And finally for this week, we had a dose of politics at 7.30am on Friday morning. The teachers at Rustenburg haven't actually been on strike again since the first time a few weeks ago, though many other schools were closed for 2 days last week. However they were out in force at the side of the road when Neil and the girls arrived for the start of the school day. Here's Elizabeth and her lovely teacher, Miss Kahn. Elizabeth thinks Miss Kahn shouldn't have any trouble finding a husband as 'she's very beautiful'. Neil appears to agree!

The big event of this weekend was the demolition of the Athlone cooling towers. These huge structures, next to the N2 motorway, used to mark one of the old Apartheid dividing lines in the city. On a cool and wet morning we climbed the hill to the Rhodes Memorial to watch them implode. At 4 minutes to noon, the charge was set, and 8 seconds later it was all over - leaving a huge swirl of dust drifting over the north east of Cape Town. The most interesting bit for us perched on the hill a couple of miles away was the delayed boom. We saw them start to fall, and then a second or two later heard the blast. One minute the towers stood, the next: nothing.

We had intended to go for a proper walk round the mountainside above the memorial, but the weather this weekend has been filthy. Last night saw a veritable tempest, with gales that rattled the windows and rain that slammed into the house as if a giant had poured a bucket of water over us. Lottie's ceiling developed a leak, and all in all we were very glad for the bakkie (trailer) of firewood we had delivered on Saturday morning. So we went to the cinema to see Shrek in 3D instead. Neil and I went out for dinner last night to Jonkershuis on the Groot Constantia estate. Sat by a roaring fire and had roast squash soup and springbok casserole - perfect winter food.

The rain seems to have abated now, so let's hope the sunshine comes back tomorrow. On Friday we were lazing in the garden in shorts and T shirts, having walked back from school via the ice cream shop, so we can't complain about a bit of rain really.

Before the storm arrived on Saturday morning, we went to the Old Biscuit Mill in Woodstock to the weekly market. It is such a bohemian affair, packed with students and arty types, with groups of people spontaneously making music. Two big traits Capetonians display - firstly a desire to do everything outdoors, all year round. So you'll see parties of people having a braai in every park and common every weekend. And at the Biscuit Mill market people were sitting on straw bales wrapped in blankets, determined to be outside, people watching. The second trait is to accompany everything with alcohol, usually wine. This morning up at Rhodes memorial people had picnic hampers complete with bottles of wine and proper glasses. At yesterday's market, dozens of people were wandering around with champagne flutes, enjoying the local produce. I decided it was too cold and had a blow-your-head-off cup of chilli hot chocolate instead. We bought the ingredients for a picnic (smoked snoek pate, olive ciabatta, an onion tart, vegetable rotis, chocolate fudge) and sat on the bales with the locals watching the music makers.

On Wednesday I finally got up to Joburg for a series of meetings. Early start to catch the 7am flight, and then the newly opened, super fast Gautrain from the airport to Sandton, the smart northern suburb where many businesses are based. The train is expensive, at R110 (£10) for a 15 minute journey, but so lovely compared to my 15 mins for 70p journey in Cape Town. There was no suspicious liquid on the carriage floor, no hanging on to the straps for dear life as the train hurtles along. All was clean and calm - and sadly devoid of many Africans. Despite everything, I'm enjoying my train journeys in CT. I feel part of the city when I'm on the train here.

The first thing you notice about Joburg is how dry and arid it is compared to lush, green Cape Town. Although it gets cold in winter (the city is 2000m above sea level), the sun is intensely bright and it was beautifuuly warm on Wednesday. The second thing you notice is the crazy driving. There's not much lane discipline in CT either, but so far the driving hasn't been too bad and our little Polo is unscathed. But in Joburg people appear to just put their foot to the floor and point the car straight ahead. Cars, trucks, mini bus taxis and lorries weave from lane to lane, at 100 mph, entering and exiting the freeway with no warning. I was glad to get to the office and back to the station in one piece. Next week I'm in Joburg for 3 days, but fortunately don't have to do much travelling around the city. I'm looking forward to spending a bit more time there, before it's off to Kenya next Sunday.

