I don’t think I’ve mentioned much about safety and security here, but it is a huge issue. We live in a gated complex with electric wire fencing on top of 6ft high walls and we have a 24/7 security patrol. Public transport is strictly “no-go”, as is walking anywhere except the local shops. Although we have not personally felt in any danger, I have heard a few stories recently that make me stop and think. Firstly, let me explain that to call someone “black” here is neither racist nor derogatory, it is a statement of fact and quite acceptable. I spoke to Gloria, a black worker at the library where I have been volunteering; she had been off work for a few days and I asked how she was doing. Her daughter had gone missing without a trace and no one seemed very interested in finding her. Gloria now has to look after her two grandchildren, so she had moved into their home. Home is a tin shack. On the third night, having arranged other care for them, she went home to her own house (also a tin shack) where she lives alone. She woke in the middle of the night to realise that her home was in the process of being stolen…not burgled, stolen…lifted right up and moved whilst she was asleep inside! She was dropped back down when she screamed; obviously the perpetrators knew of her situation and assumed she was still at her daughter’s house.
Then Les came home to tell me that one of his workers had not turned up for work. Repeated calls to his mobile were eventually answered by the police who were investigating his murder. He had been shot right through the arm, sideways through the chest and out the other side by someone walking close beside him. Nothing had been stolen. Police think he knew his killer and assume it is a family or tribal row.
Among our white and Indian friends though, no one has been attacked or anything. I call it the “Head and Shoulders” no dandruff scenario…”Have you ever been robbed?” “No, but that’s because I have a good security system” However the newspapers are full of tales of shootings, hold ups at gunpoint, knife attacks, etc. These tend to be in Johannesburg, not out in our neck of hicksville. Mind you, the bank at a shopping centre I often use, about ten minutes drive from here, was held up at gunpoint at lunchtime one day. I am now writing this on battery power as we have another power cut. They tend to last for about 2 hours, so we should have power again by 5.30pm. But then everyone will want to cook dinner, so there will be a surge of use, the grid will be under threat and it may well go off again! Eskom, the national electricity suppliers, are unable to provide enough power because they underestimated future use in the 1990s and decommissioned a number of power stations. It is a huge problem, not just an inconvenience; I heard in the news today that shares in gold and diamond mining have fallen to a new low as investors move to other options due to uncertainty about profit since mining stops when the power goes off. A local baker is suing Eskom because he lost a days production at his bread factory and had to throw away the whole lot!
Power back on, dinner successfully cooked and eaten! Now on the evening news, I see that there was a huge tribal incident in the Drakensberg at the weekend. 47 arrests were made, rival tribes fighting over land ownership. So that explains the lads with spears, then! It seems a hotel very near where we were staying has cancelled all Easter weekend bookings due to the potential danger to tourists. To think we drove for miles along these very roads and didn’t have a clue about the “potential danger to tourists”
We are going away for the Easter weekend, but to a different area, this time to a small town in the Free State. Nearby is Bloemfontein, which has an unusual and to me very surprising claim to fame… JRR Tolkien was born there! I didn’t know he was born in South Africa. Imagine that! However, he left when he was three.
I forgot to say that the Eoin Colfer lunch was great, he is a very funny guy…must read some of his books now and see why the kids think he is so good! I got a couple of signed copies of his latest book, one for GHS and one for the library where I do my volunteer work. They were much cheaper than in the UK.
The volunteering goes well, I helped with class visits from a local primary school and with a nursery school visit. They sang “The wheels on the bus” so not much different there (except most of them had no shoes…) After Easter, I will be going along to the school two mornings a week to help with the “poor readers”.
