The Other Side!

"Maybe next year!"

We left Shikara assuring the manager that we would not mention the state of the towels on any review sites:- so we haven`t! (We also told him we liked the location, the service and the value for money, and we literally didn´t bring up breakfast - though we could easily have done so!) We were at the taxi a bit early and the driver got excited at the prospect of making it to the imminent ferry. We weren't expecting to be able to go this way so we were excited too:- followed by scared as he raced down the narrow roads and sounded the horn to delay departure and wait for us. They are erecting a bridge across the River Sal, as otherwise it is the ferry or a long diversionary drive. To us the bridge looked the same as last year, but there were signs of life, and the driver said it might be finished next year.... Mmmm! It took about 10 minutes on the ferry and 5 minutes later we at a stop monitored by the police!  We told the driver it was fortunate he had just put on his official shirt, but he said it wasn´t a traffic check but filming. Again! This time it was apparently something to do with coconut oil! We were held up for about ten minutes, but then sped down to Palolem, where we were greeted by Prakash´s wife and taken to our huge room. It was immediately clear that John and Tracey´s foam rubber mattresses would not be needed. There is now an enormous bed with a deep European-standard mattress, and above the bathroom is a stack of various previous offending ones. Downstairs there is now  a cookery school as well as the good restaurant and we have wi-fi from 9am to 10pm. Our residency has a number of long-stayers, and has been described as a cross between Fawlty Towers and One Flew over the Cuckoo´s Nest! We fit in perfectly!

 

.So off to The Office to see if it was staffed! We knew of some who had needed to send apologies, but Peter and Maggie have been on duty since the New Year, and Bob and Geri are doing most of the season, as is Pat (though John has gone to UK) and Brigitte from Switzerland arrived just after us. This gives a quorum for Beer O`Clock, but daytime activity has been modified in the light of an insane council ruling that this season there are to be no sunbeds beyond the boundary of each beach bar. Mohan has put a dozen closely packed ones up from the beach between the huts, and this is OK, but down below it´s a case of just mattresses with umbrellas. The pond life at the Nest has re-surfaced and makes its presence felt from time to time, but we seem to have missed the worst of it. Not much else has changed! The fireworks notice has been removed and we have some sort of display from somewhere on most nights. There seems to be less live music in the evening (and some is quite bad!), but the open-air cinema at the Steak House has been excellent. We saw Les Misereables and Django Unchained. This year´s "Very Apt for Goa" award goes to Life of Pi, of course. (Best Exotic Marigold Hotel being disqualified as we had seen it before!)

 

From the list of "Differences between Up North and Palolem" (see previous blog) we have seen plenty of everything except Toddy-Tappers. We can also add that prescription spectacles are also cheaper here. Bob had a pair of "all singing, all dancing" made for 5100 rups (about 65 GBP), and the Russians seem to have migrated en masse back up there to the relief of many.

 

Yesterday was the nadir of our experience as absentee-landlords. That´s another story.  The next post will be from Croydon (Ah, bliss!)