Movies: Goalposts ahoy!

Last year: ten movies in two different venues. This year: fewer but..

Over the years the DVD has almost died! This means a change of merchandise for our friend Harry, who still discreetly does his thing on the beach, but with other stuff (like Valentines roses!) and that any bar can consider showing a rip-off film projected onto a sheet! We have a new entrant in TATWAS and they do much better than that! We know the owner and she has encouraged us to visit - both for films and live music, It is an outstanding venue for either. Newly opened this season with stunning decor. good food and well-trained staff  it should do well, but is a little of the beaten track and not well-publicised! Our first evening was to see the Goa-Ts, with Irish guest set, and plenty of dancing. But it has shown films at least weekly since then and the sound and screen are great!

Meanwhile. El Diablo next door to our rooms picks all the right films, but suffers from intrusive noise and other tech problems, and Steak House shows a lot of films - including classics - but is tricky to reach, Rockit also shows films, but we have never been! So here is the summary matched to the Oscars which happened in our last few days:

Not bad for free and good food alongside!

The story of the showing of The Favourite is worth sharing:

We turned up at the appointed hour and there was a small crowd of people including a Brit couple eating. We ordered food and soon Simon addressed the audience by saying that someone had deleted the copy and we could choose to watch some other film or wait for a new download, which he optimistically said would take about twenty minutes! We all opted for the latter, so he set off the process on the laptop, which was right next to us, and he started to show YouTube comedy sketches to amuse us. His selection was not far off Greyrocks' list of favourites, but clearly not to everyone's taste and as the download speed reduced and the wait extended folk left until only five or so were left. This included a German-speaking regular, to whom Simon made an apology as he played the famous bit from Fawlty Towers! We kept asking between clips for a status report on the download, and it wasn't good news, but another sketch was played ,,,,The film eventually started around 100 minutes late, which meant tiredness, excessive wine and the growing noise from bars and street conspired to detract from the brilliance of the film, and Greyrocks will have to watch it again!

"Love Boat" on Feb 14th!

Last Valentine's was marred by the only tummy bug of the entire stay and a Greyrocks celebratory meal at Dropadi was postponed. As plans emerged for the next "Office Outing" we realised we would be on board during the day of the upcoming 14th and unappreciative of a good meal on the evening that followed! So as we walked off for a lunchtime stroll down the beach a few days before we made an impromptu decision to go there then - in spite of Bob being bare-chested, and there being no special occasion. It was, as ever, a wonderful meal with good wine, attentive service and a lovely view!  The crab masala came served thus, so in paying the bill (expensive  for India) we declared it a Valentine substitute.

What did happen on the day itself was a near-annual day out on Betty's Boat Trip. Greyrocks has done this around six times - but not since 2015! The other four Office regulars were keen to repeat and back in Benaulim Nick and Theresa and friends were not averse, so we booked two taxis to transport us, Kay, John, Pat and Norway Dave (all veterans) up to Mobor for a 9.30 start. There we met and made introductions and three went upstairs on the boat and the rest of us made an impact on the lower deck! The nature of the trip and its amazing value has been described here before, but this TripAdvisor review does it well! .. except to say how lovely the prawns and then the fish are!! And the women were given a rose in recognition of the date!

We were disappointed that the silting of the river mouth, the tide and the wind meant we didn't get out to sea for dolphin spotting, and that the bird reference books weren't evident this time (nicked??) , but Nick had a very good one of his own, there were other twitchers amongst us and binoculars were supplied.  We were shown the fish to be cooked for us and it was not a kingfish. Our restaurateur fellow-traveller declared it to be a "reefer"; leading to a lot of silly remarks about smoking it! (The booze had already started flowing!) Even with only an average wildlife viewing the chugging down the river, the wonderful food and the sociability makes this a "must-do" for Greyrocks and friends, but if considering it have a look at this other perspective.

On the way back bets were made on who would fall asleep, but no-one did (even Ruth), and we adjourned to UTI for daiquiris and wine, followed by supper of a ten rupee packet of crisps.  Memories are made of such days!

Species various of Goa: ox, frog, flying ants, amorous poultry, hermit crabs and Goa-Ts

.. just a way of bundling small anecdotes!

Some time ago we left our delightful property and were confronted by - and passed - a begging woman leading a white cow. A minute later Bob commented on - and Ruth realised she had missed -  the fact that it had a full juvenile hoofed leg protruding from its shoulder. What was that all about?

We have had a near daily meeting with this frog that has taken up residence in the bathroom. It seems quite tame, but does eventually go back behind the cistern in an impressive motion up the wall!

Last Wednesday and Thursday the evenings we marred by huge flocks of flying ants attracted to light (and humans). There is not much you can do to deter them! We encountered them on the beach in neighbouring Patnem, where we were enjoying another session by the Goa-Ts (read on!). It seems such invasions are a known short-lived seasonal feature. There were thousands round the stage light and Matthew of the band said that another unnamed shack had had to close because of them.No problems since!

Our nearest neighbours -apart from the Germans upstairs - are the occupants of a basic enclosure based on an old bath. When we first arrived we had a rooster and three hens - same as last year! After a couple of weeks of standard early morning crowing it was All Change! First we saw one hen being extracted, and then the rooster! They both put up a fight and they have not been seen since! Then along came two manky ducks. and our mornings are now blessed with one of them attempting to mate with the hens, It is a very noisy business, during which the hens try to get through the netting! It does not appear to be consensual, and the drake doesn't seem to learn!

Some guests did but we still have plenty!

Until this Wednesday Greyrocks suspected it had caused an ecological disaster! Last year a daily beach task was the collection of shells.  There were plenty to be had, although in reality they did not figure prominently as planned in the wedding party. and are in both Fuerte and the car awaiting some craft project! This year we have just looked casually on the shore on our less focused walks and have seen very few. Had we eliminated hermit crabs from the whole area by removing their homes? Guilt was felt, and then overnight they were back. Bizarre!


Finally, we have had three very pleasant evenings with South Goa's finest on the rock and blues front! The Goa-Ts won our affection last year and now with added drummer it makes an experience of note for Greyrocks! Unashamedly aged (well two of them anyway!) they have this on their website. We went first to a session with dancing at TATTWA (see later post) and then on two occasions we went Tantra at Patnem. We also come across The Professor (Mark) at quiz nights. Last week we asked for  a dedication of "Sea Cruise" as we would be off next day on one! But more of that later!

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!

Two silly things from Benaulim

Greyrocks is at the halfway point in the Goa stay, and a trawl of the memory and the camera reminds us of two  curiosities from that first week!

"BOB? .. Who the Hell is BOB?"

First day there and an ATM is vital! There had been none to be found at the airport, and we used up the few rupees we had on the taxi. There is a convenient one (Bank of Baroda), but after a lot of attempts it didn't want to play, so we set off to find alternatives. A second ATM was no better, but a money changer gave a good rate on cash Euros and said there was a third up the road. This did work! Later in the week it all became explained and resolved as it had been to do with our clever use of our new credit card. We told the story to Nick and he recognised it as an experience of their friend Bob -who had received a puzzling text from his provider telling him that BOB had declined it!! Bank of Baroda!

"No Problem with the island of Ireland, then!.. Nor with distancing North from South America!"

Knowing that ATMs are an issue in Palolem, and with only one functioning card between us we made a lot of visits whist in Beni. A very pleasant place to lurk as part of the pilgrimage is Yatra - a simple bar/restaurant that is particularly good for veggie things!

Over a lassi and a masala dosa Ruth saw the following lovingly painted on their wall!