Hospital or...

Erhaut Hotel, Swakopmund, Namibia

For more sky photos, please click here

Here's wishing you all a wonderful weekend!

In transit from East to South Africa

 

Lake Victoria by day

 The Tilapia Hotel on the shores of Lake Victoria

 Lake Victoria by night

After spending the night in Mwanza, Grant and I caught the early morning flight to Dar Es Salaam on Friday. Arriving in the city mid-morning (even on the day before the weekend) was a treat traffic-wise. Normally, when Mohammed our taxi collects us late in the afternoon, we spend the better part of three hours grid-locked with thousands of other commuters all with the same idea (that of getting to your destination for the evening!) Today we weaved through the streets with ease and were booked into our hotel by 11.30am.

The view of the Indian Ocean from our hotel room

It is as pretty as the picture suggests

Tomorrow morning Mohammed collects us at 4.30, takes us through the deserted streets of Dar es Salaam to the airport (*sigh* why does it feel as if we're always in transit? LOL!), we board the 6.35 flight bound for South Africa. Four hours of flying, minus an hour time-difference and we land at Oliver Tambo Airport, Johannesburg at 10.30. Give or take between ten and forty -five minutes to clear customs, we collect our luggage and head for the domestic departures way across in another terminal.  

Once we've checked our luggage into the Johannesburg/ Bloemfontein flight, we normally only have a fifteen - minute wait before we board the smaller plane bound for home.

All things being equal, we should land in Bloemfontein by 12.30 on Saturday where our son, Angus, daughter-in-law, Amanda and our grandchildren will meet us and take us home to Marquard. 

I hope you're all having a great weekend. Speak to you later from our home in Marquard.

London Tour June 2012

Grant and I spent four days in London just touring. He'd never been to this city while I had so it was fun to share the experience with him this time. Although it rained the first day (what's new?) we decided to make the best of it. We caught a hop-on-hop-off bus and succumbed to the tour guide's corny commentating. (Everything he said was exactly what I heard the tour guides saying way back in 2005!) Above photos are of Trafalgar Square. Apparently the artist who sculpted the lions had no idea what a lion looked like.So he was given a dead lion as a model. However , the poor creature decomposed within days. No problem to the artist; he used his cat and dog as models. So forever after the lions of Trafalgar Square lie in a cat-like position with mouths open like a panting dog!

Clockwise from top: A small pub in an alleyway, the Albert, Oxford Street and Grant haring along in the cold!

St Paul's Cathedral was beautiful. I wipped out my camera as I entered the great doors, then I saw them: many, many signs prohibiting photographs. We wandered through the church where a Eucharist was being held, walked up the 234 steps (I counted them) to the Whispering Gallery. The view from the top was amazing so I surreptitiously took my Smartphone out of my pocket but as I turned on the camera, Grant nudged me and pointed to a sign nearby: No photos or videos! We descended the 234 steps and joined in a queue to have communion.

The old and the new: Big Ben and the London Eye

I wish you all a wonderful week ahead.

Meeting a fellow-blogger

On Saturday I posted about our reunion with friends and old colleagues from the goldmines of Guinea, West Africa. After a wonderful weekend of reminiscing and visiting, Grant and I traveled to London by train. One thing in favour of the UK, is its transport system. Nowhere in Africa, including South Africa do we have buses, trains, taxis and tour buses as efficient as those in England.

 Mid-morning on a Monday, the train was empty!

Within fifty minutes, we'd arrived at King's Cross station in London, walked out of the station and caught a taxi to our accommodation near Paddington station! It was Grant's first visit to London and also the first time he'd ridden in a London taxi. Being a blogger, I had to take a photo of the interior, didn't I?

Inside our London Taxi

Here I must just interject about luggage. It took me about thirty years and dozens of domestic matrimonial arguments to learn to travel light. On this trip, Grant and I each had a small carry-on case which we'd bought in Eldoret, Kenya last year. However, while on the Isle of Man, it was Grant who bought souvenir tee-shirts, jackets, caps, beanies and other memorabilia, as well as two new helmets for touring on our bike back in SA. In order to get this home, first to East Africa and ultimately to SA, he bought a large tog bag on wheels at Marks and Spencer. I stood by calmly and watched while he organized the packing as in the past I'd often been in trouble for buying gifts and curios and overloading the cases!