As far as my own reading goes, I have been trying to buy books by South African writers, both fiction and non fiction.Currently, I am reading "After the dance" a travelogue about attitudes in various parts of the country after the end of apartheid. Fiction wise, I am reading "Blood sisters" which is actually set in 1960's Kenya after the end of British rule, but is very similar to what is happening here right now. It is a good old story but strangely written; it's authors are two sisters, one living in Kenya, the other in France. I seem to remember seeing them interviewed on TV in Scotland a couple of years ago.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Monday, March 17, 2008
Weekend in KZN: Sunday
On Sunday the weather lifted a little and the rain stopped so we headed into the mountains proper. The scenery was unbelievably beautiful. The area is very fertile and is home to both Afrikaans and Zulu farmers.The Afrikaans farms are large and have mechanical aids, growing great swathes of mealies, sunflowers, etc. Dairy and beef herds were also in evidence.However, I beleive they find the going tough nowadays, like farmers everywhere.The Zulu crofters, who live in thatched round huts called rondavels, grow a few mealies and have chickens, a cow or two and goats. The children herd the animals with long pieces of reed-like grass. Their way of life probably hasn’t changed much in hundreds of years, except for the fact that many people had cell phones! Everywhere we drove we passed crowds of locals walking…from nowhere to nowhere, it seemed. Great crowds of barefoot school age kids, bunched up in groups of twenty or more, were walking along these endless tracks. Mothers and grannies, babies tied to their backs with towels, huge cooking pots balanced on their heads. Where were they all going? Some were easier to work out; teenage girls carrying laundry or a few dishes in a plastic basin were heading to wash things in waterfalls at the road side. We had to stop when a group of some 12 or so young men, carrying sharp spears, were stopped by a police landrover and bundled inside, the spears taken from them and put in the front. Puts a new slant on carrying an offensive weapon, doesn’t it! We passed several schools which were like tiny huts, no bigger than a single car garage. Most had broken windows and some had open doors. There was little evidence of furniture inside. In these country schools, children often sit on tree stumps or beer crates for lessons. They routinely walk 5-10k to get to lessons. We found out that many young men and women leave the "homelands" to work in the cities or in hotels and resorts on the coast and return home at weekends. That would account for the number of people we saw lugging those checked bags you often see at airports! Though I doubt if many of the people we saw have ever flown.
We found out a bit about the San or Bush rock art paintings.These are stick-like representations of ancient farming and spiritual rituals painted on cave walls using sticks and vegetable based dyes.They have survived for thousands of years! Stark but quite beautiful.
We found out a bit about the San or Bush rock art paintings.These are stick-like representations of ancient farming and spiritual rituals painted on cave walls using sticks and vegetable based dyes.They have survived for thousands of years! Stark but quite beautiful.
Weekend in Kwa Zulu Natal: Friday and Saturday
The weekend in the Drakensberg Mountains was excellent…apart from the weather! We arrived in the tiny village of Winterton on Friday evening and went for a quick walk…well, there was only one street, really, so it didn’t take long. We saw a woman by the side of the road and her shopping consisted of a bag of meal and… a live chicken, feet tied together with string, looking quite unhappy! We had just settled with a drink on the stoep (porch) of the hotel when the rain started. The rooms were thatched cottages, so we had the soft sound of rainfall on thatch all night, not at all unpleasant.
On Saturday morning, we set off in torrential rain for Ladysmith, home to Ladysmith Black Mambaza. Quite disappointing; the cultural centre, which houses the township musical history, is only open Mon – Fri, 10.00 – 4.00pm. So instead we visited the siege museum which was very good. Then it was on to Rorke’s Drift, scene of a horrific battle in the Zulu war . (Remember “Zulu”?) Well, Michael Caine had it easy, let me tell you! The route was a dirt track, or shall we say a mud track, full of rain filled potholes and it went for miles and miles in the middle of nowhere! Eventually we arrived at Rorke’s Drift. It was very atmospheric. The museum was excellent and we visited both the Zulu and British cemeteries. It looked only a little way on the map but it took three hours! The Garmin lady gave up, at one point she showed us driving through fields (we almost were, actually!) and was busy “recalculating” so we turned her off and relied on the printed map instead! Several more miles of dirt track took us back onto a “proper” road and back to the hotel for an excellent dinner. We came back through Glencoe and Dundee! The piped muzak in the dining room was awful ancient schmalz on a loop, “Lady in Red” and “Its only just begun” over and over again, interspersed with woeful stuff about dead babies and love lorn useless war veterans and cowboys, you know the kind of thing! The clientele was of the white farmer type, mostly Afrikaans speaking. I asked the black waitress if she could put on any local music and she said, “No, Ma’am, they have chased it all away”.
