Rise against the odds and shine!

play time

story time- take your chair

the library -learning about books

found some nice pictures in my 'nhs.net' e-mail inbox which were taken in London.

Riaan in London

on a nice walk

They are now back from London:
We took a very dodgy 4x4 path in a nature park in Pretoria. Kobus and Louis checked the trail and I held onto the sterring wheel with Ralph, Ceri and Sumari suspended in the Ford Courier wandering at what point the car was going to roll! I thought the trail was for yuppie whities from Pretoria to put a bit of mud and wetness on their city guzzlers. I forget there are some serious randjies in Pretoria!

Back in Manguzi:
Ceri and I walked around the lakes and onto the beach. It was a beautiful day and all the fish trap owners were out checking their nets. Ceri has excellent walking energy(from all the London walking)and her sense of direction is exceptional. We passed fishermen in the footpaths with speared fish hanging from sticks in the way Paddington carries his bundle of clothes.
The day was so lazy and we had time to chat, eat rocket(from the garden) sandwiches, swim, swim again and just admire the views.
Ceri fell into bed at 19h00 and was out for the count!

Since they have returned from London we have been at home mostly. Ceri starts working in the hospital soon, so we are preparing for this.
I am going to London in October to do video consultations for the MRCGP. A super nanny type person who is a GP will be helping me to pass this final module.

they are in London

the mouth(2 top pictures)

the end of th walk-approaching the sea...

fever trees

purple created loerie(like a phoenix)

the bladder in the water

flamingoes in the lake system

Eunace with the boys at the Voortrekker monument

Eunace at the boathouse(newton)

Weekend 1

Drove back from Joburg in the dark through so called Colliery type places. Mining towns and what may be perceived as dodgy killing spots. Finally got to Pongola. Had a great evening with Cathy who was a lady of leisure in Linden at the time when I was cycling on my red bike from the OK bazaars down past the butchery(Ross), past my Latin teacher's cottage(who liked John Berks' morning show) and then down 4th avenue and then left at the now Olympic standard pool and then home; sometimes followed by the little white and the very large black dog(symbolizing the current state in SA).

Ceri spent time in Pretoria and did the usual outing to the Voortrekker monument(pictured). They then left for a holiday in England. Ceri and the boys were seeing Cecily, Hardus en Lucy, Mattewis en Stella, Milan en Tatyana and the picture is from one of these encounters. The other picture is of Ceri at Newton(by the sea) Bay.

Weekend 2

Emergency update course in Durban. One of the emergencies covered was sexual assault - does give one an idea of the health agenda in the country.

Lekker om vir Kevin and Hilda weer te sien. Hilds, het ek regtig 10 savoury pannekoeke geeet?

Weekend 3

Home after a busy Friday HIV clinic and a trip to Ingwavuma. I left Eunace with 50 creche teachers and they attacked her with book/wall chart requests. Eunace is turning into Mama Precious Ramotswe.

Ceri's laptop has been playing up so I spent most of the weekend doing technical stuff like trying to bypass the keyboard and inserting an external keyboard etc. interesting.

This meant that I stopped being paperless/ paper light so back to the telephone and fax mode. I actually chose not to do any work instead-well almost.

I had a great swimming day with Sam in the mouth of the mouth(pictured), swimmimg upstream and trying not to get pushed out to sea. Sam likes swimming lenghts so this causes some frustration because the sea is not like a public pool and there are no lenghts to swim. I have now finished with the children's play area. It is really amazing. Pictures will follow.

Weekend 4
Amazing weekend with Carla. On Saturday we cycled to the mouth and then walked around first lake and crossed between 1st and 2nd lake towards the sea. We crossed very close to a hippo and saw flamingoes in the distance. We tried to find the path over the hill to the beach but ended up bundu bashing for a good hour. Did eventually manage to get to the beach for a swim and then back to the mouth. Drank a quart(in South Africa a 750-millilitre bottle is referred to as a quarter) at the tuck shop and then cycled back home easy-half drunk.

