Sheila had a fright this morning

No, nothing to do with the democracy protests going on around us; she looked out of the window and saw a large rat shuffling around the flower pots! Those who know Sheila, or are themselves rodentophobes (is there a proper word for this?), will appreciate that this was a lot more scary than meeting one of the Nepalese policemen who are beating the cxxx out of the protestors. I was wondering whether there was such a thing as a rodent aversion therapy programme - Josie used to be terrified of hypodermic needles but after a couple of months carrying one around in her bag and staring at it regularly she no longer gets hysterical when she sees one. There you are Dr Bruce, how about that as a project.

 

It is now 4pm and we are 14 hours into our curfew, only 4 left to go! We have followed instructions and not left the house, well we have sat out in our sunny little pocket handkerchief garden but I think this is OK. A couple of people have walked past the house and I was thinking that if I see some more I might nip out to the gate that's about 20 metres away and see whether the little lane the other side is all quiet. This lane runs past a hotel that has a TV in the lounge and I might be able to find out what is going on a couple of miles away. The curfew was intended to foil a big demonstration that had been called but from what we hear on BBC World Service there are large numbers of protestors on the ring road. There are reports of some casualties and I just hope the protestors don't try to move in towards the city which, although they remain peaceful (described by the BBC as a "carnival atmosphere"), would almost certainly prompt a violent response by the police. I am pretty sure that there will be staff from the VSO programme office and Blue Diamond Society, the organisation I will be working with, taking part in the demonstrations and I would hate to see them (or anyone else for that matter) get injured.

 

Meanwhile in our quiet little flat we are catching up with e-mails, tidying up ( yes I know we've only been in for 2 days but we're still trying to find out where to put everything * ) and Sheila bought some material yesterday so she has done some therapeutic sewing and interior designing. You'll have seen from Sheila's post that the plan is that we brace ourselves for possibly another month of disruption with little prospect of getting into our placements. If the situation remains the same at the end of a month, VSO will reassess. Although I have no idea how it will end, I cannot believe that the current level of disruption can continue for another month. India is delicately trying to put pressure on the King by sending a "special envoy" plus the current and a former Foreign Minister to have talks. This is South Asia so it may take a "short while" for these talks to produce results.

 

As you have probably worked out by the fact that I am sending this I have got dial-up internet access at the house so if anyone has got time to send an e-mail to either of us it would be great to hear from you. Thanks Rich for your mail with news of Felpham, it was good to hear that it wasn't just the kids who are reading the blog.

 

Cheers for now and in case you see any scary stuff on TV, don't worry we are well away from the demostrations even if we are close to the front line for rats.

 

Roshan

 

 

* we still have some boxes of clothes, books and kitchen gear waiting to be shipped out from Bognor. We definitely won't be asking the lovely Sharon from Dando to arrange this until it is clear that we will be here for 2 years Nepal but I am now wondering where all this clobber is going to fit.