I was never a guide, a brownie, a scout or any of those things. Though I am not spontaneous (well, other than this whole moving to India thing) and like to have a loose plan a well thought out, multi-nested listie plan, I rarely consider what to do if my plans fall through. This is because I generally take the safe road, the one that is most likely to result in a successful outcome – even if I am taking risks for me.

We’ve been in our house in India for one week, and it is now clear that we always need to have a back up plan. Always. Because if we don’t, guaranteed that the water filter will break, leaving us without drinking water for four days; the kitchen’s on-demand hot water heater will die, making it hard to wash dishes; the gas stove will take over 40 minutes to boil a pot of water at a time when the lils are most starving; the power will fail as I set out to cook dinner, rendering the brand new induction cooktop we bought useless, AND the starters for the gas stove equally useless; that the internet will go out on the day that Willy left his mobile at home and me no way of reaching him, or figuring out how to dial a number anyway; and that our bank cards won’t work in the first bunch of ATMs we try them in, making it hard to buy food when the credit cards don’t work at the grocery store.

We now have about a week’s worth of bottled water stashed away, plenty of food options that are ready to eat (more difficult here, especially since we can’t eat any raw fruit or veg), are working on a mobile for me AND back-up internet access, and may just have rupees stashed here, there and everywhere.

It’s been a crazy week.