On Saturday morning, we set off in torrential rain for Ladysmith, home to Ladysmith Black Mambaza. Quite disappointing; the cultural centre, which houses the township musical history, is only open Mon – Fri, 10.00 – 4.00pm. So instead we visited the siege museum which was very good. Then it was on to Rorke’s Drift, scene of a horrific battle in the Zulu war . (Remember “Zulu”?) Well, Michael Caine had it easy, let me tell you! The route was a dirt track, or shall we say a mud track, full of rain filled potholes and it went for miles and miles in the middle of nowhere! Eventually we arrived at Rorke’s Drift. It was very atmospheric. The museum was excellent and we visited both the Zulu and British cemeteries. It looked only a little way on the map but it took three hours! The Garmin lady gave up, at one point she showed us driving through fields (we almost were, actually!) and was busy “recalculating” so we turned her off and relied on the printed map instead! Several more miles of dirt track took us back onto a “proper” road and back to the hotel for an excellent dinner. We came back through Glencoe and Dundee! The piped muzak in the dining room was awful ancient schmalz on a loop, “Lady in Red” and “Its only just begun” over and over again, interspersed with woeful stuff about dead babies and love lorn useless war veterans and cowboys, you know the kind of thing! The clientele was of the white farmer type, mostly Afrikaans speaking. I asked the black waitress if she could put on any local music and she said, “No, Ma’am, they have chased it all away”.
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
What’s in a name?
There are some really funny names here: For females: Happy-girl, Dorcas, Precious, Mummy, Mammee. For males: Goodwill, Doctor, Bongo and one unfortunate waiter who said, “My name is Fanny; they call me Fanny-Boy”. Mmm. I bet they do, sunshine! The traditional African names are difficult to pronounce as they seem to have a series of consonants at the start, like “Mphleko. I feel like saying, “Vowel please, Carol” and working them out as anagrams!
Then there are the Afrikaans names, where “a” is pronounced “aw” so you get Fanie and Sanie. Also, terms of address are quite formal. I am usually called Ma’am but some younger women and many children call me “Auntie” or Tannie” in Afrikaans. Les is addressed as “Sir”, “Boss” or “Captain”. Oh, and once by a waiter as “The old man”. Not to mention some of his workforce wanting to call him “Uncle Les”, this from the Afrikaans form of respectful address of “Oom” for uncle, used to address older men.
When I visited a school, the librarian called the class to attention and introduced me. All the boys immediately stood and chorused, “Morning, Ma’am”. Wow!
And as for school uniforms, I have never seen so many! There are loads of schools in our area, some private, some government, some religious, some Afrikaans. All have strict uniform codes adhered to by everyone. When I think that some people earn less than £40 a week and there are no clothing grants, it must take some effort to turn out these immaculate children every morning. When visiting Soweto, even the poorest shacks had a line of washing, invariably including some white school shirts. Each child has only one; it is removed and washed immediately on returning home, to be clean for the next day. The uniforms are quite traditional and old fashioned; knee length socks for boys and girls, shorts for boys and skirts for girls. Blazers are proudly worn, with some wearing loudly striped ones, like London stockbrokers. These are for “colours” earned for sports. Not just tacking on some braid here! Many boys wear caps and in the posh schools in Joburg they wear boaters! A common accessory, for both boys and girls, is a big umbrella in the school colours, used as a parasol as well as to keep the rain off. Mind you, behaviour is much the same, in the streets on the way home from school and indeed in the schools! One school I visited was a posh boys school and they run in the corridors, slap each other and horse around just like back home. The private girls school was a little more refined, the girls posing around the central courtyard fountain, smoothing their hair and preening, gossiping in small groups, just like schoolgirls everywhere. They too, were very polite when my colleague asked the way to the conference room, all standing up when we approached and one leading us personally to our location.
