The Wills family in front of what is now the dive base. You can see the bar in the back ground, still with the steps at the front and one of the dogs we inherited with the property, Riga. Look how much grass there was there in those days.Another view of the pool, this time Nancy is there with Richard. Look how much land we used to have in front of the bar & dive base! The little patch of palm trees we planted behind Nancy are now hanging on for dear life on the edge of the beach. The land with the bench in the back ground is long gone.A favourite place for Daniel & Richard’s afternoon nap. Sadly we can’t hang hammocks throughout the grounds any longer as we tend to get blamed when children load each other in them and use them as catapults!Nancy & Richard. As long as you fed Richard from 7am to 7 pm he was happy to sleep from 7pm to 7am… seemed like a good deal to all concerned.Richard with our darling Pai, from Kampung Duku, one of our first house keeping staff. Auntie Pai still works with us, as a cook now, and is very much part of our family.If a handy lap or pair of arms weren’t available while Mummy was busy there was always the kitchen sink to play in and a handy spoon to play with.Rahim and Richard helping to build our house, at the back of the property and surrounded by jungle. Poor Rahim, think the job took twice as long as Richard loved to ‘help’!A happily pregnant Linda playing with Richard……. which was normally followed by a walk across the head to Rimba and back for exercise. As I said, it was a much more relaxed pace in those days and we had the opportunity to enjoy living in paradise.
Daniel outside Veyo Villa, our house on Male’, Republic of Maldives. We were so lucky to have so much room on a tiny island 1 mile long and 1/2 a mile wide with a population of nearly 80’000 (yes, I did say eighty thousand). I spent a great deal of time reading up on that balcony, it had and amazing view out over the sea to Hulule Airport so I could watch the planes coming and going (about 3 a day in those days!). As you can see there is nothing tall around us, the law for building anything taller than the tallest palm tree had only just been lifted.On Daniel’s beloved dirt bike, down by the harbour on one of the newly paved roads. A dirt bike on such a tiny island was completely unnecessary but since the unpaved roads often flooded higher than the top of one’s wellingtons (in which case nothing to do but take them off and wade) it was nice. Sadly I don’t have a photo of Daisy, my faithful Raleigh bicycle. When Daniel asked me why I called her Daisy I told him because in her heart she was yellow. After one trip away I came back to find he’d taken the whole bike apart, painted it daisy yellow and put it back together, complete with pristine Raleigh insignia. Every other bike on Male’ was black at that time!A typical bumboat bringing in supplies while Daniel waits to unload. They look romantic (I suppose) but they take 1 hour 20 minutes to get to Tanjung Leman, are normally filthy dirty and frequently belch foul smoke.Sorry, this photo is in a terrible state so didn’t scan well but i love it as Richard had just been born and Daniel looks so proud and happy. Think my mother took this as we were both staring at Richard marveling at how clever we’d been to produce the most perfect baby in the entire world (and all you parents know exactly what I’m talking about). It’s odd to see Richard’s hair in that photo because he went bald as a coote very quickly and stayed that way for so long I wondered if he was going to grow any 🙂Richard insisted on this photo, I’m not a fan, but it does remind me what a brilliant idea it was to go to Mum’s for the birth and then stay, especially as my Aunt & Uncle lived right next door. We had plenty of willing baby sitters and had such a wonderful Christmas we did the whole thing again the next year, yes, including the baby part!!!
Linda & Daniel on Maayafushi, where Daniel was working as a diving instructor, with the Swiss Flying Ambulance plane.The “resort” Daniel leased in 1992… little wonder I was not amused!Daniel with Richard & Jade May 1993, the last one before his accident.
