I had two weeks of normalcy before Ramadan arrived and just under three weeks before the family returned.
Going back to work was not a struggle as the three weeks in Bali had had a definite revitalizing effect on me and, although I had intended to sort out all the little odd jobs around the house, my jet lag was murder. It seemed ages before I stopped waking up at stupid o’clock and wanting to go to bed before it was dark. Predictably the evenings were a complete washout, so I was determined to be active at the weekend.
My first opportunity came thanks to a diving buddy at work, at trip to the Daymaniyats in the hope of seeing a whale shark that had been hanging around. Unfortunately, on the day the weather took a turn for the worse and we were forced to take a rather pedestrian alternative in the opposite direction. Oh well, at least I got to play with my new underwater camera.
A big Thank You to those family members who contributed to my 40th Birthday present, making the purchase of this camera possible. I think you’ll agree that the difference in quality is amazing.
So fired up after a day of diving, I decided to spend the second day of my weekend tidying up and doing odd jobs around the house. An early start meant beating the heat and I had all the outside jobs finished before 9am. I then retreated inside and thought it best to give my workshop a tidy up. I had put all the tools away, swept up and organised every thing on the workbench before tackling an adjustment bolt on the pillar drill. Well, the bolt was tight and when it came loose, my arm came around in a perfect arc at which point I punched the side of the drill housing. Ouch!
I had neatly split my right index finger from knuckle to knuckle down to the bone, which meant a swift trip to Muscat Private Hospital.
The medical staff, spurred from their boredom by the sight of blood, rushed into action and, shortly afterwards I had the unforgettable experience of having a syringe full of iodine injected directly into the cut (without warning). A few choice words later and the doctor arrived and promptly anesthetised the wound (before the iodine might have been better!). Fortunately, I hadn’t damaged the tendons, but I could see that for myself, so six stitches later I was heading home with the instruction that I was to keep the finger dry for at least a week. No more diving for me then, grrrrrrrr #$@*&#$!!!
I am showing the photo again in the vain hope of a little sympathy from more people than just my wife!!!!!!!!!!
Becky, on the other hand (excuse the pun), was feeling the strain of being a single parent in Bali. Being woken each morning at six am by a demanding two year old was taking its toll and, then some thoughtful neighbour decided to open up a night club (8pm – 4am) next door and play REALLY LOUD MUSIC all night.
After three consecutive nights of little or no sleep, it was decided that enough was enough. A new home for the final week had been sourced via a friend of a friend, which turned out to be a little slice of heaven.
The villas had only just been completed and were not officially ready for business, so the stay was to be a ‘shake down cruise’ for the staff.
When you are getting it for a fraction of the official cost, the odd teething trouble is nothing to write home about.
It would appear to be fortunate happenstance that the new villa came with LCD TV’s, satellite and DVD players as, ‘Shock/Horror’ our new MacBook DVD drive (for the new laptops) had mysteriously stopped working trapping a disc inside!!!
Jump forward in time a week and a half, the boys are in bed, asleep and Becky and I relaxing on the sofa at home. I picked up the ‘busted’ drive and plugged it in to my laptop, a couple of ‘whirrs’ then nothing. I scratched my head and tried a couple of ideas, still nothing, the stuck disc would not eject or play. Thinking outside the box and off the wall, I picked up a spare dvd and slid it into the players slot. Imagine my surprise when the player not only picked up the disc but began playing it too!
So the reason that Becky couldn’t play or eject the disc in Bali, was because there wasn’t one in the machine to begin with. Is there something about turning forty that makes technology become automatically incomprehensible???
So the family has now returned home, happy and as brown as berries and a really big surprise is Oscar’s swimming. Only two years and two months old and he is swimming without arm bands. He has also very definite opinions as to what is and, what is not acceptable for him and boy can he pout and scowl!!!!
And since everything (well almost everything) is closed for Ramadan, swimming is our major weekend past time, so Oscar will get in a lot of practice in the coming weeks!
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