Our Christmas

Well, it certainly has been very different and has had its highs and lows. I hit my only real low spot so far on Christmas Eve after a difficult time when we failed to get vodacom air time or bundles on our dongle that allows us to connect to the internet. I expect what seems to be automatic is in fact done by staff and there were few working and /or too many other people trying to connect at that time. Our link via email and blog and skype phone is just so important to us that to be running out of time, not really understanding what we should do, and having our mentor in such things away on holiday was all rather depressing. Then I realised just how desperately I was minding the prospect of not seeing the family – desperately. I sat next to two gorgeous littel girls and a toddler at the township service at 6pm Christmas Eve and couldn't help weeping silently most of the time. What they made of this strange white lady I cannot think.

I had tried to cook us a nice meal, a small duck but the old electric cooker is dire and the thermostat on the rings almost non-existent. That didn't help my emotions but during our late supper, before our 1030pm service at St Thomas', Sophie rang and it was wonderful to offload onto her and hear news from home. So I survived the next service better, and Christmas day too. Thank you Nicola and Joseph for your lovely calls.

Tom got up quietly at 4.45am for his 6am service 60km away, returning by 8.30 just as the children's crib service was finishing. I had tried to help, sowing the idea of a very under -rehearsed nativity with the leader reading the story. As we have done in our parishes often. But since it had to be in afrikaans I could do little more than intervene, probably unhelpfully, and it was all pretty chaotic. There had been a previous rehearsal but at 8am on Cmas day, some of the key parts didn't arrive and substitutes had to be hauled out of the tiny congregation or dragged from their homes! But in the end it was, as always, very moving to see small children caught up in the story; and it surely had to be better than Morning Prayer.

After a precious time of opening the parcels of small gifts from Joe and Laura, relishing in familiar Christmas treats, we were off for another service 50km away followed by a braai at the home of the lay leader, a lovely woman living in a 4 generation house of women. Cousins from Cape Town were visiting and English was spoken in our presence and it turned into a wonderfully different, special Christmas lunch. The lunch planned with Father Joseph and his wife Cathy, who were with us at Philipstown, was abandoned and we agreed to go round to them for pudding and a drink in the early evening after some rest, phone calls and more present opening for us.

Sadly on Boxing Day Tom woke feeling sick and feverish. The Peace entails hugging and hand-shaking everyone, and there were plenty of those, even without full churches. So lots of opportunity for catching a virus. We wait to see if he is up to driving off on holiday tomorrow.

It is so strange

 Yesterday was the solstice. The sun was directly above and don't we know it. By midday the temperatures here are well above 30 and the only thing to do is to retreat indoors and try to sleep for an hour or two making up for the early rises.It is uncomfortably hot in many ways and for those rich enough and who can get away, this is the time to run southwards to the coast for less intense weather. That means that De Aar is less busy and populated if not entirely abandoned. The shops seem to be busy but there is nothing like the christmas mania that is part of our British way of celebrating Christ's birth. So we look forward to a very different Christmas with small congregations and times of quiet. We expect that will make us feel very sad to be away from all our friends and family but it will be a valuable experience. We are looking forward to escaping the heat for a few days immediately after Christmas when we go to Groenfontein in the Swartberg Mountains for a few days of pure leisure and decadence! So we are far from grumbling because we know from Sky news on our TV that you are all suffering terribly from the weather. We cannot believe that Pershore of all places should have tempertaures of -19 and that the very cold weather seems to go on and on. Each day we look to see if you have any respite only to find that if anything things are getting worse. So we hope that you will all find a way of enjoying this Christmas even if it was not as you planned.

We could not go through the Advent/Christmas period without at least one carol service ( at home by now I would be feeling that I do not want to sing another "Away in a Manger" ever again) so we had a kind of Lessons and Carols service last Sunday at 6pm. We still do not have anyone to play a keyboard or organ but we made a good sound led by the wife of the churchwarden who has a strong voice. We even persuaded her to sing the first verse of "Once in Royal David's City" as a solo. Traditions die hard! We lit candles at the end of the service and sang Silent Night which the congregation (some 30 adult and 15 children) sang delightfully quietly, which is quite an achievement for people who love to blast out everything.

Monday, on our day off, we decided to travel to Cradock which we had been told was well worth visiting. It was quite a journey considering it was only the third town we encountered on our trip; Hanover, Middelburg and then Cradock. The total length of the outward leg was 250 kilometeres and it took us about 2.5hours. Cradock is a very attractive old Karoo town with a huge Dutch Reform church bizarrely modelled on St Martin's in the Fields, as well as beautiful old Anglican and Methodist churches.

Cradock has a museum dedicated to Olive Schreiner and her family. For those of you who do not know, Olive Schreiner was born on the Karoo in 1855 and is considered the first of the great South African writers. Despite her rigid Protestant upbringing she considered herself a freethinker and rejected a lot of the conservative religious views of the time. She had a remarkable life which included periods living in England and being part of the radical feminist scene there. What we did not know was the extraordinary lives of other members of the family and their huge contribution to public life in South Africa. One brother was the Premier of the Cape Colony and her sister was so well loved that 10,000 people came to her funeral! They were all very concerned for the rights of the native peoples and opposed a lot of the legislation to exclude them from voting etc. We had a fascinating time in the museum and it gave us a further insight into the complexity of South African history.

