Hello Hello! I have always wanted to start a blog, so here we go. Each day I sit and chat to friends on the computer, looking out from the 33rd floor of this crazy zig zag building and seeing the lagoon below and in the distance just sand, sand and more sand. Yesterday was Monday and I wrote this to a friend, so will start this blog with this entry.

Good morning…good grief it’s Monday again. I get so confused with Sunday being the Day 1 here, and always look for letters and so on, and then realise that everyone is enjoying their weekend.
Just want to tell you my new career has just started! Last night I went for my first lesson in Swedish massage. It was really good and therapeutic, and even with my delicate back condition, I was lucky enough to be paired with a very sweet Canadian physiotherapist called Joanna who knew all about laminectomies and torn discs. There were only 6 of us, so the three sets shared the special beds. It was all very good, and we learnt how to arrange the towels and play with the sweet almond oil and talk the lingo. First you must use effleurage, then friction then petrissage and finally tapotement. Hmmmmm. I was such a student. I had the set of notes, of ‘how to…’ balanced on Joanna’s bum and was struggling as I didn’t have my glasses and meanwhile I couldn’t take my hands of her back as that betrays the client’s trust. I mean she might wonder where I have gone, or I might be texting on my phone, it was all so complicated. I couldn’t reach my bottle of oil, so had to lean over, meanwhile continuing with the effleurage. But… in the end, after a very successful cupping and hacking and plucking, (but never over the kidneys) the teacher praised my skills, so I was quite elated, as I covered my ‘client’ up and gently with one hand over the sacrum (I am now so technical and knowledgeable) and the other over the upper back I rocked her very gently and whispered ‘You owe me about a million riyals!’
Apparently you must never give a massage for free. It is a service and not a gift. It must be rewarded. A cup of tea is good, but it must be exchanged and recognised, for the warmth and caring that is delivered. It is wonderful for everything, and for every body as we all know…releases stress and tension, stimulates the immune system etc etc etc. I have 5 more lessons. Next week it’s arms and legs I think.
For Christmas I think I would like a proper table to do it on. With my back it is not good to do on the floor or a bed, as I cannot lean properly. You must use your legs and so on, the strength must come from your whole body, not just your arms.
I would also like a bread maker. Maybe I will look at gum tree and see if anyone is selling a massage bed.
I am reading about the Mitford sisters…Letters between six sisters. It is enthralling and I can’t put it down. Now I want to get some of their books, apparently Nancy was quite prolific in her writing. They were so utterly posh…wonderful reading. Also Jessica’s one, called Hons and Rebels.
My back is fine, under control with the magical night pill. I wake up quite woozy as though I have had 5 white wines…it’s rather nice, especially as I don’t have to go to work. He’s only given me two weeks supply, but hopefully he will top that up. I also have a couple of ipubrofen during the day and the pain is just a memory.
The jobs in Bandung and Khartoum have gone belly up. Oh well, it was fun to fantasise for a while, though I think John would have liked the Bandung one. I would too, sounded so nice, up their in the highlands surrounded by tea and misty clouds. So it’s back to Edinburgh in November, and then we’ll see.
Meanwhile I day dream about the shepherd’s cottage in Drimnin, but without the sale of one of those flats, it will have to stay a daydream. I just love it though, and can just see white roses growing over the conservatory and having the beach wood table in there. The sun room would have flowers and plants all around, and my sewing and maybe my computer where I will be writing and writing and writing. John will be out in the collection of sheds and out houses plotting and planning extensions and organising his tools into neat piles, and digging and planting. We will both live in wellies and cycle to the shop and go for day trips to Tobermory.
Right, back to NOW and am going to attack a guava that we bought on Friday. They were sitting in a row on the kitchen surface and for the last two mornings we noticed little white maggots or caterpillars marching across the black granite. So cute really, as they suddenly do a little jump like a flea. Quite high as well, and impressive for little new born grubs. I have soaked the offending fruits in a bowl of bicarbonate of soda, hoping to dislodge the little stowaways from Sri Lanka.
Enough for now,
Gael