The small gold cases were compact and easy to maneuver compared to the large blue bag containing most of Grant's stuff bought on the Isle of Man! 

Arriving in London brought us one day nearer to meeting a fellow blogger of mine. Gattina of Writer Cramps lives in Belgium and she  and I have been blogger friends since  the beginning of 2009. She is also a cat-lover so you can imagine the connection! As it's quite impossible for us South Africans while living in East Africa,  to obtain a Schengen Visa, necessary to visit Europe, Gattina decided  to come to London and see me! She and a friend booked to see a musical which included hotel accommodation. (we didn't , unfortunately!) Ironically their hotel was in the street behind ours in Sussex Gardens. We arranged to meet in a pub the next day.

Of course, I knew what Gattina looked like and as she and her friend, Dominique (whom I also "knew" from Gattina's blog) entered the pub, I recognized her instantly. Originally Grant had been a bit apprehensive about meeting one of "my" friends and originally said he thought he should wait at our hotel while I met with her. He needn't have worried!   As we met,  we all hugged and within minutes of sitting down,  were chatting away like old friends - including my normally quiet husband! 

Gattina, Jo and Dominique meet in London

The hour-and-a-half flew by and soon it was time to say goodbye but not before we'd invited Gattina and Dominique to visit us in South Africa. 

Don't you all just LOVE blogging! 

A wonderful week to everyone out there in Blogland!

Reunion in the UK

While in the UK last month, we had a reunion with friends from days on the goldmines of Guinea, West Africa. Although the time was short, we managed to fit in all everything that had happened since 2006 and also had a great time reminiscing. 


The weekend after we'd returned from IOM, we drove down to Wansford in the "shires" with Kevin and Jane, whom I posted about last month. There we met up with Peter and Amanda, Mick and  Ronnie. I chided Ronnie as he arrived at the pub where we met without his wife, Morag. He apoligised and said that she was on duty at a retirement home where she does the clinic once a week! 

Morag and I were inseparable on the gold mine site where we both worked. After hours we also exercised together in the camp's well-equipped gym, played golf together on the camp's  unique four-hole golf course and spent every Saturday together at my home where I held motivational, health and slimming classes for the ladies of the camp.

 Friends from the gold mines of Guinea, West Africa circa 2000-2006: Back row:Mick, Jane, Kevin, Grant (slightly hidden) and Ronnie. Front row: Moi, Peter (the Mine Director General, Ex Foreign Legion!)  and his wife, Amanda

Grant and I spent the night with Peter and Amanda in their beautiful home on the Nene River. When I first arrived on the gold mine site, Lero, in 2001, Amanda was the only other woman there. She and I became firm friends, walking the three kilometers back from the office to the camp as exercise. She was the one who asked me to run a slimming club camp which; initially she was my only member! Later, as part of my job with the company, I held motivational and slimming and health classes for the  dozen or so women who eventually lived on site with their husbands. 

The next morning while Peter served us English tea, boiled eggs and toast, Ronnie arrived with Morag! What a lovely surprise. They sat down and joined us for breakfast and Morag, Amanda and I never stopped talking!

Amanda, Morag and Jo. Amanda and Morag live near each other and with their husbands, socialize often. However, this was the first time in five years that we three had met up again!

Amanda and Peter have a beautiful Labrador, Urquhart whom I met as a puppy in 2005! It was wonderful to see this beautiful gentle dog again although he is now eight years old.

Urquhart, Amanda and Peter's the beautiful chocolate Labrador

Mmm, I wonder who is boss in this house! 

An hour later, Ronnie and Morag took me and Grant to the Peterborough Station where we boarded the train for London.

As it had done the whole weekend, the rain continued to pour down on Monday!

More about on stay in London soon. I hope you're all having a wonderful weekend!  

 

UK Trip Part IX

All too soon our nine days on the Isle of Man came to an end. And... surprise, surprise the last race day (Friday) and our last day on the island, Saturday was rainy and cold!

We checked into Sea Terminus but as we walked into the boarding lounge, a voice came over the loudspeakers announcing that our ferry departure was delayed due to bad weather. 

