds. Our small bench has been blown over several times - we had given up picking it back up. The newly filled bird feeder is swinging like some mad fairground ride.

I was looking out of the bedroom window, watching the white horses on the river and the twigs and leaves flying through the air on the other side of the road. I looked down and saw Paul in the garden. Then I looked across and saw the ivy-trellis on the lawn.

I raced downstairs and we managed to get it upright with a bit of a struggle, and Paul could hold it in place long enough to allow me to rescue the pots from under it.

The wind was blowing me backwards as I took this photograph...

Nature Watch at Todheugh

I awoke this morning to find a light dusting of snow.

As we set out for the morning dog walk the sun was shining and there was hardly a breath of wind - lovely weather for walking.

A rabbit ran across the road causing a little excitement just as we turned the corner by our cow shed. Down at the river I saw four ducks flapping along building up speed for take-off.

We were passed by a gritter as we made our way up the hill past Margaret's.

By the time we got to the bend in the road the wind had started to pick up. By the gate into the sheep field the clouds had moved in, blocking out the sun. By Edrom the first hail stone. I made the decision to turn round and head back home. The hail got heavier. The stones were quite large. I let out a loud ouch when one hit me on the cheek. Heads down all the way home...

The hail gave way to big fat chunky snow flakes. After half an hour this diminished to light flurries and then stopped.

I have noticed that nearly all the berries on the hawthorns have gone, unlike last year when they persisted into the spring. I am going to have to ensure that I keep the bird feeders topped up - there has been a steady flow of visitors, mainly tits, but also robins, blackbirds and a woodpecker. Mole hills are popping up all over the place - luckily not in our lawn yet.

On the garden front I have spotted quite a few vole holes in the rockery which is worrying but not much I can do about it. I love inspecting the banks to see what is coming through (snowdrops and early crocuses so far). At this time of year you can really see the structure of the beds with the bare shrubs. It is also frustrating as I can see what needs to be done but it is too cold at the moment. Maybe I am still a southern wuss...

December Synopsis

Having taken most of December catching up on November I don't really want to take most of January catching up on December. So, here is a brief summary of the highlights...

Scrabble: Four Nations Scrabble Tourney
My first 'cap' for Scotland. This year was the Irish turn to host. I had a very enjoyable long weekend in Dublin. On the Saturday evening a few of us got a taxi into the city centre...

On the scrabble front England won easily, Ireland just scraping second place from Scotland by one point. Lewis Mackay (England) put in a great performance, winning all 12 games, to snatch the highest rated player trophy at the end of the year. Wayne came second in the tourney with 10 wins and I was third with 9 wins. I finished second in the ratings, yet again, as Brett and Wale above me had not played enough games in the year to qualify.

Garden
Well, I have achieved something in flower every day in the year. Despite the extremely heavy frosts we had around Christmas the mahonias and hellebores are still blooming.

Dogs
We came back after one shopping trip to find white footprints in the hall that I had cleaned the day before. In the middle of the rug in the lounge was a bag of flour that Poncho had retrieved from the kitchen!
Jen decided to eat the display cabinet whilst we were out at the Berwick bridge club Christmas party...
The dogs have enjoyed a few runs in Margaret's field. Indeed, Poncho had a whale of a time on one occasion running through the long frosty grass trying to find hares. What is normally a half-hour walk became over an hours outing as he was enjoying himself too much. Paul had just caught him when a hare popped up, and he broke free again. Luckily the hare managed a quick escape through the gate.
On Christmas day we had just got them back on the lead when four deer came running through the field a few yards away from us. Luckily the dogs didn't see them.

Christmas/New Year
We had a quiet Christmas, just us and the dogs. Paul took the dogs out first thing and then we opened our stockings. Dog run. Roast pork followed by Christmas pud for lunch, eaten in the dining room. Short dog walk. Settled down to watch Casino Royale in the afternoon, and then we opened our prezzies.

Allan and Gilli invited us around for drinks on the 27th.

Pauls parents arrived on the afternoon of the 29th, and we had invited friends and neighbours around in the evening for drinks and nibbles.

