Boatbird

Come midday yesterday I was in such pain and the red-hotness had spread almost to my knee. Any attempt at arranging my leg vertically was agony – even without putting any weight on it. After googling insect bites and scaring myself silly, I conceded that a trip to the doctor would be prudent. They’re good here – OK so you pay around thirty quid for a consultation- and they fitted me in within the hour.  Takes that long to drive there.

The very nice Doc ruled out allergic reaction but confirmed infection. The little critter had probably had its teeth/sting in something very nasty before it attacked me. Not a nice thought. I was also running a temperature apparently and, don’t you know, one more day would have seen me in hospital being fed penicillin intravenously.

He has my attention as he explains carefully what I would have to do in order to beat this thing, hopefully without the hospital drama. A 5 day course of double anti-biotic pills, cream for the actual wound and go to bed. He did eventually relent on the bed story and agreed that I could sit with my leg up. (John said “so no change there then”). Take paracetamol too, if necessary, to bring down the fever, and apply the cream 2-3 times a day. And if I wasn’t any better by Thursday, I must go back. Oh, and he told me it would be painful. You don’t say…

My daily dose

On presenting the script to the pharmacist, I was strongly advised to also take a pro-biotic so as to avoid thrush. He might just be a good salesman but it worked – don’t need that as well. It cost even more at the chemist than it did at the Doctors’ (at least I can claim back on the insurance – I checked) and I have to take a total of eight capsules every day, not including the one I am already taking for the stomach job. I have had to draw up a chart of when to take what. Still, it is only for 5 days and a small price to pay if it works.

As I sit, leg elevated and fly swat primed for action, I remember how I prided myself that, at the ripe old age of 56, I needed no medication at all. How things change – and so quickly. With any luck, neither will be permanently required.

The good news is that already the drugs seem to be working and there has been a drastic reduction in the size of my leg. The pain is still ferocious when my leg is not up but the red-hotness is fading.

Good signs.

Of all the biting creatures in this neck of the woods, I have been virtually immobilised by a common or garden bloody Horse Fly. They are nasty little critters (not so small actually) that are present, pretty much, world over. You may have come across them in dear old England – I was bitten by one once before, when out on the river, and the back of my thigh swelled up something awful. Even the pharmacist winced.

This time, the blighter got me on the top of my foot, near the ankle. Once again it has swollen dramatically, so that putting any weight on it at all (ie walking) is excruciatingly painful. Even John (Mr Sympathy – not) could see that I would not be able to operate the clutch pedal and rushed me to Kleimond (nearest town likely to have a chemist) this morning. At the expense of his flying too.

I had brought the Anthisan cream with me, as part of the first aid kit, as I know the mozzies love me. I applied this yesterday, often, but it just doesn’t cut it when it comes to Horse Fly bites. Has to be the anti-hystermine pills then, which for some unknown reason, I failed to pack. Can’t say there’s been any improvement so far, still red hot and very painful, but I guess these things take time; I shall have to suffer a little longer.

Other than that, the last few days have been fairly uneventful. Blissfully so. A positive whirl of hazy laziness,  spent largely in the hammock and punctuated by laundry duties, making salad to accompany the braai, a scramble up the mountain at the back of us, incorporating a guided tour of the farm boundary – impressive. Oh, and the odd visit to the hotel. Just to be sociable you understand. I did, to be fair, also do a major shop at Spar (the equivalent here to Tesco) in order to make sure we have provisions over the holiday period. I figured that, hating shopping as I do, it makes sense to do it in one big hit. John, even more sensibly, holed up in a nearby bar while I endured this.

Especially good to stock up as we have a working fridge now AND a freezer. Forgot to mention the freezer – it seems its been working all along, on the electricity, but we just hadn’t thrown the right switch before. But looking at the master controls, it’s hardly surprising.

The weather here has settled down and is more like what I remember from last year. Lovely blue skies and sunshine – must be mid 20’s plus now. Perfect. The breeze always gets up here in the afternoon so stops it feeling sticky and, a master-stroke of note was moving the bus well back into the trees. Keeps it shady and cool indoors.