Grant went off to buy a cup of coffee. The queue was very long so when he returned, I barely had time to drink the deliciously hot beverage, when we heard that we could board the ferry.

The ferry is very modern with spacious public lounges, cafes, gift and curio shops, and several bars which served full breakfast menus, snacks and drinks. I'd booked us into a private lounge where we had comfortable seats, magazines on offer and television in the front of the lounge.  A few cups of coffee, a bacon and egg sandwich for Grant and a doughnut for me and we sailed through the journey. Within three hours we arrived at Heysham, our final destination.

Some of the tourist bikers riding their bikes off the ferry onto Heysham harbour

I have many interesting places that we'd visited on the Isle of Man, but I will post about them at a later stage. For now, we'd reached England and were on our way south for a reunion with friends we'd worked with on the West African gold mines and  later in London, a first-time meeting with a blogger friend!

Here's wishing you all a wonderful week ahead!

UK Trip Part VIII

While meandering around the pits and touring the island on non-race days, I looked out for interesting and sometimes funny, photo opportunities. In between I photographed the three men in our group! Clive even took a photo of me and Grant so there's proof I was also there! 

Some of the birds on Isle of Man. Clockwise from top left corner is a Jackdaw, feral pigeon, a seagull with a damaged or deformed leg and a perhaps a robin, thrush or warbler

 I secretly dubbed these men Three Grumpy old Men!

On the contrary, these three guys were anything BUT grumpy. Many times Grant had to drive me to a interesting touristy spot that I'd read about and Clive and Kevin would tag along too. Then they'd sit and wait patiently in the car while I took photos, read/photographed the notices pertaining to sight we were seeing and chatted to people (gleaning information for my articles)

Friends, Kevin and Clive, joined me and Grant when we visited the Isle of Man

 The gadgets hanging around Kevin and Clive's necks are earpieces which are connected to the IOM radio station which broadcast from the main grandstand. There were loudspeakers erected all over so that you could hear the races and other relevant news while wandering around the track.

Way back in February 2004, I visited Grant where he was working on a gold mine site in Guinea, West Africa. As I arrived on site, the Client's Director General, Peter Connery offered me a temporary job as a data processing clerk in the Geology department. When my three week holiday visit was up, Peter asked if I'd like to stay on permanently. I grabbed the opportunity with both hands!

After a few months in geology, Peter transferred me to the maintenance department. Kevin was maintenance manager and needed a secretary and I was it! It was one of the best positions I've had and the only reason why I left, was because the company changed hands and and many of us were given severance packages. So meeting up with Kevin again since 2005, was wonderful.

 Kevin and Grant relax with hot drinks while discussing the next race

Proof that I was at the IOM! 

Isle of Man is also home to the tailless Manx cat. I was just wondering if I'd get to see one, when I noticed the large cat the house next door to the one we were renting.

A Manx cat! 

*The Manx cat is a breed of domestic cat (Felis catus) originating on the Isle of Man with a naturally occurring mutation that shortens the tail. Many Manx have a small stub of a tail, but Manx cats are best known as being entirely tailless; this is the most distinguishing characteristic of the breed, along with elongated rear legs and a rounded head. Manx cats come in all coat colours and patterns, though all-white specimens are rare, and the coat range of the original stock was more limited. * 

The following photos are of only a few of the interesting things I saw while we walked through the crowds at the races. 

Bikes belonging to the Purple Helmets Bike Club

The bikes above caught the eye as being some of the oldest and scrappiest bikes on the island. Apparently when the fancy takes the riders, they parade along the track (on non-race days) playing  a baby grand piano which is balancing on the bike tank. I didn't get to see this strange sight but photographed their bikes with the bikers in the background.

 There weren't only motorbikes on the Isle of Man. Above Clive and Grant admire a vintage MG 

 This beautiful machine had the men literally drooling. It's an M63 AMG Mercedes Benz with Gull wing doors (which means they open upwards)

I wondered of neighbours sharing these large houses discuss their paint colours with each other? 

 Say what? 

