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.
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