Festive fun with Friends

So today we were having our good friends Nicky and Mark visit for the weekend for some festive fun but before they arrived Bassam was coming round to complete the roofing job that he and John had started earlier in the week.  We had expected him early which normally means before 8.00am but he didn't pitch up until 9.30 with Lola in tow!!!

Whilst the men were doing the roof I had to entertain Lola which entailed teaching her the rudiments of the game Rummikub which she actually grasped quite quickly and enjoyed and having her as my sous-chef making the dough for naan breads.  Actually she was really good and had it not been for the fact that Nicky and Mark were on their way and I was sporting my Worzel Gummidge look once again I wouldn't have been so keen to get Lola and Bassam on their way.

Nicky and Mark bought the house that Mum and Dad had built in Emba and John and I always loved that house so whilst we were initially disappointed that we couldn't buy it we were glad it went to a nice couple and we have subsequently become good friends - we only get together a few times a year but when we do it is fun.  Their style is much more minimalist than ours.  There is a part of me which would love to embrace cleaner less cluttered lines but our home is filled with 'stuff', 'stuff' which has taken a lifetime to accummulate!  Mark and Nicky call it comfortable and cosy and I just call it cluttered - not helped by the fact that when John and I agree to have a cull we then cannot agree on what goes and what stays so it all stays and then gets added to.

We started our day in the warmth of the conservatory before going down to Latchi for a walk in the winter sunshine along the coast to the harbour and a spot of lunch.  Up this end of the island we are considerably colder than where Mark and Nicky live in Emba so they come prepared which is sensible.  We parked up at La Plage and meandered to Molos where a steak sandwich was beckoning.

We actually sat outside to have our lunch.  It was fairly busy for a Saturday this time in December when most people are concentrating on Christmas Shopping.  Whilst the sun was shining and above the line of the roof tops it was very pleasant but once it began to slip behind the buildings there was a definite chill on the harbour-side - it would have been much warmer on the other side but then you only get a view of the road and the traffic, the bins and the carpark!

Nicky and I wandered back to the carpark setting the world to rights and talking about our hopes and plans for the forthcoming year.  We then went off to investigate the area around the ornamental boat because Nicky and her Mum do something called geocaching and there is apparently a location somewhere there although Nicky couldn't remember exactly where!

By the time we had scouted round a bit Mark and John had made it back to the car, it was getting cooler and I had the keys so we never did locate the cache.

We had great plans to play lots of games together during the course of the evening but let's just say we didn't make it.  After we had got home and relaxed a bit and then had a couple of drinks it was time for supper and I had done an Indian as I know they like that.  We had poppadoms with dips, I had made the raita, lemon pickle and Indian onion salad but not the mango chutney and then we had chicken massaman curry with rice and home made naans and to finish a cardamom cream with mango, ginger and lime topping.  I was disappointed in the mango which was a strange texture and rather flavourless - I think it may have been frozen or super chilled before coming to the supermarket.  Too full, too tipsy and too tired to do much else we slobbed out on the sofas before turning in for the night!