Sunday 3.6.2018

Postscript:back a week
- last Malaria tablet taken ü
- mosquito bites fading ü
- washing done (though not much of it thanks to getting it done twice a week while we were away!) ü
- pics uploaded, downloaded, sorted ü

The last three days were a treat.
The rest of that sunny Friday was spent doing...well, nothing really. Took pics, read books, enjoyed the warmth and surroundings.....



including the wild life.....

....(brilliant pic courtesy of Susan).






Friday evening we dragged ourselves up to the bar again (on the `hard life` measure about a 2), admired the river a bit more, drank a bit more beer and had our supper cooked for us yet again (thank you K, L & B).

Saturday we drove to the library one more time to meet some of the local teachers who came to have a look

not to forget Sofia, newly installed librarian. That`s her on the left keeping an eye on her stock!

It was quite emotional leaving the place for the last time but we`ve been invited back and have every intention of trying to do just that.


After that it was more relaxing (finished my book - highly recommended Mad Blood Stirring by Simon Mayo) and then we`d been invited to have one more cruise on the river and a meal at the Lodge which we felt it would have been impolite to decline.......



It was a very relaxing way to start our stay here...and the perfect way to end it.

And suddenly it was time to pack up and come home. Arrived in Aberdeen in boots and with a sweater to hand but in fact it was so warm we were back in flip-flops straight away. No hippos though.

So it`s back to www.walking-quite-fast.blogspot.co.uk until the next time. :)

Friday 25.5.2018

A later start yesterday, a cooler morning and shades of "time to go home" :( but the previous day we pretty well got as far as we could get and felt we could enjoy a complete (and our first!) full day off!!
Tuesday felt harder than expected as we still had a lot of tweaking and tidying to do and for a minute there it felt a bit two-steps-forward-one-step-back but confidence was restored by the afternoon and when we opened the doors on Wednesday morning it didn`t just look like a library....it smelt like one....in the best possible way of course....it smelt of books! And looked like this:




And as soon as you have books you have readers...........

So yesterday it was a leisurely start,a ride into town and a stroll round Maramba Market, a coffee and scone at Munali, a drink atthe incredibly posh David Livingstone Hotel ending up with "the best pizza south of the Equator" at Olga`s.
http://www.olgasproject.com/home_uk.htm

Today it`s back to the library for a couple of hours to put up signs and posters and of course some bunting to make it look cheerful and welcoming, for tomorrow - we open! Well sort of. An "opening" or should it be a private viewing before The Opening. Kelly has invited some of the teachers to come and have a look round. Sophia still has a lot of work to do, not least applying thousands of stickers to the spines of the books to identify them as belonging to the library but she seems keen as mustard to get going and has the best qualification of all - a well-developed sense of humour.

After that....well its nearly home time. Our work here, as they say, is more or less done. :)



P.S. So we were back in just over an hour....job done indeed.

Now, how to spend the rest of this warm and sunny day.........

Monday 21.5.2018

Felt like we reached the tipping/turning point today: we have a recognizable library.

Last lot of books on the shelves and decisions made after discussion with Kelly as to what to do with the stock more suitable for use in schools.

We knocked off at four which gave us a little more time than usual to enjoy the late afternoon sun before it did its seemingly speedy dive below the horizon, always at the same time, around 6.30, by which time we have to have made the short walk to the bar because strolling around in the dark is not a good idea due to the possibility of bumping into a stray hippo......no honestly....apparently they emerge from the river to do a little grazing though "not so much at this time of the year" but we`re not taking any chances.

Anyway it was very pleasant to sit on the verandah and watch the sun filter through the trees and listen to the bird song....



....... not to mention the crash as one or two of the resident monkeys landed on the corrugated iron roof of the cottage. There was a whole.... insert collective noun for a group of monkeys here.... of them on our first day but then they disappeared so it was fun to see them back, even if they evaded all Susan`s attempts to take their picture.


All that really remains now is some final shoogling (official library-speak for shuffling books round), tidying, decorating (bunting anyone?) and talking with Sophia, who is to run the place and has put in long hours to help stock it, about how she intends things to work.
Two more longish days should see us ready to roll and it looks like we might even get a day off on Thursday which could involve a slow start followed by a trip into town, a visit to Maramba Market (of which we have fond memories from our last trip),possibly a second stop at Munali`s Cafe, finishing up with a trip to the incomparable Olga`s. http://www.olgasproject.com


The anticipation of which will no doubt spur us on over the next couple of days.

Sunday 20.5.2018

A day of hard yakka yesterday but real progress on the horizon.
Remember this.......

....which over the last week shrank bit by bit.....

....until we could make it through to the other side.

As that pile diminshed, others grew....

until finally we hit pay dirt.

Of course it`s a truth universally acknowledged that an empty space is best filled with shelves which duly arrived

and we were good to go. Which makes it sound straightforward which it was in one way but deciding what to put where, especially when we were somewhat overwhelmed with the sheer number of books, began to addle our brains.

Fortunately there`s help to hand and bit by bit it`s all beginning to take shape.......

......but there`s no doubt it`s tiring work.

Curiously, though we come home dusty, hot and cream-crackered at the end of the day our now routine evening r & r restores us so well that come the next morning we`re raring to go again.......must be something to do with the beer......

Saturday 19.5.2018

It may be Saturday but no rest for the wicked...or us. To be fair it was a half day yesterday and we made our first foray into Livingstone. From here it`s a forty minute drive whereas last time we could stroll in every afternoon so we made the most of it, buying some stuff for the library as well as visiting a shop full of the gorgeous materials that are used for clothes and furnishings everywhere you look. Satisfactory purchases made, it was on to the Munali Cafe, formerly known as Wonderbake,new premises but still the place to be: enormous scones and fantastic coffee though we did a bit of a douible take at the name they`d given their Americanos.....

Anyway, as we enthusiastically opted for an early start this morning in order to get in a good long day (which we may now be regretting slightly) must pack up and get going. Next post will be all (mostly) about the library rather than how we`re spending our leisure time.

Friday 18.5.2018

Had intended to post more last night and this morning but internet a bit dodgy so just before we set off again this morning...here are a few pretty pictures..........

In the meantime - between these endless river cruises ;) - we have been working really hard - no honestly - but proof of that will have to wait for the next post.