Good Housekeeping Guide

This week was very exiting as we were sent a copy of the December issue of the Good Housekeeping guide. They have written an article about us living in the Gambia however on reading it all I would say is how untrue some of the statements are.

The rest of the week was spent with Abigail colouring the fish on one of her t-shirts in permanent crayons (another birthday present) you then have to iron the shirt so as to set the colours. Bradley on the other hand not only coloured his pirate t-shirt but also decided to draw love hearts on his white underpants oh bless.

Coco Ocean

The highlight of the week was on Saturday, we had promised Abigail a birthday treat so she decided that she would like to spend the day at Coco Ocean Hotel and then go out for a pizza on the evening. We arrived at Coco Ocean just after 10 o’clock and walked through security into the lovely grounds. We thought it wise to make our presence known at the reception also we wanted to check if we could use the internet at the poolside. The hotel is set on a slight hill so you have a lovely avenue of shrubbery to walk down. We set off walking down the avenue at various points there were wicker settees set out for you to relax in. First off all you arrive at a courtyard around which are various rooms, reading, breakfast and pool lounge all set around a small fountain and pool. You then can go around or through the pool lounge to another pool and sun bed area. The pool is over three levels each running into each other with sun beds dotted around. We found ourselves a couple of sun beds and took ourselves off to the changing room to put on our costumes. Paul tried to get internet access however the signal was very poor so he went back up to the reception area even this wasn’t very good so he finally gave up. Abigail and Bradley played around in the pool whilst I sat and read. The hotel was holding a large fundraising dinner on the evening (some volunteers had paid for the privilege to go) so they were busy erecting a stage and setting out tables on the lawn. Abigail and I decided to explore the rest of the grounds first taking a walk to the beach. At the beach more sun beds were set out under their very own little marquee, very nice. I took a few photo’s and we then headed back up the hill arriving at the spa and salon, Abigail wanted to have a nosey so we had a quick look in. We then made our way back to the pool. The rest of the day was spent in and out of the pool we finally started to get changed at about 3 o’clock to set off for home.

Avenue to the Courtyard

Poolside Lounge up the Steps

Pool Side

To the Beach

Fundraising Dinner Preparations

Beach and Sunbed Marques

Reading, Breakfast & Pool Lounge Courtyard

Yes it is a hairy caterpillar on Paul's lip for Mo-vember, I carn't wait until December!

Once home we washed and changed before jumping in a taxi to Palma Rima junction as we have been recommended a pizza restaurant there. The restaurant was small and more like a coffee shop however the Italian owner seemed pleasant. He had decided to leave Hull and come out here as he has recently married a Gambian girl. We picked a couple of pizza dishes and a pasta dish to share between us all of which were very tasty. The only down side was the owner was a born again Christian so he had decided on a policy of no booze. As we were leaving he gave the children a couple of doughnuts as he also supply’s bread and pastries to some of the restaurants in the Senegambia area. We decided to have one drink in the Commin to see the end of the Liverpool v Stoke game (shouldn’t have bothered), once over we jumped in a gelleh for home. When we got out of the gelleh there was a lot of commotion, across the road one of the electricity cables had caught on fire however it soon went out on its own, ugh would this mean no electricity for us tonight, yep.