To 21st June
Here are some photos of the house I tried to post earlier. I’m in the British High Commission offices in Gaborone where the connection is good..... but can't get access to programm to paste the graphics...so will have to wait until another day!
Friday 16th June
Not much to report, just a week at work. The maid of the previous tenant came round and asked if she could be taken on again. But I’ve had enough interest in the job elsewhere, and the estate agent Khatija did not recommend her. Seeing a couple of ‘contenders’ next week. The ‘pool’ guys came round and began to clean the pool, by putting in chemicals and getting the filter started. It’s now no longer green, but still not clear - they need to put acid in!
Sunday June 18th
Another go at the golf, this time in the club championships. You may be surprised to hear - I am not the club champion. After the game there was a braii, a barbecue. £2.50 got you a huge T-bone steak, large sausage, salad, rolls etc. It was do-it-yourself. Played with Johan again. He has moved around all over SA – he is a casino manager. He is divorced, and his ex-wife of Scottish decent, now lives in Kirkcaldy! He hasn’t seen his 3 children (all girls), since they moved there 3 years ago.
Phoned June tonight – she is off to Jamaica tomorrow on holiday to her conference. She was excited.
I’ve been asking about what to see and do when June gets here in July. We want to see the Victoria falls, but I think we will also ‘do’ the Okavango – it’s a bit expensive at £100pppn + the flight in, so it will just be for 2/3 days. To get to the falls we will have to travel to Kasane, and from there cross over to Zambia and the town of Livingstone. Apparently, the better view is from the Victoria Falls hotel on the Zimbabwean side, but that will be a no-no. The Makgadikgadi salt pans are on the way north, a part of the Kalahari desert – its a huge expanse of flat featureless salt pan, the remains of a huge lake present some several million years ago. At this time of the year, there is less to see in terms of wildlife, but it is still plentiful, better in summer when it rains (18 inches a year!). But, we won’t get far off the beaten track, its not too dangerous from a wild animal point of view – if you are careful, but a breakdown can mean you are completely stranded with no immediate means of help.
I’ll only be able to take a week holiday while June is here, but I may try to arrange a visit to one of the colleges at the southern end of the Okavango, in Maun (Ma oon), and make a long weekend of it.
Still no word about the car, I guess the tyres haven’t arrived yet.
Monday 19th June
Jan brought in another woman from his village who was interested in the maids job. Seemed very competent, if a bit wary of me. She is from Zimbabwe, her husband works on a local fruit/vegetable farm while their daughter stays with grannie back in Zimbabwe. She visits on school holidays. The receptionist at work also brought in a friend. A mid-twenty something, and gorgeous. She seemed very nice also, but I thought that the Zimbabwean woman would be the better choice. OK, I did think about what June would say had I chosen otherwise! So I will probably contact Avia, the Zimbabwean, later in the week.
The internet café I’ve been using is having problems – system very slow. I’m only getting in and able to read some emails, but not reply. So sorry Andrew, not able to wish you happy birthday! Also Garry, I’ll respond when things get better.
Wednesday 21st
I phoned Avia, the Zimbabwean woman and told her she had the maids job. She screamed! And was very happy. We will have a month trial to see how we get on and take things from there.
Went up to see if the Honda was ready – they have replaced the tyres, but it now needs new track rod ends, so another wait until they arrive from Gabs.
I’ve not been able to get online this week – I did try, but too painfully slow for me. I’ve been to the BTC, the Botswana Telecommunications Company, to see about getting a landline connection to the house. There is already a connection, so it shouldn’t be too much of a problem if the copper is still there - there have been a lot of thefts recently of telephone wires because of the current high copper price! I could then get a dial-up connection to a local ISP. Even better news is that BTC are rolling out ASDL Broadband in Francistown at the end of July (its 4 months late). I should be able to get a 256K domestic connection, or possibly a 512K business connection. Its expensive compared with UK at twice the price, for 1/8th of the bandwidth. So perhaps by August, communications will have improved.
