Friday today, so what’s been happening? Well yesterday my trusty and long awaited cooker arrived, picture below, so today I made porridge!... and burned it… guess I’m going to have to do some practising again. I did however enjoy having a fresh cup of tea in the morning rather than one stored in a thermos over night. I also entrusted my nice white sheets to Mrs Bala to wash although I did take precautions… I put them to soak in hot water with detergent before giving them to her, I’ve had experience of washing here before and things coming back dirty grey so tonight when I got home there they were all bright and clean and dry on the washing line.
The power here is areal pain off in this district for at least an hour each night and usually just as I get home in the dark, I’ve got a trusty back up emergency light but it is such a pain and all the streets are completely black! Not scarey though - I seem to be living in the Tirunelvelli version of Blackhall!
The ground nut harvest came back today and is in store ready to be dried and sold. Some however was taken by one of the teachers and classroom assistants to sell fresh tot eh local secondary school, they sold 2,000 rupees worth - two big sacks full. Apparently fresh ones are a real treat here. The sight of them setting off in the auto though complete with sacks was a good one… pic attached.
After school today I went to visit Lydia, Bishop Jason’s widow. She is looking very well but I think is rather lonely and is very keen for me to visit regularly. She sends her love to all who know her especially those at Holy Cross, and Duncan and Rosemary… please pass that on if you see them.
I haven’t forgotten that today is St Andrews day so in lieu of anything more appropriate, I bought 160 bananas and distributed them among the kids… it’s actually the first fruit I’ve seen them have and they were really happy! We took them round all the classes and handed them out individually. Happy St Andrew’s Day folks back home!

Last night I found out about the water tanks the hard way. At about 6.00pm, my water suddenly stopped flowing; Balagi arrived just after and said that the roof tank must be empty. It turns out that we have a downstairs tank which we then have to, periodically pump upstairs to fill the roof tank… Why? I ask myself do they not just pump it up to start with! Anyway, he turned on the pump and the downstairs tank dutifully emptied, I discovered that there are 3 steps down (mini9 staircase) to allow one to descend into the tank to complete emptying it as the pump stops t 1 inch deep. I dutifully did this and cleaned the mud out too. I then found out that the corporation only turns on the water to our area in the morning, not enough water had gone upstairs so I still had no water and the tank downstairs was now empty. I went to bed dirty!
I then had to get up in the morning and stay dirty using only some moist face wipes to clean up as best as possible and bottled water of course. I hadn’t slept well so was shattered when I got up too I could really have done with a shower…. Even a cold one! Bala (cleaning lady from upstairs) arrived just as I was about to leave and we managed to turn on the tank filling water, so I held on until that was filled and headed off to school slightly late. Well another fun day today I got to work only to find we were going to the schools farm, just outside Tirunelvelli in the afternoon! We had one pupil in, little Z from yesterday who thoroughly enjoyed playing with all my bits and bobs of equipment, she is coming in every day this week as her family are staying in Tirunelvelli looking after mum’s sister’s kids while she has another baby. She’s really great and I think although delayed is prob going to manage in a school which follows a fairly mainstream curriculum but with access for the wheelchair she will need. In the meantime I’ll enjoy working with her.
Pictures are before and after of my room and also one of Z.
The farm was about 20 mins away from school, it was time for the groundnut (peanut) harvest. The local villagers had all gone to a wedding so some of the older pupils… and the classroom assistants were all shipped out to pull up the plants and pick the nuts off the roots. All this in baking sunshine, it’s been really hot today hotter than for ages.
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I went out to the local telephone coy today and enquired about broadband, they have accepted the Bishops signature in lieu of my landlady' who is in America. If all goes well I should have it by Christmas, almost as fast as BT managed for you Colin!

