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My darlings, I'm back in England and have been for 10 days, but this is the first time I've put type to writer, if you see what I mean, (of course you do) but before I proceed, I want to say a HUGE THANK-YOU to everyone who was kind enough to email while I was in Africa. I can't tell you how thrilled I am that you like the site and enjoy my blog! Because of my extreme technophobia, I was unable to blog from Africa, or access my email. Yes, I know; it's beyond pathetic, but there you go: I can't be good at everything... Now that I'm back in London and able to use my pc I intend to blog every-day. This will probably involve my entire day, so please forgive me if I am unable to reply to you all personally, and know that I am so grateful for all your good wishes. Because of my technophobia I had to write my blogs in longhand, post them to a friend, to type up and email to my web designer so he could put them up. I cannot tell you what an arduous and complex business this seemingly simple exercise proved itself to be. I could only post them on my day off (Thursday) because only then could I hitch a ride from Freddie - our driver at the Sanctuary - when he made the 90k trip to Tzaneen to purchase supplies. He would drop me off by the Mall which is where the bulk of the shops are contained and pick me up at a pre-arranged destination several hours later. I would make my way to the Post Office, post blog to England where it would arrive two weeks later. This was not a good arrangement! So when I go back, I shall take my laptop with me and email direct. Africa! Africa! You're all I can think about! Because Africa is where my babies are; those babies who have claimed and expanded my heart. After I wrote that sentence I found myself weeping as I acknowledged how much I miss them. Felix sitting on my head on my last day in tent village. I felt she needed a little 'one to one' so I took her out of the enclosure - she immediately spread- eagled herself on my head - and we went round to tent village kitchen for a coffee. I was sitting with some fellow volunteers when one of them said, 'we're sitting here having a cup of coffee and you have a monkey on your head. Not many people get to do that.' And how right she was! And how right it felt! I LOVED sitting in tent village kitchen under the stripped awning which provided welcome shade from the fierce African sun. I loved the way that sun shone through the trees casting shadows that dappled on the path: tent village was composed of a row of tents on either side of a narrow path, and the kitchen was on the left as you walked in. The kitchen had a gas ring where we made hot water for the babies' bottles and coffee for ourselves. Having made the coffee we would sit at a table outside and watch the world go by. It was very special when I had it to myself, I would sit, awed by the beauty that surrounded me, aware of the stillness within me, the monkeys would be chattering in their enclosures behind me, and I would want to burst with joy! At night I would lie in my tent and look out over the trees to a black velvet sky filled with stars with the fiery light of diamonds. The sounds of the bush would envelop me and I gave myself wholeheartedly to its embrace. I'm going to stop now, because I'm suddenly very tired, but I feel such a freedom knowing that I now have the means to write every day, when-ever I want! Yippee! And YES, it is wonderful to see Caspar again! When I came in, he acted as though he'd never seen me before in his life, and having done so now, had no wish to repeat the experience. He cowered against the wall, gave a heart rending shriek and ran from the room as though the house was on fire. He returned about 20 minutes later, looked at me, gave some slight sign of recognition and left the room again. Haughtily. This performance continued, with slight variations for several hours. Finally he could contain himself no longer, and having exhausted his repertoire of 'see how much your gallivanting has upset (inconvenienced) me?' guilt trips, he hurled himself at me purring - almost lasciviously - and normal service was resumed. Which means, I now do everything he wants, when he wants. Really, that cat is SUCH a drama queen Can't think where he gets it from...
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