It's Sunday tea time and Lottie is practising her presentation on the life and work of Edward Jenner for an oral test tomorrow. Another big difference in the school philosophy is the emphasis put on a student's ability to perform and present - right from a very early stage. Elizabeth is currently working on a short presentation she will have to make to the rest of her class in a few weeks' time, her chosen topic being the Rainbow Boa.

Lottie's task was to research the life and work of someone who could legitimately be called a leader in their field, and then prepare a short talk on the subject. (Nelson Mandela excluded!) We were discussing this over tea one day, and thinking it would be nice to choose an English leader when Elizabeth came up with Edward Jenner, the first man to understand the science behind immunisations and to develop the smallpox vaccine. Apparently Year 2 had talked about him at St Gabriel's last term. So thanks to Elizabeth's teachers, we had our man and someone for us all to learn about. Immunisation is a hot topic in Africa with millions still dying from diseases like measles and tuberculosis. We rather gorily suggested that Lottie could show off her weeping and oozy TB wound as part of her talk. Both girls still have nasty raised sores from this particular jab, though they should get slowly better over the next month or so.

The fish pie for tea is cooking VERY slowly in my feeble little oven, but no one minds. We've recently come back from a great walk to Elephant's Eye cave in the Steenberg mountains just south of Constantia. We wound our way up the twisty Op Kaapsweg road to Silvermine Reservoir. From there it's a steady but not too strenuous uphill climb through tall stands of pine trees and across mountain streams to the huge cave about 2 miles distant.

The views are stupendous. You can see from Muizenburg on the coast across the Cape Flats to Mitchell's Plain and all the way to the Hotentots Holland range in the far distance.

On one of the ridges some distance away a bush fire was blazing, the orange flames visible to the naked eye as they moved across the mountainside. The forest fire rangers were rushing up the mountain road as we headed down, intent on limiting the damage. On Thursday, when Neil and I were out for a walk above the Rhodes Memorial on the lower slopes of Devil's Peak, we met two police rangers. They carry out regular patrols across the Table Mountain National Park these days after muggers started preying on lone walkers and tourists. They were telling us that until a few years ago Devil's Peak was covered in indigenous forest, but most had to be felled as the fire risk this close to the city (we were walking only a mile or two from Lottie and Elizabeth's school) is just too great.

We've had a good week, busy with lots of socialising. On Friday night we went to drinks with our new landlords. Viv and Pete could not be friendlier or more welcoming. Viv took the girls out with her when she went dog walking on Friday after school, and the girls spend all their free time playing on the trampoline Pete put up for them on his front lawn.
On Thursday night we went into town for an early supper with Stewart MacIntosh and family, British friends who were visiting Cape Town for a few days. They have two sons, a year older than Lottie and Elizabeth, so we chose Royale, a restaurant with a good reputation for gourmet burgers on Long Street. I had the Big Bird, an ostrich burger with attitude!

And yesterday, after our first 'braii' (BBQ) in the garden, Lottie went to a friend's birthday party whilst Elizabeth went to play with the boys next door. Neil and I sat in the sun and planned our week long holiday at the end of September when the girls are off school.

Before that week comes around we want to get up to Namaqualand to see the stupendous spring flower displays across the otherwise pretty dry and arid landscape of the west coast. But the peek months are August and September and already our weekends are filling up. The biggest challenge of all will be deciding what to see and what to miss, given the limited time we have. You could spend half a lifetime in this amazing country and not see all it has to offer.

I'm going to see a bit more of the country, and of Africa generally in the next few weeks though. On Wednesday I'm making my first trip to Joburg to see clients and catch up with the other Added Value office. You're reminded of the scale of the country and the vast distances when you realise that Joburg is a two hour flight away; as far as southern Spain is from London. And then I'm off to Kenya for a week at the end of the month for a project on soap usage amongst some of the poorest people in Africa. That will be absolutely fascinating if a little hairy at times I suspect.

