Spare tyres, keys and swimming the Seychelles way

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Day one of the other one's half term and it's 'doing day' - aren't we the funsters?

1. Get spare tyre fixed - at the the petrol station on way to the airport. Approaching tyre place, see three men looking suspiciously like mechanic types look at us and walk past. We wait in tyre place for mechanic looking people. None forthcoming. The other one checks in the petrol station and told they've left for lunch. That they didn't tell us as they slunk past fails to surprise. Head into town.

2. Get extra key for car and also some part or other. Go into car spares shop (for a small island there are many, pimping up cars is a hobby here - Tim Westwood would be right at home), have to ask shop man to speak to our mechanic man on the phone as only they seem to know what they're talking about. Bit embarrassing as my phone doesn't work properly - you have to press it in a specific place to hear the other person talk. The other one probably wishes something similar for me but in reverse - you squeeze me, I shut up.A young gofer leaves with key, returns ten minutes later saying it couldn't be cut. Told there is someplace else in town to get it done so we leave to find it.

3. You can spend an hour in Victoria looking for a shop believe it (it's apparently the world's smallest capital) when you have directions like 'it's up there near the church', 'it's further up there', it's between the church and t he market' before finally being given a road name whereupon it isn't on that road at all but at the top of it, by the t-junction, on the top of someone's house. I wanted Anneka Rice to appear out of a helicopter to congratulate me.

4. Back at the tyre place with mechanic looking people there this time. Realise that have our swimmers on (optimistically hoping we had time for the beach) so decide to go for an inaugural visit to the Seychelles national swimming pool across the road while we wait.

5. 10 rupees for an hour (50p) in an outdoors Olympic size swimming pool, the sun shining, the water not too chlorinated, the green peaks of Trois Frere (the mountains) visible on one side, no more than about 15 people and pee risky kids out of harm's way in the other shallow pool, it's the best swimming experience I've ever had. Even if I am pootling along like an old biddy swimmer doing breaststroke in my bikini.

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