Later this month, I have been invited to visit some township schools where I understand the emphasis is more on attending, eating a basic breakfast after what is often a 5k walk and dealing with basic literacy and numeracy. I have also been invited to a storytelling workshop and next Wednesday to meet childrens author Eoin Colfer, so hopefully I will get some ideas for working with the children. Oh, I have also been asked to help at a volunteer literacy group for youngsters in a near by public library. Looks like I will have little time for housework, what a shame!
Then there are the Afrikaans names, where “a” is pronounced “aw” so you get Fanie and Sanie. Also, terms of address are quite formal. I am usually called Ma’am but some younger women and many children call me “Auntie” or Tannie” in Afrikaans. Les is addressed as “Sir”, “Boss” or “Captain”. Oh, and once by a waiter as “The old man”. Not to mention some of his workforce wanting to call him “Uncle Les”, this from the Afrikaans form of respectful address of “Oom” for uncle, used to address older men.
When I visited a school, the librarian called the class to attention and introduced me. All the boys immediately stood and chorused, “Morning, Ma’am”. Wow!
And as for school uniforms, I have never seen so many! There are loads of schools in our area, some private, some government, some religious, some Afrikaans. All have strict uniform codes adhered to by everyone. When I think that some people earn less than £40 a week and there are no clothing grants, it must take some effort to turn out these immaculate children every morning. When visiting Soweto, even the poorest shacks had a line of washing, invariably including some white school shirts. Each child has only one; it is removed and washed immediately on returning home, to be clean for the next day. The uniforms are quite traditional and old fashioned; knee length socks for boys and girls, shorts for boys and skirts for girls. Blazers are proudly worn, with some wearing loudly striped ones, like London stockbrokers. These are for “colours” earned for sports. Not just tacking on some braid here! Many boys wear caps and in the posh schools in Joburg they wear boaters! A common accessory, for both boys and girls, is a big umbrella in the school colours, used as a parasol as well as to keep the rain off. Mind you, behaviour is much the same, in the streets on the way home from school and indeed in the schools! One school I visited was a posh boys school and they run in the corridors, slap each other and horse around just like back home. The private girls school was a little more refined, the girls posing around the central courtyard fountain, smoothing their hair and preening, gossiping in small groups, just like schoolgirls everywhere. They too, were very polite when my colleague asked the way to the conference room, all standing up when we approached and one leading us personally to our location.
Later this month, I have been invited to visit some township schools where I understand the emphasis is more on attending, eating a basic breakfast after what is often a 5k walk and dealing with basic literacy and numeracy. I have also been invited to a storytelling workshop and next Wednesday to meet childrens author Eoin Colfer, so hopefully I will get some ideas for working with the children. Oh, I have also been asked to help at a volunteer literacy group for youngsters in a near by public library. Looks like I will have little time for housework, what a shame!
Autumn approaches
Well, they tell us autumn is on its way, but yesterday it was 28.5 all day! Today is still hot and sunny. We went to that rugby match, it was just like watching Scotland after all… the Bloue (Correct spelling…Afrikaans!) Bulls, “our” team, lost to a New Zealand team, the Canterbury Crusaders. The score was …54 – 19. Still it was quite an experience, the crowds waving big blue flags, lots of loud music, floodlights, etc. We also had a buffet dinner in the box so it was a great night.
