We spent a quiet day at the villa.  Everyone slept until about 8:30, except Joseph who had left for work by then.  Last night Carrie mentioned that she wasn’t feeling well and was worried she was coming down with a cold.  She rested on the couch this morning re-watching Season 1 of Grimm, then went to bed to get some extra rest.

Trish spent some time on her phone checking Facebook and various other things, John worked on  Sudoku puzzles and I caught up on some of my online games.  Obviously it was a high stress morning!

At 11 or so Trish suggested we go for a walk.  As Noel Coward wrote, “Only mad dogs and Englishman go out in the noonday sun,” – and, I guess, Canadians – but  to us it was pleasantly warm, although we did work up a ‘bit of a glow’ by the end of our second lap around the neighbourhood route Trish has been using.There are many villas here; some are duplex units like Joseph and Carrie’s, some are large private residences. The Honorary Consulate of Rwanda is nearby as well and there are several buildings under construction.

 Joseph and Carrie’s villa. Number 369 is the one on the right. Every house is surrounded by a high wall.   This isn’t so much for security as for privacy so the women of the house can go outside into their yard without having to be covered with an abayah as they must do in public places.

John, with his 40 years of service as a volunteer firefighter in Salmon Arm is always interested in the fire fighting apparatus and systems wherever we go.  He wasn’t quite sure about these hydrants. We even saw some Christmas decorations on one of the fences. They had a wreath attached to an upper balcony railing as well. Clever folks live in this house.  It is three stories high and the lift would be very helpful to raise items without having to carry them up all the stairs. The neighbour had green vines entwined in their balcony.  I have no idea if they were real or plastic, but it looked nice.

After a bite of lunch, Trish went up to the roof to work on her tan and John and I read and checked photos (and I worked on this blog).                                  Pretty bougainvillea in front of one house.

After dinner each evening, when dishes are done and things are tidy we all sit down to play Empire Builder. We have been working on the same game since the night we arrived due to the short amount of time we have in the evenings with Joseph having to work late most days plus the interruption caused by our four day jaunt to Dubai.  We may finish the game tonight.  I think.