I decided to make salmon pate as we had a large pack in the freezer. I knew Jean made mackerel pate using hummus, but could find no recipe on the internet. I decided to phone Jean and get the recipe. She wasn't sure if it would work for smoked salmon but I decided to give it a go.

200 grammes smoked salmon, blitzed in food processor
150 grammes hummus
150 grammes Philli cheese
lemon juice
Just all mixed together with a fork and then put in a bowl in the fridge.

Jean's recipe also included one ounce of melted butter to help bind it together, but I forgot about this despite weighing it out, and it seemed fine without it... It did get Jean's approval :)

Hogmanay was quiet, although we did all stay up with a bottle of champagne, watching Jools's Hootenany. Nobody came first footing.

Paul's parents left this morning so we are now back to normal, barring the large amount of cakes/biscuits/chocolates etc. that need to be eaten before the diet starts again...

India Part 5 - Agra

We were picked up by our driver at just before 9 a.m. for our onward journey to Agra. The road again was not good, still being under construction in many places. Despite this we were pleased we were not flying between our destinations as we got to see so much more of 'real life'.

We never sussed out what the school hours were, but all morning there was a steady flow of children in school uniforms walking on the roadside to/from the villages. At one point there was a large group of them who decided to play chicken with our car. Our driver ended up having to stop, and I am guessing some choice Hindustani was shouted at them through the window...

We are not sure quite what was happening regarded our scheduled stop at Fatehpur Sikri on the way in to Agra - there was a sequence of phone calls to our driver. He then asked us whether we wanted to stop at a bird sanctuary as we were ahead of schedule -okay. We pulled in at the Keoladeo Ghana National Park. We had an hour. We hired a bicycle rickshaw and a guide, but with only an hour to spare we couldn't get far into the park. We did get to see an eagle owl and a few water birds. We then had to insist that we needed to get back to the car. As it was we were about an hour and a quarter. We then asked our guide/rickshaw man how much, and got the very annoying 'whatever you want' response. We paid them for 2 hours but they were obviously hoping for more...

We carried on to Fatehpur Sikri. We actually picked up our guide a little way out and drove to the car park, and then had to walk a little way to where we were supposed to get an eco bus to the actual site. We had been waiting quite a while and no sign of a bus. It was getting a little late by now so our guide decided we should walk to the main road and take a tuktuk, which we did. There then appeared to be a bit of an argument between our guide and the ticket desk - I guess they were saying it was too late for us to get in but eventually they relented.

However, our tour around was relatively rushed and by the time we got to Jami Masjid it was starting to get dark.

By the time we got back to our car it was very dark. The rest of the journey to Agra was a little scary. Visibility was dreadful with either smog or dust, and there were still a lot of unlit bicycles, scooters and carts on the road.

It appeared to be a very popular day for weddings - we were held up in several towns where the wedding appeared to be using the road for its guest overspill. We were actually getting very good at spotting weddings by the time we got to our hotel, the Clark Shiraz, in Agra - band, loud speakers and groom on a horse.

We ate in the hotel and got an early night.

We were up before the crack of dawn the next morning to go to see the sun rise over the Taj Mahal. Our guide rather spoiled the 'wow' moment for me of seeing it for the first time as you walked through the gates, by rushing us on up to his favoured viewing spot.

The sunrise was a little disappointing as it was a bit smoggy so it was hard to tell when sunrise had actually happened.

The good thing about going so early was that there were not too many other tourists there at that time.

Although the decorative panels and calligraphy are very impressive, we thought it was most beautiful when viewed from a distance.


I didn't quite manage the full reflection in this classic view, but I was vying with other tourists by this time.


Back to the hotel and breakfast before setting out again for our city tour. Agra Fort was well worth the visit.

We then had great fun crossing the river, against most other traffic coming towards us. There is a new bridge a little further up which we used to get back which was a lot better - dual-carriage way that appeared to be adhered to.

We went on to Itimad-ud-Daulah's Tomb, set in well maintained gardens.

This was very beautiful, with lovely mosaics, marble screens and the very impressive dome-shaped roof/ceiling of the tomb chamber itself.

And then onto a demonstration of the inlaid marble work (Pietra dura/pachikari). It was actually quite fascinating to see how it was done, but then we were inevitably ushered in to the attached shop. There were some beautiful pieces but they were not cheap, and we were all shopped out by this point. Unfortunately I have too good taste and was not prepared to pay the price for it or settle on something cheaper...