We may fly the coast along to Hermanus and back, over the mountain and back to the strip. Maybe Wednesday, weather and foot permitting.  It’ll be about an hour’s flying and should be a good opportunity to get some aerial shots – see what I can do. Depends how tightly I feel the need to hang on I guess… It will mean getting out of bed at around 5am in order to get airborne before 8 and avoid the afternoon wind; makes landing a little more challenging. See pics for other hazzards at Bird Valley:

Road trip no 2 is also in the planning stages for after the holidays. Once more to PE (via a stop over at friends near Knysna) and then across country, through Ladismith to Anysberg.  Somewhere John has always wanted to go and says is lovely. Another part of the country to explore. Brother Phil has friends near East London so may look them up also – see if they remember me.

John has got his 125cc motorbike going and is currently off to try it out on the road. Good luck with that. It’s a lot more economical for trips to the airfield/shop for a paper or whatever, and, means I get the use of the car when he’s off mechanicing for the day in Hermanus.

I’m going to apply more cream to my sore ankle now. I’m sure it got worse while I’ve been writing. Did I say how bloody painful it is?

You never really know what John will get up to next.

He is famous for sticking beer bottle labels to the tables on the stoep at the hotel in Bot Rivier. Seems he is having a go at paperhanging the bus interior now with same. One of the really good things about the bus is that nothing you inflict on it has a detrimental effect.

Ditto the car.

This set the tone for the day and we’ve not done a great deal of anything. Just generally mooched about a lot. I managed to lose all the camping gear, which was previously chucked on or around the driver’s seat, so a big improvement. It could be a nice place to sit. This meant I first had to lose the previous contents of said underseat compartment, some very chintzy spare curtains – never in a million years. Charity shop then. Trouble with those places, I always come out with more than I take in.

I did find some good old winter woollies though, which might come in handy if the evenings continue to be chilly.

Had lunch at the hotel – chicken burgers. We are limiting our eating out and our visits to the hotel the best we can for two reasons. 1) To make the money last and 2) In the interests of sobriety. It is impossible to just pop in for one, though we have gone there with this in mind on many occasions. It just doesn’t work and always turns into a session.

A few pics of the bus:

It has good accommodation – shorter but wider than the boat.

Not so bad eh? We like it.

Lots of plans for the front compartment – all in good time.
The son has gone now, so it’s time to rattle those pots and pans. The gas rings tend to warm up the bus but I might just have to add the socks….

This was my first sight of the bus last year – that which was to be my home for the next couple of months or so.  We had been on the road, camping and living out of suitcases for about a month by this point so I was looking forward to a few home comforts…..

Understandably, I was a tad disheartened on arrival and, on looking inside, things didn’t get much better. Still, never let it be said that I can’t handle a bit of roughing  it, although those that know me will appreciate my need for a minimum of life’s little luxuries; running water, a loo, comfy bed – that sort of thing. Whilst the first two weren’t apparent, at least there was the prospect of a decent night’s sleep.

The bus (bought from one who had already fitted it out) had the makings of an excellent home and needed only some vigorous DIY and serious TLC. The fit-out wasn’t particularly to our taste  – a bit too caravan – but one thing at a time.  John set about getting the mysteriously broken windscreen replaced, treating the rust and clearing up rubbish from the site, while I busied about restoring order to the interior and generally making it homey. I found some lovely treasures hidden away in the cupboards – hand-made pottery and pictures etc – which I displayed/pinned up. We cut out the horrid blue nylon carpet, which was totally unclean-able and served only to trap sand brought in on our feet, painted the floor and bought rugs.

It came complete with a running engine, generator, inverter and gas geyser. Fantastic but the installation was puzzling, to say the least, and would take some unravelling, so therefore a long-term project. There was a gas fridge and freezer (neither working), gas oven/hob, microwave, an immersion heater cum calorifier and air conditioning. Power is from an extension lead from the nearby house, which is occupied by John’s tenants.

