Home sweet island home

After more than two months away visiting friends and family, I feared the worst when I finally got back to Mauritius yesterday. Some people worry about flooding or burglaries; for me it was cockroach infestations, ant colonies and dead lizards. I actually got off pretty lightly I think, apart from the 10 tons of lizard poo. So far, I've only found one dead cockroach, a couple of dead wasps, and a few spiders. I've spent the majority of today scraping stinky lizard poo off walls, skirting boards and work surfaces. People told me I should appreciate lizards for their mosquito-killing capacities, but to be honest, I'd rather just buy some repellent and risk the occasional bite. Don't worry, no photos of poo.

A quick tour of the garden has revealed some interesting changes. The birds have come back and built a new nest behind one of our air-con units. I think one of them must have flown pretty hard into our kitchen window because there's a crack in it now, and I can't think how else it might have got there.

Remember the papaya tree that was saved from destruction when we saw there was some fruit growing on it? Well, it's now as tall as my house. 

I think this is what my landlady was afraid of. I'm going to try and appease her with some of these when they're ripe:

The biggest surprise of all is that the calebasse is back, again! It really is indestructible. I'm going to be much less sentimental about it this time.

When I arrived home yesterday, I opened the freezer to check what we had in, and was touched to see that Merv had prepared some meals for me to eat while he was away.

Touched, until I looked more closely and realised that it's actually 10 portions of gratin made from the last calebasse! There's still one in the cupboard too. Be warned, if you come for dinner anytime soon, that's what you'll be eating.