Had an amazing day today, first off, Methilda and I had spent all day yesterday clearing the classroom which was to be ours. Photos to come! They actually cleared the whole room shelves above head height and everything. Some of the stuff had been there for years I think. We went through it all… and I mean all, every little peg from a peg board and wooden block and toy. The vast majority were filthy, it’s so dusty here. Every time we moved anything a swarm of mosquitoes appeared too. In the end I said that if we could chuck all the broken bits and really dirty things, I would give them 1000/- to buy new ones, they laughed and against Jeyakodi’s better judgment out they went. I did point out that some of the stuff had been in the boxes for 10 years and that several things were actually dangerous. By the end of the day we had a clear classroom and every classroom assistant in the school along for the fun!
Today we went in and I decided to tackle the soft toys, even more mosquitoes swarmed out so without a word to anyone I went out and bought 2 cans of probably highly toxic HIT (mozzie killer spray) and a bottle of dettol. I sprayed all the shelves, cupboards etc with the stuff. Methilda came in and said ‘where have you been’ so I pointed to the shelves which were covered with a thick layer of de4ad and dying mosquitoes…. Maybe I should get a belt a la fairytale which says 1,000 at one blow! She had never seen the spray before and was a) amazed at its effect and b0) horrified by how many mozzies there were. She went and got someone to show both results too and they oohed and aahed over the spray and the fact it had cost me 113/- (about £1.20). I then got water in a big bowl poured in dettol and we started washing toys (not the soft ones). Methilda asked why and I explained that children like to put them in their mouths so we had to make sure that they were clean and that we would clean them after each child had finished with them. She thought that was a good idea. We then set to on the soft toys, she kept asking me about sad dirty broken toys and in the end I said our criteria was – would we give it to our own child and if the answer was no, then we didn’t keep it to give to other people’s children. She thought that was a good idea!
We had only half finished when Jeyakodi came in and said ‘See Sally your first child is here,’ and she was! Lovely wee girl, 17 months, tiny, very poor tone, but really on the ball developmentally behind but still pretty able. Upper body pretty good, lower body very weak. She’s coming back tomorrow. They also tried to give me her brother, one of twins but his main problem looked like ADHD, he is 5 and shot round and round the room, chatting and pushing a walking frame… not that he needed one; he just found it lying around. I said tactfully that I thought perhaps he would be better in a more active environment! She hadn’t left when the next arrived. She came with mum and dad, a perfect MDVI girl of about 11months… they said she was autistic! That seems to be the general diagnosis for children who don’t respond. I called in Joel (the morning physio) to have a look with me at both of these young girls. It was really good to have someone to bounce ideas off. I think we are going to work well together. I had just gone for lunch when another family arrived, a beautiful young mum and her mum. Her little girl again seemed a classic MDVI child, 15 months, little or no visual response, and other physical problems. She’s coming in next week too…. If her husband says it is ok! I’m trying to do an hour a week at the moment with each child till we see how it goes. Yeah, doing what I came here to do and Methilda faithfully washed all the toys the kids had used!
This evening as I still have no cooking facilities, I went out for my dinner to Tirunelvelli Junction - about twice as far as it is to school, I hailed an auto at the end of the street and it stopped the boy who had been a passenger hopped into the front beside the driver and they asked where I wanted to go. We then drove off. On the way I said I would like to stop at a tea stall to get some coffee in my flask so I could have some tonight and tomorrow for breakfast, the boys hopped out and did that for me, cost for 4 cups of coffee 11/-. They started chatting as we drove on, nice to have auto drivers who speak some english. and asked if I was a missionary, and said they were Christian, I kinda guessed that when the auto had a banner saying ‘The Good Shepherd’ and a cross on it. So I explained, one is about to got o Chennai to do a BSc Engineering the other has a diploma in commerce. We got the coffee and they dropped me at the hotel. The drive cost 60/-and they then wouldn’t accept money for the coffee!