Back to the hotel. Our driver took us out to a couple more shops in the late afternoon, but again we did not succumb.

We ate in the hotel again in the evening. Paul was getting blase, and had some spicy soup. This was a big mistake - half-way through the main course and he had to make a hasty trip to the loo.
We were picked up the next morning after breakfast (Paul sticking to cereal) to go back to Delhi. We had decided to cancel our rearranged Old Delhi trip - we were tired and had seen enough forts and tombs. We arrived back at the Connaught mid-afternoon. We had thought about going to the Railway Museum, but decided it was a little late and Paul was still feeling a little dodgy. We did venture down to the coffee shop late afternoon but this set Paul off again shortly afterwards. Fruit and buscuits had appeared in our room when we got back upstairs, and this sustained me until we were picked up late in the evening for our transfer to the airport.

Other than one dash to the loo while we were queuing to get through security Paul was okay. I spent our last remaining rupees on coffee and biscuits. Our flight was on time, 3.25 a.m., and we slept most of the way home.

It was as much a shock returning home to around zero temperatures as it had been the reverse on our way out. The airport parking firm we used was very good, and our car was waiting for us when we got off the transfer bus. We got home just after midday to find our boiler had broken down - the house was freezing. We got the dogs back in the afternoon. The electric fire was kept on full in the lounge and we put the dogs coats on at night until the boiler was fixed a couple of days later. Hot water bottles are wonderful things...

India Part 3 - Delhi/Jaipur

It took over an hour to get out of Delhi and its sprawling suburbs to the highway to Jaipur. The traffic in Delhi was worse than Mumbai in as much as Mumbai has banned tuk-tuks from the city centre and Delhi hasn't. Add to that a lot more carts and scooters and the odd cow/water buffalo to get the picture.

The highway was interesting. It was common for vehicles to be driving on the wrong side of the "dual carriage" way towards us, but as Paul said we only saw a couple of them also being overtaken! The road itself was very good, and unlike here, there were an abundance of large petrol stations all the way along it.

I was fascinated by the pampas grass that grew like weeds all along the roadside. I did notice that around the villages bundles of it had been cut and were drying, possibly to be used as fodder. Another common sight was the cow-patties drying on the tops of walls and then piled high - presumably they are used as fuel.

We went through a lot of towns of varying sizes, and this always meant a traffic snarl up - the degree depending upon the size of the town - probably because the main road actually went through the centre of the towns. None of this namby-pamby slip road nonsense...

The small towns/villages all looked very similar to me. The outskirts generally had a lot of plastic litter. Kiosk type shops lining the roadside - concrete open-fronted cubes. The occasional 'cafe' - a lot of coloured plastic chairs out front, invariably with a few men sitting around. Livestock either tethered to trees or wandering freely. At the start of the journey this was mainly cattle and goats, but as we got closer to Jaipur we started seeing camels. And more and more camels.

As we approached Amber these were joined by the occasional elephant - presumably on its way back from the Amber Fort.

We stopped for lunch at Amber and then continued on into Jaipur.

Driving through Jaipur was an experience - combining all the vehicles, livestock and animal-drawn carts with narrow streets and alley ways as we made our way to our hotel, the Mansingh.

Our driver had arranged to come back in the erly evening to take us shopping - but we were not to tell our guide the next day. This entailed going to a jewellers - it is one of the things Jaipur is known for. Paul escaped this time...

We were not hungry in the evening and ended up in the hotel bar. We got chatting to an Australian and his girlfriend. There were a couple of other girls with them that they had met up with on their travels, one of whom came from Dunbar. It's a small world...


The next day we were up early, leaving the hotel at 6 a.m. for our trip to the Amber Fort. This was to ensure we got our tourist elephant ride up to the fort. We had to queue for an hour or so, fending off the hawkers. At least it was not too hot at that time in the morning.

We got back to the hotel in time for a late breakfast, before we were picked up again for our city tour.

Hawa Mahal - built to allow the ladies of the harem to watch the goings on of the outside world without being observed themselves.

