Will I Am in Seychelles: Coming Correct

Today was a very good day. For those of you who live life literally (I'm not sure there is any other way), 12am is the start of a new day. Being in Seychelles where it's hot and sunny for 12 hours a day and where the sun sets before 7pm, you're guaranteed to have a messed up body clock for the first few weeks. It doesn't help that the Internet is only free between 11pm and 6am.

Our neighbours hosted dinner club yesterdy. Boatswain M somehow managed to cook 10kg of chicken in 30 mins-an impressive feat. The desserts were also delicious! Captain M then kindly informed us that he was hosting the next dinner club, but the theme was "cabaret". I had images of us all having to dress up in fishnets and corsets like we did back at Marley. Thankfully, all we had to do was a 1-minute performance of sorts.

Photographer in residence, Dr Sanghvi already anticipated that I'd do a few multimedia things, but I'd been keen to write some spoken word poetry for some time now. So I got in bed with pen and paper at around 12.30am and penned a few stanzas. When it flows, you can't stop it as Gilbert would say:

But you'll have to wait for a later blog post to hear the final piece. Afterall, how else am I going to keep up my loyal readership figures (now at 6 readers-brap!)

The day got better when two items of post arrived. One was a tool for refilling a toner cartridge, pretty boring post and the supplier also assumed that we don't use UK plugs in Seychelles so they shipped it with an EU plug. Needless to say, they assumed wrong and I'll be leaving neutral feedback on ebay! The second item of post was from my long-time mentor, top 10 inspirational person and professional mother-Mrs H. She packed some rare treats and quite coincidentally, we'd both been thinking of each other as I'd only sent a letter to her 10 days ago.

I will try to recreate the moment of delight when I saw this item in the box of goodies:

Three things to note:

1) That's Starbucks chai right there.The tastiest drink known to mankind (eventhough my dentist would not approve!).

2) Gosh I look like a minger after bboy class.

3) I've managed to recreate half the amount of joy that I genuinely had when I opened said package.

The package also included Dental floss, insect repellant and sea sickness tablets along with a handwritten note. Now that's what we call "coming correct". In case you're confused with the aforementioned term, the following are examples of not "coming correct":

Arriving to a party empty-handed
Tagging a photo of someone when they were clearly slipping/unprepared for the kodak moment
Going to the toilet just before the bill arrives, knowing that your guest will pick up the bill
Cancelling on someone who clearly put you in their diary (simply because you got a better offer)
Being late
Not doing your ICT homework
Downloading a film / reading a book and then proceeding to tell everyone the entire storyline
Re-applying make-up or hairgel in school
Not washing
Rudeness to strangers
Wastefullness
Borrowing something and then not returning it. I once let someone borrow a prestigious bboy DVD. He had it for so long it'd integrated into their collection. I had to ask to "borrow" it back. I clearly broke the rule and never returned my own property in the end!
Following celebrity gossip/fashion trends for more than 1 hour a week
Taking more than an hour to get ready-an exception can be made for weddings. Actually, just your own wedding.
Boasting about how much of a don you are. Even if you are Don Corleone himself, you should never let others know about your undisputed greatness. That is unless you're Ronnie O' Sullivan, Bboy Domkey, Lionel Messi, Paul Scholes, Michael Jordan, Nadia Comaneci, JK Rowling, Yayoi Kusama, Suki Chan, Lily Lau, Jesus Christ or Ghandi. Note to self, none of these people actually boast about how good they are eventhough they are some of the best in their fields. The only exception being my mum, but she's allowed to boast simply because she is actually one of the most awesome people on the planet!

To further exemplify the term "coming correct", I refer to my arrival at my humble abode this evening. This is what I found.

Dr Sanghvi and his newlywed wife (on the morning of their departure) somehow managed to do the laundry, wash their sheets and hang them outside. I'm pretty sure they also did another spring clean around the house before they left as it's pretty spotless. That's another example of "coming correct". The beautiful couple have been an absolute delight to have around, Mrs Sanghvi has been treating us to traditional Jain cuisine every night, which has been a treat. It also makes a pleasant change from fish with root vegetables!

In addition to bringing us many items from the SUPPLIES list, Dr Dizzle Bhai also came in and did the school photo's. I couldn't have asked for more from my guests.

They were considerate, chirpy and helpful (cleaning the house and what not)-on the odd occasion this last attribute provided a little discomfort and embarassment as I felt like a bit of a tramp. But of course I was ultimately grateful! The freelance photographers also left me copies of all their photo's from Seychelles along with a few hundred Gb of films (which they had backed up from their 150 DVD collection back home). Such generosity probably deserves a post of its own.

Having such amazing friends gave me the idea to ask all of my future visitors to do a guest blogpost, rather than signing a guestbook. Guestbooks are a bit lame (unless they're for weddings) and they're generally a waste of paper. Everyone writes pretty much the "same old" and it's usually because they feel obliged to. Hopefully the Sanghvi's will have some interesting insights; such as how to keep ants off your food, what to do in Seychelles on a rainy day, how to get a free ride when you've missed the bus etc etc.

The image above showcases Indian ingenuity. Dr Dizzle Bhai informed us that this homemade contraption can be used to keep sweets, fruit or any food out in the open without ants getting to them. They usually eat right through wrappers and even get into jam jars! The bottom plate is filled with water. The top platform, which should be as large as possible sits on top of a cup or other suitably-stable plinth. Ants will not traverse the water and so they can't climb up to get to the top plate. Voila. That's genius for you right there!

I'll leave you with a few hots from the past few days with the Sanghvi's.