After a short visit to the town museum and to a small exhibition dedicated to the Cradock Four (young men who were killed by the police during the apartheid era) we took our almost obligatory dip in the local swimming pool (cost? all of 3 rands ie. 30p) where we shared a lovely pool with some black youngsters. We have yet to encounter any white people at these municipal swimming baths – perhaps they all have pools in their gardens.

Then it was back to De Aar. We expected the journey to be mostly flat but that was not the case. The road went through some small mountain ranges and in the near distance we had superb views of bigger and grander mountains. So the 250 kilometeres back did not seem at all long especially for two geographers!

So we are gearing ourselves up for a very hot but peaceful Christmas while thinking a great deal of you all back home coping with the snow. Emma is just off to rehearse children for the Christmas morning nativity service so we are not feeling too useless.

photos promised

This is a view of the massive dam built across the river Orange to our north. On the far side is the hydro-electric station  creating power. Grid lines go south from here on our route to De Aar. Water for irrigation and domestic use is controlled. When heavy rains raise the level of the lake, the sluices are opened and people travel from the surrounding area to watch the release of water down the massive shoots. Public warning has to be given as those living or working on the river banks downstream are in danger.

This is the lake upstream of the dam at Vanderkloof. Sailing and water sports are allowed but barely developed. Some smart resort aprtments are just being completed. Bloemfontein and Kimberley are both within reach for weekend breaks.

English summer weather

 For the last two days we have had much cooler temperatures and grey skies with lots of heavy rain which has turned the area between our house and the church into squelchy mud. Now we see why the PCC is keen to pave the area! And the temperatures fell from about 36 in the late afternoon on Monday to 17 degrees two days later! Having a better car enables us to read the temperature in it now.

Fortunately we enjoyed a hot sunny day with my sister Alice and her husband John when we drove to the Vanderkloof dam on the river Orange. It is a vast construction which gives hydro-electric power as well as supplying water for irrigating huge circular fields.

The contrast with the dry Karoo is striking. Behind the dam is a vast lake and we enjoyed the views walking near the edge, only seeing a tiny part of it.

We had thought we would get down to a beach area but instead took advantage of the local municipal pool, which like the ones in De Aar have a faded splendour about them. We suppose that the wealthy have their own pools, the poor cannot afford the small entrance fee or are not in the habit of swimming. Three small boys joined us as we cooled off.

We said goodbye to Alice and John just beyond a single track iron bridge across the Orange, on which monkeys (Vervet I think) scramble and run along the road! We also saw a group of springbok grazing near a rare pool. The rain we are having must be helping to bring some fresh grass but it has been badly needed we gather.

The next day felt very flat as I am conscious that we will miss the family hugely over the next couple of weeks of festivities. But as has happened before, the day took a sudden turn when heavy rain forced the PCC end of year party to be held in our house. We knew Tom had a 5pm meeting, the last of the year, but the notice about partners attending for a braai party had been given in Afrikaans so had gone over our heads. The first I knew was when some wood and a BBQ was delivered and the men asked if the wood could go under the shelter outside our back door. And a couple of the wives were hanging around while their partners started the meeting. Our main room was not really tidied, I was in very casual old clothes but we ended up having lots of people inside and offering wine and beer to go with the barbequed lamb and sausage and we really had a relaxed sort of evening. Some of the men took over the cooking outside, sheltered a little (see the photo which shows a different gathering in the 'porch' area.)

The rest filled the kitchen, opening cans for some salad (in this case creamed sweet corn mixed with either banana and cream, or crushed pineapple and cream. Not a tomato, cucumber or lettuce in sight! I shall put on weight so easily. ) Perhaps because it was held in our house, perhaps because a little alcohol reduced people's inhibitions about using english, but we felt much more included socially than before. They are getting used to us and we to them.

The cool weather has given us so much more energy and we realise why so little is done here at the height of summer. Today has been a holiday – Reconciliation Day – so in the absence of the caretaker Danny, a lovely guy who works at one speed only (very slow!), we did one of Tom's favourite things, turning through vestry cupboards and church storage spaces. Everything is covered with a sandy dust and it was obvious that no-one had attempted this for a good while. Boxes of paper await decisions by others but we were intrigued to find a receipt from the 1880s.

The following day was bright with a cool breeze and hot enough for a swim in the local pool which we had found closed a few times lately. We chose before lunch and lay in the sun briefly to warm up as the water was really quite cold but I realised later this was at the sun's strongest and I had already done a little weeding in our garden followed by a walk in the town. I suffered with a touch too much sun and felt wretched. We find it hard to think of you freezing back home.

Christmas shopping hasn't featured in our lives until this morning, when two stores provided gifts for those we need here- each other, churchwardens etc. The staff are so helpful and in the second shop everything was beautifully wrapped.

We have been thrilled to receive a few cards generously sent out in spite of horrendous postal charges. And many lovely greetings by email. So thank you for all of those.

We send our warmest greetings for Christmas and the new year and lots of love.