One of Paul's favourite places on this trip was the observatory - Jantar Mantar. This is one of five observatories built by Sawai Jai Singh II, and is the largest and best preserved.

We also were taken around the City Palace Museum. I particularly liked the textiles and costumes gallery.

Then on to the obligatory carpet-making and block-printing demonstration. And on to another jewellers. At least now I had something to compare prices with. We went back to the first shop in the evening...

We ate in the hotel in the evening. Although I had brought a dress with me I had left my sandals back in Delhi. Oh well - the trainers had to do.

We had a leisurely breakfast the next morning before checking out. We had arranged with our driver a 10 a.m. pickup for the onward journey to Ranthambore.

India Part 2 - Mumbai/Delhi

I am falling way behind on my blogging. This is down to real life catching up with me now. I am currently on a housework binge, having neglected it for God knows how long building up to the WSC. I will make an effort over the next few days to at least complete the India trip.

After the final Paul, Di Dennis and I grabbed a taxi into the city to go shopping in the state emporiums. We stopped off for a beer before walking back to Di's hotel to meet up with a few others to go out for dinner. Ed Martin and his Swedish girlfriend (Karin?), who had just flown in, Shane O'Neill and Greger joined us. We went upstairs in Leopolds to the air-con section where the food was plentiful but the service was nowhere near as good.

When we got back to the Taj Allan and Phil were getting ready to go to the airport - we had given them one of our keycards so they could use our room after they had checked out of theirs. The Maltese contingent were still around - David and Jojo were also flying out that night, but Theresa and her new husband, Geoff, were going on to Goa the next day for their honeymoon. A few other players were also hanging around killing time before going to the airport.

The next morning Paul and I were able to take full advantage of breakfast - theoretically buffet but it was frowned upon to actually help yourself. A waiter asked what you wanted and then brought it to you. After we had finished we briefly joined Robert Lynn, his wife and Philip Nelkon before packing and checking out. We put our bags into the hotel storage and then took a taxi to Fab India for a last shopping spree in Mumbai. We went to an art gallery for lunch before heading back to the hotel to kill time.

We were picked up in the afternoon and transferred to the central railway station for our onward journey to Delhi. There was some confusion as to which coach we were in, but it was eventually sorted out. We were in a 4-berth air-con sleeper. There was one other passenger in our cabin who was only going part way. Our steward brought us fruit juice and English language newspapers. A 3-course dinner arrived later. Our cabin mate departed and was replaced by an elderly couple who were also fed. They looked a little worried until they determined that they were on the lower berths and Paul and I were on the upper. The steward got the berths ready and lights out. I actually slept quite well. Lights back on, beds stowed away and breakfast arrived. We were about an hour late, arriving in Delhi about 10.30 a.m.

We were met at the station and transferred to our hotel, the Connaught. This was a little disappointing - the lobby was quite plush but our room was quite shabby. After a shower and change of clothes we headed out to get our bearings. We had intended to walk to Connaught Place but were waylaid by a tuk-tuk driver. He offered us a deal of taking us on a shopping tour, and if we didn't like/buy anything he would not charge us. The first place was no good but undeterred on to another. We were shown lots of bedspreads and after much haggling we did indeed buy a couple, one of which I will use as a cover for our dining table as it is very hard to get anything that is big enough! We went onto one other up-market store but did not buy, before heading home and paying our man.

In the afternoon we had an organised trip to the Baha'i House of Worship in Delhi, also known as the Lotus Temple. This was very tranquil after the traffic jams through Delhi to reach it.

We did not have to worry about finding somewhere to eat in the evening - we had a complimentary welcome meal in the hotel.

The next day we had a full city tour on the itinerary.

First stop was Rashtrapati Bhavan - the President of India's official residence - designed by Edwin Lutyens. The gates are as impressive as the building. Unfortunately it was extremely hazy - presubably smog again - so the views from here were not very good.

Next onto a Hindu temple - no photographs or shoes allowed.

The next stop was the Qutb Complex. This large complex was built by the Sultans of Delhi, started by Qutbuddin Aibak and added to by later Muslim sultans. It, like many other historical sites we visited, is undergoing restoration.

The Qutb Minar is extremely impressive - a five storey high Victory Tower.