By the end of our stay last year, we’d made good progress and had decided we would ditch the air con, immersion heater/calorifier in the interests of simplicity, (this is Africa after all) and send the fridge off for re-gassing. The jury was still out on the freezer. John had the genny running, though just how it worked needed more figuring. All in all, we were pleased with our efforts so far.

Fast forward to the present…

A bus is not so different to a narrowboat, I’ve decided. OK, so it doesn’t float but it does sink into the sand- nose first, having the effect of tipping the bed, which is crossways at the back, sideways. Most odd to sleep on, making you feel like you could end up on the floor if you roll over too quickly. No. 1 job for John then was to level things up by jacking the bus under the axle and propping it with tree stumps, blocks of wood or whatever else was to hand. Turns out this is an ongoing job as the sand continues to shift.

Another urgent job was to hook up the hammock. Well, you have to get your priorities right, don’t you? And very good it is too – a favourite spot in the shade of a Rooikrants tree.

And, as I had carried a loo all the way from the UK, this was quickly installed too. It was donated by brother Phil and much appreciated. Thanks bro…it sure beats the alternative.

Water comes from a spring up in the mountain behind the bus. Previously we had trekked to fill 5 litre containers for the use of but now, thanks to  lengths of hosepipe that John has connected up and buried to keep the water cool, we now have water on tap. In the bus – over the kitchen sink. Marvellous. John drinks this but as I haven’t the third world immunity that he has, I am still thinking twice about the wisdom of this. We also have a series of outside taps; handy for watering the plants and a good idea when approaching fire season, as we are. Bush fires are very scary things.

There’s no stopping him now. We now have a sort of solar heating arrangement, made up of pipes that zig-zag overground. Ingenious but simple, as most good systems always are.

It feeds an outdoor shower (still a work in progress) that we have both tried and pronounced superb. It’s amazing how hot the water gets in just a short space of time but also cools quickly too when the sun has gone down so timing is of the essence.

We are keen to sort out the garden too – lots of ideas – and have made a start on that. There will be a marvellous braai (BBQ) area for starters, flowers, shrubs, herbs and salad plants. The fig tree at the old house is laden this year so look forward to a bit of scrumping before too long…

There is the odd distraction though, and not just the pub. A baby tortoise (they grow giant ones here too) how cute is that?

Three weeks in to my three month stay and it feels like I was never away.  It’s just like picking up from where we left off. We’ve installed ourselves back into the bus, which is home while we are here, resumed the  upgrading and caught up with people – a bit.  I had a marvellous welcome back  and, once again, made to feel so very welcome – like an old friend. We’ve also completed the first road trip, nothing on the scale of last year – just a jaunt (if 500 miles in one day can be called a jaunt) to Port Elizabeth and a week’s stay with John’s dad.  We’ll no doubt be back there around Christmas/New Year – no firm plan as such but making it up as we go along.

The weather is very changeable.  The locals say that summer hasn’t really kicked in yet.  One day can be blisteringly hot, the next wet and windy and nights sometimes cold.  I never thought I’d be missing Hobo’s stove or my Ugg boots but, at times, I am.  I kid you not. Last night saw me wearing a fleece and woolly socks before I finally caved in and went to bed where at least we could snuggle under the duvet.  Still cool this morning so woolly socks once more.  We had heavy showers in the night, which woke us as rain hammered onto the bus roof then dripped onto our faces from the ceiling. More patching up required methinks…

We are planning a trip to Cape Agulhas (southernmost tip of Africa) stopping off at Pearly Beach on the way probably.  Hopefully there will be a group of us and John will fly the microlightwhile others follow on land with fuel, camping gear, food supplies etc.  We can draw straws to determine the passenger/ ground crew split or, most likely, take turns.  Either way, we’ll make a plan – as they do in Africa.  Frankly, I’m not sure which option will be the most scary, as some of the roads are no more than jeep tracks.  Fun.  We’ll have to wait for a suitable weather window but will keep you posted.