The big event of the last 10 days was our Battle of Britain party. We invited about 50 adults plus kids, put a large awning up in the back garden, hired chairs, tables, lights and a sound system, and bought enough food and drink to feed, well, about 50 people! Neil decorated the house with pictures of Battle of Britain aircraft, the infamous Spitfire Beer adverts and model Spitfires and Hurricanes, which hung around the house, frozen in battle! Everyone loved the food, but I’m afraid, that apart from paying for it, we could take no credit. Fathima spent 2 days marinating chicken, tiger prawns and steak, making salads, rice, chocolate brownies and mountains of parathas, and then Anandh spent all night working the BBQ.
 |
| Preparing for the party - the Combat Air Patrol is airborne! |
Apart from all the usual suspects, we had some surprise guests from the US Embassy who were visiting the 2 US officers on the course, and the manager of the local cordite factory also came along with the US attachés. Neil made a short speech to remember the few, and of course he insisted on playing some war tunes and his usual 80s mix on the iPod, and much to Louise’s surprise and disappointment, everyone seemed to enjoy it! Our Indian guests were unbelievably generous in the gifts they brought us – wall hangings, brass ornaments, silver ornaments, cushion covers, flowers, alcohol and boxes and boxes of chocolates, which we’ve had to hide from Daisy. Daisy stayed up till about 11pm, before she was so exhausted that she had to go to bed, and was asleep before Louise had finished reading a bedtime story to her, but the party went on till about 2am, and it was a really great night, although we did miss Elaine, Chelsea and Chris, the RN officer, who was otherwise detained (more of that later…)
 |
| The party in full swing |
We were also lucky enough to have Cate and Nige Driscoll visiting us over that weekend, who had come to see us for 3 nights midway through their holiday in India. It was great to have some visitors from home as it seems a long time now since Jayne was here, and they bought us a whole bag full of much-needed rations. Louise showed them round the market and the town (and shops) of Coonoor, which Nige was very patient with, and Neil gave them a quick tour of the College. And the day after the party, we took them to Ooty for the afternoon, for a tour of the town, a bit more shopping and some Dominos pizza! They left early on Sunday morning, and we were very sad to see them go, but looking forward to our next visitors this weekend - Nana and Grandad!
 |
| Cate, Louise and Ian enjoying a drink at the party |
Nana and Grandad will be here for 2 weeks, over the period that Neil will be away on the Forward Area Tour for 10 days, so it’ll be nice for Louise and the girls to have some company whilst he’s away. He’s off to Tezpur in the very north-east of the country, on the border with China, Nepal and Bhutan. He’s really looking forward to this trip as it’s a very difficult place for tourists to get to and most Indians themselves have never been there. He’s not looking forward to all the bus travel though, which begins with 11 hours in a bus (not a coach) to Bangalore airport, and includes long drives up to 18,000ft and back down again. Louise isn’t sure how he’s going to cope with the reduced supply of oxygen to his brain at that height! We’re hoping that he might be able to return some roving reports home for the blog whilst he’s away, but we’ll have to wait and see…
 |
| Here's a random picture of the girls in the garden wearing their new t-shirts from Nana and Bampa |
The other news of the last week or so is that poor Chris, the RN officer, has had a boil on his bottom that has required 7 days of hospitalisation! The infection unfortunately spread to his lymph glands and he needed intravenous antibiotics, so has had to stay bed-ridden in hospital whilst the swelling has been slowly reducing. He has been allowed home for showers and some home-cooking, but only for an hour or two at a time, and he’s desperately hoping to be discharged today. His poor wife, Nicola, is hoping that this will be their third and final piece of bad luck, after their diabetic daughter was hospitalised earlier on in the year, the sad death of their dog a few weeks ago, and now this! Chris is in good spirits though and taking all the banter well – “sick note”, “weaker Service” and many bottom jokes etc etc…
No picture provided of Chris' bottom (thankfully!)
