In the Summertime
Summer in England and a not so dry dry-season in Indonesia.
July 7th saw the London bomb attacks on the tube & bus, followed by failed bomb attacks on the 22nd. It brought a role reversal as we made phone calls to make sure family and friends were safe and sound after several times in recent years being on the receiving end of such calls after riots, bombs and the tsunami.
Meanwhile, flooding in central Jakarta brought gridlock to the capital's roads. This is quite a common occcurence in January & February, but in July it roughly equates to the frequency of a compliment about Tony Blair from Jeremy Clarkson.
Tiger Woods winning The Open at St Andrews was about the only thing that seem right in the world during the first 3 weeks of July !
Anita & Sean missed the dreary weather in Jakarta as they were in Taiwan visiting Anita's family and friends in Taipei, Taichung and Puli. Unfortunately Sean was diagnosed with Chicken Pox on the day of their arrival and that put quite a damper on their 'holiday' for the first 4-5 days. They still managed to have a very good time and Sean was thrilled to have had his first motorcycle ride on the back of his uncle's bike, go up the latest tallest building in the world (Taipei 101) and, last but not least, finally get to know his relatives in Taiwan - the last time he was there he was only 4 years old and therefore could not even remember them.
Last Wednesday. 26 July, we all went to Bali for 6 days and were joined by Jane, Ken and 2-year-old Fie as they were stopping over for 10 days on their way to Perth.
We had a wonderful time just lazing by the pool and on the beach, watching the kids enjoy themselves, eating big breakfasts, catching up on eachother's news and reminiscing about the old days. Had a great final evening with them in the spectacular beachfront reastaurant & bar at Seminyak - 'Ku De Ta'.
Sean, obviously revved up by the ride on his uncle's motorbike a couple of weeks earlier, was raring to get on a jet-ski, so his Dad took him out for a couple of quick circuits of the bay - after Anita had driven a hard bargain with the water-sports operator to get a price well below the 'tourist' rate. Anita also came to the fore in driving the poor vendors down to rock bottom prices when Jane & Ken were buying things on the beach.
It was great to see wee Fie enjoying her first time in a swimming pool and on a beach. She had a marvelous time - it's a pity she is too young to be able to remember it in a few years time.
Back in Jakarta, Sean still has 3 more weeks school holiday and Anita has made sure he wont be stuck in front of the TV or the Playstation. He has tennis and golf lessons every weekday, his weekly piano and Mandarin lessons plus what we refer to as 'home homework' !
At least the Prime Minister had some good news from the IRA's declaration last week. I can recall the days of the bombings in London in the 70's and early 80's - especially the Knightsbridge tube station, Hyde Park and the nail bomb on King's Rd and it would be nice to believe that such atrocities will not be carried out again by the IRA - even though it must be highly likely that others are still intent on committing such acts of terrorism in the city. Potentially historic as last week's announcement may be, it probably seems like a spit in the ocean from where Tony Blair is sitting right now.
And talking of oceans, I really wish I was still sat by the Indian Ocean at Bali so that, at the very least, I could finish reading Clarkson's book that Ken had brought with him. Now I'm going to have to wait until our next visit to Singapore and buy the damned thing !
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