My talk to the librarians seems to have been well received; I’ve had quite a few emails and offers of school visits as a result. Only one problem, the powerpoint failed to open!!! It was working fine here in the morning and it is still working fine here, but just would not open at the school! The school’s IT guy came down and pressed a lot of keys, all the while shaking his head and saying, “It’s not looking good; let me just try this; Ah, I think it might be…” Just like our own dear I.Mac at GHS. And still the b****y thing didn’t work! So they just had to listen to me for an hour. I had even added photographs and animated text, remembering how to from an in-service a couple of years ago! Anyway, I still have it on my memory stick so maybe one day I will subject another audience to it!
We have been busy booking up short breaks now that all our visitors have gone. On March 15 we are going to the Drakensberg Mountains and in April we are flying to Durban and having a few days at Umhlanga Rocks. We are also looking at options for a trip to Cape Town and the wineries but nothing fixed yet.
Martin is hoping to come here for a couple of weeks in May. He is currently working in Broome having driven from Perth. When he gets to Melbourne, he hopes to fly here then return there for the rest of his gap year.
My talk to the librarians seems to have been well received; I’ve had quite a few emails and offers of school visits as a result. Only one problem, the powerpoint failed to open!!! It was working fine here in the morning and it is still working fine here, but just would not open at the school! The school’s IT guy came down and pressed a lot of keys, all the while shaking his head and saying, “It’s not looking good; let me just try this; Ah, I think it might be…” Just like our own dear I.Mac at GHS. And still the b****y thing didn’t work! So they just had to listen to me for an hour. I had even added photographs and animated text, remembering how to from an in-service a couple of years ago! Anyway, I still have it on my memory stick so maybe one day I will subject another audience to it!
We have been busy booking up short breaks now that all our visitors have gone. On March 15 we are going to the Drakensberg Mountains and in April we are flying to Durban and having a few days at Umhlanga Rocks. We are also looking at options for a trip to Cape Town and the wineries but nothing fixed yet.
Martin is hoping to come here for a couple of weeks in May. He is currently working in Broome having driven from Perth. When he gets to Melbourne, he hopes to fly here then return there for the rest of his gap year.
Thursday, February 21, 2008
The blog is back
Yes, dear readers, the blog returns at last. We have had such a wonderful time with all our visitors that I have not had time to contribute. But, as they say, it is a return to “auld claes an’ parritch” and on with the show here on blogspot!
David and Jen were here from 20 Jan until 3 Feb and we did a lot of sightseeing.We took them to the Pilansberg Game reserve and spent two nights at a 5 star game lodge (a belated Christmas present to them). It was a wonderful experience and although we had been on a similar drive at Christmas, this one was quite different. We saw lions right by the truck and a crocodile coming out of the lake right beside the walkway to a bird hide. We also saw baboons, monkeys, zebras, rhinos, hippos, a jackal and loads of birds. Quite an experience! However, that makes still only 3 of the legendary Big Five of Buffalo, Rhino, Elephant, Leopard, Lion. You may think I am losing my touch as a librarian, since the list is not in alphabetical order, but the observant among you will recognise it as my mnemonic aid for the list: BRELL (OK BRILL would have been better, but whoever saw an iliphant?) . David was proud to note (vegetarians look away now) that he had eaten a fair number of the antelope species and also warthog. Soweto was an interesting tour. I chickened out of driving there after a nail biting effort to take us to Gold Reef City which was only marginally less scary than some of the rides there! The Soweto tour included Nelson Mandela’s home and a visit to a shack house in the poorest area. That was a bit embarrassing actually, looking into someone’s living room like a Victorian on a Grand Tour visiting slums somewhere. However, they really didn’t seem to mind and as usual with the locals here, were pleasant and smiling. The children made a great fuss of D&J, touching Jen’s blonde hair, not to mention having a look under her top at her bra! David’s hairy forearms and muscles came in for a good inspection too. They largely ignored me except for the bright pink key ring I had as a bag charm (thanks to Kathy W). I hung grimly onto it despite the best efforts of a charming 3 year old who repeated “bag! bag!” and I am glad to say it survived intact, if now a little grubby. Well a lot grubby, actually.