Emma and Tom

ps couldnt'download -or is it upload any more photos. May try tomorrow if signal is stronger.

http://www.churchtimes.co.uk/content.asp?id=104398

Potjie competition

Last Saturday the parish held its first Potjie Competition – I think I have spelt it correctly- it sounds more like poykie! It means a cooking pot and the idea was for teams to compete in cooking the best stew in a traditional 3 legged iron pot over a wood fire. Some teams were a family or a couple, others were the lay ministers, Mothers' Union and so on. There were 13 in all; I know because I, with Tom's help, had to taste the finished product and judge the best! Two others helped so we compared notes and rather luckily the one we agreed best was by chance a group of young lads, so a very popular choice.

The lads had an ingenious device for lifting the potjie lid.

It was the first time they had tried such an event but it was deemed very successful in bringing people together socially. No coffee is served after services, people rush away, so I think it was quite important.

At about 4pm people arrived and the organiser had got a big fire going so it was easy for competitors to start a fire quickly. The wood was so dry it could never have been difficult. The church grounds are not paved or concreted (something they do want to do, anyway at the front.) And there is masses of space and piles of stones or bricks from previous buildings here. We learnt that there used to be a school on this site. The tiny old Anglican church in the town centre still exists but is unused.

So stones were used as surrounds to the fires and to support the iron pots. Gradually oil began sizzling and lamb, beef or chicken pieces were browning, along with spices and vegetables of all types added at various stages depending on the cook's idea of what constituted the very best method. Some groups had brought a folding table and were chopping large quantities of veg, others had come prepared; one even used frozen mixed veg.

This is the Mothers' Union group

Then came the wait, as the sun went down and everyone got hungrier. Judging was put off as some needed longer. The temperature changed from very hot, anyway if you were near a fire, to really quite cool by the time it was dark.

Eventually the 13 pots were lined up in the vestry for some light, with a number but no other distinguishing marks and the judges were given plates and a spoon and got the first tastes. They were so good, some rather too hot or spicey for my liking, some had meat still a little less than tender, some the vegetables had turned to a complete mush. But all were very good.

Meanwhile some pots of rice had been cooked at home and warmed up on my cooker. One stew had dumplings added (extra point that!) and one cook had even baked her own yeasty rolls over her fire.

Interestingly no alcohol was consumed or if it was it was a discreet beer. They do love their sweet squash or fruit juice. Once everyone had eaten up the contents of their own potjies and maybe tasted others everyone cleard up very quickly and disappeared into the night.

After the service next morning winners were announced and a cup given to the winning team with medals over the necks of someone from every team. All very serious stuff!

The great heat is coming!

While we watch amazing pictures of a snow-bound Britain and rejoice at the cricket news from Australia, we realise that it is gradually getting hotter in the Karoo as we come towards the height of a South African summer.

So my first observation is that we probably have arrived here at the worst possible time of the year.

Not only because it will be very hot for the next couple of months but also that this is the time for holidays (it is like August in Britain) which means that very little happens. So we will have to be a little patient over the next few weeks and remember that the lack of activity in the churches and in the life of the town generally is because many people have disappeared to places in the south to enjoy a more congenial climate. This means that Christmas is a rather tame festival and we are struggling to get very excited about the fact that we are in Advent. There is very little planned for our churches over this period; for example there are no carol or crib service. Some who know me well may legitimately ask whether this was the real reason for escaping England when we did and I must say that a quieter Christmas may have its attractions. It has seemed so strange that I have even volunteered to hold a Christingle (of all things!) this Sunday evening. Last Wednesday we helped produce a World Aids Day service which was very successful and at times moving. We now have a large red cardboard Aids ribbon attached to the altar; something apprently the Bsihop has asked each church to have. A box of small candles was bought for the occasion and as there were quite a number left we thought we could use them for a Christingle! So we persuaded others that this might be a good thing and it will happen at 6pm on Sunday – probably not dark enough but we will make the best of it.

Last evening Emma and I decided to go to a Carols by Candlelight service held on the lawn of a large Dutch Reformed Church on the other side of town. We sat ouside the church on our garden chairs and sang some familiar and some not so familiar carols all in Afrikaans. It was certainly a different experience and nothing like our Lessons and Carols; not a Rutter tune in sight. We sang to a recorded accompaniment which sounded like a Bavarian brassband – all very Dutch/German. However the people were very welcoming once they found out who we were and we enjoyed the evening. But this was entirely a white congregation and very Afrikaans and we wondered whether any black or coloured people ever went to such a church. We shall gradually find out.

Today was our day off so we travelled 60 kms to Hanover which is a small Karoo town (actually all Karoo towns are small!) on the N1 midway between J'burg and Cape Town. It is a delightful place full of characterful Karoo houses with some lovely gardens. We went to the local hotel for coffee and the proprietress whose name was Beryl was extremely friendly and told us the history of the town and all about the farming community in the area around. She was delightful and we returned for lunch so that she could continue to tell us more. What was interesting was that she and her husband had moved from Hermanus (famous for its whales and very sought after) to be in Hanover because they enjoyed the wide open spaces of the Karoo and that certainly is its attraction. We had a good day there but stupidly did too much walking in the midday sun – a schoolboy error in this climate – and so suffered a little on our return to De Aar. We shall have to learn not to venture out too much in the midday sun at least for the next couple of months. Those of you who are freezing at home will not have too much sympathy with this predicament – and we would certainly not want to grumble!

