The Elves and the Furniture Maker

The one big mistake we made before coming here was to get our loose cover furniture upholstered, the mistake being that we took wrong advice about the quality of Indian upholstery fabric and decided to get it done at home rather than waiting until we got here. The result was the 'new' furniture looked OK in the UK but looked like it belonged in a care home when we got it here, way too dark and depressing.

We decided we couldn't live with it, so we went in search of fabric and at first it was a tough job as there was nothing that we liked then we stumbled upon a couple of really nice shops. All the time in India you hear tales and stories about bad service, delays and bad workmanship, well I'm going to tell you of a very good experience that we had.

At 4pm one Saturday afternoon we placed a fabric order and on the following Tuesday morning we got a call to say it had arrived. On the Wednesday morning the 'Tailor' and his band of merry men (varying in number between 2 and 6 depending on the day!)arrived at the house and began their work. I was curious as to their initial estimate of 2-3 days to complete the work as it sounded very optimistic (and it was!) especially there being 3 sofas, 2 chairs, 2 pouffes and loads of cushions, oh yes and they were also making us curtains for 3 large windows and 3 large sets of French doors.

They set up their sewing machine, just the one, on a mat on the floor and got to work. Over the next week they stripped our sofas, they cut and they sewed well into the night, most nights which wasn't so good, because if they'd started earlier each day they might have left our house, perhaps by 7pm leaving us to have some sort of evening together, but no, and on the evening that DH had a trip to Delhi they were here until gone midnight and I finally just had to boot them out or I was never going to get up the next morning.

And so, just over a week later, hampered by the bad weather and floods, power cuts, a motorcycle accident and a needle through a finger we are the owners of a swish set of lovely new sofas - again! And the total cost for all this work, fabric and curtains...well we got a few pennies change from £grand, not bad eh?

Lovely Weather

2 days after the rain had stopped

Since the cyclone moved on the weather has actually been very nice, and everywhere has been drying up nicely. The humidity has disappeared and all told it feels really nice here at the moment, it could pass for a nice English Summer day. I was playing at guessing the temperature yesterday and thought it felt abround 20 degrees. I was actually very shocked when Murasoli told me that the car was registering the outside temperature at 29 degrees! Either it was wrong or I am finally getting used to this climate. Like I said though, virtually no humidity I'll probably struggle again when that old friend returns.

I Have Legs, I Can Therefore Walk

Madras Club Christmas Tree

Believe it or not, I can! I miss walking. Before India I walked whenever and wherever I could.

Today I decided there was an event I wanted to attend at the Madras Club, which is all of about 500 yards away from our house and so, at Midday I set off down the drive towards the gate. The guards got into a bit of a fluster as I approached, so I explained where and why I was walking. 'Car Madam?' NO.CAR.NEEDED. Comprende?

The Madras Club

They weren't sure and even as I glanced back as I rounded the corner at the top of the road there were two guards standing watching my progress, while shaking their heads. They were probably even more shocked by the fact that probably 5 minutes or so later one of the maids left in the car to run some errands. Hmmmm? Madam walking and Maid being driven - not quite right to them, but for me it was very liberating to walk even just a short distance...on my own, without being watched. I did a little hop, skip and a jump and felt like I'd escaped!

On my return, being the other side of the gate was strange, no-one heard my knocking so just to tease them a little more I made loud BEEP BEEP noises, to which they all came running and found amusing, but only after apologising profusely for the 20 second delay in opening the gate! It's OK, I can live with that, and many other things...including my legs, I found them today and they still work.

Is It Cold in Blighty?

Oooooh, I just posted that entry and noticed the temperature over there. Is it a little bit chilly at the moment?! I'd actually really love to feel the cold. Ah well, there's always next summer!!

Feeling A Little Bit Christmassy

I've been very busy tonight and it's late so forgive me if I ramble.

I got a tip-off that a shop had some Christmas cards, so I jumped in the car this morning, leaving DH and the kids behind to man the pumps that are currently working flat out to remove all the flood water from our garden (several hours later most of the water and the frogs have disappeared, it's actually very quiet tonight) and went in search of Christmas...and I found it, sort of.

There was no tinsel, no music, no Ho Ho Ho! or twinking lights, but there were no crowds and there were some cards so I bundled a load into my basket along with some gifts. At the checkout I was asked if I would like to use their 'free' gift wrapping service....OH YES PLEASE! I enjoy wrapping up presents, or rather I did, before children. Now it can be rather a painful excercise and the hours between their bedtime and mine are short at the moment, so anything to save time. I left the shop feeling very satisied!

So, this evening those short hours actually became longer hours as I endeavoured to write lots of cards while yawning and humming along to the odd one or two Christmas songs on the radio with everyone else sleeping soundly...I hereby officially bagsy the lie-in tomorrow! You see it had to be done today/tomorrow because a friend is flying back to the UK on Monday and has very generously offered to post things for me. Good job because I still haven't found the Post Office yet!

Now, let me just say that I've really tried my best...if you don't receive a card it is for one of the following reasons...
a) I've run out of cards and may not be able to get back to the shop in time for more.
b) You've moved recently and I can't quite just at this minute lay my hands on your new address.
c) You've moved and I know where your house/flat is but I don't know its number.
d) You don't deserve one because you haven't emailed or got in touch to share your news (just kidding, but it might prick the odd concience!)
e) I used to rely on the Boy Scouts and their powers of deduction to deliver yours and they knew how to find, for example 'the red brick house with blue window frames on Spring Lane', and, unfortunately I'm not going to be able to make it to Talisman Square any Saturday morning in December to drop them off to them this year - so very sorry!

It's Raining Frogs!

It is, I swear!

So far, all the time we've been here we've only heard one, it was in a drain and protested big time on one of the occasions the pool was emptied.

Since it's been raining I reckon there are 100's of them out there in the garden because there is a noisy old chorus going on out there tonight. Not surprising because the garden does resemble a lake. They sound BIG, very BIG. I went on a frog hunt in between downpours but I couldn't see any and they all went quiet when I came anywhere close....If they're not frogs then I don't know what they are!

Safe & Well

Thank you for your concerned emails and texts after the dreadful events that occurred in Mumbai yesterday.

Mumbai is about a 2 hour flight away and on the opposite coast to Chennai, so we are not close to what is happening there although we are of course keeping up-to-date on all the developments. Most of the hotels in Chennai that we visit have all been very diligent since the Islamabad Marriot hotel bombing in September and while the level of security checks worried me at first, we have come to expect it.

Our current concern in Chennai is Cyclone Nisha who is still doing her stuff and depositing vast amounts of rain over Tamil Nadu and the forecast looks as though it'll continue until Sunday. Parts of the city are under several feet of water and people in some areas are being evacuated. At one point during DH's journey home last night his car was actually floating! I think we'll stay at home today. Here is a link to some photographs...

http://www.thisismyindia.com/pictures_of_india/chennai-pictures.html