As 2021 draws to a close, we take deep breath and reflect on what has been a tumultuous year for the entire planet.
From the bloody insurrection on Capitol Hill in early January, to the rise of China, the fall of Kabul, missile testing in North Korea, a bloody coup in Myanmar and regional instability from Syria to Ukraine.
Add to that a relentless barrage of natural disasters, from wildfires to floods, typhoons and cyclones, volcanic eruptions, landslides and earthquakes.
The shifting sands of discontent, expressed both by man and Mother Nature.
In spite of all this, the Delta virus appears to have now run it’s course and I’m hopeful of a more positive start to the new year and hopefully a return to international travel.
In Australia, the country’s two largest states have been out of lockdown for a couple of months and a heading towards a 90% double vaccination rate.
The federal government’s new mantra is learning to live with the virus.
International travel restrictions have been wound back, allowing Australians previously stuck overseas to return home to family and loved ones.
Provided they are double vaccinated.
All the other Australian states are now gearing up to reopen their borders, understanding that they will also be opening themselves up to higher rates of infection but hopeful that with a highly vaccinated population their health systems can manage the exposure.
In Indonesia, daily case numbers have fallen to the low hundreds, however the hoped for return of tourists to Bali has thus far failed to materialise, with no new arrivals touching down at the International Airport since it reopened in mid-October. The government in Jakarta was planning to prevent people from travelling over the Christmas holiday period but with cases so low an Bali, especially, crying out for support, it stepped back, allowing local administrators to set restrictions appropriate to their regions.
In Lombok, in keeping with the general spirit of renewal, we decide to leap into a new round of upgrades at the guesthouse and our home.
Dewi is struggling with our present kitchen setup. The small prep area we have in our private residence gives us barely enough space to prepare breakfast let alone store necessary pantry items and plateware and with the rainy season now in full swing, preparing food in the guesthouse kitchen and ferrying meals and dirty dishes back and forth twice a day in the pouring rain is a thankless task, wrought near on impossible by having to negotiate an umbrella.
So we decide to push our kitchen back to the far wall of the house where we presently have a side path and garden.
The climbing plant which is now completely overgrown and a pain to maintain comes out and a concrete slab goes down on the pebbled walkway. We line the slatted timber screen with cement sheet and give it a coat of caramel coloured stain. The concrete slab gets a length of artificial grass which feels soft underfoot and is an instant, low maintenance alternative to tiles.
We buy a larger wash basin and set it back against the wall with our original storage unit. We decide to buy a second unit to fill the space as well as an overhead cupboard for cups and glassware.
For a bench top, we employ two 1200 x 600mm (4ft x 2ft) ceramic tiles with a white marble effect. They are easy to clean, and look expensive but were ridiculously not so.
To finish off, we claim the small oven and cooktop from the guesthouse kitchen which rarely gets used and purchase a three-burner bench-top grill. I can’t wait to start cooking my own steaks again.
To be honest, as much as I love a good makeover, I was a little unsure how to go about this transformation when Dewi first proposed it but she could see it all quite clearly and instructed our handyman accordingly.
It all falls into place like a charm.
We decide to continue the caramel coloured board across our front fence to contain our boisterous puppies who love nothing more than running riot around the guesthouse. They harass our cats, terrorise our staff, dig up the garden and shit everywhere. Now they are restricted to running like greyhounds around the living room.
Toilet training is ongoing.
There is one other issue that requires attention at home. A number of our timber floorboards are rotting away from within.
At first I assume it is termites and I’m cursing our builder who assured us all the timber he used was treated. Turns out they are drawing moisture from the concrete substructure. Our builder is not off the hook yet, though it becomes clear he has made a reasonable effort to lift the floor off the slab.
The problem seems to be that there is no drain pipe on the back of the roof, which is quite common here but means that rain falls straight to the ground at the back of the house.
Although we made provision for this by building pits under the house where water can quickly drain away before soaking back into the subsoil, the amount of rain that can fall here in a short space of time means that the back of the house can be ankle deep in water after a good downfall and a certain amount inevitably gets soaked up by the concrete slab.
The solution is to run a drain pipe from the back of the house to the front of the property where it can run off into the street. Of course, this drain-pipe can’t run underground as it would first need to pass under the house and swimming pool and then be dug in against the fall of land from the front of the front of the property to the rear. So it runs above ground, along the swimming pool wall before turning sharp left and following the northern boundary wall to the front of the property.
It’s almost 100 metres of unsightly pipework, which we are obliged to paint to help it blend into the surroundings but it hopefully means we can stop having to replace our flooring.
Although we generally exist in a state of contented agreement, Dewi and I have one of our very few altercations concerning the day to day running of the business.
In short she wants to stop offering breakfast.
Although few other businesses in our price range offer breakfast, it is one of those things that I’ve always considered essential and something that distinguishes our business from our competition. But as a component of the room price, it is costly.
When we first opened, we offered guests cereal and toast with a range of jams and spreads as well as juice, coffee and tea. For a small extra charge, we would cook nasi goreng or an omelette. For the free breakfast I would have liked to offer a range of cereals and sourdough bread but choice here is limited and even basic western breakfast staples are expensive.
Since the pandemic began we’ve fallen back on the traditional Indonesian breakfast of nasi goreng, which satisfies the local pallette.
But at the same time, the attention to detail we previously afforded our guests at breakfast has slipped away dramatically.