Sunday night and no internet, but I’m going to Canaan… Carrie 7 Reggie’s house, not school… tomorrow so I’ll type this in word and upload it when I get there. I’ve had a night in my new house now and slept really well. I spent most of yesterday and today unpacking arranging and re-arranging things. I bought half a dozen plastic baskets as all I have as cupboard space are built in concrete shelves… painted of course pink, and I don’t much fancy the wildlife which lives on them even though I have scrubbed them well. Hopefully they won’t like my plastic baskets so will avoid them. I don’t mind my friendly gecko although he has given me a few heart attacks as he leaps out from behind something when I’ve given him a fright… geckos are good they eat mosquitoes and he’s only about 3 inches long so not very frightening! He hides behind pictures and pipes and things during the day and comes out mainly at night, unless as I say I disturb him during the day.
I’ve also managed to fit in a couple of shopping trips. The first one was to buy a few more odds and ends for the kitchen, I’m sure Liza will empathise when I say I’ve gone through 2 bottles of bleach already! The second trip was to buy a dining table and a shelf thingy for the bedroom… I needed somewhere for all the things we keep near the bed out of reach of ants and cockroaches… Yuck!!! I had to kick an enormous red/brown cockroach out the front door when I got home this evening. I won’t be going to the loo at night without shoes on I can tell you. I spent the grand total of 12.000/- (that’s rupees not shillings for those old enough to remember!) including a new ‘cotton silk’ pillow for my bed as I really did not much fancy the one which was provided. That’s around £15, so not bad there. I’ve been promised a 2 burner gas stove and calor gas cylinder, but they haven’t materialised yet so I’ve been eating out or cold so far. I have a travel kettle which I left here last time but as everyone says that I have to boil the milk before using it, that’s not much help unless I take after David and John and drink things black, which I don’t really fancy. Can’t even have cornflakes. I had a brainwave this evening though and went and bought 4 cups of tea at one of the local stalls and had them put into my thermos flask, they come ready mixed with milk and sugar so I can have some tonight and some tomorrow morning before going to work. I’ll only be able to use a little milk every day anyway at the moment as I have no fridge till Carrie comes back from Orissa next weekend.
I really enjoyed sleeping in my new white crisp cotton sheets! I’ve taken some pics around the house and I’ll upload some with this so you can see it. My address has changed and I’ll email it to family and trustees who can pass it out if required, not a very good idea to put it on the blog!
I went to evensong at the church at Military Lines (Christ Church) and met up with an old friend Revd Stephen Lionel who has stayed with us in Edinburgh, he greeted me with a huge smile and a big hug - which for a senior churchman here was a real surprise. He sends his greetings to all who know him and says I must go and visit him and Manovah and Felicia who others will remember… Manovah has also visited us in Edinburgh.
More soon, thanks to all who keep in touch and put comments etc, I really enjoy that and the emails and texts so keep them coming!

Well it’s Friday and no school tomorrow! I’m moving into my house instead, Hurrah! It’s going to be a bit strange at first though with no one to pop in and out… not a thing they really do here, I’ll just have to start inviting people. I must say I’m really looking forward to having a western loo again! I won’t really miss not having hot water as I haven’t had it since I got here.
Went to visit the house again last night and I’m even more pleased than I was before, it was better than I remembered it. Painted pink throughout which is a bit scarey till you get used to it but feels warm and inviting… well everywhere feels warm for that matter!
I needed to buy a new rose for the shower to avoid the jet of water which was coming and right enough just into a hard ware shop and a new one in stainless steel cost £2. I also had to buy two new padlocks, it’s a bit scarey here every door has padlocks on it and the gates too. Two 7 lever padlocks really heavy duty cost me another £4 each has 3 keys, one for me one for the landlady and one for spare! I also went out and bought almost everything I need for the kitchen including lots of cleaning things. Everything I could think of that is, barring a 2 burner calor gas stove (from £9 upwards) and a water heating coil… decided I would like someone with me to check I bought the right thing there and spent around £30. I decided that anything I bought which was not needed when I left I would give to one of the women’s refuge groups when I leave. The only thing I’m not sure of is what looks like a bath, sunk into the floor of a special room and lined with white tiles, it has a strange mechanical pump thing at it’s head and has about 8 inches of muddy water in the bottom. They tell me it’s my water tank and it is topped up regularly, I don’t really understand and don’t much fancy the water even for washing in. I’ll ask Ida tomorrow!
It was sports day today for the local special schools…. Blind school, deaf school, and two ‘mentally retarded’ schools. The event was held in the grounds of the deaf school, a nice late start for me today. I went along to support Bishop Sargent’s kids who have all adopted me and try to teach me tamil - only problem is they don’t know the English for the words they are trying to teach me which is fun! I arrived to see 3 kids aged about 6-8 from another school, making their way 200yards to the main group of students using their walking frames which were of the non-wheeled zimmer variety ie. They had to lift the frame and put it down again then swing their legs in, to catch up, a whole lot of effort. They made it to the main audience area only, after 5 minutes to be sent back to more or less where they had started to race back yet again ) to the audience area. I couldn’t believe it, they had to be carried back after their race as they were so exhausted!... but chuffed too!
We had a gymnastic display from kids from the deaf school, doing tumbling tricks, very impressive and two boys doing hula-hoop and skipping with metal hoops wound with rags soaked in petrol and set alight… not sure how our child protection and health and safety folks would view that one.... perhaps next year at Canaan, Iain?