Saturday 24th
Left Francistown at 7.00AM for the 440km drive to Gaborone, down the ‘A1’. Its quite cool in the morning now, Jan had ice on his windscreen starting out this morning. Just 15 minutes into the drive and I saw my first vulture! It rose up from the side of the road – a huge ugly bird! The first half of the journey saw us pass many small rural towns and villages – no middle classes here! Or at least not obvious from the road. Lots of small houses and roundavels, donkey carts for transport. The road was good, certainly as good as our own ‘A’ roads. Passed the longest roadworks I’ve ever seen – they are building a new wider stretch of road alongside the existing one – all 100Km of it!. Road workers live in tents. The road is almost dead straight, and flat, with the occasional small hill to see. We crossed many rivers – all dry!
Arrived about 12.00 and went first to Jans house to meet his wife and 2 children, both girls aged 2 and 6. His wife is called Ntchudi, and the youngest girl is Thebo (can’t remember the other). Ntchudi’s sister, and a cousin, both of whom have a child. also live with them. They have a maid Tiny, with a young child. So that Tiny can do her chores, she has a ‘maid’ Mercy, to look after her daughter. Mercy also has a young child. I don’t suppose that life is dull in the house.
Just a note: the spelling of names and places is my phonetic interpretation; I reserve the right to correct them at a later date!
Jan has 3 other daughters by his first wife who died tragically in a combi (minibus) accident just a few months after arriving in Botswana many years ago. His youngest daughter Freida, who is now 30, lives in Gaborone, and she came round to say hello and deliver some tickets for a primary school Marimba (look it up!) concert this evening. I got a ticket.
Jan took me back to the Brackendeene Lodge where I’ll be staying for the week. I’ve only booked for a week, as I may move elsewhere next weekend if it means I can see more of Gabs. It’s basic, but clean. Jan picked me up again at just after 6.00PM and then to the primary school for the concert. It was fabulous! I was annoyed that I hadn’t brought my camera. Thomas, you would have loved it! As well as the marimba, there were lots of drums, the children were colourfully dressed and obviously having a great time. It was a marimba workshop/coaching event for about 10 primary schools around the country – one was from Francistown. They each gave a performance of three songs. Some were more practiced than others, but still good and very exuberant.
Friday 16th June
Not much to report, just a week at work. The maid of the previous tenant came round and asked if she could be taken on again. But I’ve had enough interest in the job elsewhere, and the estate agent Khatija did not recommend her. Seeing a couple of ‘contenders’ next week. The ‘pool’ guys came round and began to clean the pool, by putting in chemicals and getting the filter started. It’s now no longer green, but still not clear - they need to put acid in!
Sunday June 18th
Another go at the golf, this time in the club championships. You may be surprised to hear - I am not the club champion. After the game there was a braii, a barbecue. £2.50 got you a huge T-bone steak, large sausage, salad, rolls etc. It was do-it-yourself. Played with Johan again. He has moved around all over SA – he is a casino manager. He is divorced, and his ex-wife of Scottish decent, now lives in Kirkcaldy! He hasn’t seen his 3 children (all girls), since they moved there 3 years ago.
Phoned June tonight – she is off to Jamaica tomorrow on holiday to her conference. She was excited.
I’ve been asking about what to see and do when June gets here in July. We want to see the Victoria falls, but I think we will also ‘do’ the Okavango – it’s a bit expensive at £100pppn + the flight in, so it will just be for 2/3 days. To get to the falls we will have to travel to Kasane, and from there cross over to Zambia and the town of Livingstone. Apparently, the better view is from the Victoria Falls hotel on the Zimbabwean side, but that will be a no-no. The Makgadikgadi salt pans are on the way north, a part of the Kalahari desert – its a huge expanse of flat featureless salt pan, the remains of a huge lake present some several million years ago. At this time of the year, there is less to see in terms of wildlife, but it is still plentiful, better in summer when it rains (18 inches a year!). But, we won’t get far off the beaten track, its not too dangerous from a wild animal point of view – if you are careful, but a breakdown can mean you are completely stranded with no immediate means of help.
I’ll only be able to take a week holiday while June is here, but I may try to arrange a visit to one of the colleges at the southern end of the Okavango, in Maun (Ma oon), and make a long weekend of it.
