Check out the monster key! This, folks, is the key to my new pad! They must have seen me coming a mile off and decided I needed a key that was impossible to lose! It's like something out of a fairy-tale; I feel I should be able to unlock treasure chests or secret gardens with it, rather than a plain old flat in a Delhi suburb! Yes, I have found a room to rent for the next three months or so. It's in a great location, not far from where I was staying with Emily...

A trip back to Blighty For those of you that didn't see the relevant blog, I have just come back to India (and so am NOT in the UK anymore!) after a last-minute trip home to be at my grandpa's funeral. It was strange to find myself back in Britain at a moment's notice. It still astounds me the way air travel morphs time and space; compressing and expanding it like a concertina. It magically folds away minutes and hours as whole continents appear and vanish out...

Kitchen Sink Drama - Part TwoAfter arranging to spend a week living with Ramesh, Seema and Anil, I turned up with my bags, and as before, Ramesh collected me from the nearby restaurant. This time he is without the henna, but is sporting a three-o'clock shadow that I notice with surprise, is flecked with grey. It makes him look older than his 34 years. Performing the usual Indian miracles with space and balance, we manage to accommodate my three bags and me on the...

I got a phone-call from my Mum and she told me that my grandpa has died. I decide that, for the wonderful man who once drove hundreds of miles to the Isle of Mull to rescue his horribly homesick grand-daughter, I want to make the journey home to say my goodbye properly. I fly back to the UK on Sunday. It will be a flying visit though, so I apologise in advance to all of you who I sadly won't get to see. And I wish you all a very happy 2009.

A Delhi Christmas Well, I hope you folks all had a great Christmas and are feeling suitably stuffed, hung-over and skint. I thought I would just sneak an entry in to let you know what Christmas here in India was like. Christmas Eve 15:00 - The Father Christmas conspiracy Myself, Pascal and Shariq perform sterling work in operation 'Distract thirteen boys whilst we wrap presents and get Shariq, who is dressed as Santa, down three flights of stairs without being...