Let's see. I've got a cold. Straight out of dengue fever and into a cold, which is exactly what C did. I think the dengue gives the immune system a hammering.
The shower is broken. Well, maybe not broken, but not working at any rate. It's gas heating, and there is a battery in the unit as a starter mechanism, so I think that's the problem. In summer, the shower actually broke - the shower-head part of it - and we were without it for three weeks or so. Which didn't matter so much then because showering outside in the cold water was perfect when it was so hot. Most homes on the island have solar heating, which is good.
It feels cold here now. This time last year I wondered why people needed thick jackets and beanies on the scooters, now I am acclimatised and hankering after a beanie! It's apparently still 25 deg or so, but there's been a chilly southerly wind now for quite a while. I see the tourists swimming, but we haven't been in for ages.
I got my helmet back this week - after putting it in to get fixed back in January. Oh, and my internet connection doesn't work properly; Telecom Cook Islands has been working on the problem since... July last year:-) Never mind, "OK-ra" as the islanders say.
Went to get some natural herb type stuff to boost our immune systems after the dengue, and both products they had were past their use-by dates. So we got them cheap, just hope they work.
Tried to buy some honey last week, there wasn't any. That happens pretty much every week with one thing or another. I'm so used to it now, doesn't bother me in the slightest. Oh and there are no earplugs on the island at the moment - another example. I use them now and again if the roosters wake me and I can't get back to sleep. They are collectively confused as to when daytime begins, and crow at all hours of the day and night. Usually I sleep through the nighttime ones.
We made a cage for Peeper the Rooster because he ended up sleeping in the frangipani tree right next to Papa Ray's window. Which made him not very popular, as you can imagine. I'd get up first thing and go nudge him out of the tree with a long stick, but then I got very tired of that so we made him a cage, which he goes into at night. Or "is put into" should I say. Recently Papa Ray trimmed the tree quite a lot, and Peeper began roosting up above our washing machine again. So most evenings we carry him off to his cage.
Let's see, so what else is ordinary. The cat has fleas. And I've done mega hours this week writing up some articles about Aitutaki. The week after coming back, I lay in bed just about the whole time and so was quite behind. Nothing like an approaching deadline to focus the mind, however.
So. Am I doing a good job dispelling all those ideas about how we swan around in sarongs doing very little?
Life is life wherever you go.
But I must say... this is a really great place in which to have a bad day.
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