On Sunday I saw Mkhuze game reserve for the 1st time. Saw a blue wildebeest's stomach/ bladder(looks like a resus mannequin) in the water and a purple crested loerie with red wings(pictured) close by. Carla and Eunace provided a nice english breakfast with eggs, tomato(met speserye), boerewors, en mushroom...in a picnic spot surrounded by fever trees(my favourite).

Fever trees(UmHlosinga in Zule)

www.plantzafrica.com
'Early pioneers thought that this tree caused a fever since people travelling or living in the areas where it grew contracted a bad fever. They therefore associated the fever with the tree. This however was erroneous as the swampy places where fever trees grow are also ideal breeding grounds for mosquitoes, which carry malaria. Thus through these early settlers the myth was born and the plant acquired its name as the fever tree.'

At home:

The mongoose family is back. One of them tried to catch a chick (from one of the wandering hens and chicks of the compound). The mother hen became very aggressive and lowered her wings and started chasing the frightened mongoose back to the compost corner.

The chicken coop(?spelling) is finished(in a slightly dodgy spot under the coconut palm tree) and Eunace is very attached to the cockerel and hen which are from Mboza(R30 each). They have produced several eggs and they do have a run(pictured) which would qualify them as semi-free range. Apparently Adri's mother has chickens as large as turkeys, so we will hopefully not end up eating our own chickens for Christmas.

the view of the sea as the walk progresses from

they are all in London

I have been to Johannesburg to drop off the crew. In the city of gold and muggers we saw Jaksie!, the Broekmans(for the usual bridge session) and the Snymans (for the usual late night gamble and entertainment). In Pretoria we saw granny en die jong groepie van Petro se kant. Yes, I did make it to Loftus... me and Louis, thanks to Kobus! Good to be back in SA!

I also saw my old primary school friend Cobus whom i've not seen for 20 years! Ek moet in Afrikaans byvoeg dat ons baie lekker gekuier het en ek is weg met n doos vol wyn en n plekmatjie met n Japanese motief.

Ceri and the boys have gone to London to see Cecily arrive back from her 6 months trip to South America. Cecily came back in good form and in one piece. I have spoken to her and she sounds as if she had a great time.

I have not had much opportunity to find out how they all are and what they are up to, but the text messages are suggesting that they are all spending time together and that the boys are a bit of a handful in the small flat in London!

They have now migrated up towards Edinburgh to help Cecily settle into university. They will be in Northumberland for the next week until they go up to Scotland. I think Ceri stayed over at Hardus and Lucy's home in Newcastle and this would have invariably involved long chats and drinks and Hardus probably making something like Beef Wellington! (jis ek gaan dit mis!).

Ek is terug in Manguzi en behartig die boekwinkel en die huislike bedryf. Ek lees boek en gaan slaap laat. Ek is op soek na n donkie...

Photos include :
1.Louis and Eunace at Louis' birthday.
2. Kids at Mandela museum in Transkei(birthplace of Mandela - 'area will increase in value' according to Piet).
3. Kids lemonpicking.
4. Corn on the cobs in large pot for sale in town.

ralph

hy is nou amper uit sy doeke!

rabies

Animals are everywhere.
Dogs in particular...
Ceri and I went for a quiet drink at the local lodge and heard this: a local GP 's dog started howling one night a few weeks ago. The GP and one of our senior doctors(who came to assess the situation) were attacked(scratches and torn trousers) and needed rabies vaccine and immuunglobulin. The last mentioned was out of stock(os) here at the hospital, so the GP had to drive 2.5 h to the nearest private clinic for the proper treatment!
He subsequently sent the dog brain privately to Onderstepoort veterinary institution and the report has confirmed rabies...he is now very angry with the pharmasist for not vaccinating the dog as part of the routine jabs.
This event highlights the fact that our biggest threat here in Kwazulu Natal is not malaria, but howling dog disease.
On a trip to the nearest town you may encounter the following on the road: cows, donkeys, geese, chickens, goats, dogs and today I almost crushed an Igrit!
Top photo is a lilac breasted roller, one of the common encounters alongside the road...always on the telephone line. Middle photo is a Nguni group crossing the sandy road on the way to the beach. Louis is pictured with a dog.