So this is Christmas

The hotel is suddenly packed with Indian families, here for the holiday.  For much of the time that we’ve been here there have been more staff than guests.  

I call it a hotel - it’s actually a ‘Spa Resort’.  People come for various health treatments or simply to escape the hustle and bustle of the beach-side hotels and bars.  The accommodation consists of a number of cottages set among the most extraordinary planting.  Mature cashew, palm and banana trees are underplanted with exotic tropical flowers.

There are a couple of old buildings (admin and so on) in the colonial style, but some of the trees are much older.  The walls have been constructed around them.

Varnika negotiated a deal on our behalf which means it’s cheaper than many of the other hotels around here. The only disadvantage is that it’s about 2 miles from the beach.  The roads are narrow, hot and dusty.  And full of scooters and cars so walking is not for the faint-hearted.  Dan sets us up with a friendly taxi-driver who takes us where we need to go.  

Anniemay’s had the pool more or less to herself each morning, but now having completed her requisite number of lengths, surrenders the water to the various children waiting patiently in their rubber rings and water wings.

In the afternoon we go to a beach-side restaurant for a late lunch.  On the way, we meet Elvis (from Dan's wedding) coming back from a swim.  He says he loves Christmas in Goa.  I ask why; “because it starts two days before and finishes two days afterwards.  And then it’s over with.”   I get what he means.

We watch people on the beach - they look like stick figures from the distance,  I imagine L.S.Lowry painting such a scene.  (Trivia fact; when she was a teenager, Anniemay and a friend once jumped on the roof of his garden shed as a prank).   

In the evening, Dan and Varnika come over the hotel for a beer and sit by the pool.  What a way to spend Christmas Eve.

I hope all you fellow Blippers are having a good time, wherever you are and whatever you are doing.  We are.