One of the highlights for me was our “girls night out”, when Jen and I went with a friend and her daughter to see “The Lion King” live in Joburg. It was absolutely spectacular and where better to see it than here in Africa, where the story is set!
On the day they left, my sister and her husband arrived and we spent the day together. Janie and Peter arrived at 9.30 am and D&J didn’t go until 11.30pm, so it was a wonderful day. We sat in the sun, looked at the wedding album and then had a braai before we took the young ones to the airport and let the old ones get a much needed early night!
We went back to the game lodge with J&P and once again the game drive was amazing. We followed a pair of young male lions for ages, listening to their vocal challenge to another pair from a rival pride that we’d spotted earlier. We also had the privilege of watching at very close range a lioness and four cubs. Giraffe were also very close to the truck this time but we saw fewer antelope species and no elephants! Rhino, hippo and zebra were abundant.
After a week with us, J&P flew to Cape Town to visit friends and then came back for a couple of days RandR before flying home on Monday 19th.
Next fixture on my calendar is on Wednesday 27th. when I have been invited to give a talk to a group of Johannesburg School Librarians.
Martin is now well on the road in Oz and we enjoy his colourful travel diary on “bebo”. The language is not for the faint of heart but the scenery in his photographs is stunning. He and a friend have bought a camper van and are driving up the west coast from Perth to Darwin.
My philosophy class is well into the second term and we have been considering Plato,Marsilio Ficino and Hermes Trismagestus as well as some Sanskrit writing (in English!)
At the weekend, we are going to a rugby match. We have been invited to join a group of customers and work colleagues of Les' in a box, dinner etc as well. I haven't watched rugby (other than to see how much Scotland lost by) since Martin played in the under 18's! I'll need to dig up how the scoring works, I remember it's not as easy as "one each"!
David and Jen were here from 20 Jan until 3 Feb and we did a lot of sightseeing.We took them to the Pilansberg Game reserve and spent two nights at a 5 star game lodge (a belated Christmas present to them). It was a wonderful experience and although we had been on a similar drive at Christmas, this one was quite different. We saw lions right by the truck and a crocodile coming out of the lake right beside the walkway to a bird hide. We also saw baboons, monkeys, zebras, rhinos, hippos, a jackal and loads of birds. Quite an experience! However, that makes still only 3 of the legendary Big Five of Buffalo, Rhino, Elephant, Leopard, Lion. You may think I am losing my touch as a librarian, since the list is not in alphabetical order, but the observant among you will recognise it as my mnemonic aid for the list: BRELL (OK BRILL would have been better, but whoever saw an iliphant?) . David was proud to note (vegetarians look away now) that he had eaten a fair number of the antelope species and also warthog. Soweto was an interesting tour. I chickened out of driving there after a nail biting effort to take us to Gold Reef City which was only marginally less scary than some of the rides there! The Soweto tour included Nelson Mandela’s home and a visit to a shack house in the poorest area. That was a bit embarrassing actually, looking into someone’s living room like a Victorian on a Grand Tour visiting slums somewhere. However, they really didn’t seem to mind and as usual with the locals here, were pleasant and smiling. The children made a great fuss of D&J, touching Jen’s blonde hair, not to mention having a look under her top at her bra! David’s hairy forearms and muscles came in for a good inspection too. They largely ignored me except for the bright pink key ring I had as a bag charm (thanks to Kathy W). I hung grimly onto it despite the best efforts of a charming 3 year old who repeated “bag! bag!” and I am glad to say it survived intact, if now a little grubby. Well a lot grubby, actually.
One of the highlights for me was our “girls night out”, when Jen and I went with a friend and her daughter to see “The Lion King” live in Joburg. It was absolutely spectacular and where better to see it than here in Africa, where the story is set!
