People go on and on about the violent crime rate in South Africa. Many South Africans are prepared to leave the country at a moment’s notice. For a brief moment this weekend the thought crossed my mind too. But the reality is that crime is everywhere and here is no exception.
On Friday afternoon a couple of men walked into reception during the weekly pay-out of wages and asked for one of our staff by name. They then brought out guns and proceeded to take the money. In the kerfuffle one of them fired a shot which THANKFULLY only hit the window and the wall outside, although people were passing there a millisecond later and are traumatised by it all (as you would be, understandably). The bullet hole remains as testimony to what happened. As it was payday there were lots of people milling around, most ran for cover and made sure that none of the children were nearby.
The gunmen made off with a reasonable amount of cash, but not without a fight. Patches (the wonderdog) was on the case and she went for the legs of one of the attackers, digging her teeth in and generally making a nuisance of herself to protect people. She somehow managed to dodge 2 bullets in the process although most onlookers are amazed that she didn’t get shot. But she’s fast. (She’s sitting on the bed next to me as I write this, approving of everything I write!)
It was an inside job. Someone knows who these people were. They knew too much for it to be a random event. Now that the dust has settled there is widespread relief that no-one got hurt (PRAISE GOD) although some fear that these men may return. Although I imagine that is unlikely. Too many people saw them and their car. Needless to say the way we handle cash here has been rapidly rethought.
By God’s grace, I was not on the property at the time. Just half an hour earlier I had made a snap decision to go shopping and didn’t discover what had happened until the next morning. I didn’t even think much of Patches devouring lots of food in the evening and chewing up a big piece of cardboard. She is, after all, an overgrown puppy and very boisterous. Little did I know then that she is also hero of the hour!
The whole incident brings home how dangerous it can be here though. My house is next door to reception, a bit too close for comfort. And yet although I went through the initial fear of ‘what if’, I am reminded that GOD IS IN COMPLETE CONTROL and all of our days are in His hands. He is my Protector and my Saviour and so I do not need to fear. And I’ve got my cats and Patches in my house as guard creatures. I don’t think people would last long if they came near me when P is around. She’s becoming very protective after her first brush with danger! I’m starting to wonder if she might not be a special angelic dog sent to help out here.
Monday 27 August 2007
Saturday 25 August 2007
Land handover event
On Thursday a whole gang of us went down into the valley of Swayimane to a land-handover ceremony. A family there has donated some land to us for free so that we can build another pre-school project there. But before we can start building we needed to do all the formalities of switching ownership.
It was quite fascinating. In typical Zulu fashion, I'd had to go the long way and arrived nearly 2 hours late and it still hadn't started officially. I got to sit with the dignitaries (in the shade!) and enjoy the stoney ginger beer... Although the land was free, we'd still had to provide the sheep (for dinner), all the food for lunch and various other offerings.
After several pleasantries and speeches, and a performance by the YZW choir, the offical visit of the land happened, with a group walking the boundary and marking it out. Only after this had been completed could lunch begin...
My Zulu is improving, I can now understand what's being said and follow the gist of the conversation and speeches. Still a way to go before I can respond properly though.
Although, I did manage my first conversation in Zulu in the valley on Wednesday. I visited a pre-school and enquired where the teacher was and managed to establish from one of the other teachers that she was ill. The conversation, though short, went as follows:
Me: Sawubona, ninjani?
Ladies: sikhona. Unjani?
Me: Ngiyaphila. UPhumzile?
Ladies: Phumzile abekho.
Me: Uyagula?
Ladies: Yebo.
Amazing. Not a word of English and communication was perfect.
I am well pleased with my progress.
It was quite fascinating. In typical Zulu fashion, I'd had to go the long way and arrived nearly 2 hours late and it still hadn't started officially. I got to sit with the dignitaries (in the shade!) and enjoy the stoney ginger beer... Although the land was free, we'd still had to provide the sheep (for dinner), all the food for lunch and various other offerings.
After several pleasantries and speeches, and a performance by the YZW choir, the offical visit of the land happened, with a group walking the boundary and marking it out. Only after this had been completed could lunch begin...
