The Colonial Life

Today we got a taste of colonial living. We were scheduled to have a seminar (sounds so grand!) at Melinda’s which is a fabulous out-of-town house and grounds where Melinda hosts events. Her food is fantastic, the drinks are fantastic the location is fantastic. What can I say? we were going to have a day outside in the shade with a cool breeze, rather than being huddled in a stifling room – at last the colonial life.

That said we did sit and learn about AIDS in Africa; its history and how Homoeopathy can be used to help. And this was very good. We also maintained concentration (most of the time) despite the naughty monkey entertaining us by leaping about in the nearby foliage and despite the totally indulgent lunch we had beneath the trees in the shadow of Kilimanjaro. An African take on Eton Mess (mangoes – need I say more?) almost finished me off, but a quick dip in the pool livened us up before we went back to studying.

Throughout our stay Michelle, a homoeopath who is here for six months, has been driving us around as the roads can be pretty dreadful and she knows the way. However tonight she out on the town to a party and felt she would prefer not to drive us home, so I offered [you know the book – Feel The Fear And Do It Anyway? – I decided to put it into action] I have no fear of driving (Hakuna matata as we say now) but I do not want to be stopped by the police. They have a system here, worse than our UK speed cameras, for collecting money from unwitting divers, which involves stopping you and giving you a fine for whatever takes their fancy. Why are you afraid? I hear you say, and to that I have no rational answer. So I drove.

And on the whole it was fine, but the windscreen wipers were a bit odd. OK, so I put them on to turn right, which was not the wisest of moves, but then they kind of shuddered to a halt in the middle of the screen and just stayed there. My intention had been to have my eyes fixed completely on the car in front, desperate to avoid being seen by any police (I was driving a 4 by 4, this was a vain hope) and these flipping wipers were in my way. I stopped the car and got out to move them, but found that they just scuttled back across the screen when I started the car again. Humph! My passengers all thought this was hilarious. I think it’s called in-car entertainment.

Still, home safe now and ready for some relaxation and good food this weekend. I have learned that even though they do have beef here, unless you have teeth of iron and jaws of steel it can still be a bit tough. We shall see...