Thursday, February 28, 2008

The Fruit Man

The Fruit Man collects fruit from trees in the Beau Vallon area and sells it on a stall down by the beach. We stop every day so Karen can stock up on stuff that doesn't grow in our garden.

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Golf in the Rain

Me and Alec went for half a round of golf after work today. I've been working on that sliced driver, with absolutely no success. Oh well, another good walk spoiled! We made it round just before the heavens opened. We celebrated coming in under 50 (just) with a couple of Godfrey's finest Seybrews.

Sunday, February 24, 2008

Four Seasons

Mucho rain this morning! Lisa is ready for it. She said to me 'Where is your raincoat Daddy. You'll get all wet!' Told off by a four year old!
We had fish curry in the Berjaya for lunch. The rain cleared up and we hit the pool. Lisa is practising without her armbands.
End of the day walk back along the beach. Karen with her new floppy hat!
Another tropical sun heads over towards the equator.

Saturday, February 23, 2008

Jungle Book

It was a rainy old day today so we went down to our local DVD rental shop. With a little help from her Dad Lisa choose the Jungle Book. This afternoon we sat down and watched the whole film. Lisa was absolutley rivetted, as was her Dad. It was Lisa's first full length film. What a brilliant film it is.
After the film, and after plenty of dancing round the house singing 'I wanna be like you oo oo'. Lisa decided she would paint some of the Jungle Book scenes.

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Crazy Beats Man

This evening we went down to the Beau Vallon Bazaar. We had some great fish keebabs and watched the lads drumming and the girls dancing.Me and Lisa enjoying the sunset.

Monday, February 18, 2008

Chinese

No school today so we got up very slowly. After our hectic day yesterday we felt like taking it easy. Karen fancied Chinese food so we went hunting for a chinese restuarant for lunch. We found a good one and spent half the day there.
It was a hot day. Lisa found her own special way of keeping cool.

Sunday, February 17, 2008

4 Beaches & a Cafe

We went to explore some of the more remote beaches down south today. It was a boiling hot. We set off at the crack of half past nine!

1. Anse Mary Louise
The first beach we found was called Anse Marie Louise (now re-christened Anse Mary Louise!) We chilled out in the shade of a coconut palm.
There was some great snorkelling at Anse Mary Lousie. That's Karen checking it out.
Bullethead Parrotfish, one of the many fish we saw.Me and Lisa recovering after our picnic lunch.
2. Anse Intendance
Next we drove down to Petit Police at the most southerly tip of Mahe. It was too rocky for swimming so we headed back north and found a great beach called Anse Intendance. The little bungalows on the hill are part of the Banyon Tree Hotel, one of the 2000 quid a night places down this end of the island. That's me cooling off in the amazingly blue water.
3. Baie Lazare
Anse Intendance was a bit rough for Karen so we headed round to Baie Lazare. There is an off-shore reef here which keeps the sea very calm. Here's Karen tanning her toes. While Karen was swimming Lisa scoffed the last of the chocolate muffins.
4. Anse a la Mouche
The last beach was Lisa's choice. Anse a la Mouche is very calm and also shallow. Here's the guys looking for the perfect spot...
We were worn out and well sunned after our beach adventures, so we stopped at the Athena Cafe in Anse a la Mouche for our sunday dinner.

Saturday, February 16, 2008

Vision On

Lisa had a very arty morning. Here she is trying out the stencil set that Grandma and Papa sent.
Lisa wanted to draw a picture to send Grandma and Papa on the computer. They have been drawing pictures on the computers at school. Here she is creating her masterpeice on http://www.JacksonPollock.org/
And the finished masterpeice. It's called 'Spotty Leopard'.

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Bazaar Keebabs

We stopped on the beach on the way home today. The sea has started to calm down a bit, so we went for a swim and then wandered through the wednesday Bazaar. Here's Karen and Lisa checking some keebabs.
We sat on the sea wall to eat our curry wraps and fish keebabs.
Here's me and Lisa checking out the sunset.

Saturday, February 9, 2008

Stormy Daze

It's been stormy this week. The locals say these are the biggest waves they have seen at Beau Vallon for 10 years. About 4 feet of sand has been washed away from the beach, so the water now comes in much further and the beach has pretty much disappeared. They say it will all be back when the weather calms down. Here's a comparison looking East along Beau Vallon Beach from the Coral Strand Hotel.
We had our usual saturday morning trip into Victoria. Here are Karen and Lisa heading for the Market. We all found something today. I found a MKI Escort. I wonder if the owner knows what a classic car he is driving!
Lisa found a new toy shop where you can try all the toys.
Karen found a plate of chips and some big waves.
We've been hearing about the Premier League playing games abroad. How about Pompey playing their next league game in the Seychelles?

Monday, February 4, 2008

15 Seconds of Fame

This morning my students were very excited to tell me that they had seen me on TV on saturday night. There is only really one TV station here, SBC, so they all watch the same thing. It turns out that there had been a bit of a 'rice riot' in the supermarket earlier in the morning and the TV cameras turned up at just the same time as me and Lisa. Fame at last!
After school today Lisa had her ballet class and I had my football club so we all retired worn out and thirsty to the Pirate Arms. Not sure who's that beer is?!
We saw the Indian migrant workers on the building site opposite pack up and head back to their digs. They are the ones who do all the real work in the Seychelles.

Saturday, February 2, 2008

A Trip to Town

Me and Lisa went into town (Victoria) this morning to do some shopping and have a nose around. First stop the ice cream shop. Here's Lisa scoffing her strawberry ice cream in Market Street.
Lisa buying some bananas in the market.
We stopped in Peter and Julia's favourite cafe, the News Cafe, for lunch.
After a trip to the playground and a stop at the beach we just about made it home to see the sunset.
Good result for Pompey today. Pompey 1 v 1 Chelsea. Good to see Pompey's new striker (Dafoe) getting a Debut goal. Remember it took Benjani about 20 games to get his first!

Friday, February 1, 2008

Beach Slobbing

It's been another busy week at school. I've been report writing again and Karen is still organising the big library move to the new building. What with all that and with golf, football etc we needed a good old slob out on the beach.

Karen and Lisa met some of the other mum's and kids at the beach. Karen, Nicole (Angelica's mum), Angelica and Lisa.

By the way, the blokes above in the white in the background are from an Indian warship docked in Victoria. There are hundreds of them around Mahe, always in their white uniforms.

Lisa chilling out in the waves..
We treated ourselves to dinner at the Coral Strand.
After dinner Lisa hit the beach to do some sand drawings.Lisa and Karen checking out the sunset..


Another hectic and eventful week!