Lots of complaints from you about crap weather for the bank holiday. Well I think Kathmandu has you all beat on the mental weather front. We had a couple of weeks of blistering hot weather. The kind where its so humid you never really get dry after a shower and we had to buy a fan so we could sleep at night. Though we did manage to go for a swim at a local hotels pool last weekend which was lovely and probably the first time we felt it was a real advantage being in Nepal. And then since yesterday I think the monsoon has started - or at least I hope that's what it is as we keep getting incredibly heavy downpours of rain. So heavy it bounces up of the pavement so high that you might as well not bother with an umbrella! Its not so bad where the roads are tarmaced but as lots of them are just tracks you end up walking in rivers of mud! I have had to invest in a pair of plastic sandals which I can just rinse clean. And with all the cows wandering about you just have to hope you have no cuts on your feet!

Anyway, it is quite a while since I did an update for you. When we first arrived it was easy to think of things to write as everything was so new but now we are a bit more routine and, after all, I don't want to bore you! So we shall probably just do fortnightly updates or if we have anything specific to say. And we'll try and find entertaining photos - there is usually something as long as I remember to take the camera. Like yesterday on the way to the supermarket when I didn't have it with me there were three cows quite happily lounging around in the middle of a 4-lane highway, and then there were kids playing in the disgustingly filthy Bagmati river! I shall try to get in the habit of carrying it everywhere - but then of course I won't see anything. Ke garne as they say here (What can you do?)

Incidentally, the supermarket we have found here is great. All the other ones we found had like one aisle of food and were really dull. This is obviously the Waitrose of Kathmandu with even a range of cheeses and decent selection of cold meats and fish, albeit frozen. The only problem is the price as we went a bit mad in there yesterday, spending about a months food budget in a day so we shall have to start getting a bit more selective. It also has a fair selection of wine which is nice but again we need to be careful on the cost front. And in any case, I've been quite happy to be drinking a bit less than we did at home so I don't want to get back into the old bad habits!

This morning we went to a little organic market that is on every Sunday at the local hotel. They are obviously geared up for the westerners as it was all nice breads, croissants, jars of pesto and mushroom sauce, fresh ravioli, goats cheese and honey etc, but really nice stuff. So another opportunity to spend more than we should do but it is nice to find stuff you recognise. I tried to do some Nepali cooking last week with a mushroom and paneer curry but it was horrible so I'll stick with what I know best I think!

I have been working for 3 weeks now and it is "interesting". The people are really friendly and nice but I still don't really know what I'm supposed to be doing. I have been helping to write funding proposals which I know VSO don't really want me to do as its not sustainable. but at least I am learning about the organisation and "building relationships"! But I do feel like a spare part and I miss the feeling at work when you know whats expected and can just get on with it. The photo above is from a media work shop to sensitise them to Dalit issues. It was all in Nepali and I didn't understand a word, but lunch was nice! Still its early days, and I have been having the odd meeting with people at VSO about developing training packages etc which is good as they bare from the same background as me so you feel like there is a better fit. And I know it is a whole lot easier for me than some of the others who are out of the city and in a remote part of the country. One girl is in the far south where it is about 40C, no one speaks english and no one seems to turn up at work so she can't do anything. there are hardly any other westerners there and she is with only one other VSO volunteer who she doesn't particularly like! so things could definitely be worse here!

At my work everyone speaks pretty good english which is great in some ways and certainly speeds things up, but I am already forgetting all my Nepali. I am going to get in touch with one of our old teachers and arrange private lessons otherwise I will forget it all and if I do end up having to go out into a district I will be really stuck.

Oh, we are still waiting for our table though we have seen that he has started to make it - he has now produced 4 legs! We had our landlady and her Son and Daughter round for Chiyaa - Nepali tea and cakes - and she was appalled that we still hadn't had it yet so I think she went round and gave him what for. So we shall see. At least we have a table on the terrace now if we do want to have someone round for something to eat.

So we have managed to uplaod some sort of video tour of our flat. It proved impossible in one go so we can obviously only do very short clips at a time. I hope its not too tedious to watch!. We've also put on a little clip from a taxi ride yesterday after one short downpour when on one stretch of main road the water must have been a good 6 - 8" deep! And entertainingly a Tibetan protest marsh was continuing to wade through it much to the annoyance of the police who also had to get wet feet - though Gordon didn't hsave the nerve to film any of them. Though as they had big sticks and not much of a sense of humour I don't really blame him!We of course stayed nice and dry in the taxi but then got all muddy on the hash instead.

Hash has been in the city for the last couple of weeks as no one has any fuel. Petrol prices haven't gone up yet here - they are subsidised by the government. But as they haven't paid India yet for the petrol they've had, India is not giving them any more so the fuel is being rationed. Everyone is having to queue for 6 hours to get any fuel and then private vehicles are only allowed 12 litres with taxis only 35litres! Could you imagine the pandemonium if that happened at home? Here they just put up with it but it can't go on much longer - no one is getting any work done. But if the government put the prices up they'll all just go on strike again! Mental. But on the bright side there were much less cars on the roads yesterday so it was quieter and less dusty

The King has gone now and so far its all been quiet. Expectations are pretty high for immediate improvements so I think the disappointments will follow soon but still, they all seem very happy to be a Republic now. Maybe we should try it at home!

Anyway, can't think of anything else for now