 Grant poses with a Four-horned Sheep

Like the Manx tailless cat, the Four-horned sheep is native to the Isle of Man. Although we looked for these unique sheep, even traveling to the southernmost tip of the island to the Calf of Man (where we'd heard they could be seen) on a wet and cold day, this "sheep" above was the only one we saw! 

*The Loghtan sheep is a native Manx breed. It almost died out in the 1950's, but now there are many thriving flocks across the British Isles. Loghtan is an unusual breed given that both sexes have the tendency to produce two or three pairs of horns. The ewe's  horns are small, but the ram's horns are strong and long. A sturdy and rugged breed, which has a long ancestry on the Island of Man. The name "Loghtan" is believed to come from the Manx words lugh (meaning mouse) and dhoan (meaning brown). This name could be referring to the light brown fleece, which most of the sheep grow. Once the sheep would have been seen along the mountains and hills in white, grey and black, but now only the brown ones remain. Lambs are born black but change from 2 weeks old to brown. Loghtans have no wool on their legs or face and are similar to the northern short tail breeds.

Loghtan wool is normally left undyed and used to weave lightweight garments. Manx tartans are also made from this wool.

Loghtan mature at 15 to 18 months and are normally fed on natural mountain herbage. Their meat is a dark and low in both fat and cholesterol. It cooks at 165C for 30 minutes per pound.*

 A young family enjoying the Isle of Man TT

Hard day at the office?

Original? I'd say!

At the end of each day, after either a day of watching the races or sightseeing, we'd pop into the Snooker Club with Clive and Kevin. One evening a young man arrived pushing a little boy in a pram. Obviously they were regulars as the men knew the baby's name and he, in return was quite comfortable amongst them. After taking his son out of the pram and seating him in a chair opposite me, the father took a slab of chocolate from his pocket. He opened it, broke off a row with four blocks of chocolate and fed them to the little boy, one at a time.  I wondered if there was a mum waiting at home to put the toddler to sleep or if this was a single dad who'd go home presently to bath and put his child to bed. Whatever the case, I think the sugar-high would prevent an early or unbroken night for all!

Mmm, this is yummy! 

To all my blogger friends in the USA

HAPPY 4th of JULY to you! 

 Note: * - * Source : Google

UK Trip Part VII

While on the IOM for the TT 2012 week, apart from taking photos of motorbikes, places we'd visited and people we met, I took photos of sunny conditions! When the sun shone for a long period, it was a strange sight to me, so I snapped away at the sky and buildings bathed in sunlight.

When it shone, the sun rose very early- around 4.30am - and set at about 10.45pm! I wasted no time in photographing the beautiful weather!

Grant and I are early risers (although we didn't get out of bed when the day started on the island) and we go to sleep early too. By 8.45pm we were in bed. After being out in the fresh air all day, I'd immediately fall asleep immediately. More often than not, I'd wake about an hour-and-a-half later, with the sun  streaming in through a chink in the curtain. You couldn't blame me for thinking it was the next day, now could you? 

Visitors and locals alike, also made good use of every sunny opportunity. These people were relaxing on the warm tar of a closed-off street while, the motorbikes hurtled down the hill to the left! 

This was "our world" for nine days while we visited the IOM, so I am linking to Our World Tuesday, hosted and managed by Gattina, Arija, Sylvia, Lady Fi and Sandy. (Thanks ladies!)

UK Trip Part VII

In my first post about our stay on Isle of Man, I mentioned that we were fortunate enough to find accommodation in a private home. It was about a third cheaper than staying in one of the three star hotels along the promenade and we had the whole house to ourselves for the week. Not only that, Tracy very kindly left tea, coffee, fresh milk, sliced bread etc for our use. 

 Our accommodation, a whole house, for the week we spent on the Isle of Man

 Grant and I had morning tea at home and at around 8am we'd join Kevin and Clive for breakfast at their two-star bikers/men only establishment. Their B&B had an official name but I only heard it being referred to as "Billy's". Walking from the front door to the dining-room, the proprietor, 74-year-old Billy could be seen sitting in a private lounge just beyond the kitchen.  While his wife Ella, (70) made breakfast ably assisted by a life-long friend, Mary  (71), and Anne (a youthful 65) serving patrons in the dining room, Billy watched the sports channel on telly and downs his first pint of Guiness!

