Hi Rachel, Hope your journey in the car went OK, got the text and replied but don't know whether it got there. At the moment we have had no heating or hot water since Thursday night as boiler chose to pack in, awaiting the plumber - its now Monday at 4pm here- and just HOPING he turns up this time when he said he will. You are probably sitting onj a beach sunning yourself and we are shivering in an unheated house!!!! Have had letter from student loans company so need to talk abvout it sometime but not desperately urgently. Sent off cashback claim so fingers crossed. Don't kniow if you heard but Enland last the rugby and cricket and Boro, Man U, and Chelsea all got knocked out FA cup this weekend so some people (or even lots) round here are very depressed!!!!! Barnsley are through to the next round though, and to thinkl Boro knocked out Sheffield - if they hadn't Sheffield would have played Barnsley (if they had knocked Cardiff out) which would have been quite funny. Just need to count my fingers again to do this sum Love Mum

Hi Rachel

Great to be able to follow what you are up to. I thought you were going to Europe, old age must be setting in!! Have a fantastic time you will get use to the way of life soon. Have fun and be safe love Lynn R and K xxx

ps - love the message from your sister about the tiger! lol!

xx

Rachel!

I am so pleased that, thanks to your sister, I have found you on this site! A blog - yet you - very street!

Sounds like you're going through what I went through when I arrived in Delhi. I didn't really wanna tell you how hot, busy, crazy, shocking and yet truly amazing my experience was when I first arrived because I didn't want to frighten you and equally I didn't want to put a view in your head before you got out there. It's nothing that us hardened travellers can't get a handle of, it just takes a while and things like toilets (or the lack of them), showers (or the lack of them) and normal daily washing and teeth brushing cease to be taken for granted... And become a minor obsession! Freya and I, when we were travelling about seemed to get a bit too used to talking about poo, when we'd last been, where we'd go next, what to do if taken short - it becomes boring after a while though! Lol!

Sounds like you're having a great first few days and that you are truly absorbing everything. I am very jealous of your adventures. However, my dissertation is due in on Thursday and then I can have a small breather before starting revision for finals... I am looking forward to a long summer before Edinburgh, graduation is on 7th July and then Johny and I are planning an epic month away, to Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand. We'll see his sister and we hope to re-visit some of his old haunts (what he can remember) from his time in Hong Kong til age 7! A trip down memory lane...

Anyhow, please, keep the blogging going. It's lovely to hear your news - I will let Nkomazi people know the blog web address so others can have a noisy too.

You take care and reember a pashmina is the essential travel buddy - particularly good at the moment as an anti-pollution mask! Lots of love and a big big hug! xxx

hey hey you brilliant thing. it souns like you are having an awsome time over there and just think its your first week hehe i am sure u can have another holiday when u get back even thought u have been out of the country for half of the year people will start to think u dont like englnd an especially norton hehe cant wait to here from you next and eleanor is mad coming back as poo silly women hehe so glad you are enjoying your self baby bet u glad you done it now hehe speak to u soon loads of big hugs xxx lamby xxxx

RACH! so good to hear from you, glad you are having a good time! haha the rickshaws sound funny, when i went to india back in the day we had men cycling us round, no such thing as automatic ones! hehehe.

Have fun at the seaside! Am looking forward to your next update! xx

Bloody computer ive already typed this once!!!

ANYWAY! Hey hun, im glad you arrived there safely. It sounds very busy and very unlike Norton, which you will love!

I dont envy your toilet situation but the shower situation is not much different to mine, but it's Joe pouring buckets of water over my head, because our shower is broken!

Im also glad to hear that the deli belly hasnt started yet, by the time you come home you will have the stomach, mouth (and maybe bum) of a true Indian! hahah!

Btw i opened my b'day pressie you left for me, i know im like a little kid, but April is a good month away, anyway the scarf is lovely, thank you!

Well now that i know what a blog is (can you belive i didnt know!) i will be checking your progress. So make sure you KEEP SAFE, i want my best friend home safe and sound come June, and enjoy the rest of you're adventure.

Love & miss you, Laura xxx

Ooo forgot to put on the blog that people randomly just wee and poo in the street as the norm so its a bit smelly, slso got bit wet in the bay of bengal by a wave! God knows what the sea has in it. There are extremes of poverty and wealth and in the UK we are soo lucky its no funny!

Anyway... ill no doubt think of something else i wanna add cos so much going on!!

Love u loads

Rach xxxx

eye examination results are

Right sphere 375, cylinder +0.25, axis 180

Left sphere 375, cylinder +0.25, axis 170

Difficult to read will check to-morrow.

Hope you have had a good first day

hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii how u doin? i have one question for u, here it is, are u you ready, OK then, here i go, if you get eaten by a tiger and die an excruciating death do we have to travel alllll the way over to get the tiger and buiry the poo?????? hhmmm just wundering, you no it had crossed my mind. any way i kinda hope u dont come back as poo cos that would be rather smelly thou a lot less pain full as there would be no one the RIP my amrs OFF and i soppose i could alwsys stick to bread sticks up my nose to blok out your stinky aroma..!! anyway i will see you some time thou wether as poo or person who knows ???? by the way i have a 123 STRAIGHT after the mondays so it is ...mondays123@ blarrdy blarr blarr u now the missunderstanding you can have when the message deliverer is mostly deff eg MOTHER!!!!!!!!!!!! hehehehe

BYE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! poo brain!!!

Trying this to see if it worked, hope you got there ok, you should either be landing or just landed as I write this. We got back up the M25 and M1 Ok, wasn't too busy. Now I just have to do the hard sum below here, need my toes to do it Xxx mum

hey rach i got internet at home yeat hehe i can follow wat u are doing at home how kool. hehe hope u got there safe and say hello to the other 2 for me xxx big hugs from me xxxx