A glorious win, a bit of a loss, and some near misses!

Last Thursday night Greyrocks was persuaded to participate in the very British-style quiz that is a regular in-season fixture at Royal Italy. We went a couple of times last year and were rubbish, but this time ...! Four of us from The Office invited two much younger folk to join us. It is not the best quiz we know (that has to be Mad Mik in Corralejo) and it does drag a bit, but makes a change. There has been talk of late of the over-frequent victories of one team, but  - thanks largely to a new-style round of "brain-teasers"-  we came joint First and then won a very tight tie-breaker! Much jubilation, and a share of INR 50 000 for each of us! The regular reader will spot that Thursday is a MoTh day! Here in Palolem we have been needing to swap this to Friday, as interesting things - such as this - keep being planned for Thursday!

Amazing what you can do with Photoshop!

The previous week, suspension happened because there was an "Office Outing"  to Galgibag. Peter and Maggie hired a scooter for the day and we other four crammed into a taxi. We met up at Santosh - previously described, and now with a glossy menu. Lobster was "off" so we chose a large and a smaller crab from those writhing in the basket, and ordered it Sukha style (a dressing dominated by fresh coconut) During the cooking we chose our own pursuits and Greyrocks went in search of the delights at the river mouth. The beach itself remains a near-deserted paradise (with dangerous swimming, apparently), but possibly not for long!

A bridge too far??

Our journey down had been very different from previously as a huge road project is under way. We passed over and under the emergent highway that will connect Mumbai to Kerala, and indeed were on it at some points. It is due to open in two (Indian) years , and will cut journey times to well under half. At the estuary the balance of water and dry land seemed different and we didn't find anything like the inspired creations of our last trip. See the slide show from 2014!   Then it was a long and messy afternoon in which several bottles of the better Sula white (the Chenin!) were consumed and participation in the Thursday Quiz that night became decreasingly likely!

So we continued the festivities at the unfortunately named UTI! This small catering concern had been located in the garden of the Guest House when we stayed there.and the food was very good. When we returned last tear we found it was in a small two-storey building on our doorstep. The food menu is a bit less ambitious, and the seating neither glamorous nor spacious, but the service.is great and the "Happy Hour" drinks were some of the best in town, (Especially the frozen strawberry Daiquiri at INR 140!) In the early days of our stay we were buying bottles of wine at "label" price, then - mirroring what had happened in Benaulim - the price went up to a good but "normal" price as supplies went down! The new board outside makes it clear, and that has to be seen as a loss - but understandable!

The "near misses" were over the weekend at The Nest, when on two mornings the coconut palms were pruned, and the fruit collected with all the characteristics of last season.in terms of laissez-faire!
Amongst our small circle of friends and acquaintances there were two cases of coconuts landing within centimetres. We remain unscathed!