The (Impatient) English Patient

I am sparing no details on this one!

Poor Ian has been suffering with recurring bouts of tonsillitis for the last couple of years. Our doctor in the UK had recommended 'the op' last year but he didn't have the time. Uh Oh. After several rounds of anti-bionics(!) a doctor here also recommended 'the op' but there just wasn't time, there never was.

He got back last weekend from his 2 week trip and unbeknown to me paid another visit to the doc. He had seen a 'little window' of opportunity as only Ian does!

Ian: "I'll think I'll have my tonsils out before we go".
Me: Errr pardon?
Ian: "Have my tonsils out...before we go"
Me: "Right. When exactly?"
Ian: "Saturday"
Me: "The Saturday before we leave? 2 days before the packers arrive? That Saturday? Oh help me! Lots more dialogue followed on the pros, cons, whys and wherefores...the BAD timing, but you get the picture I'm sure!

On Friday evening he went to the hospital for his pre-assessment and at 10pm tells me that he will need to be there by 7am and that someone has to stay and be with him for the entire time, I couldn't understand this?? When I had mine out aged 14 I was in hospital all on my lonesome whilst my Dad was away on business and my Mum was looking after my sister 20 odd miles away. Granted I ran out of 5 pence pieces nervously phoning home every 10 minutes beforehand but in the end the pre-med shut me up and I succumbed.

We all awoke early this morning and Ian went off with Murasoli to the hospital while I got the kids up and ready and waited for Mary, who had been hurriedly drafted in, to arrive. By 8.40am I arrived with Kumar and was whisked up to what I can only describe as the 'Penthouse Suite' of this hospital. Ian is lying there serenly with Murasoli quite literally almost holding his hand and looking very worried and concerned. A nurse arrives and I have to sign consent forms and at 9am he's wheeled off to theatre.




I kicked off my shoes, curled up on the sofa, put BBC World on the massive widescreen, opened a Diet Coke and had a well deserved snooze. Until firstly Kumar arrives to tell me that the entire mobile phone network is down throughout the City so he MUST give me a different number just in case I need him and secondly a woman comes to ask if it is OK if someone comes to take some pictures of THE ROOM - got that? The Room. OK whatever, maybe today isn't the best day...Oh no, but it HAS to be done today.



Five minutes later a nurse arrives to tell me that the Doctor needs to see me down on the 2nd floor, I fly down the stairs imagining a problem, but am greeted at the door by said doctor, "Take your shoes off put a gown on and follow me" he says. Before I have even grasped the fact that we are all barefoot and the sleeping people around me are actually 'in the recovery room' he presents me with a small bowl containing Ian's tonsils!! Euewwwww! "Please sign here to say you've seen them". Now I do actually know what Ian's tonsils look like after the number of times he's asked me to look and check if they are swollen or have white spots on them. Had he been having his appendix or something else removed I wouldn't have had a clue...could belong to anybody! After making sure a very grey looking Ian was OK I exited as soon as I could without even looking left or right...I really didn't want to see anything more.



Back upstairs the photographer(ha ha)has arrived and has not just set up a camera but a huge very professional video camera and I'm thinking there's something not quite right. I leave to wait outside, but they insist that I just sit down as I was and they'll work around me. Back on my comfy sofa I pick up my out of date edition of Marie Claire and then I happen to glance up to see this huge bloody camera trained on me! It dawns on me that they think we are medical tourists, people who travel to India to get all sort of Ops done because the NHS lists are too long and private is way too expensive...unless you come to India, and we're actually a convenient marketing tool. Then the guy says, "Mrs Wilson would you like to talk to camera about your Apollo Hopsital experience?" Errr hmmm, in a word NO! They beat a hasty retreat, to just outside the door? A few words in the 'Directors' shell like along the lines of...if you think you're filming my husband when he gets back here, you can think again, they get the hint and eventually leave.

Poor Ian arrives back, looking the worse for wear and then croackily announces that "This must be even worse and as painful as childbirth". At which point I stopped mopping his brow, lost all sympathy and wondered to myself where in Chennai I could get hold of a bag of Walker's Salt and Vinegar crisps...just for him!

Oh just one more thing....did I mention that a couple of hours later he asked for his laptop because there were some emails he needed to see? Good job I had sent it back home. I mean...Arrrgggghhhh...Men!

Luke's Party

We threw a little party in honour of Luke's 2nd birthday last weekend and we invited a small group of friends and our staff to join us.

The Cake

Pool Time!

Cake time, except Luke wasn't that impressed with his cake and candles. We'd been practicing 'blowing out' for days but on the day he got a little stage struck!


When I said we'd invited our staff that meant, Kumar and his 2 children, Pushpa and her son Balaji, Murasoli and Mary. As usual I thought I'd overdone it on the catering front but as it was Mary's daughter Angel also arrived (pale pink Salwar) together with Mary's sister, husband and 3 children! The whole spread disappeared before our eyes and so did they! As I went into the kitchen this is the ensemble I came across...with rice and more chicken cooking on the stove! Not a morsel was left! I think they had a good time.

Only in India...rounding off the day with a nice game of cricket! Luke is a pretty mean bowler!

Countdown...

