Arrived!

Although the flight was delayed by almost an hour I spent it very happily chatting to a guy who works with FlyDubai on the ground doing something technical and whose whole family seem to be pilots.

I whinged quite a lot about previous flights and how it is unfair that Matt's flights always take on time and I never quite manage to arrive in the dark because of delay in the flight or at immigration.

I don't know how Mark (FlyDubai guy) managed it but I slept the whole way, the staff were charming, we parked next to the airport so there was no bus and there was literally no queue at immigration.

So I arrived in the dark and, by the time I had unpacked and found a jumper, I was all wrapped up and watching the sun rise with the puppies (who remember to sit, go down and give the paw!). It's now 6am and I'm going to walk on the new grass in the gradual light and then treat myself to a fabulous shower before a short nap. Then I've got to get to work for a while - I'm quite looking forward to it!

I haven't spoken with Brayen and Julia yet but they are apparently getting aruyvedic treatment and, although the injuries look very painful, they are not in any way life-threatening and both should be completely recovered soon. I'll speak with them later today and find out how they are. I'm not sure exactly where they are and may even visit them if I can be of any assistance.

If you are good at talking pictures please consider yourselves invited (Jamie? Harry?) as I would love someone to capture the light here - every photo I take is a disaster!

Accident!

So I'm off to Sri Lanka in a few hours to get some work done, see the puppies and chill a little.

Sadly I won't be able to see Brayen and Julia as they had a motor-bike accident (no broken bones thank God but bruised, scraped and battered so off to get some aruyvedic treatment with the family).

Luckily Brayen's family are nearby and were able to step in. This means that I won't be left entirely bereft when there (and, of course, I always have the trusty Ramesh to get me places) and they were able to make sure the grass got planted. We have grass!

Not everywhere. But we have grass. And sprinklers so we don't have to water it.

To say I'm excited would be a crazy understatement!

No more sleeps and I'm there...

More on the flower tower

It feels hotter here than in the UAE but that's probably because it's been remarkably chilly in Dubai recently. I mean, the weather has actually been pretty fabulous with lunches outside and drinks outside in the evening equally lovely. 

Here it seems hot and I feel for the workmen doing the outside walls but am, nonetheless, delighted that the outside is finally finished!  Now all we have to do is plumbing, electricity, tiling, putting in mirror and shelves etc. fixing the steps and then finishing it all off by planting flowers in the "pots" built into the building and more around the flower tower itself. And most of the decisions about that can be made this trip. Those of you who know me will not be surprised to hear I've made a list! 

I feel  like these workmen have been maligned by me. It hadn't occurred to me how difficult it must be to get all the tiles to match up when they aren't uniform shapes and how much time it must take. They were actually here early this morning and caught me in the shower!

In other news

1) we're also hoping to cover the back wall with sugar cane. Unless anyone has better ideas?  

2) there seems to be a much pronounced noise of crickets and a reduction in the cawing of crows

3) we've had an influx of white seeds from one of the trees 

4) Brayen and Yuliya successfully got me an extended visa. Hurrah! 

No photos yet as although I am taking them I'm struggling with sharing. I'll probably do so when back in Dubai.  In any case, they aren't great - I wasn't blessed with a good eye but I'm hoping to get others, with more talent and knowledge, to take some better ones soon. You'll be especially amused/annoyed by my attempt to capture what the white seeds look like in case someone can tell me what they are?

Today, Matthew, I'll mostly be....

It's 0541 in Dubai so 0711 here and I'm now safe and sound on the terrace. The puppies have been petted (and then ignored as they tore my dress - do dogs need to get their nails clipped? I'm sitting on the terrace having unpacked and had a bit of a chat Bryan and wandered around looking at trees and the progress. I am now relaxed. 

It is slow but steady. I can't help feeling that it should be possible to do more than one thing at a time but it does like everything is very time-intensive. It's going to take Brayen and Yuliya a few hours to get to Colombo and update my visa. I couldn't bear queuing at the airport after  what was not a great flight as there was a drunk man shouting on the plane.

The outside washroom remains enormous but is being transformed into what will be a "tower of flowers". If the workmen actually turn up today we may even finish the external tiling. And then everybody goes off for a few days for Easter. 

I'm giving myself today off to relax (listen to the Archers, write this, have a shower outside, read my book, do yoga, eat fruit, get chilly and put on a jumper), watch this episode of Corrie (my dirty little secret!) and then tomorrow I'm going to do a day of work. I'm looking forward to it as I've got some interesting things to prepare. There will likely be quite a lot of noise as it's Easter and there are likely to be lots of celebrations. 

Matt arrives on Saturday so I will have delicious food and cocktails  and we can drink the bottle of champagne I bought and read books and talk nonsense and do yoga and get to know each other and plan out the garden and hang out. Hurrah! I might even really try to get the dogs to chase the crows this time. They are so cheeky! Oh, yes and we might do a video for a TV show. Hmmmm.......

We have a Facebook page! You can see the pretty photos here. https://www.facebook.com/iwuraonline

The bomb site

It's lunchtime. 4 hours since work started and 8 hours since I got here and saw this.

Biryanis for all are on their way. Possibly with two more rakes to assist in the raking of the ground.. I doubt it though as I personally tried three places and all sold the business end of a rake but none the handles. Quite frustrating. Especially when the ice-cream you're adding to the biryani bribe is melting in the back of the tuk-tuk. Ramesh, the tuk tuk driver, is a very nice guy who earnestly wants to do well. His utter lack of English and nerves make him a little difficult at times, however and if he had asked me one more time if I really needed a handle for the rakes (each!) I might have lost it.

While they've been working with some great results already, I've been to the bank, met with my lawyer, written a long letter, made a lot of decisions and did a lot of discussing. Bought vegetables and limes and ice and now I'm starting to flag. I've had 2 hours sleep in 31 and today has been quite stressful as I really didn't want to sit in a building site for the next few days which are supposed to be about relaxing after a busy month.

That starts when all of the very good workmen who have been here today leave tonight, not to come back until Monday. And it really starts when M and J arrive tomorrow. 

My toes remain in the most disgusting unpedicured state ever as I have been too busy to get to a salon. I did get the skin nibbling fish treatment for a few minutes whilst waiting to speak to my lawyer (now, you don't get that in Dubai!) and was genuinely disturbed by how many fish could nibble at once. It felt quite peculiar and I want to go back there and do it again after the pedicure that I will be enjoying with J tomorrow.

My next task is to find out how to do that and to try to make an appointment. Everybody I've met so far, bar maybe a few people, seem not to want to plan more than about 3 seconds ahead. I find it infuriating but recognise that that very fact is part of why I love it here. It forces me to slow down.

Still, can't wait to see what they'll have done by nightfall. There will be pictures soon....

Finally in SL with bloods done and an enforced holiday because tomorrow is Saturday and a local festival.  The journey over was fine but it's been a very hectic few weeks and I'm tired. New and annoying driver which is no different from my daily life but now at home sitting on the terrace smelling stock simmering for tom yam soup tomorrow, listening to the birds and music from the local festival (yet to get annoying) and looking at the water and the newly purchased, in honour of Feb 4, Sri Lankan flags blowing in the wind. Is it me or there are a lot of Sri Lankan festivals?