I read a book!

THE GREAT GATSBY
(and my opinion of it!)

I started this book several months ago and got ten pages in before life got in the way. It sat sad and lonely on my bedside table until I packed it in my bag last Thursday night.

Now it may be the fact that this is the first book I’ve been able to read in a concentrated session since parenting became a part of my life but… I REALLY ENJOYED IT. Like, REALLY. It’s obviously a classic for a reason and although not all classics are created equal I am happy to pop it on my ‘top shelf’.

Short, sharp and wonderfully written.

Having just struggled through an Intro to Creative Writing unit this semester I could definitely appreciate the skill shown by Fitzgerald in bringing such imagery to life through his words. One of my favourite sentences, nothing pertinent to the story at all, was this ‘A dead man passed us in a hearse heaped with blooms…’

I would have just said ‘We passed a hearse.’ How dreadfully boring of me.

All the main characters were likable in their own sort of way and plenty believable too. Nick’s (the narrator) insights into what he thought of his contemporaries and the scenarios that unfolded was probably what drew me in the most. I liked his turn of phrase and his not overly biased descriptions; a rather more interesting character than Gatsby himself.

So anyway, I now have some anticipation for the movie. I can just imagine the 1920’s being played out in all that Baz Luhrmann glory.

The Bali Adventure begins...

So here were are – day 2 in Bali. Only 37 more to go! We touched down Saturday night and were whisked away from the airport by our driver. After a one and a half hour drive through the usual crazy traffic, we arrived at our villa and were greeted by Trisha and Wiko, our lovely hosts. It was as expected since we had spent many an evening pouring over the photos back home. We have two bedrooms, a living area, small kitchen and bathroom. Ivy is a tiny speck in her massive king size four-poster bed.

Trisha and Wiko are next door and next to them are two small (but utterly gorgeous) one beddie ‘jonglos’. One of which says Trisha, is occupied at the moment by the Indian travel writer for National Geographic.

Our first two days have been lazy and uneventful. Our driver, Gusti, is happy to take us anywhere and we have one of Trisha’s old phones to text him when needed. Yesterday’s outing was brunch followed by a visit to the Monkey Forest. It’s one of Ubud’s main attractions and I have been there before on my first visit to Bali many moons ago. It’s nothing spectacular but is ok for a wander through on a lazy Sunday morning. Little miss was suitably impressed, mostly with the baby monkeys, who I do admit were pretty cute! We stayed a good distance from them as suggested by almost everyone you meet since they can get aggressive at times, particularly if you have food on your person.

After we’d had enough monkey business (yep, I said it!) we wandered up the street looking at the shops. It’s a noticeable difference here to Kuta with no hawkers constantly in your face. A much more pleasant shopping experience, I even bought myself a new hat.

Today we spent the morning lounging by the pool (where we have free wi-fi) and trying to convince Ivy that the ants weren’t going to kill her. She has had several screaming episodes already in regards to the ants… There’s an awful lot of them here and you can’t leave any remnant of food or packaging lying around or it will be covered in a swarm of black within minutes.

This afternoon we treated ourselves to a little pampering, as most do round here. I needed a leg wax so we went off to Milano beauty salon. When we arrived I asked if they could do something for Ivy and Ben. They promptly sat them both down next to each other and set Ben up for a foot massage. Ivy sat next to him on a little seat and had her nails done. I was taken out back for my wax but was finished before either of them. I came back to watch the tail end of the nail extravaganza. I could see she was bursting with excitement but, being Ivy, had to hide all emotion from the therapist!

The weather is a mild 30 degrees, humid but perfect. Our villa overlooks rice paddies and is surrounded by tropical garden including two avocado trees. We have the fruit of one ripening on top of our fridge right now.

Tomorrow another lazy day is planned and Wednesday we'll take a day trip to Waterbom Park in Kuta.