Still no word about the car, I guess the tyres haven’t arrived yet.
Monday 19th June
Jan brought in another woman from his village who was interested in the maids job. Seemed very competent, if a bit wary of me. She is from Zimbabwe, her husband works on a local fruit/vegetable farm while their daughter stays with grannie back in Zimbabwe. She visits on school holidays. The receptionist at work also brought in a friend. A mid-twenty something, and gorgeous. She seemed very nice also, but I thought that the Zimbabwean woman would be the better choice. OK, I did think about what June would say had I chosen otherwise! So I will probably contact Avia, the Zimbabwean, later in the week.
The internet café I’ve been using is having problems – system very slow. I’m only getting in and able to read some emails, but not reply. So sorry Andrew, not able to wish you happy birthday! Also Garry, I’ll respond when things get better.
Wednesday 21st
I phoned Avia, the Zimbabwean woman and told her she had the maids job. She screamed! And was very happy. We will have a month trial to see how we get on and take things from there.
Went up to see if the Honda was ready – they have replaced the tyres, but it now needs new track rod ends, so another wait until they arrive from Gabs.
I’ve not been able to get online this week – I did try, but too painfully slow for me. I’ve been to the BTC, the Botswana Telecommunications Company, to see about getting a landline connection to the house. There is already a connection, so it shouldn’t be too much of a problem if the copper is still there - there have been a lot of thefts recently of telephone wires because of the current high copper price! I could then get a dial-up connection to a local ISP. Even better news is that BTC are rolling out ASDL Broadband in Francistown at the end of July (its 4 months late). I should be able to get a 256K domestic connection, or possibly a 512K business connection. Its expensive compared with UK at twice the price, for 1/8th of the bandwidth. So perhaps by August, communications will have improved.
Saturday 24th
Left Francistown at 7.00AM for the 440km drive to Gaborone, down the ‘A1’. Its quite cool in the morning now, Jan had ice on his windscreen starting out this morning. Just 15 minutes into the drive and I saw my first vulture! It rose up from the side of the road – a huge ugly bird! The first half of the journey saw us pass many small rural towns and villages – no middle classes here! Or at least not obvious from the road. Lots of small houses and roundavels, donkey carts for transport. The road was good, certainly as good as our own ‘A’ roads. Passed the longest roadworks I’ve ever seen – they are building a new wider stretch of road alongside the existing one – all 100Km of it!. Road workers live in tents. The road is almost dead straight, and flat, with the occasional small hill to see. We crossed many rivers – all dry!
Arrived about 12.00 and went first to Jans house to meet his wife and 2 children, both girls aged 2 and 6. His wife is called Ntchudi, and the youngest girl is Thebo (can’t remember the other). Ntchudi’s sister, and a cousin, both of whom have a child. also live with them. They have a maid Tiny, with a young child. So that Tiny can do her chores, she has a ‘maid’ Mercy, to look after her daughter. Mercy also has a young child. I don’t suppose that life is dull in the house.
Just a note: the spelling of names and places is my phonetic interpretation; I reserve the right to correct them at a later date!
Jan has 3 other daughters by his first wife who died tragically in a combi (minibus) accident just a few months after arriving in Botswana many years ago. His youngest daughter Freida, who is now 30, lives in Gaborone, and she came round to say hello and deliver some tickets for a primary school Marimba (look it up!) concert this evening. I got a ticket.
Jan took me back to the Brackendeene Lodge where I’ll be staying for the week. I’ve only booked for a week, as I may move elsewhere next weekend if it means I can see more of Gabs. It’s basic, but clean. Jan picked me up again at just after 6.00PM and then to the primary school for the concert. It was fabulous! I was annoyed that I hadn’t brought my camera. Thomas, you would have loved it! As well as the marimba, there were lots of drums, the children were colourfully dressed and obviously having a great time. It was a marimba workshop/coaching event for about 10 primary schools around the country – one was from Francistown. They each gave a performance of three songs. Some were more practiced than others, but still good and very exuberant.
posted by George Herd at 3:43 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home