16th December
So the rains have really started. It has rained every day.
Some just a dribble but yesterday wow! We had thunder and lightning for a good
half an hour before hand and then the heavens opened. We stood out on our
khonde and watched a torrent of brown water run past, occasionally shouting at
the neighbours who were standing on their khonde watching it run past! (Khonde is
African for veranda).
All the roads are strewn with rubbish and mud and rocks that
have been washed into the roads.
Friday was a busy day as well. One of the departments in the
beehive family, Tailoring and Fashion, has finished the course that they run
and as such all the students were graduating. It is a massively important day
for the students so they had a visiting dignitary. This year it was the
Minister for Labour. As a department head I was invited to join the contingent.
She seemed very nice dressed in a lovely pink sequined dress. Not to be out
done by Dave, Barrack and the bird from Denmark, the children centre manager
and I attempted a selfie with her in the background. Our stealth was ruined
somewhat by our receptionist who yelled ‘SELFIE’ from the other end of the
corridor. That and the fact that by the time we got sorted the minister was
half way down the corridor.
On the wildlife front we are being plagued each night by
flying ants. They swarm the lights in black winged clouds of doom. Well there
are a lot of them anyhow. And as our front door doesn’t quite shut properly we
have to put a towel down to stop the march of the ants underneath. In the
morning the only evidence of the night’s activities are the hundreds of wings
that are lying around. Weird!
Jimbeckerzoid – we have named the car Jimbeckerzoid because
it is our version of the Chichewa word for hope – as in we hope it will survive
12 months so we can sell it. But this month it’s had a bit of a rough time. So
first we had a puncture, I have changed the tyre but need to get the spare
fixed now. Then the stone chip in the window – Autoglass haven’t made it out
here yet – has started to grow across the windscreen then today on the way back
from town I went over a large speed bump and heard a big clunk and scrap. Yep
the exhaust just fell off. What was more annoying was the three Malawians who
dived under the car to help pull it off – a job I could well manage myself –
and then expect money for their inconvenience! Luckily I know a man with a
welding rig and a workshop so tomorrow my metal work foreman has a very
important job of fixing my car!
In Christmas news we have booked our accommodation. So on
the 23rd we leave Blantyre to drive north to the town of Dedza,
famed for the potteries (if it’s like Stoke I’ll be gutted!). We stay there
three nights over Christmas with day trips to Lilongwe for slap up Christmas
lunch, there is some really old rock art near there and a bay that is quite
nice. Then onto Mua Mission which is an old Catholic Mission with an amazing
garden where we can chill out for a couple of nights and then on the 28th
we go to Cape MaClear, at the bottom of Lake Malawi for the New Years Party.
Quite looking forward to it!
STATMAN
Rainfall – 6cm in 1 hour
Average size of a flying ant – 3cm
Cost of three Malawian exhaust technicians – 500 kwacha
(80p)
Cost of rewelding and repair - 0 Kwacha
Size of crack in windscreen – 15cm and growing
Drink of choice on Sunday – Sherry and JC Le Roux – NICE!
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