Where the boat house will hopefully appear in the not too distant future
As per usual I have been trying to post this blog for a while and due to internet frailties I have not been successful, so all this news is slightly delayed and back dates Tash's post below, sorry!
Big news blog reader (I am guessing there is probably only one of you), the boats are confirmed to be on their way to the Maldives, we have the bill of laden from the shipping company – it is massively exciting news! Terrifying news as I have an awful lot to do to prepare for their arrival and things are moving at a pace a slug would be infuriated by! Hopefully the imminent arrival of 7 brand new boats should give me the impetus and those around me to get a move on, although I have learnt to rely on others very gingerly as talk is very cheap and over used here, actions are a rarer commodity. At the moment as far as a boat house goes, we have a scrubby patch of land with features including a selection of odd shoes, old cement sacks and large concrete blocks hampering access to the water, so not an ideal starting point. However if I have to set too with a pickaxe and spade myself I will. It is undeniably a challenge, however on the positive side Ramadan takes place during August, meaning that even if everything was ready to go no Muslims (the only permitted religion here) would be able to use them. If I am teaching a granny to suck eggs then excuse me but, during a fast Muslims do not eat or drink during daylight hours and this means they will not go in the water in case they swallow water. With conditions on the beach challenging enough I could not safely teach after dark so there will be no swimming lessons either, this means that I will have until September to prepare for rowing to begin. I cannot deny that I am going to have a bit of a holiday during August too, hopefully even a flit over to India which is only an hour’s flight away but more of that later.
Another imminent arrival is Tash – whoop diddy whoop, am jolly excited for her arrival, although she will have two boat houses to set up down on Addu so probably a much bigger challenge awaits her. Prior to Tash’s departure she has had some cartilage taken off her knee and is just waiting for it to heal before she comes over here. Although we will be in the same country we will be very far apart, the flight down to Addu is about an hour and half from Male, and the boat trip far far longer it will be reassuring to have someone to share triumphs and disasters with.
Big news blog reader (I am guessing there is probably only one of you), the boats are confirmed to be on their way to the Maldives, we have the bill of laden from the shipping company – it is massively exciting news! Terrifying news as I have an awful lot to do to prepare for their arrival and things are moving at a pace a slug would be infuriated by! Hopefully the imminent arrival of 7 brand new boats should give me the impetus and those around me to get a move on, although I have learnt to rely on others very gingerly as talk is very cheap and over used here, actions are a rarer commodity. At the moment as far as a boat house goes, we have a scrubby patch of land with features including a selection of odd shoes, old cement sacks and large concrete blocks hampering access to the water, so not an ideal starting point. However if I have to set too with a pickaxe and spade myself I will. It is undeniably a challenge, however on the positive side Ramadan takes place during August, meaning that even if everything was ready to go no Muslims (the only permitted religion here) would be able to use them. If I am teaching a granny to suck eggs then excuse me but, during a fast Muslims do not eat or drink during daylight hours and this means they will not go in the water in case they swallow water. With conditions on the beach challenging enough I could not safely teach after dark so there will be no swimming lessons either, this means that I will have until September to prepare for rowing to begin. I cannot deny that I am going to have a bit of a holiday during August too, hopefully even a flit over to India which is only an hour’s flight away but more of that later.
Another imminent arrival is Tash – whoop diddy whoop, am jolly excited for her arrival, although she will have two boat houses to set up down on Addu so probably a much bigger challenge awaits her. Prior to Tash’s departure she has had some cartilage taken off her knee and is just waiting for it to heal before she comes over here. Although we will be in the same country we will be very far apart, the flight down to Addu is about an hour and half from Male, and the boat trip far far longer it will be reassuring to have someone to share triumphs and disasters with.
Other news worthy events – it was my birthday on Tuesday and with the grand total of one card and no alcohol it was the quietest birthday I have had in many years. My one card was mad by one of the youth offenders I teach, who all insisted on wishing me happy birthday every 10 minutes, but then spoilt it all by telling me I was old and needed to have children before I died soon! By a happy coincidence the mother of one of the students (a grade 1 boy, not a young offender yet), brought tea and short eats down to the beach for the class, not knowing it was my birthday but because the weather was truly miserable. So a lovely tea party on the beach before a pizza (my first since I arrived) with friends in the evening, added up to not a bad birthday at all!
Looking exceptionally red after the race with a fresher looking friend!
Last Friday was the Male Road Race which I foolishly signed up for, although only 5km and I had practiced the route before several times, I was ill prepared, however so were most of the other people running! Having not run during the day my body was wholly unprepared for 310c heat and the run was an altogether horrible experience. I cannot tell you how I did as I could not see a clock when I finished and the results are not published, however it was not a totally fruitless experience, I now know never to attempt anything like that again!!