Man it's cold.

I have been out here so long though that my internal temperature has broken. I asked my boss what he reckoned the temperature is as I am wearing a vest, a shirt, a jumper and on the way in to work a coat. He told me it was 17°C. I don’t believe him.

Brrrrrr!

Yesterday we had fog. This picture was taken at midday. Midday! I did not sign up for this. The two seasons we were told about we dry and wet. I coped with wet. I coped with dry. No-one said anything about cold and wet and misty! I can get that back in the UK.

Apologies. Rant over. Hope your weather is nice wherever you are reading this from ( I have a lot of international coverage don’t cha know!)

WARNING BORING BIT COMING UP

There have been complaints that the work I am doing is dull and no-one cares – well actually Anna doesn’t care so she can skip this bit to the fun section.

The French drain for the football pitch is complete. Woo Hoo. We can start marking out the proper pitch. I am a little disappointed that it wasn’t finished in time for the world cup but you can’t have everything. But the most important part of this is the drainage system. The football pitch is cut into the side of a mountain. As such we get a lot of ground water coming up and around so I devised a pipework system under the pitch which sticks out the embankment. The beauty of this is that it provides a good flow of mountain clean water for the local people, which is so much better than some of the water they are drinking. To be fair it is probably the most important contribution I have made out here, and in some respects it is the simplest.

Our solar canopy is almost, nearly, so close to being finished. The welding should be completed today. The crazy Dutchman (flying one’s brother) is wiring all the clever bits and pieces together and then hopefully next week we can install the panels.

FUN SECTION

The work at my other site is also progressing well we have installed another drain and are trying to work out how to pour a retaining wall in waterlogged ground.

Okay so I lied it was another boring bit but I like to keep it fresh!

MORE FUN

This weekend we went to Liwonde again. It is one of the safari camps just south of the lake. I tried to blag my way with a rhino man. They have a black rhino sanctuary there and I rang him up claiming I needed to do some research for my book but apparently he’s busy. I have to call him back. So watch this space!

Hippo munching on green stuff

We didn’t break down this time which was nice. Saturday morning we went in the car whilst wearing alllllllll our clothes as it was ridiculously cold. Saw loads of birds and elephants and some bush pigs which I have never seen before. A mongoose.

They even had muppets!

They can't see me, heh heh heh!

In the afternoon we took a boat out on the river and saw hungry hungry hippos. More elephants and more birds. Then had a massive roast buffet dinner in the evening. Chickens roasted over an open fire, with roast potatoes, veg, GRAVY!, oh it was good.  So so good.

DAD THIS BIT IS FOR YOU

Sunday night we were at a bit of a loose end so we thought sod it we will go to Grill 21. I had the 21 Grill House Fillet and man was it goooood. Top nomage! At our table we also had a flaming steak which was, erm , quiet flammable although Pam missed the big ball explosion thingy.

A flaming steak!

All the ladies at Grill 21

FOR THOSE THAT WANT TO KNOW ABOUT PAM

Yet again more complaints that there is not enough about my wife. I don’t know maybe I need to set up a complaints hotline!

Pam is still working at the hospital.

She still saves lives.

What more do you want!

RANDOM OTHER STUFF

We have seen these a few times but this time we decided to stop and take a photo. Yes it is exactly what it looks like. Mice on sticks. They are a tasty delicacy by all accounts. I wouldn’t know as I didn’t try it. No don’t get me wrong. I am all for trying new food. And I would quiet happily eat a mouse on a stick if I had seen it cooked and it looked hygienic then sure. But these – nuh uh. No way Jose.

awwwww

arghhhhh!

Urghhhh!

We also had great fun making Amie sit on the front of our game drive truck. The seat is designated for the tour guide so they can spot and look all-important etc – ours just drove the truck. But did let Amie site there on our return journey, and even as she wanted to get down kept driving. Sadly we don’t have a picture of the people’s faces as she flew past. Hilarious – guess you had to be there.

STATMAN

Clean water rate – 0.2 l/s (10 seconds to fill a 2 litre bottle for those that struggle with flow rates and maths.)

People who have used it – loads and loads and loads

Extra to take drain to a usable point – about 10 pounds – worth every penny.

Elephants seen – over 100

Birds seen – nearly 50 species – will update when I get list from pam.

Hippos seen – around 40

Steaks eaten this week – 3

Bottles of wine drunk this weekend – 4 (not all by me)

Cost of mice on sticks – it cost us 20p to take the photo. Didn’t ask about the price to buy it as they tend to think you want it and badger you forever!