 The last building with the red awnings over the front door and windows, is Billy's, the two star B&B our friends, Kevin and Clive stayed at. We joined them there for breakfast every day

Breakfast at Billy's was one of the highlights of my day. Everybody greeted each other as they came in and you'd hear the news about the weather (what else!), whether there would be racing that day, (the races were stopped or postponed if it was raining) and all manner of interesting tidbits that only a woman can pick up from listening to a whole room full of men.

As for the meals, you could start with fresh orange juice and a bowl of cornflakes. This was followed by a full English breakfast or you could order kippers, which are smoked locally in nearby Peel. Ella kindly made me an omelet every day. There was hot toast, butter and marmalade, as much as you could eat. All this could be washed down with tea or coffee. 

Billy "shuts up shop" once the TT fortnight is over and remains on the island where he was born. Ella returns to Ireland where she has a home for the the other 11 1/2 months of the year. Mary and Ann stay in their respective homes on the island.

I hope you're all had a wonderful weekend and are looking forward to your week.

UK Trip Part VI

One of the first things I noticed as we drove down the Promenade in Douglas, Isle of Man, was the horse-drawn tram carts. I'd heard about these from Grant and Kevin so while we had lunch near the Manx Electric Railway depot, I watched the horse being brought from the back of the tram (which was the front on the up-street trip) and hitched to the front, (which was the... you get the idea!) The horse' was called Douglas! There is also a milk-maid's stool in front of the first seat. As I wondered what this was for, the driver placed the stool on the tarmac near the front of the horse. He then lifted a little child onto it, and showed him how to gently reach up and stroke the horse's muzzle, while proud mom took a photo.

Douglas, a regular cat-horse drawing trams along the Douglas Promenade as transportation for tourists

*The Douglas Horse Drawn Trams are the world's oldest surviving horse tram service, dating back to 1876. The trams are fitted with roller bearings to ease the load on the horses bred to pull them. The trams link the two-mile distance from the Manx Electric Railway and depot at Derby Castle along Douglas Promenade to the Sea Terminal and Port. The line was opened by its creator, Thomas Lightfoot, a retired Sheffield civil engineer.

In 1882, Lightfoot sold the line to Isle of Man Tramways Ltd, which came later to be known as Isle of Man Tramways & Electric Power Co Ltd. In 1902 the Douglas Corporation purchased the lines from its bankrupt owners. The trams have been running ever since, only seeing brief breaks during World War II, and are a popular form of transport for locals and tourist. *

As you can see by the photo of Douglas drawing the tram, the weather that day was a peach. I mentioned to the men that I wouldn't mind having a ride at a later stage. Well, that day came soon enough!

 A cold and wet day. I took this photo from the car as we were cruising the street looking for parking! 

Tuesday was our second wet day! (On Sunday it mizzled all day; I stayed home until much later when the sun made its appearance, Grant, Kevin and Clive became bored with their own company and insisted I came out! 

This day, however,  Grant and I drove down to the promenade and as parking is at a premium anywhere in the UK, we left our little Nissan at the bottom end of the road. We were looking for a shop selling tee shirts. Although Grant insisted it was just a block up the street, we seemed to walk for ages past the hotels until we reached it. He bought a selection of shirts for friends and colleagues back in Africa while I huddled between the racks, pleased to be out of the freezing wet weather!

After Grant's purchases were completed, we braved the elements again.  The rain was now teeming down, and we needed to get to our parked vehicle two miles down the promenade, we headed for a sign with a horse and tram. If you stood near one, the tram driver, who was on the lookout for passengers, would stop and load you up. We were thrilled when a tram approached within minutes. But it didn't stop! The same horse works for a maximum of two hours a day pulling the trams up and down the promenade again. We knew that within about fifteen minutes it should return, so we dashed through the traffic to other side of the road.

We huddled in a bus stop (no horse and tram sign here!) where we met and struck up a conversation with a man, his wife and teenage son. They'd come from England to spend the long weekend on the Isle of Man and were regular visitors to the TT and we all discussed the astronomic ferry prices, the lack of parking and of course, the weather! Presently we spied the horse and tram coming down the street, and the lady and I rushed out of the shelter onto the sidewalk,  waving our arms frantically to make sure the tram driver saw us this time. He stopped and we gratefully hopped on board. 

