A fine day at Halaman Bay

A fine sunny and breezy day. Since the cottage next door is now empty - it will be occupied by Ewan, Heather, Andrew and Jennifer from later today - I decided to nip in with our washing, because Hector never did get our washing machine working. His superglue repair only lasted for one wash and then it stopped working, and despite phone calls from me and the owners he hasn't been back! When the washing machine next door worked perfectly I was overcome with joy and did several washings. We didn't venture far today, just down to the rocks in front of the cottage and of course for a walk along the beach. The sea is much calmer today which I hope bodes well for Heather and Ewan's crossing. We popped into Castlebay to the Top Shop to get a universal remote control so that David can use his PS3 with the television, but he had difficulty getting it to work and after looking on the Internet I suggested resetting the PS3 by holding in the on / off switch. To both our surprise this worked! Davie was very pleased with me. I finished my fourth book of the holiday "Eight Months on Ghazzah Street" by Hilary Mantel, which I found very irritating. Yes life in Jeddah is no doubt very difficult for ex-pats but this writer had gone there in full knowledge of what it would be like, with the express intention of her husband earning a high salary in order to save up a nest egg, so I found her moaning to be very hypocritical. I was telling Jennifer about it on the phone and she agreed with me and said the writer was "complicit" by going there to earn money in the Saudi system. Which is not to say that Jennifer and I agree with Saudi values and laws etc, I just thought Hilary Mantel - I'm assuming that the book is largely autobiographical - could have made the best of her situation and not been so judgy about everyone she met. Having said all that, she is a very good writer. The other books I have read are Tipping the Velvet (ooh er! - by Sarah Waters who we went to see at Aye Write) The Prophetess by Barbara Wood (Da Vinci Code "tribute" methinks) Moab is my Washpot (Stephen Fry autobiography - very well written and amusing). Heather, Ewan, Andrew and Jennifer will be arriving by ferry at 8.30 p.m., we have rented the cottage next door for a week as an early birthday present for Ewan, more spacious that eight of us in a cottage for six and hopefully a nice surprise for him. Then Ally and James will arrive in Monday by plane. Only Jamie will not be joining us because of his exams which are the week after next, I phoned him today and he sounded very tired and not too confident about how the the exams will go. I hope he gets on well, he works so hard. I'm going to start my next book - The Hand that First Held Mine by Maggie O'Farrell.