Cold Isolation

Perhaps a little too dramatic a title but I have been ill and as a man I must live up to the prophecy (perhaps self-fulfilling) of wallowing in it. I have been so alone!!! In bed for almost four days straight bar a minor 5 hour bus journey and the odd danger fraught excursion to the internet cafe. It not that I feel that ill, just that being anywhere more than 12.5 metres from a toilet is not a thought that fills my heart with joy (as opposed to being 12.5 metres from one which, for the past few days at least, has). So I have managed to spend this time well, eating little, speaking less, watching approximately too many crap films (list below... the ones I remember at least

Shade
American Gangster (in two sittings)
Independence Day
Death Race starring Jason Statham
The Man Who Wasn't There (Actually one of my favorite films ever so thank you Mr Inconsistent-Film-Scheduler)
8 Legged Freaks
Tremors
Confessions of a Shopaholic
That American film with Ricky Gervais where he dies and starts speaking to dead people
Shutter
The Invasion (barely passable remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers without the one thing that made it great.... the ending!!!)
Tremors
Some american high school flick
Raging Bull (again thank you Mr Inconsistent-Film-Scheduler!)
Planet Terror
3 episodes of Entourage
1 episode of Heroes
2 episodes of 2 and a Half Men (I know, I know...)

Ah, it has been fun... this illness subsided around four days ago and since then I have fallen in love with Cochin and its Martial Arts-Katakali-esque-Ginger-factory-laundry-goodness... met a new friend, John (another Irish guy from Cork who I met on the bus from Ooty) been reunited with another friend, Viddi an cool Icelandic dude I met in Palolem and also reunited with an old enemy... the common cold!!! Unbelievable... 35 degree heat, cliff top palm tree enclosed beach hut, beautiful ocean and I've managed to get a cold! But I can't I and won't complain, I have been combating it by ingesting at least three litres of water every morning, through my nose, as I attempt and fail to body board waves taller than your average elephant. I am feeling quite bruised and scraped by this stretch of ocean which is far rougher than the gentle lapping water of the bay of palolem... far more fun too.

And so that is the current me, sitting in the Kerala Coffee House on top of a cliff overlooking the Lakshadweep Sea as I sop a fresh Pineapple juice and plan the next leg of my journey which will hopefully take me down to the Southern tip of India before rocketing me up to Sikkim via Mamallapuram and Calcutta before heading to Nepal via Varanasi, only to finish my trip with a return journey to Rajasthan to see all the things which I missed the first time round and all this in a month and a week. How does that sound?

Ps: New photos here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/cosimo-roams/