Isolation Journal 92

I grabbed a coffee before signing on for the call this morning and then had some cornflakes as well.  It was pelting it down with rain really heavily and so the cats were a bit cautious about going out.

The morning was reasonably productive, although there was a lot of adminy sorting out of stuff to do. I am nervous going back into the office, but I do think it will help me feel a bit more engaged.  I made lunch again and we had the same as yesterday - sausages, potato waffles and chard, but I also made some quick hassleback potatoes that were really delicious and dead easy to make.

We had a kick off for our temp BD session and I also had a D&I Unity champs session which was enjoyable. 

We had another teams meeting and then I had a request for a meeting with a client where I've hopefully successfully sold a retainer.  

I had a headache and felt pretty tired and so when Maya kept lying on my keyboard at 6.30pm I called it a day and finished up.  

I went out for a run and just about got done without getting rained on - and just before I headed out spotted a worm that had got out of Qubit's bum - I've now ordered worming tablets for him!  I ran 6.5K and was reasonably on track, but my status is now down as unproductive!  

I listened to the With Me Now podcast on the run and then had a quick shower before cooking tea which was a Hello Fresh pizza recipe with some black bean salsa.  I listened to more of the Wind Up Bird Chronicles and then we watched Jon Oliver "The Night Tonight" and then some "Storage Hunters" and had an ice lolly and then some of my birthday present dark coffee flavoured chocolate.

I also ordered a lightning cable from Amazon as my apple charger is on the way out.  I tidied up the kitchen after tea.

Bundi monsoon walk

We had another early start today so I settled on breakfast biscuits and sleep rather than paying for breakfast.  We spent 4 hours in our private transport to Bundi stopping on the way at a chai tea stall.

I like chai it's spicy and milky although boiling hot drinks in boiling hot weather I can't quite wrap my head around!

We arrived at our "hotel" which is the old residence of a maharajah!  It's lovely and interesting rooms and decor and surprisingly again has wifi!  

After settling into the rooms we had a lovely lunch before being picked up in auto rickshaws and taken to see the step well.  The well was interesting, but smelt overwhelmingly of bat poo - common smell within Indian monuments - hard to describe, but lots of ammonia!!

We then headed up to the Bundi City Palace and the owner of the hotel took us on a tour pointing out the lovely paintings and it was beautiful although sadly due to an ownership dispute no one is preserving the building so it might not be around forever.

We were looking in a closed to the public area of the paintings when the rain started...

It's not yet stopped... We were more or less trapped in a fort until it eased enough to make our way down the slippery steps to the exit. Joe killed the hour we had to wait by choreographing a Bollywood dance which has been recorded for future enjoyment!

We were offered the option of a taxi or walking back to the hotel, the group was on the fence so we ended up walking/paddling!  Not many pictures as it was a bit too wet... At one point we crossed the road which was a river with a current and had to hold hands!  We arrived back at the hotel and the reception was flooded, although seems to have been cleared now!  It was certainly an experience and the people of Bundi and indeed our guide Raj were taking it all in their stride!

After a well earned shower we grabbed dinner and I succumbed to my western food homesick stomach and had some French fries, although also palak paneer (spinach with paneer cheese), Bhindi (okra) and chappatis followed by Gulab Jalan for dessert - I was hungry!

The rain still hasn't stopped, but has calmed down - we're on a train tomorrow so I'm hoping for a good journey!