Even though I'd wanted to ride in the tram, it was not the day to be doing this. With open sides and the cars overtaking spraying water up, I almost froze. I took a photo of Grant who looked like a frozen  "Ole Sea Dog" !   I, like Grant, also wore a knitted beanie. When I first pulled it on, I thought, "Mmm, Ali Mc Graw (Love Story), eat your heart out." Until Grant took a photo of me: suffice to say I deleted it!

 One very cold South African !

I also kept standing up in my seat to check if the horse was coping. When you're inside the tram, it feels very heavy and creaks and clanks along the rails and I wondered if the horse was having a hard time pulling us! 

 A view of the interior of the tram and the horse ahead

Of course, the horse, built for this type of work - and used to the weather - easily managed  to transport us to the Sea Terminal. We were only a few meters from where we'd left our car and where Kevin and Clive were waiting for us. As I jumped out, I took a photo of  Steve almost getting run over by a car in the process! 

Steve, who drew the tram we took from the top of the Promenade to this point at the Sea Terminal (visible in the background)

The horses are really very well cared for; they only work for two hours a day and are fed and stabled in town. Those that have become to old to "work", spend their retirement on a farm which houses a "Home of Rest for Old Horses" 

*The Home of Rest for Old Horses came into being in 1950 when Mrs Mildred Royston and her sister,Miss Kermode,  realized   that old,  albeit fit working horses were being shipped from the Island to a doubtful future.

From small beginnings, hard work, dedication and a lean income, the Home progressed until 1955 when a fortunate legacy provided the means to purchase the farm, "Bulrhenny" where the Home is now.

Of particular concern, were the old tram horses, and today the rest home has "first option" on tram horses as they retire.

Since 1950 more than 280 animals have found happy retirement. Currently over 50 horses and eight donkeys are being cared for on the farm.

The facilities are well maintained by a staff of volunteers. The horses are not shy and really enjoy visitors. They will come right up to the fence in hopes of an apple, carrot or bag of feed (bought from the gift shop). The location is very picturesque with benches and excellent views of the surrounding countryside. Visitors are able to get a drink or snack from the cafe and can enjoy the history of the place in the Museum.*

As you can imagine, I wanted to go to the farm to see the "retired" horses. The weather worsened steadily and as we turned into the driveway leading up to the stables, we had an  eerie vision of horses grazing in an emerald green paddock in the mist. 

 The beautiful sight of retired horses grazing in the huge, lush paddock on the farm

I managed to drag Grant from the car - Kevin and Clive opted to wait in the warmth - to accompany me to the stables.    

 The Isle of Man Home of Rest for Old Horses

 I wouldn't mind retiring here! 

Around the next corner, we spotted a lady feeding a trio of horses. She had her back to us, and I loved the way the horses' heads moved first one way, and then the other as she moved along feeding them nuts . (They reminded me of spectators at a tennis match!) A man stood in the stable doorway, photographing the scene. 

 The horses' heads moved from one side to the other as the lady moved along feeding them!

Then we heard the lady speaking, and as Grant and I turned to each other saying we recognized a South African accent, the man turned to look at us. It was our friend, Derrick from Barrydale in the Cape, South Africa!  The lady in the hoody was his wife, Lesley! We'd known that they were also at the TT, and were staying in Peel. However, with the crowds, and road closures during race times, we hadn't managed to raise Derrick on his cell phone.   

After hugs and squeals of delight at meeting up, we gathered  in the stable to catch up on our respective experiences on the island.  In time, Clive came to look for us, and said he'd followed the loud South African voices emanating from the stable! Derrick had been to Isle of Man with Grant in 2009, and met Clive, so once again it was another happy reunion! I immediately enlisted Clive's assistance to take a photo of us four friends.  

 Four very cold South African friends happy to meet up in a stable for retired horses on the Isle of Man! 

I hope you're all having a wonderful weekend.  Thanks for the kind wishes and congratulations on the birth of our newest grandchild, Israel Hedges.

For more interesting animal posts, click here

Note: * - * information courtesy of Mr Google.