My Zulu is improving, I can now understand what's being said and follow the gist of the conversation and speeches. Still a way to go before I can respond properly though.
Although, I did manage my first conversation in Zulu in the valley on Wednesday. I visited a pre-school and enquired where the teacher was and managed to establish from one of the other teachers that she was ill. The conversation, though short, went as follows:
Me: Sawubona, ninjani?
Ladies: sikhona. Unjani?
Me: Ngiyaphila. UPhumzile?
Ladies: Phumzile abekho.
Me: Uyagula?
Ladies: Yebo.
Amazing. Not a word of English and communication was perfect.
I am well pleased with my progress.
Back to KZN
I'm back.
Although I've been struggling to get online all week. Apologies for lack of news.
It was great to get back 'home' here again. The kids were all excited to see me, they've got a little song that they sing for me and I've heard it all week. It's so cute.
I brought the crechies some disney princess/winnie the pooh kids cutlery (very imaginative, it took me a while) and they loved it! Everyone else has proper cutlery and the crechies had to use plastic spoons, so these are special... It was so sweet seeing them use them for the first time and loving it.
There's a positive atmosphere in the air with lots of new, enthusiastic and keen volunteers. It's taking me a while to work out who is who, I reckon it will still take me a while as I don't have much to do with them during the week, but I'll get there. It helps too that the sun was shining and it was beautifully warm when I returned (much nicer than the pollution of Jo'burg). It's almost spring!
My house is still in one piece, apart from signs of a passing rat under the sink. Must be the absence of the cats in the kitchen that allowed it to visit. After eating the entire cardboard bit of the lightbulb box and most of a box of washing powder it moved on. Strangely it didn't go near the food cupboard... Needless to say, the cats are back in full force now. Because HR was away for so long, her cats have moved to reception and the former reception cats have moved to mine... so now when I come home instead of a ginger furball rushing out of the undergrowth, I am greeted by 3 little treasures from different directions all wanting attention and cat biscuits. Natha is small, black, scratchy and argumentative, so he doesn't get to come in much. Veenie is tortoiseshell, soft, gentle and cuddly and she's most welcome (although she hates it when I have to evict her in the rain). Tubbles is a bit miffed that she has to share her blanket, but she's getting over it fast. To add to all of this, Patches the dog has also moved in, even though she did chew up a whole piece of cardboard this evening on the kitchen floor. (better than the carpet that she was starting on before I found the distraction of cardboard!) I've no clue how to look after dogs, and it's getting a bit crowded in here, but for the moment it's fun (and there's no sign of any more rodents either!)
Friday 17 August 2007
GET REAL WOMEN'S CONFERENCE 2007
I'm not going to write much now, as it's getting late.
The reason I came back to Joburg when I did was to attend the Rhema Church 'Get Real' Women's Conference, and it's been a truly awesome experience so far. I say 'so far' because there's still one more day to go. But already God has moved in such an incredible way.
I think it's the 2nd year this conference has run. Registrations were up 3000% this year and more people attend than to the normal church conference. Possibly because although this is a women's conference, men can also register! Only in Africa I guess. There are quite a few hopping around, but as the daily attendance is around 5000 people, you don't really notice them.
I'm going to save the 'what's happened to me' section for another post after the end of the time together. There have been some anointed speakers though - Sarah Omakwu from Nigeria, Christine Caine from Hillsongs Australia, Margaret Stunt from Hillsongs London, Zelda McCauley from Rhema Church, Rochelle Niemans from El Paso, Texas and Darlene Zschech from Hillsongs, Australia. If you know any of these women, you'll know how amazing they are, if you don't know about them and you are a woman of God, then you should.
My favourite bit so far was when Darlene Zschech was due to speak this morning and just decided to speak for 5 minutes and then do a worship session instead. It was so powerful, the Holy Spirit was working and many many women were set free from grief and loss in that time. Words can't truly express of convey the atmosphere in that auditorium when arguably the world's best worship team are leading us in giving praise and adoration to our heavenly Father. Tonight, 7000 people jumping and singing along to 'How great is our God' is a memory I will take with me to heaven one day (and probably repeat there too!). God is great, He's the greatest.
