There's been shooting at the Basillica

Coming only hours after the Mumbai attacks we had our own cause for consternation... Jude, Bek and Zhanna had planned to go to the nearby hotel/restaurant for dinner. It is only about 50m from our front gate, but the front gate is about 200m from the dining room. They had come up to dinner with us to help with the kids, and then disappeared off into the night. It get's dark here just after 6pm, so they set off, in the dark, for the Basillica.

As the three of them approached the front gate of the Basillica, one of their guards had held his finger up to his lips and 'ssshhhhh'ed them. 'They are shooting up there,' he said. 'You come back in 15min or 30 minutes'...

Whaaat!

'If there's someone up there with a gun, I'm not going anywhere near it'... and in a moment of inexorable unity, the girls decided to beat a very hasty retreat...

We were only a few forkfulls into our Rogan Josh, when in came the girls, blabbering about someone with a gun, and there being a shooting at the Basillica.... you could hear a papadum drop.

As the story unfolded some of the local staff began to chuckle. 'I can't believe they're laughing, given that 'Mumbai' is so fresh in all our thoughts. Especially with Jude being a potential target'.
The chuckles gave way to laughter, and so the adventure found it's merry [not to mention 'safe'] end. The Basillica is a well known hotel, and numerous television/film directors love to use it for 'shooting' scenes from their top floor. The views down the valley are spectacular!

Needless to say, the girls gathered their dignity and their now swollen appetites and marched off to the Basillica - again. All's well that ends well.