Legian

Holy moley!! What a crazy night!! Heavy showers and thunderstorms all through the night with the wind howling and hammering and rattling our doors. Before I went to bed I had to grab some beach towels to put on the floor or the bathroom because it was wet everywhere, so a slip hazard. At least the new thatch held up and didn't leak.

- Both Mick and Steve have woken up with tummy issues
- Torrential downpours
- I am sometimes deceived when the sky lightens that the rain will stop but, the sky darkens and it comes again, the wind blowing spatters of rain into the living area
- Fingers crossed the weather reports are incorrect, I think I can only do this for a day
- It's obvious all this area was once rice paddy fields: flat and flooding
- Walked to the closest mini marts to get some rice crackers or rice cakes for Mick, nothing 😑 So walked slowly to the Bintang Supermarket because the path was so slippery. They had a good selection of gluten free crackers
- Back at the villa and its pouring again
- Painted my nails.

Jackie and I decided we needed to get out as I also needed to suss out some pool beanbags for Josie at a shop that Amanda had bought hers from. So we donned our raincoats, put on shorts, grabbed our brollies and shopping bags and beaded out. Rather than going left to Seminyak we turned right to Legian. Again a slow and steady walk, rain varying from sprinkling to pouring. Lots of water on the roads in big sheets but the traffic was slow as a courtesy not to spray water on either people or shops. We walked past a school that had the most beautiful deep, hot pink frangipanis, large and lush and surprisingly perfumed! So we grabbed one each for our ears and took a selfie. It’s still crazy how there are so many shops selling the same thing. So when you see a shop that looks a little different, like a different colour, a few different colours or items you’re in. But they are very few and far between. Found a place where Jackie bought these gorgeous (and cheap!) glass pineapple tealight holders and I bought two beaded trinket boxes.

Made our way down to Melasti and had lunch at Fat Chow, and the same food the other day in Kuta (different location) and a divine cocktail of white and dark rum, pineapple juice and passionfruit juice with dried pineapple and little pieces of jelly in the base.

- Went to the beanbag place. Too bulky and too heavy, sorry Josie
- Taxi back to the villa and now sitting here in the rain
- Sat around reading in the afternoon
- Steve is feeling a bit better and we thought maybe a share pizza down the corner (only the three of us: Mick not 100%) but we ended up having toast, tomatoes, mushrooms and eggs cooked in the villa.

I introduced Jackie to the concept of show and tell. Whenever I go away with my mum’s group friends, particularly to Bali, we have an afternoon ritual to go around our circle and show everyone the shit we’ve bought and why. So we do that now. I think she likes it. Fucking killing time now til bed. Looooooooong day.

Bless them. The Balinese are letting off the nightly fireworks down the beach. Who would be down there? Is it: Resilience? Stupidity? Karmic existence? Customer service? Care? Respect for the people who assist with a livelihood? Kudos to them.

Now. Another thing, There’s been a lot of reporting and researching in the last few years on wellness and gratitude. Example: daily diary and gratitude practice – probs work for most people, some not. Anyway. It came to me while here, that every day you see fresh, pretty offerings at every shrine: flowers, incense, sweets, cigarettes, herbs. And several times we’ve seen Balinese people making their offerings to the shrine, or here at the villas, Madae offering to the stove, doorway and pool. We’ve seen young women, old women, young groovy guys, older guys – everyone. It’s beautiful as they carry out a tray of flowers and lay it down and then light incense and say a prayer. Is that a form of gratitude that an everyday Balinese practices? To say thank you the gods, house gods, house spirits or whatever? Does it contribute to their calm (generalising here) nature? It seems they are practising gratitude for what they have rather than what they want. An ancient message there. Despite the rain, I’m grateful I’m having this holiday.もっと詳しく