Good evening from the plague house. We both seem to be on the mend but somewhat devoid of energy. The white cross is down from the door and the neighbours have stopped making the sign of the cross as they pass by, and are no longer sliding pizzas under the gate. We have both been out for a short walk today and should be back to normal soon.
We spent most of the day working on our travel plans and have booked campsites for the first two weeks of our travels. We have also sorted out a ferry back to England on 28th July. Hopefully “The Beast” will keep going until then!
We Have just bought a brilliant painting from Paul Gough, the artist who is staying in our flat, so we will have to buy a house to hang it in in the not too distant future. Paul is really talented, and if you google him you will probably find your way to his website, the address of which escapes me for the moment.
It was great to be able to see Nicki and the kids on Skype for the first time today. Chloe looks so grown up, and has got a bob haircut that makes her look like Mireille Mathieu. It makes such a difference to be able to see people’s faces and we owe a huge thank you to Christie who spent hours working on our computers when he wasn’t coughing in our bathroom, and has done a fantastic job. We also got a video message from Rock, so hopefully our ability to communicate, which has been the bane of the whole trip, will be much improved.
Some of you may remember that I used to enjoy firing the odd letter off to the local paper. Having not much better to do I’ve started doing the same out here. The latest one has suggested a major cull of domestic pussy cats rather than badgers as a means of controlling the latest outbreak of TB, so it will be interesting to see what sort of reaction that provokes.
I have given all my monsters to a girl called Nikki Luxford, who by sheer coincidence is also from Worthing. Ann has given her a couple of paintings, and she is going to auction them all off to raise money for a schools project that she is running in Malawi. We have also agreed to sponsor one of the children in the school for the next few years, which will give us a good excuse to go out to Africa on a visit a few years down the road.
All the best, Andy