diary 11

Diary 11

Well that night was an interesting one for sure!! We had been having a few thunderstorms at night down on Ralph and Rose's farm, huge thunder claps and lightning that turned the night sky into daylight for a few seconds. I decided that I was, by far, in the best place and that living in a tin hut as most of the locals do would not my idea of fun!! Julia the local girl that's works at the house lives in a two bedroom building with a tin roof close to the house and I was expecting to see her come running in any time but I guess she is use to it. And anyway mad dogs and English men that we are, stuck it out in the "Lapa" next to the pool and "Braai" until the wind and driving rain forced our retreat.

I think it was the next day that Roger turned up at the farm to the sound of a round or two from his pump action shotgun ringing the air around the farm. A fine entrance indeed and was only to be expected!! It was the same evening that I walked into the blade of Jeff's new $300 Damascus bladed knife and managed to make a nice neat slice in my hand!! It was so funny, Jeff immediately put his knife in its sheath and passed it to Ralph to look after!!! Poor Jeff he felt so guilty but it was my walking into it that was the problem and of course the others made him feel terrible all evening (as you do!!)

The recent well needed rain had caused a breeding frenzy amongst the local insects (first rain since march) so while we where outside enjoying a "Braai" we had the whole of the African insect population descend upon us!!! One particular huge beetle took a liking to Ralph's leg and just would not let go, even with Roger trying to prise it off. It must have been at least 3 inches long and very much like a stag beetle. The evening ended after much beer and rum and the following day we spent shooting clays from the new trap Jeff brought. Such good fun using the pump action and the double barreled shotgun I also found out that I am quite a good shot :-) cool as!!

Now I am in Jo-Berg making preparations for Roger's and my road trip through Africa next week, heading to Victoria Falls. It Should take a couple of weeks and we are going in Rogers BMW 325i old faithful ;-) and camping out to cut down on costs. I know... I know.... scary scary but if you where to embark on an adventure like this then I guarantee you that Roger would be your first choice of guide!! He is about 18 foot tall and 300 stone is an ex solider/ body guard and security man and knows a lot about a lot of things so hey I ain't scared!!!!!!!!! Eh Rog