Isn't he lovely! I've been working with him for the past few days in school and today he came and found me and gave me a hug!
I went out today and spent about £20 on equipment for my classroom, had a meeting with a joiner who is going to make me a frame for hanging objects on and mount rails on two walls of the classroom for hanging things from too. I also gave in and bought a brolly when I was out shopping which kinda goes against the grain! However the rain storms are just phenomenal. You can be walking and then the heavens open it is almost like having a full bucket of water poured over you, soaked to the skin in seconds, however in this heat, to say you are 'steaming' has a different and more literal meaning!!!
I've been wearing Salwar's or as they are known locally, Chudi Das, most of the time, saris are beyond me and I cannot see myself working in one anyway, the trouser suits are not only practical but cover a lot more of my body thus foiling the mosquitoes.
Talking of foiling the mozzies, I bought an amazing thing today, the size and shape of a badminton racket but a triple layer of wire mesh, the inner one has an electrical current when you press a button on it and zaps any mosquito you take a swing at... the only thing it has given a shock to so far is me, at least it is only battery powered so not life threatening to me!!! Watch this space.

Having had two official functions on Tuesday, yesterday with only one was much less hectic, HOWEVER, that one function did start at 7.30am. A Eucharist and thanksgiving service for on the 8th anniversary of the Bishop’s consecration. My trusty auto turned up at 7.10am (5 mins early… this guy is amazing) and I duly turned up at the church as requested in time for a 7.30 service… there was only me and the organist and chaplain there! When will I learn? The Bishop turned up with his wife and 3 daughters and 6 of his grandchildren and they made a royal procession greeting everyone as they came in, by now there were around 50 people there. The service started about 7.45… not too bad and the highlight was the Bishop and family singing a hymn together: Today Tomorrow and Forever I think it was called. After the service I met up with… for those who know them, Appan David, Suzie and Frederick, and several others I had already met at the previous days celebrations. The morning finished with br3eakfast fort eh 500 or so who had finally turned up… don’t know what our Bishop would make of clergy arriving just in time to go up for communion! However a good time was had by all.
Spent the rest of the day looking over application forms which Jeyakodi had thought might be of use, but most of the children were well into their teens so a little old for what I had been planning. They have a small aviary of budgies… and one green parrot… the budgies are fun to watch and are constantly hatching out little bald chicks in upturned flower pots. I noticed one wee budgie though who is obviously in the right place… a special school aviary, he has problems with his legs… they don’t do anything basically he looks a bit like a feathered jelly if you can imagine such a thing! Unable to stand just sort of slumped on the floor with legs out to each side! However he has obviously been attending therapy sessions and can fly around… take off and landing are fun! He can also make his way up the side of the cage using beak and feet to hold on... very amusing to watch.
Jeyakodi and I had our meeting with the Bishop today who has more or less said get on with it and come to me if you need help! Fab. We looked at the classroom which I am to use, I didn’t actually ask what is happening to the kids who I now realise are suing it, until the three new classrooms are finished next month. The walls are now 3 feet high and were not started when I arrived two weeks ago!
I should point out to any in the RBS management who are reading this that I could get very used to working conditions which include the principal finding me a bed so I can have a mid afternoon nap every day, very nice!