Back in SA, we are trying to find a way to do our bit and work out the best way to make a small contribution to the poverty that surrounds the luxury. We buy all the everyday goods we can (newspapers, dustbin liners, cut flowers, sacks of oranges) from the hawkers who are in attendance at every traffic light (or 'robot' as they are called here!) Although I know the advice is not to give money to beggers, I can't drive past the women who stand by the road in the pouring rain, babies tied to their backs, looking straight ahead with dead eyes. We're taking part in the Blisters for Bread fundraising walk in two weeks time - just the entry fee for the four of us will feed almost 100 hungry children. And I'm hoping there might be a chance to do some pro bono work for the International Partnership for Microbicides who are making exciting breakthroughs into HIV prevention at the moment, with SA the lead country in the clinical trials. It's all a drop in the ocean though, and the biggest long term problem, here as elsewhere, is corruption and the systematic unfairness that is built into the system. In SA, the positive discrimination of the last 20 years hasn't produced uniformly good results but has succeeded in making some black businessmen very rich indeed. Barriers to investment are beginning to be more problematic as all companies over a certain size have to abide by stringent BEE (Black Economic Empowerment) regulations, and now there's a huge fuss going on over potential curbs to press freedom as Jacob Zuma's government don't like the accusations of cronyism and corruption being thrown at them. Neil is going to the launch of a new book in Kalk Bay on Friday evening entitled 'Why Africa is Poor' and attended by Helen Ziller, the premier of the Western Cape and the only non-ANC state premier in SA. The evening's debate should be enlightening, and the book will be hugely interesting if rather heavy holiday reading.

Which reminds me - before I finish tonight a huge thanks to Amanda and my book club friends if any of them ever reads this overly-lengthy post. The book you gave me when I left (The Shadow of The Sun) is the most fascinating, beautifully written and completely absorbing part history / part reportage about Africa as independence arrived for much of the continent in the 1960's and beyond. Thoroughly recommended. I read it on my train journeys to work - thank goodness Cape Town station is where the train terminates or I'm sure I'd have missed my stop several times.

Lots of love to anyone who has read this far! Once I start writing there is so much to record, so much I want to remember from a trip that truly feels like the experience of a lifetime.

A great birthday weekend has been enjoyed by all! Our little Lottie is now 10, and she saw in her move to double figures in style, watching two whales breaching (that's when they rear up out of the water and crash down again) and at least one other whale moving steadily west across Walker Bay regularly surfacing and blowing a fountain of water up into the air as it went. The whales that frequent the southern coast of SA at this time of year are Southern Right whales, migrating here to spend the winter in warmer waters before heading back to Antarctica for the southern hemisphere summer in December. They calve in the Atlantic and if you're lucky you might get to see mothers and young. Apparently they are a little late in arriving this year - at times up to 70 whales are in the bay area off Hermanus. Each mature whale weighs in at around 40 tonnes, and the babies are 5.5 metres long when they are born.

We were just delighted with the sightings we had. I had hoped we'd see something, but was just starting to think how frustrating watching wild animals could be, when we heard the kelp horn of the world's only whale crier (yes, it's true, Hermanus has a full time whale spotter and here's the picture to prove it). He told us where to head to for the best chance of seeing a whale from the shore. So a quick trot along the coastal path for about a mile and we were rewarded with the magnificent sight of a whale breaching 4 times in succesion.

It is possible to go out by boat and get within 100 metres of the whales, but the sea was fairly choppy and the girls were extremely reluctant. So we settled for a land based view, and although we couldn't make out any details, we had a pretty clear view nonetheless.

Our B&B hosts had prepared a special breakfast for Lottie and had even hung up some balloons and a Happy Birthday banner. After present opening (iPod; that noisy African drum; books and bits and pieces), we spent the day walking the cliff paths, rock pooling and watching the rock dassies as well as the whales.

We then headed to the Harbour Rock for dinner and a birthday pudding. Lottie thought the chocolate fudge cake was the best bit. Personally, though my seared tuna was delicious, I thought the bottle of Springfield Estate Life from Stone Sauvignon Blanc Neil and I polished off was definitely the highlight. So called because the vineyeard is on very stony ground, 70% being quartz. We'll get to the winelands at some point, no rush yet though.