So it is so far, so good! Our main concern is with the language differences. We think church people are not communicating with us because they are not confident speaking English and so we feel slightly isolated. And we have no connection so far with anything other than the church community. But we hope that gradually we can break down these barriers. I am finding it diffcult to see what contribution I can make in the time we are here... but it is early days and we are now in a holiday period so we must wait and see.

We realise we could give out our home phone number – 053 631 3704. It is expensive for us to phone the UK (though for the family we are using skype succesfully at least by the very cheap phone method and sometimes by the video link which is free and wonderful for us to get a glimpse of the growing grandchildren).

From the UK you can use telediscount by phoning 0844 428 6464.

It gives the price per minute – 4p I think – and instructions. 0027 is the S African code

so after listening to that if you phone 0027 53 631 3704 hache you should get through!

We'd be thrilled to get the occasional call. Remember though we are two hours ahead of you and bedtime here is about 9.30pm.

We should say too how thrilled we are to get lovely emails from readers. It really does encourage us.

A climb with Gerry

Gerry is a teacher at the prison here and a lovely guy who took us up the hill overlooking the town early one evening. Some evenings clouds have gathered but this one was very clear and gave us a bird's-eye view over the town and the Karoo beyond.

In this view you see the Olympic-sized swimming pool in the foreground, as well as the tree-lined grid of streets in the somewhat smarter side of town. We live beyond the railway lines and station which run across the photo.

In the first photo are new army houses for those who work at the ammunition dump behind the hill, the largest in the southern hemisphere.

It was a steep climb up rough stony ground but we loved the views and the excercise felt good. Gerry can run up it several times an evening to keep fit; he is big in the football world. He also brings his youngsters here regularly and shortly they will renew the white painted stones that spell out De Aar, seen from across the town.

We intend to walk up it quite often too, maybe even in the early morning. I am determined we should stay fit, something that is not so easy in this heat.

Early evenings is also the time for church meetings for Tom and on Nov 30 we drove to Philipstown to be at the evening celebrations for St Andrews Day. The chancel was decorated with letters strung across, with Xmas lights and ornaments.

After a joyful service a fire was lit outside, pieces of lamb cooked and a table set up in the nave for the chief guests. Everyone ate a large meal of lamb and various cold salads – potato, pasta, beetroot, carrot etc followed by iced cake – two huge slabs had been decorated lavishly by the lovely Charlotte, a teacher and the lay leader in this small community. Her colourful hat worn throughout matched the colours of the braid on the red robe she and the other lay assistant wore for the service. Fathers Joseph and Tom wore brand new chasubles recently ordered by St Thomas De Aar. Patronal Festivals are important occasions.

The drive home in the dark gave us our first real view of the clear bright night sky as well as the occasional springbok at the side of the road which can cause accidents if they shoot out in front of the car.

In reply to a query about food – we can buy anything we want pretty much, from Checkers the upmarket supermarket. ShopRite is owned by the same firm we are told but is more compact and African feeling, though nothing like the real African supermarkets away from the smartest street. We haven't ventured into those yet. They would have much less stock and sell in larger bulk quantities I think. The quality of fresh goods is not as high as back home. Fruit and vegetables are SA grown but not locally I think. Perhaps the best quality fruit etc is sent for export. Traditionally vegetables are be cooked, often in rather sweet spicey sauces, not eaten raw as salads. At one home BBQ – or Braai- no salad was served, only a pasta in sauce. Meat, especially lamb, reigns here!

We have had a frustrating time being entirely unable to connect to the net, perhaps due to a huge storm on Thursday evening. So we are a bit out of date and I will try to write again soon. Photos have been tricky to upload today so no more of those yet!

Advent Sunday

A happy christian new year to all our readers! Today we have had yet another new experience – that of driving 120kms to church. We travelled from De Aar to Richmond with two other members of our St. Thomas congregation to take a Eucharist service in the Anglican church in Richmond (as different as it can be from either of its English namesake towns). We set out at 8.15am and arrived about 9.30am for a 10am service. Afterwards we were given a lovely lunch in one of the township houses (more a tiny bungalow -with corrugated iron roof etc.) and then drove 120 kms back to De Aar. We were using the parish car which sadly has no a/c so we were all rather hot and sticky when we returned.

But the congregation were lovely and welcoming and although very poor they had made a collection and gave us R300 (£30) to help us settle in. Emma and I felt very touched by such generosity and we shall try to respond generously on later occasions.

We are learning fast about how to live in this place. Adjusting to the climate and to social norms,

getting to know the geography of the town and what is available and what is not and I suppose being brave enough to be strangers and British and to do mad things. We have begun to take walks around the township, sometimes in the midday sun (or afternoon sun) and people think we are crazy. However we have begun to be known and there is much waving and shouting hello to us as we make our merry way. We have discovered two super swimming baths both of which were empty of other customers. We are beginning to know the good shops, the nice places to have coffee and the

other pleasant parts of the town. It is certainly not a place that you would make a detour to visit but it has its charms and we are beginning to feel as though we shall learn to be at home here.