Well it’s Wednesday and a crazy two days of official type things are over. Yesterday morning, my auto-rickshaw turned up at 7.40 as promised to take me to the mission hosp along the road for the official opening ceremony at 8.00am. Turned up and got a good seat out of the sun, the event started at around 8.30pm and began away form the seats, speeches and cutting the tape then a walk around the new wing of the hosp. Into every room as each had been funded by donors who wanted to see where their money had gone. Back outside and as a non-bigwig, found all the seats had gone and ended up sitting o0ut at the edges of the canopy where all too soon the sun started beating down. To my surprise I was then hailed as a visitor and presented with bunch of artificial flowers, they’ll brighten up my new house. The ceremony really began then and lasted until almost 11.00 when we all had a celebratory breakfast, talk about fast food they had about 500 folk fed and watered and on their way again by 11.30! using banana leaves as plates cuts out washing up and putting out your pudding on your leaf at the same time as your savoury helps too mind you!
We went back to the school then where I spent time with Mathilda who I think is going to be working with me, and Agnes who is helping out my non-Tamil vocabulary. the it was time to move again so at 3.30 we shot off to Bell Pins Hospital where they were opening a new in-patient block and dedicating the foundation stone for the new chapel. I had met the medical director in the morning and she greeted me like a long lost friend. We settled in under another canopy when the heavens opened, we were glad we were under shelter then the water began first to drip then to pour through we all made a run for inside. They ended up bringing the chairs and loudspeakers all into the admin entrance of the hospital and setting things out there.
No one arrived till almost 5.00pm. We went upstairs to the new wing and again, the ribbon was cut, some hymns sung and we went round each room, each being blessed and marked with a sandalwood paste cross (Bright orange) painted with someone’s finger. We then trooped back downstairs, it had stopped raining by now so outside into mosquito heaven to dedicate the foundation stone, first the bishop then the lay secretary then… sally you come, so out I went and dedicated a brick with a sandal cross and placed it into the foundation… I don’t get my name carved on the marble though! Back inside for speeches cake and savoury, at the introduction, they had obviously done their research, I had mentioned that our church in Edinburgh had been involved when the hospital was upgrading a few years ago and they had checked up and mentioned that. I was sitting listening and eating when I glanced to my left and realised that all around us were treatment rooms with people being tended, some were sitting at their doors with bloody bandages watching, others lying in bad. It would never happen in the UK. Mind you we had had to move into the hospital building at the last minute because of the rain.
The ceremony finished about 6.30 so it was straight home and change in time to go and meet Bernard for his farewell meal with Reggie, Cyrus, Prem and Ida too. That finished about 10.30 so it was straight home to bed as I had to be up at 6.30 this morning. Life is never dull here!

Things are at last beginning to move on a bit here. I turned up at the Bishop's House at 9.00am this morning ready to sit and wait. I was met by his secretary who said 'Mrs Sally? Please come in and wait, Bishop is not up yet (he did only return from the States yesterday so he's allowed a bit of a long lie I suppose!). So I waited, and I waited and lots of other people came too and waited. At 10.15, I was asked to go downstairs to his house, where I waited a bit longer then in came the Bishop and Mrs Violet, I was greeted like a long lost friend so that was a good start. I had thought hard about how best to approach the subject of the house and inn the end said, wasn't it wonderful, this marvellous offer had come up and that I hoped he was as pleased as I was. Whatever , it worked and he is happy for me to move in to the house. We then went through into the private part of the house and I gave him the gifts I ahd brought for him and Mrs Violet as well as a couple of pens with Scotland on them which I got courtesy of SCETT I was there for over an hour, and in the meantime all the others continued to wait..I felt guilty when I realised, then headed off on a mission! So I went shopping today and bought sheets and towels. Typical eh, no cooker and she buys bedding, however the cooker is on it's way and so is a fridge on loan so that is good. With the return of the Bishop official duties move in too. I am to go to the opening of a new hospital tomorrow morning ceremony is at 8.00am, then the opening of a new wing at Bell Pins Hospital at 4pm then at 8.30, Bernard from Lincoln is hosting a farewell dinner. Wednesday morning, I am invited to a 7.30 am Eucharist to celebrate 8 years since Bishop Jeyapaul's consecration! Then at 11.30am at last a meeting between the Bishop, Jeyakodi... school principal and myself to get going! Life is never dull here especially with power cuts coming fast and furious and lasting a while each time. It's bad enough in your home environment coping in pitch black, but in a strange one...!

Got a phone call this morning inviting me to join Prem and Ida on a trip to Kanya Kumari the southernmost tip of India... Had to think about that for at least 5 seconds. They came and picked me up and drove down to the cape along with Bernard who is visiting from Lincoln. The road is on the way to being much improved but is at the soon stage. I.e. it is full of potholes and diversions. However we got there after just under 2 hours drive, visited the Gandhi memorial then went and had some lunch. After lunch down to paddle at the spot where three oceans meet... Arabian Sea, Indian Ocean and Bay of Bengal, it's a Hindu holy place so there were lots of pilgrims too. The water was lovely and cool, hard to resist leaping in fully clothed, but the thought of a two hour drive back… wet... made my mind up.

