Week 3

Marg:  Sorry we didn’t get around to any blogging last week…  A virulent kind of flu is doing the rounds and we have been among its victims.  We took it in turns to suffer – my bout started last Friday and is only slowly losing its grip more than a week later.  Andy’s attack was rather more short and sharp, starting on Monday night and just about abating this weekend..  The medical advice was bed-rest and keep warm, but the latter is easier said than done in an unheated house in the middle of the Botswana winter, where the outside temperature has been between about 2 and 8 deg C in the night.  OK, the sun is always up in the day but the houses here are specifically designed to keep the inside cool, which is certainly true of this one. The inside of a cave is more like it.

We have been very glad of the little blow heater we brought with us and have bought a few other things to try and keep snug – including an electric kettle for the bedroom.  It seems all electrical goods here are made in China, but so far the cables haven’t melted like the extension lead we bought in Tanzania.  An odd thing here is that most of the houses including this one are equipped with UK type 13 amp sockets, but the only appliances available have round-pin 15 amp plugs, which is the South African standard.  Until recently appropriate adapters were available, so there was no problem but they now seem to have been withdrawn, presumably because you can’t logically get 15 amps out of a 13 amp socket, or something..  Anyway, suffice it to say that while we have been transferring equipment between the bedroom and other rooms during our sick leave it has been a minor nightmare trying to get everything plugged in.

Andy:  It’s been a bit of a struggle keeping up with work needs while trying to stay home and warm, as there is a never-ending need for me to sign things.  My office at the hangar isn’t the warmest of places in the mornings, so I have been glad of the reason to keep my visits there to a minimum.  They have kindly provided me with a small electric heater, but so far the lack of an adapter has prevented me using it – just when I needed it most.  It would be easy to just change the plug, but that would invalidate the guarantee, of course. (Remind me to describe the palaver you go through getting your new kettle or iron tested at the supermarket before being allowed to take it home…)

The flying programme suffered its own down-turn this past week, as one pilot was declined his work permit in the final stages, leaving us with 3 operational Cessnas in the north of the country and only one and a half operational pilots.   Meanwhile spares and maintenance issues have been affecting our KingAirs used for the medical mercy flights from Gaborone, and the engineers are struggling to keep them ready to answer the emergency calls.  Hopefully things will pick up during the coming week, ourselves included.