My first impression of church life is that there is tremendous amount of goodwill and enthusiasm but poor communication stifles many a good intention. I thought that our communication in the parish of Thatcham had a lot to be desired but here it is decidedly chaotic and often non-existent.

I suppose this is hardly surprising when there are such enormous distances to cover, when modern forms of communication (other than the cell phone) are not common and when there seems to be no sense that letting people know that something is happening is very important! We must try and see whether we can help in making people see how important good communication is.

An elderly MU member and one of the churchwardens at St Thomas'

The worship is traditional High Church Anglican, something that is a reflection of the way the church here

grew through the work of religious orders. So I have had to renew my skills with the thurifer as incense is used freely. The Anglican Prayer Book Eucharist service is almost exactly the same as our Rite A so that is helpful. However not every church in the parish uses the English language version. So we have had a wonderful mixture of English, Afrikaans and Xhosa in some of our services and often my sermon needs to be translated. Most people here are wonderfully multi-lingual putting us to shame. Often the hymns are from Ancient and Modern hymnbooks, but familiar tunes are used for words in other languages. There is a certain tension especially in the main church of St. Thomas between those who feel they ought to be singing hymns properly (i.e. as the English do) and those who just love singing in the African style with freedom to put in your own harmonies. I love it when they sing the African way and feel that they should abandon the uptight British way of worshipping. However it is not up to me to make that decision.

We had a church meeting yesterday. It was apparently an innovation as it was the first planning meeting that they had ever experienced. After a rather sticky beginning, we made progress and finished at about midday (started at 8am) with a rather good list of aims and people co-ordinating each item. So we shall see whether the plans come to fruition. At another meeting a couple of evenings before the clergy and lay ministers organised the Christmas service rota. I am down for Midnight Mass in De Aar at 10.30pm on Christmas Eve and then a 6am service at Britstown (50kms away) on Christmas Day which means getting up at 5am. Emma was not amused by this and slightly objected at yesterday's planning meeting. She got firmly told by my clergy colleague that this was our priestly duty and that she had no right to object. His wife offered to drive me there which gives Emma a little bit of relief as she did not want me to drive so early in the morning after only a few hours sleep, nor could she herself get up so early to help keep me awake.

This week-end's sport fixtures have meant a great deal of TV watching. I wake at 5am to view the Test Match and have done a lot of viewing of international rugby and English soccer. Much pleasure for me and a great compensation but Emma is less than amused. Great news today of a wonderful English fightback in the Ashes. So all is well and we are happy to be missing the early winter onslaught.

A typical Karoo scene, this one in Philipstown but parts of De Aar are little different

Home Comforts

A lot of our first week has naturally been spent setting up our home so that we are comfortable and happy in it. We shall spend a lot of time in it! It is really too hot and /or windy to be outside though I have once taken a chair outside in the early evening. Our first two evenings we had heavy rain and thunder.

Not in my wildest dreams did I imagine that we would be provided with largely new furniture – a set of 2 sofas and a big chair, coffee table, TV stand, dining room table and 6 chairs and a double bed with accompanying headboard which includes side cupboards, and a grand dressing table. The last won't fit in our room as it has many built-in cupboards but it has gone into a second bedroom where there is a single bed which will have to do, with a mattress on the floor if needed, for visitors. We expect Alastair Blaine from Newbury for a 3 month parish placement in the new year so he will make good use of the room.

All the windows are covered with nylon printed curtains, double layered to insulate the house and to keep out prying eyes. Sometimes we do draw them back, and even open windows, but dust coming through the cracks is a real problem. So with the heavy African style of dark polished wood it is not quite to our taste but we are immensely grateful to have a new and comfortable bed and chairs. New bedlinen and towels were provided, the bed made up and towels arranged tastefully.

The kitchen has old built-in cupboards and electric coooker but a new fridge-freezer and table and chairs. The electrics and plumbing leave something to be desired but a young teacher friend of Eugene's sorted the faulty wiring so the coooker is now working. The new microwave which I had doubted really needing was very much appreciated for the first week. The ladies had provided basic sets of cutlery, new white china, saucepans and a few utensils but inevitably my old ways of needing all sorts of gadgets comes into play. However it is not difficult to buy pretty much all of these as the supermarkets (two big ones both owned by the same company but one a bit more African, the other like ours essentially) stock things very cheaply. China's influence extends everywhere!

 

Our purchases have largely had to be made on foot as the parish car developed a faulty window winder on our second day. We have a 10 minute walk across the railway and some rough ground, on stony, dusty paths well littered with glass and plastic rubbish in the African way. I am instructed never to use this way alone but together we feel safe if a bit conspicuous. We have been finding other useful stores, hardware for picture hooks (one picture left here we feel should be hung), a book/stationary shop which has provided the Bible and hymn books, a decent enough cafe for our day off treat and so on.

Of course there are some things we do miss. A washing machine and vacuum cleaner spring to mind but handwashing dries so easily I don't need to wring it, and I am developing a sweeping/mopping routine for the smart white floor tiles We have borrowed Eugene's vac for the carpets after a dust storm blew in not just dust and grit onto the newly laid bedroom carpets but also beastly little thornheads which were painful on bare feet.