Saturday was a lovely day, but overnight the wind got up and we woke to torrential rain this morning. We've had a fortnight of blue skies and sunshine with temperatures in the high teens, and this change was forecast, but still a pity as it meant we didn't get to the nature reserve we had planned to visit today. Instead, we decided to head back to Cape Town as Hermanus is definitely a fair weather place to be. By the time we were climbing to find our way through one of the mountain passes the temperature has dropped to 9C and we were in thick cloud: absolutely no visibility to front, side or even below. It warmed up slightly as we nearer the city, but as it's the same temperature inside the cottage as outside, more or less, we decided it was too cold to go home and went for a bit of retail therapy and a hot bowl of soup in a big shopping mall. I checked the forecast for the week ahead tonight, as we all huddled around our only real source of heat, our log fire. Due to be back up to 24C by Thursday, so winter's grip is receeding. I won't be sorry to see the back of cold evenings, and will really try not to complain in December when we're sweating in the heat.

Once home, we caught up on all the emailed birthday good wishes from our friends and family (thank you everyone!) and Elizabeth and I quickly decorated Lottie's cake. We teased Neil about how as tomorrow is National Women's Day, he has to spend the day being a slave to his all-female family. Ignored the mutterings about 'no change there then..' He has promised me a cup of tea and the girls both a hot chocolate in bed in the morning though. If it isn't any warmer come 8 o'clock tomorrow, we may decide not to get up at all!

A I'm not working this morning, and it is so beautiful sitting here on the veranda in the sunshine with a coffee, thought I'd add a quick bit to the blog regarding my impression of schools in South Africa.
There had to be a downside to this idyll, and we found it yesterday: strikes. I got a text late in the afternoon to say school would be closed on Tuesday because the teachers are all going on strike. I had been vaguely aware from the news that public servants are in dispute with the governement over pay, but it never occured to me that this included teachers. And if it did, I suppose I would have expected a little more notice....

Fortunately Neil and I can manage between us and in a way I'm quite glad for the girls - what was going to be a bank holiday weekend anyway becomes a 4 day weekend. I think they could do with a rest as the pace of life during the week is pretty relentless. Up at 6.30am latest, out of the house within the hour, and then an inevitable rush at the end of the day to fit in tea and homework and a bit of down time before an earlier than normal bedtime.
The school day starts at 7.50am and officially ends at 1pm for Elizabeth, 2.30pm for Lottie. However on several days they stay on at school for an hour or two for 'extramurals' - after school activities and clubs. Most of these revolve around sport as there is only one timetabled session of PE per week in all grades. So the girls do tennis and gymnastics plus African dancing as extramurals each week. Elizabeth has also joined the choir which is lovely except on a Wednesday morning when we get up even earlier as she has a practise before school at 7.30.

Although children start school a year later here than in the UK, they certainly seem to catch up quickly. I think both girls are in broadly appropriate classes for their stage and ability. Elizabeth is undoubtedly super comfortable with the work, as we thought she might be, but it's not significantly below what she was doing at St Gabriel's, and she's learning so much about SA culture, plus tackling two new languages. Lottie is being comfortably stretched I think: the core subjects being broadly at her level, but with so much that's new to tackle. She is learning to write in a very flowery cursive style, is tackling new subjects (Natural Sciences which she loves) and is slowly starting to get the very basics of Afrikaans and Xhosa sorted. I find the language strategy odd: two very local languages, pretty unique to SA, with no perspective on the wider world at all, not even the rest of Africa. From our point of view it's not a problem at all as any language learning is supposed to be helpful. But I'd feel as if my children were missing out on the new world languages if we were based here permanently. Not sure what the private schools do - perhaps that's how you learn French and Spanish, by paying for it.

On a Friday the whole school finishes at lunchtime, which we are going to try to use to our advantage. This weekend, we'll get away early for our trip to Hermanus. Better go and pack before I collect the girls. As it's so glorious today I'm going to walk down to school (about 25 mins) and we'll saunter home, perhaps via the fabulous ice cream shop we've discovered. The boot of the car is already hiding one of Lottie's birthday presents, an authentic African drum.....

