There's a long and complicated story to do with M's visa/passport etc for coming to England and it's my job to sort it out...
The complete (and I mean complete) failure of ANYONE in the British High Commission to answer any phones or emails meant that we had to take the 1200 Km round trip drive up there at the end of last week.
But it did give me a chance to experience another SA city. Pretoria's not bad, we arrived on the wrong side and had to drive through the centre to get to where we were staying, not much of interest on that route except the 'German Foot Clinic' (where Matthias should have gone to increase his chances of escaping aforementioned cheetah).
Pretoria is quite a friendly city, despite being the administrative capital of South Africa. A lady I phoned re guest house couldn't fit us in but found us alternative lodging which turned out to be very comfortable and extremely near the British HC. (possibly shouting distance, although that's as useless as phone/email)
Being a University city, there are lots of student hangouts. We had dinner in Hatfield Square, which is the most European piazza I've been to this far south of the Equator. It's even more European-looking than Cape Town (and that's saying something). The only problem is, I felt really old, as we sat in a bar for dinner surrounded by young-looking students. It made for fascinating people-watching though, even if the now familiar black guy/white girl combo got the usual strange looks again (one gets used to it quickly)... There were even pavement cafes, with decent coffee... nice.
The BHC weren't able to help much, they sent us to the airport, where we had a 2.5hr wait for someone to come down a few steps and escort us through security. I'm sure we only got helped that quickly because I was white and moaning I was tired (in a nice, gracious way, not really moaning you understand!) I think they thought we were yet another mixed race couple!!! But in any case, we made some progress and managed to avoid the Bulls supporters driving down the N3 home (HUGE rugby final in Durban on Sat - Durban 'Sharks' v Pretoria 'Bulls'... meant the FA cup final was relegated to late Sunday night on E! TV, tsk tsk, priorities!)
I am totally fed up with the BHC though, I spent most of last week calling the line for 'Distressed British Nationals' (please hold for the switchboard and someone will be with you shortly..). 'Shortly' in BHC terms is obviously before the end of the decade. I'm lodging a formal complaint as soon as I find out who to do that to. It's disgraceful that a 'Helpline' would remain unanswered. Especially in this country where the crime rates are higher than most warzones... I only pray that I NEVER need to actually use that line to get help. It seems there are distinct disadvantages to being British here. If anyone from the Foreign Office reads this, SORT IT OUT! Pathetic.