The whole house had been repainted and new ceilings put in after a tank had leaked in the roof, so that gives a real smartness to the house. Our ensuite bathroom(!) is from the 1980s so looks a little tired but a good scraping away of old paint and scale has left it cleaner. The other 'family' bathroom has a dreadful bath with no plug that fits yet. The third bedroom has no furniture but a couple of kitchen chairs turned it into a chapel for morning prayers, though we will probably transfer those to the church soon. We have been offered an old spare table and chair from the township church which will be brought over so that room can be more of a study and the dining room table released from clutter.

I realise some readers will have got weary and found more urgent business to attend to! Forgive my ramblings! Time is not much of an issue here for me. But the midweek service will soon begin so off I must go to that.

Our first Sunday

It was a long but happy day, starting with the 8am parish eucharist here and ending after an evening one which meant home at 9pm! Tom described the pattern in his last blog -now for some impressions.

Here at St Thomas' it was a good full church with nearly 200 present, nearly half of them children, with some toddlers wandering as they will, all shades of the rainbow though very few white. The singing was lusty but with fewer part singers than in the more African churches later in the day. No book drumming either here. A&M Revised and Mission Praise are used and we wish we had brought copies as one has to provide for oneself. We have bought the SA Prayer Book quite reasonably and an A&M revised is on order for us but we think how many copies of these might be lying at home unused. If anyone would like to send out a copy we could give them to some of the poorest-looking who share or have very tatty copies. (Address is PO Box 113, De Aar, S Africa 7000 – a printed paper rate still exists I think).

This shows the empty church when we first arrived.

The service was quite long as all the readings and a psalm are included, but by 9.30 people were spilling out and rushing off home. No coffee/drinks has beenserved at any churches we have yet experienced. A few of the ladies asked to look in our house. They had helped prepare it but not seen the furniture. I had spent the time before church getting online, as the evening before we got no signal, so our bed was unmade and plenty of mess left around! Still it was nice to share it with them as they have been so generous. Never did I imagine we would be given brand new furniture and a completely redecorated house. More about our home later.

Father Joseph drove us with Hildegaard, another churchwarden, to Philipstown where a dilapidated simple church was some way off the tarmac road. Our route through the dry Karoo had been a virtually empty straight road, accompanied by power and phone lines, kopjes or steep-sided hills, occasional green trees where water is pumped up by wind for the few sheep. They say their meat is the best but how sheep survive is a mystery!

Everyone here seems to speak Afrikaans as a matter of course. At St Thomas' many speak good English and their service is in English by their choice, with the gospel and sermon usually in Afrikaans. Y'day it was in Eng, as it was done by Tom. Fr Joseph hopes Tom will learn Afr; I have my doubts!!

At Philipstown however Fr J took the service in Afr and one of the lay ministers translated while Tom preached; ditto at Britstown in the evening where it was Fr J's brother translating. His mother was in the row behind for that service and sang lustily- we later discovered she is 95!

After the 11am service communion was taken to a lady who had turned 103! She was sitting bolt upright with her tiny legs straight in front of her, a position I could never achieve! She was blind and pretty deaf, cared for by a daughter or grand-daughter with toddlers playing in the room and children outside their very simple house.

Singing and dancing to welcome us after the service at Philipstown

Then came lunch at a smarter home, a delicious meal of chicken, sweet potato, coooked grated carrots and rice, followed by much better tinned peaches than we ever see these days and hot custard in a jug taken out of the freezer cabinet – presumably used for storage and not switched on!

The day was pretty sweltering, mid 30s I think so when we returned at 2 or so we were ready for a read/snooze before setting out again at 5pm.

Monday is to be Tom's day-off and we were glad to be able to sleep till 7.15, an hour later than usual. We have had a leisurely day here, waiting for the satellite dish to be installed. Tom is now happy as Larry infront of a sports channel! While watching Sky News I was shocked to realise that at our 7pm it was dark for you at 5pm, and obviously cold. We will now be well able to keep abreast of national news and sports results worldwide.

It has been so lovely receiving emails from friends. Forgive us if we do not always reply and please do keep your news coming.

Arrival in De Aar and all is well

 At Kimberley on the last night of our journey, we were very apprehensive and a little troubled especially as we had heard by email of the death of Chris Roberts, my late cousin Jan's husband, after a short illness. Chris was a dear friend and it made us realise that life is both precious and delicate. But the next morning we left for De Aar with all our luggage and three new friends from the Diocese of K and K in Fr. Noel's bakkie. Most parishes here have a bakkie which is a small van with a back that can either be open or have a top to it. Fr. Noel's bakkie was chosen because he could seat four people but Fr. Dan Peters wanted to come too (he had been the parish priest in De Aar and I guess he wanted to meet some old mates) but he had to lay with the luggage in the back despite his advanced age.

Our apprehension had been heightened by the reaction of many people in Kimberley when we told them we were going to De Aar. There was much commisseration with our lot! The lady who sold me some splendid sandals was most sympathetic. We wondered what really was in store for us.

But now we can report that all that apprehension was totally unnecessary. We have receievd a glorious welcome and we have a house that is now so well appointed that it feels like home already.

