At last - A flight date from Oman air

At 18:00 Friday, Oman air phoned with the flight details.

Here they are:

1 WY 222N 26APR M COKMCT HK2 0720 0930 /E (first leg Kochi-Muscat)
2 WY 101N 26APR M MCTLHR HK2 1400 1905 /E (second leg Muscat Heathrow).

So all being well we'll be back monday evening (but for us, when we get to brighton it will be like 2 am. Cathy will NOT get to the drop-in Tuesday as we will need a lie in.

We saw a small temple festival yesterday with three elephants and fireworks. This was in a nearby village accross the backwater in Vipen island There weas also a band (cathy says a vast band) with drums and horms. There were young men acting as "cheerleaders" on the elephants which were all decorated with gold.
The band was assisted by regular bangs that appeared to be some kind of firework. Later we saw the man making the bangs. He had several iron tubes embedded in the earth, into which he tamped gunpowder. At the appropriate time he ignited them with a burning brand.
In the evening there were quite spectacular fireworks which had to compete with a thunderstorm which periodically lit up the sky and provided the usual sound effects, until the rain started at which point the fireworks ceased (as did our conversation in the resturant due to the rain drumming on the roof).
We are feeling more relaxed now we actually have a date and may do a little sightseeing tomorrow.