Tomorrow, after some more great teaching, a small group of us are visiting an outreach project and orphanage just outside the city. Should be interesting and challenging, and for me a good way to get ideas! And then in the evening there's the official Hillsongs Worship evening (tonight was merely a kind of warm up!)
Sunday sees me back in KZN, and launching into the next phase of my life in Africa, well prepared from this week of teaching and refreshing to do what the Lord wants me to do there. There are some big plans coming my way, I can sense it. And it's going to be an incredibly exciting year with God in control!
The reason I came back to Joburg when I did was to attend the Rhema Church 'Get Real' Women's Conference, and it's been a truly awesome experience so far. I say 'so far' because there's still one more day to go. But already God has moved in such an incredible way.
I think it's the 2nd year this conference has run. Registrations were up 3000% this year and more people attend than to the normal church conference. Possibly because although this is a women's conference, men can also register! Only in Africa I guess. There are quite a few hopping around, but as the daily attendance is around 5000 people, you don't really notice them.
I'm going to save the 'what's happened to me' section for another post after the end of the time together. There have been some anointed speakers though - Sarah Omakwu from Nigeria, Christine Caine from Hillsongs Australia, Margaret Stunt from Hillsongs London, Zelda McCauley from Rhema Church, Rochelle Niemans from El Paso, Texas and Darlene Zschech from Hillsongs, Australia. If you know any of these women, you'll know how amazing they are, if you don't know about them and you are a woman of God, then you should.
My favourite bit so far was when Darlene Zschech was due to speak this morning and just decided to speak for 5 minutes and then do a worship session instead. It was so powerful, the Holy Spirit was working and many many women were set free from grief and loss in that time. Words can't truly express of convey the atmosphere in that auditorium when arguably the world's best worship team are leading us in giving praise and adoration to our heavenly Father. Tonight, 7000 people jumping and singing along to 'How great is our God' is a memory I will take with me to heaven one day (and probably repeat there too!). God is great, He's the greatest.
Tomorrow, after some more great teaching, a small group of us are visiting an outreach project and orphanage just outside the city. Should be interesting and challenging, and for me a good way to get ideas! And then in the evening there's the official Hillsongs Worship evening (tonight was merely a kind of warm up!)
Sunday sees me back in KZN, and launching into the next phase of my life in Africa, well prepared from this week of teaching and refreshing to do what the Lord wants me to do there. There are some big plans coming my way, I can sense it. And it's going to be an incredibly exciting year with God in control!
The journey South
Greetings from South Africa!
I'm currently in Johannesburg. More about that in next entry.
I landed on African soil on Tuesday afternoon after what was a rather long way round of getting here. But the sun was out and I was happy to be back.
Monday had seen me heading down to Heathrow, avoiding the closed-off M40 due to that crazed biker murder. It struck me that the 2 main news headlines were about the M40 and the arriving protesters at Heathrow. Good day to travel then...
I've never been to Terminal 3 at H'row. It's a bit horrible. I think I was there on a quiet day too.
On arrival, and having negotiated that most of it is being refurbished and therefore is closed off, I was greeted by an Emirates representative who told me I'd have to wait another 2 hours before I could check in. Why do they insist you get there early, only to send you to the restaurants? Is is a ploy to get you to spend more money??? She wasn't even interested that I'd already checking in online and just needed to drop my bags. I fought my way over to the lift to be faced by another heathrow attendant who tried to tell me I couldn't take my trolley upstairs. I tried to explain to him that I didn't want to take it up either... but the 'nice' lady at Emirates wouldn't let me through... He started swearing, not really at me, but it's still irritating.. so I ignored him and got into the lift only to get out and be greeted by a whole rack of trolleys... So I have no idea what jobsworth downstairs was going on about...
In any case, I decided to attempt check-in again earlier than I was supposed to. The best thing about online check-in is that I didn't have to queue. Unfortunately, I did have to pay excess baggage, although only about half of what I should have paid, cos I argued I'm taking stuff for an orphanage...
Next stop was duty free. Now this is where Terminal 3 became more interesting... I did have to purchase a pashmina as I realised the moment I walked near to Emirates area that most of the women were completely robed in black and my strappy top possibly might cause offense in the extremely Arab state of Dubai... I did wear it all around Dubai airport, unfortunately I could only afford a woollen one from tie-rack and that was rather warm for me in the already sweltering 35 degree heat of 8am in Dubai!!! You live and learn, eh.
Flight from London to Dubai. Mediocre. Food was thrown at us at various intervals. I refused it as it was possibly about 1.30am by the time they got to us. We'd taken off at 10pm. Having forced us not to carry any water, they didn't bring any round until half way through the flight. So considerate of the needs of passengers!?! Great video console in the seat in front of me though. Didn't sleep much.
Flight from Dubai to Johannesburg. This was a longer, but day flight. And I'm glad I did this one as otherwise I might have thought emirates was a rubbish airline. The views were good. The movies were excellent. As he's now a friend, I thought it only fair to catch up with Jude's latest offerings of movies and so I watched 'Breaking and Entering' (Anthony Minghella director, interesting and quite perturbing movie), followed by highlights from 'The Holiday' (already seen it) I also caught up with some lost (for me) episodes of FRIENDS and a particularly entertaining Disney film called 'The WILD' (much better than 'Madagascar' in my view - although there were no penguins). This film saw Ryan the lioncub head off to the wild by mistake and his Dad Samson with friends Benny the squirrel, a giraffe and Nigel the Koala (easily the best British koala I've ever seen on the silver screen) to help him out. Lots of fun.
Didn't discover the music or the computer games until just before landing...
The food, though, was really not nice. It reminded me of airline food of long ago.
Long way of getting to South Africa. But it's cheaper. The fuel pump is in the back garden in UAE.
My lovely lovely helpful friend R picked me up from the airport and dropped my at new friend Y's house, after a few hours of Joburg traffic. And that's where I am now. It's Friday night and I need to sleep after 2 days of the most amazing time with God. But there's more about that later...
I'm currently in Johannesburg. More about that in next entry.
I landed on African soil on Tuesday afternoon after what was a rather long way round of getting here. But the sun was out and I was happy to be back.
Monday had seen me heading down to Heathrow, avoiding the closed-off M40 due to that crazed biker murder. It struck me that the 2 main news headlines were about the M40 and the arriving protesters at Heathrow. Good day to travel then...
I've never been to Terminal 3 at H'row. It's a bit horrible. I think I was there on a quiet day too.
On arrival, and having negotiated that most of it is being refurbished and therefore is closed off, I was greeted by an Emirates representative who told me I'd have to wait another 2 hours before I could check in. Why do they insist you get there early, only to send you to the restaurants? Is is a ploy to get you to spend more money??? She wasn't even interested that I'd already checking in online and just needed to drop my bags. I fought my way over to the lift to be faced by another heathrow attendant who tried to tell me I couldn't take my trolley upstairs. I tried to explain to him that I didn't want to take it up either... but the 'nice' lady at Emirates wouldn't let me through... He started swearing, not really at me, but it's still irritating.. so I ignored him and got into the lift only to get out and be greeted by a whole rack of trolleys... So I have no idea what jobsworth downstairs was going on about...
In any case, I decided to attempt check-in again earlier than I was supposed to. The best thing about online check-in is that I didn't have to queue. Unfortunately, I did have to pay excess baggage, although only about half of what I should have paid, cos I argued I'm taking stuff for an orphanage...
Next stop was duty free. Now this is where Terminal 3 became more interesting... I did have to purchase a pashmina as I realised the moment I walked near to Emirates area that most of the women were completely robed in black and my strappy top possibly might cause offense in the extremely Arab state of Dubai... I did wear it all around Dubai airport, unfortunately I could only afford a woollen one from tie-rack and that was rather warm for me in the already sweltering 35 degree heat of 8am in Dubai!!! You live and learn, eh.
Flight from London to Dubai. Mediocre. Food was thrown at us at various intervals. I refused it as it was possibly about 1.30am by the time they got to us. We'd taken off at 10pm. Having forced us not to carry any water, they didn't bring any round until half way through the flight. So considerate of the needs of passengers!?! Great video console in the seat in front of me though. Didn't sleep much.
Flight from Dubai to Johannesburg. This was a longer, but day flight. And I'm glad I did this one as otherwise I might have thought emirates was a rubbish airline. The views were good. The movies were excellent. As he's now a friend, I thought it only fair to catch up with Jude's latest offerings of movies and so I watched 'Breaking and Entering' (Anthony Minghella director, interesting and quite perturbing movie), followed by highlights from 'The Holiday' (already seen it) I also caught up with some lost (for me) episodes of FRIENDS and a particularly entertaining Disney film called 'The WILD' (much better than 'Madagascar' in my view - although there were no penguins). This film saw Ryan the lioncub head off to the wild by mistake and his Dad Samson with friends Benny the squirrel, a giraffe and Nigel the Koala (easily the best British koala I've ever seen on the silver screen) to help him out. Lots of fun.
Didn't discover the music or the computer games until just before landing...
The food, though, was really not nice. It reminded me of airline food of long ago.
Long way of getting to South Africa. But it's cheaper. The fuel pump is in the back garden in UAE.
My lovely lovely helpful friend R picked me up from the airport and dropped my at new friend Y's house, after a few hours of Joburg traffic. And that's where I am now. It's Friday night and I need to sleep after 2 days of the most amazing time with God. But there's more about that later...
Saturday 11 August 2007
Ipswich
Am enjoying a relaxing weekend in Ipswich chez my sister and brother-in-law. Great for Wi-Fi connection ;-)
We spent the best part of today on the shingle-covered beach at Felixstowe, making the most of the summer sunshine. Most of the summer sunshine seems to have focussed on my knees, which now look about the same colour as my orange/pink/red sundress I'm planning on wearing tomorrow... despite the suncream...
That is going to hurt tomorrow, especially with the 3 hour drive back to Stratford.
L&R are mad keen on sea-kayaking and spent most of the afternoon exploring the sea. Being now accustomed to warmer waters of the Indian ocean (ahem, I've never swum there either!) , I chose instead to finish several of my books.
I've been reading a book called 'There's always enough' by Heidi and Rolland Baker who run Iris Ministries in Mozambique. Managed to finish it today and have been profoundly challenged and inspired by these people who have given their whole lives to Jesus and travel simply, speaking of him and praying with and for people. The miracles that follow them are incredible. They've worked through some of the worst floods ever to reach the unreachable people in the middle of nowhere, and the Holy Spirit turns up again and again, bringing people back into a living relationship with Jesus, their only hope. It's about laying down our lives and dying to ourselves every day so that He might live and work through us. Not easy, but essential for abundant life.
I'm looking forward to spending some quality time with Jesus in Johannesburg next week. For some reason every time I go to Joburg it's a good time spiritually so I'm praying that the Rhema Women's Conference will be no exception. Good to get all my priorities lined up before I head back to work. Pray for me, that God will move in a big way. He is Lord and He is in control, no matter how big the mountains ahead of me seem to be. He is enough.
Not sure when I'll next blog, it might well be when I'm back in Cato Ridge...
We spent the best part of today on the shingle-covered beach at Felixstowe, making the most of the summer sunshine. Most of the summer sunshine seems to have focussed on my knees, which now look about the same colour as my orange/pink/red sundress I'm planning on wearing tomorrow... despite the suncream...
That is going to hurt tomorrow, especially with the 3 hour drive back to Stratford.
L&R are mad keen on sea-kayaking and spent most of the afternoon exploring the sea. Being now accustomed to warmer waters of the Indian ocean (ahem, I've never swum there either!) , I chose instead to finish several of my books.
I've been reading a book called 'There's always enough' by Heidi and Rolland Baker who run Iris Ministries in Mozambique. Managed to finish it today and have been profoundly challenged and inspired by these people who have given their whole lives to Jesus and travel simply, speaking of him and praying with and for people. The miracles that follow them are incredible. They've worked through some of the worst floods ever to reach the unreachable people in the middle of nowhere, and the Holy Spirit turns up again and again, bringing people back into a living relationship with Jesus, their only hope. It's about laying down our lives and dying to ourselves every day so that He might live and work through us. Not easy, but essential for abundant life.
I'm looking forward to spending some quality time with Jesus in Johannesburg next week. For some reason every time I go to Joburg it's a good time spiritually so I'm praying that the Rhema Women's Conference will be no exception. Good to get all my priorities lined up before I head back to work. Pray for me, that God will move in a big way. He is Lord and He is in control, no matter how big the mountains ahead of me seem to be. He is enough.
Not sure when I'll next blog, it might well be when I'm back in Cato Ridge...
Thursday 9 August 2007
more publicity
There's a good little video clip from Scottish television if you follow the link below.
http://www.stv.tv/content/news/local/north/display.html?id=opencms:/news/north_scotland/Zulus_land_in_Shetland
If you can get video on t'internet, there's also various extracts from shows on Utube, most of which are good but a lot are from the Germany tour last year and not the recent UK tour.
http://www.stv.tv/content/news/local/north/display.html?id=opencms:/news/north_scotland/Zulus_land_in_Shetland
If you can get video on t'internet, there's also various extracts from shows on Utube, most of which are good but a lot are from the Germany tour last year and not the recent UK tour.
Tuesday 7 August 2007
Time Out
It's taken me a week to chill out and recover from being so exhausted. Mad.
I was ok for the first few days. Then I did a talk for my church about my life in Africa etc, which was brilliant as lots of people came and were really supportive and encouraging. Thanks if you came, it was great to see you and I felt so loved as so many turned up on a holiday Wednesday! Even the sun made an appearance...
Unfortunately, the next day I practically lost my voice. It continued to play truant until about Sunday. But that didn't stop me heading South to visit my Grandparents and to meet some of the lovely people who've been praying for me over the past year. To pray for someone you know is one thing, but to commit to praying for an almost complete stranger takes a lot of faith and discipline, but these ladies have been praying for me all year! Thank You! I shared photos and stories with them and the tea-party was a very encouraging time.
Then it was on to Brighton to see the gang down there. Thankfully the weather was amazing so we spent some time near the beach. I say 'near' because it's not so comfortable to sit on all those pebbles, much more comfy on grassy lawns.. (and especially since I'm now used to the sun-drenched sands of the Indian Ocean). However, it was so hot on Sunday we ended up seeking air-conditioning in Caffe Nero.
Church in Brighton was great too, really refreshing despite me being so tired I could have easily slept through it all and on into the afternoon. Interestingly, the song 'He is the Lord and he reigns on high/ Show your power..' was sung at both the morning service in Brighton and the evening one in Leamington. Great song, good lyrics... Desperately need more spiritual refreshment. Am very much looking forward to Rhema conference in Johannesburg next week where I'll get a good soaking!
Part of my ongoing exhaustion has been due to wacky dreams each night (now up to night 5) meaning I wake up not feeling very rested. Could be due to stupid levels of salt/sugar/processed food still in my system maybe? In any case, they don't seem to make much sense, just a lot of what seems like wierd film plots rolled into one. Friends have gone off to war and been killed, my evil identical twin sister murdered me as I was trying to escape from Shetland, Gordon Brown was refused entry onto a flight because his jacket was stolen... all very interesting, but not when I'm trying to rest... I used to try and analyse dreams, now I can't be bothered. There's enough material this past week to keep a psychoanalyst working for a year!
And today I spent the afternoon looking after my 2 year old niece.
Cute. Very cute.
Until she mistook me for a bear (easy mistake?).
We had some discussion as to who is the owner of Paddington and Donkey (both of which were presents on MY first Birthday) but I decided to let her win... (I know where they live and can regain their affection later).
She's at the stage of rambling on and on, leaving me to decipher what she's trying to say, not quite understanding her completely.