So, here's a view from my walk to work. It's about 15 minutes brisk stroll from the main station in Cape Town to the Added Value offices in Hope Street in a suburb called Gardens. So called because the Dutch, back in the 17th century developed a fertile vegetable garden on this site to feed the East India Company workers. By the 18th century, Company's Garden, the central green space, had become a tranquil horticultural garden full of fountains and lakes and stately buildings. It has the same feeling today, and forms a wonderful part of my route to work. The building in this photo is the SA National Gallery, and of course that's Table Mountain (complete with the 'Tablecloth' of cloud) in the background.



We've had a very busy week, again. We moved on Sunday, to our more permanent home only a couple of kilometres from the girls' school in Rondebosch. I'll really miss the views and the space around the old place, (here's a photo of the view we had from our old veranda), but it's great to have a place of our own where the maid from the big house doesn't let herself in unanounced every five minutes and then proceeds to re-arrange my cupboards! I was concerned the girls would really miss our little home, and especially the 4 horses and 3 dogs, but they immediately set about making themselves a den in the garden here and have been fine all week. Plus we've been given an open invitation to go back to Charlie's anytime we wish - he will miss the help of the girls on a Sunday morning when it was their job to muck out the stables.



We've got a roomy cottage now, in the grounds of a large house. Our 'cottage' has 4 bedrooms, each with its own bath or shower. As well as a private veranda and garden to the front and a small yard at the back, we have the use of the large garden that comes with the big house, including a pool for the summer. Our landlords are lovely, an English woman and an Australian guy. Just like Charlie and his family before, they have made us very welcome.

I went to the theatre on Tuesday evening, to see Waiting for Godot at the Fugard theatre in Cape Town, starring Sir Ian McKellan and Matthew Kelly. It's the same production that has been running in the West End and was fantastic. A lovely, small and intimate theatre and a brilliantly staged production. I expected Sir Ian to be excellent, but Matthew Kelly was a revelation. I wouldn't have known it was him if I didn't have the programme in front of me.

On a different note, I've been watching my favourite TV programme of the moment, Jozi H. It's like a really terrible ER, set in a central Johannesburg hospital, Jozi being the newer, hipper name for Joburg. Instead of gangland shootings and car accidents, people come to the hospital having been poisoned by witch doctors. But the thing that's most startling is the ads in the breaks. Last break, three ads about HIV and one about a funeral plan. Two million children are orphaned thanks to AIDS in South Africa alone every year. Two million! Using the supermarket toilets with the girls the other day, we were confronted with posters advertising suggested foods to eat if you're HIV positive. And yet the immigration department only want to know if Neil and I have tuberculosis, not our HIV status. We had our medicals and chest X rays last week, as per the terms of our visas. The medicals for the four of us cost around £50, as opposed to the £88 EACH our GP in Kingsclere wanted to charge. Glad we waited until we got here!


Lastly for this week we went to the Cape Town Book Fair on Saturday. In the children's section, there was a wonderful, funny and lively talk by Chris Van Wyk, the man who adapted Nelson Mandela's autobiography, 'Long Walk To Freedom' for children. He told a story about how Nelson Mandela used to steal honey from hives as a child, and what a dangerous thing to do that was. He then told the children in the audience to imagine taking a microscope into a bee hive. 'Do you know what makes the buzzing sound bees emit? If you look very carefully, with a very strong microscope, you'll see each bee is blowing a minature vuvuzela!' (Vuvuzelas being those instruments, based on a traditional Zulu horn, that were blown incessantly during the World Cup).
Well I laughed anyway.
We now posess two vuvuzelas, and they are seriously loud.


We're off to Hermanus this weekend for Lottie's birthday and to do some whale watching, with any luck. Hermanus is about 2 hours from Cape Town, half way between the Mother City and Cape Agulhas, Africa's most southerly point. Southern Right whales come to Walker Bay to calve and bring up their young between June and December. Apparently you don't need to go out in a boat, though that is spectacular. On any given day you stand a good chance of a decent view from the cliff paths, so here's hoping. I might be able to post a photo of a breaching whale next time.