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.
