We've been here since Monday, a mini holiday while we wait for our house to be ready, and have fallen into a very comfortable routine.
Ossian wakes us all early with his singing and calling out our names. We have breakfast bought to us by the friendly staff in their green uniforms: fruit, cereals, pancakes, toast, and hot chocolate. We eat it out on the veranda on the sofa and armchairs, while Ossian eats his at his little travel highchair borrowed from Lali. Then Uma sets up shop on the steps of the veranda, and Ossian and I go shopping for dolls and coloured pencils.
We gather our kit for a day at the pool, and head off down the pathways under the palm and banana trees to the large turquoise pool. The sun loungers are all empty, with a couple of staff sweeping the leaves from the poolside using a bundles of branches taped together. We spread out our towels and unpack the bags, laying out sketch books, pencils, crayons and Lila's Peter and Jane books.
As the sun swings up into the sky the loungers heat up, until they are too hot to touch. Ossian falls asleep curled up under a kikoy, lulled asleep by the sound of the waterfall, and we order lunch from the bar staff. We dip our toes into the cold water of the pool. Slowly we move further into the pool, shivering with delight and cold at the water. I swim a few lengths while Uma floats about in her armbands, and Lila hops up and down on tip toes.
Ossian wakes just as lunch arrives, and we sit at a table by the pool, drying off as we eat. Ossian wanders off to the bar and starts to dance to the music, casting coy glances at the two men sitting in there. He hears the geese coming down the path and runs off to chase them. Lila and Uma set up doctors' surgeries on the sun loungers, calling in their patients one at a time to be cleaned with wet wipes and cured with sun cream, before being bandaged up in a sarong.
At four we put on our clothes and pack our bags and walk up the winding pathway to the swingseat overlooking the pool. Uma calls out for passengers on her fairground ride, and Ossian, Lila and I climb on board and lift our feet up off the ground. She starts to swing us, singing to us as we ride through the air, Ossian laughing and holding my hand.
It's time to go back to our room, shower off and change into something warm for the evening. Adharanand gets back from visiting training camps, and we walk over to the restaurant, Uma carrying Ossian's high chair seat, and Ossian carrying the tray. All the women who work here try to pick him up and cuddle him, which makes him very cross. Some of them have children of their own, but they all live at the camp, only seeing their families once a week, if that.
We order our supper and Uma and Lila head over to the pool table to watch the players. Sometimes they have a go, but the table is too big and the cue's are too long, and they get frustrated, and I end up playing Adharanand. Eventually our food comes, and we sit at the same table every evening and eat a feast of Indian food, spaghetti, avocado and toast, with Mango for pudding.
Sometimes we sit round the enormous fireplace, with it's huge chimney rising straight up through the roof, talking to the Overlanders who are passing through. Or we go back to the room, the children quickly falling asleep, and we sit out on the veranda with a fire lit, and drink wine with the couple in the next door room. It has been fun here, but it's time to go. Tomorrow we move into our own home in Iten.
No comments:
Post a Comment