On the day they left, my sister and her husband arrived and we spent the day together. Janie and Peter arrived at 9.30 am and D&J didn’t go until 11.30pm, so it was a wonderful day. We sat in the sun, looked at the wedding album and then had a braai before we took the young ones to the airport and let the old ones get a much needed early night!
We went back to the game lodge with J&P and once again the game drive was amazing. We followed a pair of young male lions for ages, listening to their vocal challenge to another pair from a rival pride that we’d spotted earlier. We also had the privilege of watching at very close range a lioness and four cubs. Giraffe were also very close to the truck this time but we saw fewer antelope species and no elephants! Rhino, hippo and zebra were abundant.
After a week with us, J&P flew to Cape Town to visit friends and then came back for a couple of days RandR before flying home on Monday 19th.
Next fixture on my calendar is on Wednesday 27th. when I have been invited to give a talk to a group of Johannesburg School Librarians.
Martin is now well on the road in Oz and we enjoy his colourful travel diary on “bebo”. The language is not for the faint of heart but the scenery in his photographs is stunning. He and a friend have bought a camper van and are driving up the west coast from Perth to Darwin.
My philosophy class is well into the second term and we have been considering Plato,Marsilio Ficino and Hermes Trismagestus as well as some Sanskrit writing (in English!)
At the weekend, we are going to a rugby match. We have been invited to join a group of customers and work colleagues of Les' in a box, dinner etc as well. I haven't watched rugby (other than to see how much Scotland lost by) since Martin played in the under 18's! I'll need to dig up how the scoring works, I remember it's not as easy as "one each"!
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
January mutterings
The weather has been quite strange; forecast tells us sunny, it turns out grey. Forecast tells us grey and dull, it turns out scorching! But in general it is pretty good I must say and I am sure it is better than in Scotland at present! I have been preparing for our visitors; David and Jen arrive on Sunday 20th, it will be great to see them both again. Then on Sunday 3rd Feb, Janie and Peter arrive! So I might not be blogging for a while as I try out my tourist guide skills!
We haven’t been out and about much since Les went back to work. I bought some things for the gym; what a waste of money! I went to a recommended shop for the yoga mat as mine is still in Scotland. Then I spotted one for less than half the price three days later! But worse still I bought “aquasocks” for the water aerobics and I was a slippin and a slidin all over the place in them. I thought it might improve when I got in the water, but it was worse! I ended up in my bare feet. I was so mad to have spent the money on such a pile of rubbish! But I am enjoying the classes so much! I now go three times a week to water aerobics and have met some really nice ladies there, we went for coffee today and are planning to “do lunch” on Thursday. There are about fourteen ladies “of a certain age” in the class; three of them are Scottish and two are English, isn’t that amazing? One of them has a sister who lives near my sister in law’s holiday home in Dunoon. What a small world.
I had a great meeting last week with another librarian, so hopefully we will get some links up and running between our schools once her term gets under way.
We have a satellite TV system much like Sky, called DSTV. I can even get Extreme Makeover Home Edition much to Les disappointment. We keep up to date with the UK news on Sky News and often watch BBC Prime which shows things like “New Tricks” and “Prime Suspect” The local stations are OK but some broadcast in Afrikaans and some in Xhosa or Zulu so we need to pick and choose. The new hot favourite here is a comedy series called “The Coconuts”. It’s about a white family with a black domestic worker who have a spell cast on them so that they turn black and she turns white… Not very politically correct for UK but perfectly acceptable and getting rave reviews here! We also watched part of a drama all about a village girl who gets into trouble with her family because she wants to marry a man who is not a member of the same church as her family. It lasted three hours. We were brain dead after the first thirty minutes so sad to say I cannot tell you the outcome. But if it is ever repeated…There is also a lot of American TV such as CSI, Nip Tuck, Desperate Housewives and so on.