We then visited a visit which had been hit by the Tsunami, lots of rebuilding, but still a lot of them are right on the shore even though the rules say they should be no closer than 500ft… or so I was told. There was a church building where the two end walls had been at right angles to the sea so remained standing but the body of the church which had been side on to the wave had been completely wiped out. The cemetery just outside the village was full. Very moving but a lot of smiling people busy putting their lives back together. Very humbling.

Well look who they finally let me get my hands on today! Spent the day in Bishop Sargent School working with classes 3 & 4 doing usual fine motor type activities and play. It's really hot today, about 33 degrees, the astonishing thing is it doesn't really change no matter what time of day or night it is by more than a few degrees. Weekend tomorrow so no real structure, Carrie catches the 9.30 train for Orissa which is a 2 day train journey in open carriages (bars at windows) with the sun beating in all day long. I've done a few overnight journeys, but 2 days sounds awful stuck (probably literally as they are plastic covered!) in the same seats all the time.

Well here I am back at Carrie's after 2 nights in a hotel, I think actually 2 days of doing nothing may have been just what I needed to get rid of my chest infection, I did very little but read and sleep and occasionally eat.
On Tuesday evening I went to an Ultreya (Cursillo gathering) one good reason for using spanish words is that the same word is used no matter what country you are in or language you are speaking!! It was good to see old friends again, for those who may know them: Peter & Hepzi, John Rose, Rajan, Jeyapaul Abraham and his wife Snowfie, Ida and Prem. they all send regards to Cursillo in Scotland.
Mozzie bites are going down thanks to 2 nights in hotel which was mozzie proof, only saw 2 very small cockroaches though. Lady in the house I may be renting says to keep the back door closed in the evening as sometimes the rats come I from the street and also to keep the gate shut or the passing goats and cows come in and eat all her plants!!!!!
Bishop is due back at the weekend so I may AT LAST be able to get going on why I am really here!

Well a little miracle happened today I put my trusty little Clydesdale Bank Maestro card into a cash machinge and out came rupees! I know it says you can use them all over the world but when that is your only source of cash and the man in the bank says he doesn't think it will work but try it and see and he will get the card back if it is swallowed! It still feels a bit blike a miracle when it actually happens! Off to stay in a hotel tonight and tomorrow night as Carrie and family are goignt o Trivandrum. I have been invitedd to a small local Ultreya/Housegroup tonight so that will be different. Nice to see some old friends.
next post may be from an internet cafe if possible.

Things felt a little more positive today. Visited Jeyakodi at the school for the mentally retarded (Bishop Sargent) and I'd forgotten that he and I speak the same language. All of a sudden things started to slip into place and seem possible again. Carrie is going away tomorrow till Thursday night then on Saturday for 2 weeks so I have booked into a hotel for the two nights and then will come back here.
Jeyakodi offered me a space at the school for two nights but although I can rough it I think even I couldn't handle that! Open room on two sides with netting on the half height walls to the ceiling... I declined and booked the hotel! Prem and Ida phoned to say that a neighbour of theirs is off to the states for 3 months and the ground floor of their house is available to rent. Went to look at it today and it seems a possibility, living room, two bedrooms, toilet (western too!), shower, no hot water but apparently you get a 'coil' and hang it in a bucket of water then it heats it up, a larger version of my tea boiler I suppose! You then fill a jug and pour it opver your head... presumably not when it is heated to boiling point! They say I've got to be careful too, when it is plugged in not to touch the coil (heater) or the water in case I get a shock! The house felt nice though and is in a safe area with watchman who goes round once an hour and blows his whistle to let you know he is there! It has low doors - I can get through but Prem had to duck! No fridge or cooker , bedding, towels or crockery, cutlery, pans etc but again easily acquired,
Anyway I'm waiting to see if the Bishop has anything up his sleeve, but I feel a lot more positive, the house felt good and safe which is worth a lot to me. It has electricity and phone connection too. Looks like things are getting together, I just need to have faith and stop relying on myself who, as always likes to have things sorted cut and dried with 2 weeks to spare!
The anti biotic seems to be working too; it is 500mg Odoxil twice a day for those who understand these things, my cough is much better and the cough medicine seems to make me sleepy too which is also good!
More soon, not sure when as in hotel tomorrow depends if there is an internet café nearby.