As we arrived in our crowded bakkie we were greeted by a host of people deperately trying to get the house ready. The furniture van (another bakkie) arrived with three peiece suite and then left to get the next load this time consisting of beds. Gradually the house began to fill with things and people and it has hardly stopped since then. The parish here has been extraordinary generous in buying us all kinds of furniture and gadgets so typical of the warm-hearted African approach to life.

The afternoon of our arrival had been planned with a welcoming service with food afterwards. Since then we have been equipping our house with all the household goods you need and finding out what is possible in terms of communication. The wonders of modern science means that we can now get on the internet, have located the World Service on BBC and even more gloriously have signed up for a TV contract that will allow me to watch more rugby, football and most importantly cricket (the Ashes start next week!) than I would have in England!

So what of De Aar. It is a remote place positioned in the middle of the Karoo – the roads N1 and N12 run north/south and De Aar is between the two about 50 kms from each of them. De Aar used to be an important railway junction but because the railway in RSA is now rarely used and is in decline so the town has been affected. So there is much unemployment and poverty around us. However, having said that, the town centre seems to be busy and there are shops for all we could want.

The railway divides the town. In one way St. Thomas Church is on the wrong side of the tracks. It is in what people here call "the location" which was the word the white people used for the black townships situated here. On the other side of the tracks is the business/shopping area and some up-market houses where the white people have been joined by the black middle class. It is a fascinating mix with many of the black/coloured people wanting to remain in houses in the townships because that is where they want to be. There are two Anglican churches serving the town and both are in townships. Sadly the other Anglican church in the town where the white people worshipped was abandoned by the congregation during apartheid years when a black priest was made rector! It remains an empty building.

The parish consists of five churches The main one, St. Thomas, is where we are situated and in De Aar itself is the other church of the Good Shepherd, Nonzwakazi. On Sunday after we do the Eucharist here at St. Thomas we shall travel 50kms to St. Andrew, Philipstown for a service at 11am.Then in the afternoon we go to St. Barnabas, Britstown (also 50kms awa) for a 6pm service.

The good people of Philipstown will provide us with lunch. The other church is 120 kms away at Richmond where we travel in a week on Sunday. I have one colleague, Fr. Joseph Hugo, a self-supporting priest, who has been great in showing me the ropes starting yesterday moning with a round of sick communions.So I have started work already! The real stars of our time so far has been one of the churchwardens called Eugene le Grange and his wife Ria. Eugene is vice-principal of one of the High Schools and Ria has been an educational advisor but is now studying for a further Masters degree at Bloemfontein. Nothing has been too difficult for them and they have been sorting out all those little problems that inevitably happen. Great people!

Time to stop and think of retiring to bed as it is necessary to get up early and work when it is not hot. We have had two brief storms of heavy rain and strong winds but today it has been sunny all day with the heating really building up in the middle of the day. And we are not yet into the really hot season!!!! This morning Emma was up and digging a small plot in the garden for some vegetable seeds at 7am.Crazy I know but it is too late to change her now.

No photos yet but we will try to post one or two next time.

Vryburg

On Saturday we had a 5 hour journey across to our friends Drake and Hope at Vryburg. But before we left we walked up the local Kopje or hill with Lucy and Bongani and had fabulous views across the city in all directions. It was a steep rocky hill, with the typically red earth of Africa and interesting flowers. Their suburb is pretty central  but has all these open spaces which they take advantage of. It is not as we imagined Jo'burg at all.

Drake is the priest at Vryburg and Tom had been asked to preach at the Sunday service. So it was up early for 8am and a full parish eucharist with smells and bells, lots of hymns and choruses but no organist as she is unwell and elderly. After coffee with the PCC at the Rectory we went to a black church in the local township and were introduced to them as their service ended.

Lunch was out on a big farm owned and run by one of the churchwardens and his family. The lunch was magnificent and included all the meats they produce and sell locally (including hot toungue wh ich I remember only from childhood and which was delicious). Afterwards we were shown the farm which includes 2 ostrich, many beef cattle of the oldest African variety, some strange sheep with fat tails, goats, poultry in vast numbers, geese etc. The owner had had a baboon empty dustbins at night - they knew because he had got into the shed where the men were asleep and terrified them!

All very fascinating. It was a very hot day, probably mid 30s. Today has more of a breeze and some cloud but the 30% promise of rain has not materialised. We have more experiences this morning, going to the Aids Care Centre in a black township and then on to Taung with Hope an dDrake to see the house her family owns and where they will retire to. Also Oxford diocese has contributed to the renovation of an old rectory to be a residential centre for parishes - but its future is uncertain.

So now for a couple of days in Kimberley, where I have got access to the web at our B&B but am paying - so should stop!! We have been promised that someone from here will drive us to De Aar on Wed, and hope to see the Bishop and others here tomorrow.

It is lovely to receive a few messages by email. Keep them coming. It amazes us to think it is still less than a week since we left - so many things have happened.

Jo'burg

After an 11 hour overnight journey, uneventful but uncomfortable, it was so good to be met by Lucy (my sister Sophie's daughter) at Jo'burg airport and whisked away to her most civilized home she shares with Bongani in Melville. It is recently modernised and has quite a bit of garden and lots of space inside. I fear our future home won't come anywhere near this standard but it is a few days for us to recover our strength and acclimatize as well as to acquire a hire car, mobile phones with local SIM cards, plugs for our gadgets and so on.

