Apologies for being late!

We had a bank holiday yesterday so I wasn't in work. I know, I know. I said last week every tuesday and then the first tuesday boom - he misses. All I can say is sorry and here is the weeks news....

 

October 15^th

 

So I am trying to remember the week’s events. Work was work. Nothing particular exciting happened there. And so onto more exciting things.

The first that stands out is Thursday night. We decided to go to Doogles again. Standard evening lots of expats there and a Malawian band playing this time Malawian songs. It was nice. Now for those of you that do not know Doogles I am sure you know of bars similar. It is a backpackers lodge that after hours turns into a drinking establishment, and as such the swimming pool is left where it is during the day. You all know what’s coming next. The poor bloke did not stand a chance. He sauntered in looking up at the bar, even the lead singing tried to warn him, too late though. Boom, straight in, his face was a picture. And then he did what most would do. Got up and left having only arrived moments earlier.

 

Sunday was a scorchio day. I reckon in my esteemed knowledge somewhere in the early thirties so we spent it by the pool.

 

And then today, which of course, is Pam’s birthday and also a public holiday – Mother’s Day. Hence why this blog has not been uploaded.. So we started with pancakes and strawberries. Then took a drive to Zomba, the old capital. Now the road is being relayed so most of it is closed. Rather than diverting, everyone simply drives alongside in the dirt. Until we did get diverted through tiny village. Now bear in mind this is one of Malawi’s main road so it’s a little bit like sending the M40 through Maids Moreton. Here is an example o one of the single lane roads.

 

 

When we arrived we had a wander round the town, some nice old buildings from the colonial past, one that is a golf club looks very suspiciously like a cricket pavilion and was the gymkhana in 1923. Then up to the plateau, which is a hunk of rock 2000m up. And because the mist is so frequent it has a massive forest all over it. We had a very posh lunch in the hotel up there then got lost in the mist trying to find various tourist sites and came back down to look at the waterfall instead.

 

 

This evening we have had a braai (bbq for those back home) cake and fun. I am currently hyped up on E numbers and sugar from the crazy ingredients our very kind neighbours put in the delicious cake. But the evening was stolen by a very cute individual, Sebastian Dawson, who sent his Auntie a birthday message that Pam got as we were sitting down to eat. Such a cutie!

 

In case you are wondering I got the present spot on. Nice piece of African art. Much more succesfull than the card, which gave no indication that it was for a ‘very special grandson’ until I got it home and opened it to write inside. Also the envelope was not the right one, it was about 3 sizes too small! Ah makes you remember than not everything has to be quite right.

 

STATMAN:

KGs of meat for the burgers: 3
 

People cooked for at the bbq: 16

Percentage of times our car central locking works: 50%

Number of broken/stranded cars we have helped: 2

Number of passenger lifts to random people: 3

Average speed of a minibus: 90kph – irrelevant of road surface

Dead dogs in the road: 2 ( just for the chav!)