Iltutmish's tomb - who succeeded Qutbuddin Aibak and completed building the Qutb Minar.

I was hoping it was going to be lunch now as I was beginning to need the loo, but no. On to Himayun's tomb. Our guide did not come with us inside and had not appreciated that how fast we could walk. There was no sign of him when we got back so we headed back to the car, assuming he would be there. Our driver let is in and we waited. Eventually our driver rang his mobile to let him know we were waiting in the car - he had gone off to get something to eat!

We were heading back slowly through the traffic jams to a restaurant for lunch - it was now well gone 2 p.m. and I was getting desperate by the time we stopped.

In the afternoon we were supposed to 'do' Old Delhi. The traffic was absolutely awful, and the two routes our driver tried had been closed by the police. We gave up - never knew why the roads had been shut. Our guide said he would try to rearrange the trip for the afternoon before we eventually flew home from Delhi. We headed back to our hotel.

In the evening we ventured out to find DV8 in Connaught Place - a restaurant recommended in our guidebook as serving good value steaks. We found it but it looked as if it had shut down - it certainly was not open. We headed back towards the hotel - we had spotted a small restaurant close by. We were the only tourists in there and had a very good Chinese meal.

The next morning we re-packed, putting one bag of non-essentials into storage - we were returning to the same hotel prior to our flight home. We were picked up by our same car/driver who was to be with us for the rest of our trip, next stop Jaipur.

WSC Final

I don't intend to go into details of the final games here - these can be seen at the WSC site. I hope to give you an idea of the atmosphere. Also post some of the photos that didn't fit into the previous blog entries...

We had been asked to assemble in the playing area at 9 a.m. wearing our scrabble polo shirts as Mattel were filming a promotional video for the event. This entailed filming both Nigel and Ganesh as winner/runner-up prior to the final itself.

I think Ganesh was auditioning for Bollywood - he had us all killing ourselves with laughter as he leapt up and down in delight at winning, and then shuffling onto the stage with his head down and looking so despondent as the runner-up. Nigel was his normal unconcerned self in both shots.

The hotel provided a cake for the finalists...

It was rather a large cake so we all got to taste it.

There was a delay before the final started, presumably for interviews and getting the cameras set up for the final etc. This provided an opportunity to catch up with more people and take more photos.

Ganesh and Nigel were both very relaxed...








Naween and Harshan, both from Sri Lanka, but representing Australia and England respectively.

I took the opportunity to get all the ladies together for a photo shoot.
Back Row: Joanne Craig (NZ), Lynne Butler (NZ), Wilma Vialli (Aus-TD) Odette Rio (Phi), Di Dennis (Eng), Loretta Alban (Qat)
Front Row: Theresa Camilleri (Malta), me (Eng), Suanne Ong (Mal)

The final eventually got under way, with Nigel taking a 2-0 lead before lunch. The audience reassembled, hoping for a more closely fought game(s) than the first two. The third game was more exciting, but Nigel emerged victorious - the 2007 World Scrabble Champion.

The stage was then prepared for the prize ceremony.

Wilma presented the prizes for 10th to 6th in party mood - bopping about to the music. A couple of the recipients joined in on their way to the stage. The Mattel head of scrabble in India presented 5th and 4th prizes - he looked a bit sheepish when Wilma cajoled him to bop :)

3rd place: Wellington Jighere
This was the first time I had seen him without his hat...
Third place is pretty amazing for a first time competitor. He was unlucky not to be in the final, having had to play Nigel in the last round of the tournament proper for the place.

2nd place: Ganesh
Ganesh was a lot more gracious in defeat than he had been for the pre-final filming.

1st place: Nigel Richards
Nigel was as laid back and underwhelmed as ever.

There was something of a party atmosphere. The hotel produced another cake for the winner. People were milling around as various combinations of players were gathered on the stage for photographs.

Team Malaysia
The most successful team (Suanne 12th, Ganesh 2nd)

Team Thailand
(Komol, Panupol, Gerry, Weera, Charnwit)
I really think that more teams should have a 'uniform'. In day one it was yellow (the King's colour). Day two this very smart navy blue. Gerry said there was nothing for day 3, just try to colour-coordinate their T-shirts :)

The competitors: