Wedding

Last weekend, Jenny and I, Ben, Claire, Thomas and Sophie attended the wedding of Sean, an old Scouting friend, and his bride Michelle. They were actually in the Empire State Building, New York, on Christmas Eve so this was a marriage blessing service conducted by our former Group Scout leader with the lessons read by me and another former leader in the Scout Group. With so many Scouts about it was appropriate to hold it at the 95 acre Phasels Wood Scout Camp in Hertfordshire. We had been warned that the track to the marquee would be muddy (it was) but the marquee itself was a splendid affair with gas heating, a silk lined ceiling, chandeliers and a dance floor with little "starlights" over it. The cake was a mountain of small individual cakes - very clever. There was a lovely meal, with a pig roast, funny speeches, lots of talking to old friends and then dancing to music provided by two live entertainers. It was all great fun. Sophie especially liked the dancing - sorry that my photo cuts Ben's head off.

Meanwhile, back in England

Whilst we were enjoying lovely warm temperatures by the Indian Ocean our house (near Yeovilton in Somerset where the temperature dropped to minus 13C) survived three weeks of frost and snow unscathed. The elderly oil fired boiler kept on working and we had no leaks of pipe bursts. At their home in Bedfordshire Ben, Claire, Thomas and Sophie made good use of their Volvo 4 X 4 in the deep snow and ice and enjoyed Christmas and New Year with Claire's parents as guests and Claire's brother and his family on Christmas Day. We are looking forward to hearing more about their Christmas, and seeing their presents and photographs, when we stay with them soon for the wedding blessing of a Scouting friend. But more of that later. Above is a photo of Thomas, Sophie and Jenny, about to start an Olympic race when they stayed with us in August.

What next for the Mercy Ship Peets?

On Monday Olly, Sally, Noah, Anna and Libby rejoined the other Mercy Ship families at the austere Apellsbosch College (see photo which I took from the hill above) which the adults don't like but the kids do because it gives them opportunities to run around in the grounds, build dens etc, which they do not get on board the MV Africa Mercy. For the children, and Sally who is temporarily working in the school, the new term is about to start. Olly and other fathers are commuting daily by minibus to the ship in Durban where they are working alongside the dock workers to finish the installation of the new generators, the miles of wiring that go with it and a few other improvements. Hopefully this will be completed in about three weeks time when everyone will move back on the ship. Sea trials will take place on the journey to Cape Town (for a short goodwill visit), then the ship will sail up the Atlantic to the West African country of Sierra Leone, one of the poorest in the world and still trying to recover from a civil war fomented by Charles Taylor, of "blood diamonds" notoriety. Here the ship will give free medical care to the poor of Sierra Leone and Olly and Sally will return to the work they love, Sally as a speech and language therapist working with maxillo-facial patients and Olly as transportation manager of 30 Land Rovers and Toyotas, dive team leader, fireman and brakeman of lifeboat number 4. Here are a few of my favourite South Africa photographs.

Christmas day in South Africa

Because we had a 20 kilo luggage allowance Jenny and I could only take a few small Christmas presents out to South Africa. So we bought more in Durban's Gateway Mall, said to be the longest shopping mall in the southern hemisphere. On Christmas morning the children woke early to open the presents in their stockings but the main presents under the tree had to wait until we all returned from the 8am service at the nearby church - over 500 people were there. Back at Sausalito, over coffee and mince pies (with Wensleydale cheese made by Wyke Farms in Somerset and bought in the local SA supermarket) we opened all our lovely presents and the children concentrated on their new electronic games. Meanwhile Sally had prepared the turkey and roast veg and most of us had joined in the making of the sherry trifle the previous evening. When all was ready we sat down to a splendid lunch (no, we did not drink the 2 litre box of wine all at once, it lasted until Boxing Day!) then after a rest we went down to the beach, which was almost deserted. After tea of turkey leftovers we played games in the kitchen (flapping fish etc) and had team races with balloons and oranges until bedtime. What a lovely day.

Crocs, kayaks, ponies and bridges

We didn't spend all our time on the beach. We visited a commercial crocodile farm where we watched the huge beasts being fed with dead chickens, feathers and all, and held crocodile eggs as the babies pecked their way out. Jenny bought a small croc skull to display at home and later we cooked some croc meat on our braai - it was a bit fishy! We played crazy golf on the best and steepest course I have ever seen, hired canoes, the kids rode ponies and we all visited a wildlife park where we saw giraffes, springbok and other animals, crossed a suspension bridge, swam in a lake and climbed down a steep valley to see some caves once lived in by the San people. On two special evenings (Libby's 6th birthday and New Year's Eve) we had long delicious dinners at an Italian restaurant just round the corner and on two others, when we got home too late to cook, we had the best fish and chips ever from a British style Fish and Chip ship about half a mile away. Some of us put on a bit of weight!

Sausalito - on the Indian Ocean

The house we rented for two weeks in Ramsgate was named Sausalito - I found it on a small internet site called Homes Direct. After living on hospital ships in West Africa for most of the last 7 years the family found Sausalito spacious, luxurious and equipped with everything needed. The TV sets actually played live TV programmes (not just videos and DVDs like on the ship) and the kids particularly enjoyed watching Disney Channel. The garden was great for water pistol fights (if you don't mind snakes) and the braii on the balcony was used most evenings to cook delicious South African steaks, fish and marshmallows. But best of all, Sausalito was only two minutes walk down a private footpath to the beaches of the Indian Ocean. Many hours were spent trying to surf in the fierce waves, messing about in rock pools and on a big rubber ring, digging holes and trenches trying to block or divert a small river which ran into the sea nearby. Sometimes the adults just sat on the beach reading, snoozing or enjoying sandwiches and a bottle of Castle beer. It was a hard life!

Cheeky monkeys!

On 20 December we all left Appelsbosch and moved to a large rented house right next to the Indian Ocean at Ramsgate (yes, Margate was just along the coast - there are a lot of English place names in the area). On 23 December Jenny and I returned early from the beach to find a troupe of vervet monkeys eating bananas on the drive. "How cute" we thought, and took a few snaps before realising that the bananas were ours - the clever monkeys had got through the window bars, opened the slightly open windows a bit more and were all over our kitchen - we had to chase them out. They had eaten or damaged most of our Christmas fruit - bananas, plums, nectarines, kiwi fruit and apples, leaving only the oranges. They had eaten our bread, attacked a packet of cheese biscuits and, like naughty boys, had eaten all the inside of a fruit loaf and left the crust (see photo of dish of damaged stuff we swept up). Fortunately we were able to replenish our food supplies on Christmas Eve and after that kept the fruit and bread hidden away in cupboards when not in use. Even then the monkeys managed to steal some bananas one breakfast time and one dinner time were so active that Noah and I had to stand monkey-watch armed with brooms.

Holiday in South Africa

Today we returned from a wonderful three week holiday in South Africa spent with our elder son, Olly, his wife, Sally, and their three children, Noah, Anna and Libby. This was the first time we had spent Christmas together since 2003 and it was only possible because the hospital ship on which they normally live, work and go to school is currently having new generators fitted in dry dock in Durban. We spent the first week with them in temporary accommodation at a former teacher training college in the hills at Appelsbosch, about 30 miles from Pietermaritzburg, where they and their shipmate families are currently living. The former college was an austere sort of place and the weather cool and wet but the rain did let up long enough for us all to do some some serious walking in the glorious countryside, including descending (and ascending!) a precipitous footpath down the wooded side of a valley to the foot of a high waterfall where we all splashed about in the river. The area is predominantly used for growing sugar cane and herding the cattle which produce South Africa's rich milk and delicious tender beef.

Holiday in South Africa