“Any bleeding complaints?”

“Eh? No. Actually, the service has been amazing. You see, we met this chap, Aisee, on the beach up in Gaidhoo. He was promoting the concept of Home Stays to the locals, encouraging them to set up a B&B network around the Maldives. This will allow tourists to see the REAL Maldives, meet and live amongst the people and see how they live. What makes the islands tick. Tourists will be able to flit from one island to the next, staying at Home Stays and see tons more of the country than just flying into a resort on stilts.”

Well, you see, it turns out Aisee is personal friends with both the President of the Maldives and the mayor of Adhoo Atoll. So when we got to talking we said that we had been looking to see if we could get a vaccine and Aisee said, “let me see what I can do”.

And so, here we are, we seen the islands, met the people and, now, the great news of getting a shot of Covishield. So, absolutely no complaints. Many thanks instead.

“No Mr Letton”, says the nurse, “I meant do you have any bleeding complaints”.

“Oh. Well, no to that as well”

And so ends our cruise through the Maldives. All sun, blue seas and a jag in the arm. 300 miles to Chagos.