The hire car had been booked but Avis had not sent the extra charge for it being collected from De Aar. This turned out to be about £500, much more than the cost of hire for 8 days so the agent himself was horrified and refused to allow us to do this. He asked whether we might return the car to Kimberley and get the bus or a lift back to De Aar. So we will somehow but it is about 300km away so no mean thing.

Lucy is out at work all day but Bongani is revising for an exam so has been able to do things with us most helpfully. He left us at the Botanical Gardens where we had a long walk reducing the swollen ankles from the flight. It is a huge park with lawns sloping down to several lakes, rose gardens and exotic trees.

Another outing with Bongani has been to Soweto, seeing the homes of Mandela, Tutu and what is now a great variety of housing for those less well off. It has a very African feel, akin to our link town Batlharos and totally unlike the comfortable suburbs of Jo'burg where we have driven through beuatiful streets lined with flowering jacaranda: one afternoon to have tea with Nola Park and her two children - they lived in Thatcham until 2 years ago, returning to her home city with some trepidation. They have a good life and have settled down well.

To return to our visit to Soweto - we spent a good while in the Hector Pietersen Museum, reminding ourselves of the horrors of what happened in 1976 when schoolchildren rebelled against being forced to learn in Afrikaans. Hector Pietersen was the 12 year old lad pictured in the famous iconic photograph being carried after he was shot . He was one of many who died when police shot at the protesters.

Temperatures have risen during our 3 days here, into the high 20sC, with glorious sunshine and a lovely breeze.

What a week!

TM: It all started with the build-up to the final week-end at Thatcham. The last service and the last sermon had to be prepared in between being invited out to say "good-bye" to so many people. Obviously it was going to be an emotional time but what we did not realise was the huge amount of work that had gone into both the party on the Saturday evening and the service on Sunday. It was a truly wonderful send-off and we really were very touched that so many people came from our former parishes to share in the celebration. For a celebration it was and the good people of Thatcham were so wonderful in the way they all rallied round and worked together to give both party and service a great feeling of joy. So a big thank you to all those who planned both occasions and worked so hard to making them so memorable.But of course there were tears too as we said our final good-byes and left a parish that has been our centre of existence for the last twelve years.

So with lovely memories of those days, we came to earth on Monday and started the awful process of packing up and moving on.

EM: Much of Monday was spent taking a last load to Joe's at Teddington, including the first two of our large suitcases. But since we were doing all the packing except china and glass we got on with packing books etc. Tuesday was made difficult by Tom suddenly needing a molar extracted. It had been bothering him for a while and became too painful. Henry stepped in to help with loading things into the car to park in a friend's Thatcham shed, since Tom was not supposed to be lifting. The bleeding continued making hm feel nauseous. However by Thursday when the removers arrived we had packed nearly 80 boxes. The men from Jamie Briggs were a great crew and by 3.30pm they drove off with 6 full containers, returning for another two the next morning.

So we are now at Teddington recovering strength for the next stage and having to make painful goodbyes to our family. Leaving our home and local friends was emotional enough. This is far harder and my floodgates of tears finally broke. But still we are hugely excited about what we will experience in South Africa.

Passports returned

Since last Friday we now have passports so feel nothing can now get in the way of our going! After queuing at S Africa House we were advised that the waiver we sought would have to be arranged in Pretoria and so our visa application sent in early July was withdrawn and our papers returned. What a relief!

We were in London anyway for a last visit to look after Billy in Hackney while Laura worked and to deliver two wardrobes and other bulky things in a hired van. Plants from our garden have gone to her and to Joe as well as to many others, and the charity shops here and in Newbury will miss our regular boxes and bags.

Removals and storage are booked for November 4/5th after which we will spend a long weekend with the family, mostly in Teddington which is handy for Heathrow from where we fly off on Nov 9th.

But there is still plenty to think of and to clean and pack ready to store or to take in two large suitcases each. We trust the churchwardens in De Aar will have found some basic furniture for the Rectory there, which we think has been empty but let till recently. We have had fun finding the red roofed house on Google Earth and spotting the two swimming pools in the town - public ones we hope.

One month to go

We have one month to go beforeleaving for RSA. Before that we have to get through all the emotional farewells from this parish and the down-sizing of our accumulated chattels. Today my large desk, acquired in 1977 in Walworth for something like £25, was taken away by a nice young couple after Emma advertised it on freecycle. Yesterday Emma's wardrobe went the same way. Wonderful to have the space that such removals give to our house.

Gradually our garden is being raided by family and friends and plants taken away - much like the end of the Chelsea Flower Show! It feels good that these treasured plants will find new homes.

So we have another week of "lasts" to look forward to as we say a prolonged goodbye to Thatcham.

Our future home

We've been sent an image of our house in De Aar which apparantly has 3 bedrooms and two bathrooms!

Preparing to go

It is surprising how complicted it is to do this kind of adventure. There is so much to think about and plan. It all seemed perfectly simple at the start...... but we are getting there.

Waiting....

Still no work permit from the embassy so that means no passports!