However, old favourite Thomas the Tank Engine helped. The Classic collection DVD kept her entertained for over half an hour. She can name nearly all the engines at a single glance. Impressive. On one side of the room she's shouting out 'Thomas' and 'Toby', and on the other my Dad is providing a running expert critical commentary on how those engines manage to move on various tracks and questioning how Trevor the Traction-engine (it's not just trains, you know) could move from the back of a wagon to the ground so fast and without the assistance of a crane....
Hours of fun.
But now she's gone home and I won't see her until... well frankly, I don't know when. Her brand-new baby brother/sister is making an appearance in several weeks so it will be all change again for her. This is the sad bit about living so far away. I miss seeing the 'next generation Horns' growing up... ;-(
In any case, I did manage to finish Harry Potter.
And he dies.
Or does he???
;-)
I was ok for the first few days. Then I did a talk for my church about my life in Africa etc, which was brilliant as lots of people came and were really supportive and encouraging. Thanks if you came, it was great to see you and I felt so loved as so many turned up on a holiday Wednesday! Even the sun made an appearance...
Unfortunately, the next day I practically lost my voice. It continued to play truant until about Sunday. But that didn't stop me heading South to visit my Grandparents and to meet some of the lovely people who've been praying for me over the past year. To pray for someone you know is one thing, but to commit to praying for an almost complete stranger takes a lot of faith and discipline, but these ladies have been praying for me all year! Thank You! I shared photos and stories with them and the tea-party was a very encouraging time.
Then it was on to Brighton to see the gang down there. Thankfully the weather was amazing so we spent some time near the beach. I say 'near' because it's not so comfortable to sit on all those pebbles, much more comfy on grassy lawns.. (and especially since I'm now used to the sun-drenched sands of the Indian Ocean). However, it was so hot on Sunday we ended up seeking air-conditioning in Caffe Nero.
Church in Brighton was great too, really refreshing despite me being so tired I could have easily slept through it all and on into the afternoon. Interestingly, the song 'He is the Lord and he reigns on high/ Show your power..' was sung at both the morning service in Brighton and the evening one in Leamington. Great song, good lyrics... Desperately need more spiritual refreshment. Am very much looking forward to Rhema conference in Johannesburg next week where I'll get a good soaking!
Part of my ongoing exhaustion has been due to wacky dreams each night (now up to night 5) meaning I wake up not feeling very rested. Could be due to stupid levels of salt/sugar/processed food still in my system maybe? In any case, they don't seem to make much sense, just a lot of what seems like wierd film plots rolled into one. Friends have gone off to war and been killed, my evil identical twin sister murdered me as I was trying to escape from Shetland, Gordon Brown was refused entry onto a flight because his jacket was stolen... all very interesting, but not when I'm trying to rest... I used to try and analyse dreams, now I can't be bothered. There's enough material this past week to keep a psychoanalyst working for a year!
And today I spent the afternoon looking after my 2 year old niece.
Cute. Very cute.
Until she mistook me for a bear (easy mistake?).
We had some discussion as to who is the owner of Paddington and Donkey (both of which were presents on MY first Birthday) but I decided to let her win... (I know where they live and can regain their affection later).
She's at the stage of rambling on and on, leaving me to decipher what she's trying to say, not quite understanding her completely.
However, old favourite Thomas the Tank Engine helped. The Classic collection DVD kept her entertained for over half an hour. She can name nearly all the engines at a single glance. Impressive. On one side of the room she's shouting out 'Thomas' and 'Toby', and on the other my Dad is providing a running expert critical commentary on how those engines manage to move on various tracks and questioning how Trevor the Traction-engine (it's not just trains, you know) could move from the back of a wagon to the ground so fast and without the assistance of a crane....
Hours of fun.
But now she's gone home and I won't see her until... well frankly, I don't know when. Her brand-new baby brother/sister is making an appearance in several weeks so it will be all change again for her. This is the sad bit about living so far away. I miss seeing the 'next generation Horns' growing up... ;-(
In any case, I did manage to finish Harry Potter.
And he dies.
Or does he???
;-)
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