Tomorrow the painters are coming to repaint the entertainment area as the owner is putting furniture in there for us for our visitors. She doesn’t think the current colour will go with the furniture so it is to be redone. The furniture is scheduled to arrive on Friday but that could mean Saturday or even Sunday, the day D&J get here! She has bought a three piece suite (so we will have three suites in total!!) and an 8 seater table and chairs (so we can seat 16 plus 6 outside). She also replaced the garden fountain today. One of the pots had been leaking and Les had a great time emptying it, patching the crack, painting it and filing it. Honestly, it kept him busy for about five days at the New Year, it was great. But she wasn’t happy that we had had the hassle and took it all back to the suppliers. She has ordered a new one but said as we were having guests she needed another immediately, so they have lent her a huge bowl with a nude lady pouring water from a jug. Hmm. The original was quite tasteful, a series of square pots with pipes dribbling water down into a low pebble pond. Hopefully the new permanent one will resemble that rather than something from a Tuscan villa! Now I need to find something else for Les to potter with to keep him out of my way at evenings and weekends!
We haven’t been out and about much since Les went back to work. I bought some things for the gym; what a waste of money! I went to a recommended shop for the yoga mat as mine is still in Scotland. Then I spotted one for less than half the price three days later! But worse still I bought “aquasocks” for the water aerobics and I was a slippin and a slidin all over the place in them. I thought it might improve when I got in the water, but it was worse! I ended up in my bare feet. I was so mad to have spent the money on such a pile of rubbish! But I am enjoying the classes so much! I now go three times a week to water aerobics and have met some really nice ladies there, we went for coffee today and are planning to “do lunch” on Thursday. There are about fourteen ladies “of a certain age” in the class; three of them are Scottish and two are English, isn’t that amazing? One of them has a sister who lives near my sister in law’s holiday home in Dunoon. What a small world.
I had a great meeting last week with another librarian, so hopefully we will get some links up and running between our schools once her term gets under way.
We have a satellite TV system much like Sky, called DSTV. I can even get Extreme Makeover Home Edition much to Les disappointment. We keep up to date with the UK news on Sky News and often watch BBC Prime which shows things like “New Tricks” and “Prime Suspect” The local stations are OK but some broadcast in Afrikaans and some in Xhosa or Zulu so we need to pick and choose. The new hot favourite here is a comedy series called “The Coconuts”. It’s about a white family with a black domestic worker who have a spell cast on them so that they turn black and she turns white… Not very politically correct for UK but perfectly acceptable and getting rave reviews here! We also watched part of a drama all about a village girl who gets into trouble with her family because she wants to marry a man who is not a member of the same church as her family. It lasted three hours. We were brain dead after the first thirty minutes so sad to say I cannot tell you the outcome. But if it is ever repeated…There is also a lot of American TV such as CSI, Nip Tuck, Desperate Housewives and so on.
Tomorrow the painters are coming to repaint the entertainment area as the owner is putting furniture in there for us for our visitors. She doesn’t think the current colour will go with the furniture so it is to be redone. The furniture is scheduled to arrive on Friday but that could mean Saturday or even Sunday, the day D&J get here! She has bought a three piece suite (so we will have three suites in total!!) and an 8 seater table and chairs (so we can seat 16 plus 6 outside). She also replaced the garden fountain today. One of the pots had been leaking and Les had a great time emptying it, patching the crack, painting it and filing it. Honestly, it kept him busy for about five days at the New Year, it was great. But she wasn’t happy that we had had the hassle and took it all back to the suppliers. She has ordered a new one but said as we were having guests she needed another immediately, so they have lent her a huge bowl with a nude lady pouring water from a jug. Hmm. The original was quite tasteful, a series of square pots with pipes dribbling water down into a low pebble pond. Hopefully the new permanent one will resemble that rather than something from a Tuscan villa! Now I need to find something else for Les to potter with to keep him out of my way at evenings and weekends!
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