Without consultation, Dewi told Rini and Kak Ida to stop serving fruit juice. Table settings, once stylish and thoughtfully arranged by Dewi the night before, have disappeared from the repetoire completely. Food is now simply placed unceremoniously on the table as soon as it is prepared in the morning and can sometimes sit there for an hour or more before guests surface from their bedrooms.
I eventually confront both Dewi and Rini and let them know that this is wholly unacceptable and that breakfast needs to be cooked to order but not before we are marked down aggressively for it in a guest review.
So now I am arguing, unsuccessfully, to keep breakfast on the menu.
I’d actually like to see an expanded offering, including pancakes and maybe an omlette or a breakfast burger but Dewi is having none of it.
We’ve operated a kitchen for two years but have been wholly unsuccessful at establishing any ongoing lunch or dinner trade. We’re basically just feeding our staff so if I’m to be completely honest, holding a torch for guest breakfast when guests are so thin on the ground doesn’t make alot of financial sense.
Still, I tell Dewi if she doesn’t want to offer breakfast then we should close the kitchen and convert the room into more guest accommodation, thinking that having to turn around and sack Rini might make her stop and think.
But she actually likes the idea. There are already two dorm rooms in the rear of the property, which are housed in a separate wing to the guesthouse proper overlooking our rear terrace. With little further fuss we both agree that the kitchen could be converted into a four-bed dorm room and the existing four bed dorm which, up until now has housed Ian and Fajar, can be transformed into a very attractive Queen Room with Garden and Pool View.
I also quickly realise that Rini will need to stay on as she is very handy in the garden and will be able to take up some of Kak Ida’s workload. Guests or no, the guesthouse and grounds require constant upkeep and both these family members are well trained, trusted and loyal.
For the small salary we pay them it would be foolish to let either of them go.
All up it takes about a month to complete the upgrade. On day one, we sort all the utensils and cookware into three groups. The best pans, platewear and storage containers come over to the house, the 6-burner grill and gas cooker go to the tiny guesthouse kitchen/servery that was never built for commercial use and whatever can’t be stored there is either distributed amongst family and friends or discarded.
We also have two commercial refrigerators, an older model which belongs to Harry and a newer one which comes over to the house.
Once the kitchen is clear work gets underway. The old cement and tile workbenches are demolished and the old plumbing is cut back and concealed. The walls are then relined with cement sheet and the room is repainted inside and out. The floor is resurfaced with a smooth layer of cement before being relaid with new vinyl floor boards and the room is rewired for upgraded lighting and power points.
The original kitchen had a window size hole cut into one wall with a timber flap which could be opened during the day for airflow and closed off at night to prevent the local cat population from entering. We install a sliding tinted window into this cavity and place a small desk below which offers a view into the garden and off to the pool.
Ian and Fajar’s bunk beds are then disassembled and reassembled in the new space. They will use this new room for now on the understanding that it will be used for guest accommodation once demand returns.
Their old room has copped a bit of a beating since they first moved in eighteen months ago. Not entirely their fault – their beds were placed along the room’s external wall and while the whole room will need a repaint, this wall has a moisture problem similar to what we’ve experienced inside the guesthouse.
The simplest solution again, is to line the walls with timber-look pvc panelling which gives the room a warm, intimate feel.
Dewi and I now take the opportunity to upgrade our old queen bed, moving it into the new room and buying ourselves a new top of the line model with a plush fabric bed-head and matching bedroom bench which we find at a substantial discount to the original asking price.
Finally, we give the last remaining external dorm room a fresh coat of paint to complete the rear of guesthouse makeover.
Just one small problem. All the internal queen rooms have internet tv provided via internet modem but there are no free ports. Dewi suggests we look at a satellite connection which offers exactly the same channels but through a different provider.
I’m concerned that it’s going to be an expensive undertaking but it turns out to be incredibly cheap. About seven US dollars a month, fully installed or a one off payment of $US150 to buy the dish outright with unlimited access to the subscription service.
Sold.
Kevin has also just swapped his TV for a wide screen computer monitor so we even have a 32 inch screen to put into the new Queen Room.
The last of the work is completed just in time for Christmas.
I speak to both Josh and Tom on Christmas Day and video-call Deidre and my extended family to wish them all Merry Christmas.
As I survey the trail of gift wrap strewn around the floor and my nephews and niece’s disregard for anything but their new toys and the exhausted looks on the faces of my step-mom and step-siblings, I’m not feeling too sentimental. With my two boys now grown and all the incredible effort of preparing for the Yuletide feast behind me, I am glad to be sitting here in Indonesia, taking it easy, well removed from the punishing demands of Christmas in the West.
My sister-in-law Rebecca is surprised to learn that Christmas Day in Indonesia passes with such little fanfare. I explain to her that although it’s a public holiday and school kids are on two week’s vacation, as the country is predominantly Muslim, Christmas is recognised but not as widely celebrated as the festival of Ramadan, which takes place in April or May.
I nevertheless like to give all the staff a Christmas bonus at this time of year and Kevin and Kezia receive some much-appreciated spending money.
But as families in Australia are enjoying their first real Christmas together in two years, a new cloud is forming on the horizon.
A new variant of concern emerged in South Africa towards the end of November and the first cases are now beginning to circulate in Australia.
The early indications are that it is two or three times more transmissable than Delta and, while the symptoms are possibly less severe, it appears able to step around the protection offered by the currently available vaccines.
Australia, meet Omicron.