Well life seems to be on the itchy side at the moment! Lots of little red spots appearing, mainly on my calves and hands which tends to suggest that the little monsters like the taste of mossieguard! Cheek. On the other hand other bits of me seem to be resistable so maybe I'm not being thorough enough. I'm just aware that after 1 week my stocks are seriously depleted and getting more may not be easy I'll need to go out and trawl the shops next week. Just to add to my joys andI'm not quite sure after all the vaccinations I have had, I seem to have picked up a chest infection. Fortunately Carrie has a friend who is a doctor and he popped round this morning, checked me out and prescribed some anti biotics and a cough bottle and some vitamin C and said gargle with salt water and drink lots so I'm sure one of these will work. The last thing I need is a heavy duty chest infection just as I start to get organised.
Not sure where I will be staying in the middle of next week, Carrie and Reggie and Cyrus are off to trivandrum to meet up with an evangelist friend over from the UK. I'll probably be decanted to one of our other friends here, then on 17th, Carrie goes to Orissa (south west of Calcutta) with a team for 2 weeks where they are filming and delivering  some film work they have been doing for the local people one of the missionaries based there is from near byand they have been working with them for a while now. Conditions are pretty tough so prayers would beappreciated for them while they are away. I don't know how they do it, when she gets back it's off to Chennai to a conference where she is speaking then back here to catch up on all the editing work necessary as a result of the  Orissa trip. I'm going to go in to the school in the morning and see if there is anything I can do until the Bishop gets back.
I've now got  a local mobile so calls to me should cost a little less and likewise texts. Family have the number if anyone wants it.
I hope I get  a little more organised soon, I'm still living out of my suitcases which is not much fun.
More soon
Sally
PS it's a little cooler today only 28 degrees this morning... and about 30 now, I've dug out a wee Tesco desk clock - calendar and thermometer which I bought a few years ago and brought out with me this time to see if I could use it.

Well here I am in Tirunelvelli, it all seems a very big change from Edinburgh. Temperature is 30˚ even over night and even with a fan on (ceiling fan) all night I was still very hot. Got to sleep eventually though. I think I have hit an instant hitch, there are big diocesan elections going on and the Bishop on whom I really rely to help me get started is out of town for two weeks.  I shall go and see Jeyakodi on Monday though, he is principal of Bishop Sargent School the school with which I have linked up until now, and he also has some idea of my plans. I fear though he may feel we have to wait for the Bishop. If that is the case I can start by acquiring equipment and trying to make contact with those who may have some children earmarked, physio etc as well as the school.

I am at Carrie and Reggie’s house now and as usual they are up to their eyes in editing and recording films, don’t know how they keep up the pace. We went out for  meal last night after I arrived (3.5 hour drive from Kovalam, it is only about 150 km away but the roads are not good). Picture will follow one day.

Big thanks to ‘Castle’ for the computer which has been a godsend, an unexpected big bonus is that it has a card slot for a picture card of the same type as my camera which means I can just plug the card in and transfer pics immediately. ?? Does anyone know a good and simple editing software I can download free?? As you can see from the attached pic taken with a flash reflection in Kovalum on Thursday night, I am keeping good company and catching the sun quite well and I've managed to avoid too many mosquito bites thus far thank goodness. There are always lots of the brutes around Tirunelvelli thoughand the big red blotches do NOT add to my glory!   Carrie reckkoned last night I had enough mozzie stuff on to keep the whole group safe from the beasties... Sandy thanks for the deterent it seems to be working well, only 2 minor bites thus far and with good old Eurax cream they are trouble free to date.                                                                                                      

Well it's Thrusday and today was my last day here in kovalum, off to tirunelvelli tomorrow where the real work starts. Sorry about the spelling but there is no spell checker and we are paying by the minute here, 20 rupees for half and hour which is about 25p so I've got to watch the pennies here!.
I,ve had another good day doing very little which is a great change. Have managed to expel the white ants from my phone. C asked about the temperature, haven't a clue but it is hot. if you look up Trivandrum on weatherunderground.com, perhaps you could tell me!
I seem to have gone the same colour as all the others who are here in no time at all, perhaps after a uk summer my skin was ripe for changing!
Swam again after getting up late. Have been avoiding early mornings, no doubt that will change next week. there were fireworks everywhere last night for Diwali... which reminds me I missed an assembly at Canaan yesterday didn't i Mary and Iain, hope you all remembered me when you were having a festival of lights!
Time to close now, not sure when I'll get online again. You can think of me tomorrow a 3 hour drive in a non air conditioned car, probably with a non-english speaking driver!
Till next time
Sally

