2.3.26

Just before going to bed last night Indigo rang me. Our flight on 3rd March is cancelled. We are now confirmed for 6th March, to Delhi via Ras Al-Khaimah, the northern most state in UAE. A hidden gem apparently. Well hidden from missiles hopefully.

We had a lovely breakfast in the apartment and spent the day by the pool. Sounds idyllic but most of the time was spent reading about what’s going on and looking at flight alternatives.

Liz and I have run out of various meds. I have enough Indian antihistamines to sink a ship, or hopefully to shoot down any stray missiles. Most important are my anti anxiety pills, I daren’t stop them as I love my life without knots in my stomach, palpitations and the odd nervous poo. Too much info. Sorry.

1 chemist in Benaulim told me they’re banned here. Any alternatives? No. Another just shook his head. Crikey. No wonder there’s so many Ayurvedic clinics here.

So, I need to buy crystals, a meditation bowl, a gong, download some chants and stock up on immodium.

Determined not to be defeated Liz and I set off to the tiny chemist out in the sticks from where we’re staying. Online it says prescription only, so if all else fails I’ll get a Dr appointment somewhere.

I could have kissed the lady pharmacist, she’s going to order a strip for me and I can collect tomorrow. Perfect.

We walked back a different way and found a decent sized (for here) Supermarket. Don’t be thinking Asda or Tesco. An amazing amount of things were crammed into the store.

Liz had put lots of goodies in her basket. I had a small bottle of shampoo, deodorant and sponges for the kitchen.

Cash only… We were both down to our shrapnel (oops, not a good word right now).

The deodorant and cloths were essential and I swapped my shampoo for a sachet. Great 100 rupees – 73p left. Liz parted with most of her items and borrowed my 73p. What a state to get into, but of course we should have left 2 days ago.

On the way back we saw tiny, bony puppies scrabbling through rubbish. It breaks my heart wondering how they cope during the monsoon. Who knows, we might even still be here to find out.

This evening we began walking along the beach and Jay from Mohito recognised Kevin & Sharon and called us in. The plan was to have drinks and dinner later. There were only a couple of other customers and he asked us to stay as he’s bored and lonely. So we ended up staying.

At first it was friendly chat, about ages, his mum, where he’s from etc.

As time went on he rubbed cream on Sharon’s mozzie bites, sat on the arm of Lizs chair and stroked their hair. I was mildly offended at being the ugly one, he never came near me.

Time to leave, too familiar and even worse I tried their chilli chicken. It had skin on it and the odd sinew.. The little dog by me was more than happy. Jay gave Liz a big hug and a small kiss.

Definitely will be avoiding this place. No wonder he’s lonely. It’s the first time we’ve seen anything inappropriate (apart from a taxi driver who would have liked to buy Liz dinner) and more annoyingly I bet he wouldn’t behave like that with his own people.