2 weeks (yesterday) until departure day.
3 days until my leaving do.
1 week until the packers arrive.

...and I'm feeling remarkably calm, errr it just doesn't seem real at the moment!

Happy 2nd Birthday Luke!

I can't believe that our little boy is the grand old age of 2 years today. His 2 years have been a whirlwind for his parents in more ways than one but he seems to have come through it all pretty much unscathed!

Daddy has been in the US and UK for the past 2 weeks and arrives home in the early hours of tomorrow (Hallejuleigh!), so today has been low key and busy busy with jobs, school concerts and sorting out. Tomorrow we will celebrate with a little party with some close friends and our staff.

Wonderful people come and wonderful people go...today is a very happy day but also a sad day for me and my sister. Miss you so much Mum xx

MOF MOF...From A Saucy Chef

MOF MOF - "Minimum of Fuss, Maximum of Flavour", the motto of Chef Antonio Carluccio...a man after my own heart.

With exit day looming ever closer you'd think I'd be sorting out, chucking out, selling stuff and getting organised. Well I'm trying to muster the enthusiasm...but on Tuesday I took a bit of time off and headed to The Park Hotel (remember our take-away Christmas lunch and our best party ever...THAT Park)



Chef Antonio OBE, 72, is, I suppose, a consultant of sorts for The Park Hotels throughout India advising and coaching their chefs in all things Italian and whilst he was here in Chennai he gave a fabulous cookery demonstration to a room full of doting women. I think it's probably fair to say that there's not many men his age who can make a room full of women 'Oooh' and 'Aaah' and 'Gasp' in quite the way that he did! Now was it HIM? The food? Or his saucy jokes...you decide!



What treats did he have in store? Mmmmm let me tell you... Pesce in Carpione (Sardines marinated with onions), Peperoni Mandorlati (Peppers with Almonds), Egg Ravioli, Pollo Alla Limone (chicken with parsley and capers) Parmigiana Di Melanzane (Aubergine Timbale)...and...the old faithful...Tiramisu


Telling another joke...this was probably 'The Boobs in Soup' one!




And the best bit? We all got to stay for lunch and sample all his lovely dishes - DE-Lish!

All the Way to Pondicherry...and Back

We've been spending alot of time apart as a family at the moment so when Ian arrived back from his 3 week US stint we decided to get away for some family time.

The Dune resort near Pondicherry came very highly recommended so we trundled off down South again in the hope of some 'chill out' (Ha ha ha!) time. Unfortunately it was not to be.

The place was lovely, our 'Kerala House' which had been renovated and transported to Dune from Kerala was beautiful and full of character but the A/C was minimal and with temperatures soaring way above 40C and with very little shade to be found unless you were inside we began to melt.

It had a fantastic pool and beach but again, no shade. We arrived lunchtime on the Friday, the kids played and we all had a refreshing dip in the pool around 5ish. Fine so far. Luke was up and down and all over the place and then he discovered the pond in the garden...Well, that was that neither Ian or I were going to be able to sit still and relax ever again and short of tying the little tike up there was no way to contain him. More to the point I was beginning to get concerned at the speed he was going and how little he was drinking and was imagining heat stroke or drowning.

We had dinner, very nice...French (ish!), Luke finally fell asleep and we turned in for the night...only Ellie couldn't sleep, it must have been past midnight by the time she settled and guess which little person it was that has us ALL awake at 6am? I don't think I need to tell you.

We were all in the pool at just gone 7am, we had breakfast, we took the kids on bikes to visit the animals on the Dune Farm and all the while the temperature was rising and rising. At 10am Ian and I looked at each other, looked at a tired and melting Ellie, looked at Luke bombing around the pond with sweat soaked hair...and asked ourselves what exactly are we going to do until 5pm when it's comfortable enough to go back to the pool? Neither of us wanted to be the one to disappoint and suggest the inevitable but then a little voice piped up.

"It's too hot here, I want to go home".

Within minutes we were packed up and ready to go, we called Kumar to meet us in the car park and I think he was as relieved as we were..."Too much hot here Madam". Tell me about it!

We have never enjoyed an A/C car drive home as much as that one and as we had plenty of time we stopped off along the way and took in some of the sights.

By the way, if you are thinking of going Dune it is a lovely place...probably more comfortable in December/January/February!

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4 Weeks...

Until we leave India.

When I looked back to see how I was faring 4 weeks before we moved out here, it was a different story altogether! I was disappearing under mountains of cardboard and deliveries and chaos and the packers were due any day to ship our belongings.

This time round it feels far more civilised. The packers will be arriving just one week before we leave and our shipment will go directly to the US ready for our arrival after our summer in the UK.

At this point in time there is just one spanner in the works that may slow things down...apparently once your belongings are packed in the container and at the dock they have to wait there for 3 weeks before setting sail, now I can understand 1 week if you'd just managed to miss the boat, but 3 weeks?? We pressed for further information and in India (only in...??) the powers that be have to obtain confirmation from the airline that you have definitely left the country before allowing your stuff to sail, and of course, as with most things here - the bureaucratic cogs turn slowly and it all takes a long time.

Something has just crossed my mind and it has just dawned on me that we are all going to be living out of suitcases for a long time...might not be such a civilised move after all!