Well here I am I arrived in the middle of an impressive thunderstorm yesterday at around 7.30am. Straight through immigration in the new arrivals terminal at trivandrum and then my bags were almost first off the conveyor belt! Pushed my trooley  out into the waiting chaos of hoards....there always seem to be thousands of people in a large melee outside the airport... no one is actually allowed in unless they are flying so everyone is outside the building.! There at the front of the crowd was a guy in an off white shirt and grubby dhoti with a notice saying Sally Mair ... the hotel had as requested sent a taxi.  We met at the end of the crowd and he loaded my bags into his newish car and off we went!
The rain was getting a bit heavier by now and so he occasionally, once we couldn't see out at al, used his wipers, I think maybe he was afraid of wearing outt eh blades or something. The journey to Kovalum only takes about 20 minutes or so, the roads apart from the final one, Lighthouse Road, are all much improved with hardly any bumps and potholes. By teh time I got to the hotel it was raining pretty ahrd so the driver waved me in and teh hotel boys came and hefted my bags onto their shoulders, I went in filled in the forms and up to my room. Room 9, one I have had before with a fab view over the ocean... not that i could see it for the rain beating down, I didn't actually care, it was 8.30 only just an hour since I had landed and my body thought it was 3.00am! I stripped off, into my nightie and fell asleep after buying a bottle of cold water. Woke off and on to the sound of torrential rain and when I finally woke at about 12.30 I really was wondering how I was going to cope with 3 days of this rain.
I got dressed and by 1.00pm the rain had stopped and the sun was coming out! I went for a walk along the beach front which is packed with cafes and shops selling "cheap clothes lady?" Anout 3.30 i went back up to teh hotel picked up my swim suit adn back down ot the beach for a quick swim, back to a cafe in my wet costue decentyl covered up with a skirt and time for a pot of cardamon tea and watch the sunset... except it was  cloudy so just a sort of red glow behind the clouds. Back to teh hotel to shower and change and then went to a posh hotel to eat... grilled prawns about 8 inches long followed by veg noodles and a nan bread, including a glass of fresh lime juice and a coffee, it came to about a fiver... and that was tourist price. Bed by 10.30 and slept for a good twelve hours.
More tomorrow, missing you all already but the weather helps me cope, that and having to relax with notnihg to do... slight drawback had to shake about 50 white ants out of my phone tonight. Hope sony ericcson can resist that invasion! I'm receiving texts but not sending them so thanks for that!
More anon!
x

I went out to the airport today as I was so unsure of my luggage allowance... the international flight and UK flight were code-shared and the international baggage allowance was supposed to cover both but I couldn't bear the thought of turning up tomorrow and being told my luggage was over limit and heh heh ! guess what! I can take up to 3 bags and according to BA each can be up to 23kg! As they are checking my luggage right through to India, I guess that's ok then! I'm not pushing it though I only need 2 bags and they'll be way under those weights, but I can stop trying to whittle everything out, I'm going to push out the boat and take 2 bars of soap!Seriously though, it does mean I don't have to worry any longer about what i take, my bag is mainly full of presents anyway!.
I'm going to say goodbye to everyone at home tomorrow and head out to the airport by taxi so that we don't all have to blub in public and I can just check in and go and hide in a corner. Maggie P is comig down to Gatwick from Cambridge tomorrow night and will stay over and see me onto the plane at Gatwick which is great, then it will be all systems go, arriving in Trivandrum (south west india) at 07.00 local time on Tuesday (1.30 am UK time to you guys, so don't wait up!).
I've managed to set up my new laptop with SKYPE so phone calls should be a bit more manageable.
C has gone out shopping we're going to have a good old roast beef dinner tonight as it will be the last for a long time... parsnips, roast potatoes, yorkshires the lot!
My next post will be from monsoon Kerala!
Ciao for now, can't remember the tamil words!.