Calm And The Storme

After all the existent of the first few weeks I needed a break or at the least a couple of chilled days. Luckily for me that’s exactly what was in line for me, boring days in the office. After being here a bit less than 2 week I had been deemed capable of running a course so on the23rd I started the 8-5shifts, (sorry dolly we start at 8 not 9). The first day wasn’t too bad I had a few things to plan, such as what on earth I was going to do with 28kids for 2 days and what they were going to eat. But after at most the first 2 hours had gone by this was pretty much sorted. So for the rest of the day I spoke to the cranes. Oh yer, the sight has a crane sanctuary on, of which the have the grey crowned crane, the wattle cane and the blue crane, all 3 of SA cranes. The following day the office life was getting to me but luckily in a strange twist of fate having no food turned out to be a good thing. It meant I had to go into the not so beating heart of Mooi River for a few supplies. As you can probably guess from the pervious sentence this was uneventful, buying rice was the highlight of the trp. On the 25th it was the same old torture so after ‘work’, I went for a run. My first proper run in far too long but it felt good to stretch my legs. What wasn’t so good was the lack of water in the shower. But TIA, so we went in trough the bathroom window of the neighbour empty teacher’s cottage and after waiting for the boil to heat up had a warmish shower. A day of absolute boredom follow then on the 27th my predicament was lifted as I had work to do, preparing all the last minute details for the courses arrival. Finally I had something to do on Saturday the course arrived and in the morning I had roads to check, keys to drop off, people to pick up at the office then a second trip to pick up what we’d forgotten. Id started early but after all these check it was 10 and they were due to arrive any minute. Upon arrival it became evident that these weren’t 8th graders as id been expecting but a mix from 7th to 12th, but never mind the show must go on. The course got off to a good start and apart from a quick jog and drive to pick up some keys which had gone walk about the day went smoothly and after a marvellous game of stalk the lantern and a campfire I went to bed a satisfied chap. But there’s no time for rest round hear as I was up at 0530 to pick up the laddies (our cooks) from the nearest settlement. After this early start I took my fist trip up to abseil rock where I was at a bit of a loose end not know what to do, but I enjoyed the view and got to see some baboons from a far. After a morning of abseiling I was down for lunch a quick crane tour then goodbye to my first group which had a fascination with my “adorable English accent”. As there were still plenty of daylight hours left we requested permission to drive to the nearest township to get some essential supplies (beer). But after hours of waiting were heard nothing so I went to drop off the car. It was then that I bumped into the boss who was looking for me thinking id driven off. Thanks to the marvellous of modern technology I had been given permission hours ago but the text never reached me. Once that predicament had been sorted I hit the road with the crew and went for a drive to one of South Africa’s finest establishments. NOT. Townships aren’t really the place to be at the best of times, so a Sunday at dusk wouldn’t be advised. Well at least not by any tour book, but me, it was fine, just don’t be a dick and you won’t get in the…trouble. So Sunday evening was spent relaxing and celebrating a successful course.