Since A Scenic African run with sensible shoes, yesterday we went to watch and listen to the Drakensberg Boys’ choir affectionately named the ‘Drakies’ pronounced ‘draakies’. It was a memorable experience. As an isolated and very acclaimed boys’ choir located far into the Drakensberg mountains, they have the most scenic views from their grounds. My mother loved the performance and this experience, to have shared it with her was a particular highlight.

I also went for a run which took me down similar paths as the previous day. However, I decided to continue running up a winding mountain trail which climbed and climbed and climbed forever. It reached 1,300 meters up and my legs were burning. I stopped when I disturbed a monkey/baboon group and thought I’d better leave them as-is and decided to begin my descent.  I ran past 4 Zebras as I descended.

My father and I also had lunch, He had a Greek salad and I had fish, and I after my run, my mother prepared a lovely meal on the braai. This was particularly useful because it included sweet potato, chicken fillets and vegetables – a perfectly balanced meal (especially after my 8.7km run around). Before enjoyed that meal, I took myself off the swimming pool and had a brief swim as I’d accumulated quite a sweat from the run.

We’re also in the process of fashioning a makeshift braai-trap to capture a lone haadidaa(Ibis) whos, unfortunately, got some fishing line around its leg. It's limping uncomfortably and we’d like to catch it, remove the line and set it free as soon as possible to minimise stress etc. We might catch him/her today.

My father, unfortunately, has caught my cold, and I heard him coughing through the night. Hopefully its no worse than my cold as it passed within a week. Still, I feel rather guilty having passed it to him. We did take precautions to prevent transmission but it didn’t work. 

I’m not sure if we’ll be able to fix the carburettor intake tube today in light of this. We have another week or so left of my visit so there is a good chance It’ll get done.

Since African party birds, I finally made it out on a run yesterday. I’d started feeling better and decided to do an introductory run since being ill – something easy and not too Pacey. I ran around the park, then towards the airfield and around it. I continued further up to mount champagne and did a loop before returning back the way I came.

At a fork in the road which divided the route to mount champagne, I decided to investigate the alternative route. That took me for about 1km on an unknown winding road which I eventually gave up on and returned the way I came. I then decided to go for another detour and ran up the steep incline from the entrance to the park, past the Drakensberg boys’ choir and all the way up the main road.

It was during this steep ascent that I noticed the Catkin mountains watching me as I endured to the top of the path. At this time, peering to my side and up, time seemed to stand still while I watch those mountains and they watched me.

After a while, I realised my route and again continued to push up the hill. By the time I’d reached the summit of my own personal mountain, the hill I was climbing, I felt that my introductory run was nearing its end. I was tired.  Having reversed my route once more, I circled the pool on the way back and ultimately jumped it to cool off. I ran 8km and averaged 5:00/km.

The previous day I made my way down the restaurant and had a grilled Hake and salad along with a stir-fried vegetable dish mixed with chicken strips. I also re-connected with the outside world to see what it was doing: I checked my email and various other communication methods.  Today we will be going to see the Drakensberg boys’ choir sing. This will be one for the memory banks…

I finally finished my last paper and wrote up about it in my tent late yesterday night. I put my headlamp on, pulled my laptop out and focused on it. The next morning, I thought I’d spend a little time touching it up before submitting it. This included confirming the criteria for critically evaluating the paper I had analysed. I submitted it and my mind and the world went quite once more. I have exams in 4 weeks.

My dad and I continue to go down to have a shower at the time every day, a ritual that persists which I find comforting. In the morning he makes us both a bowl of porridge and we sit talking in our camping chairs while consuming it. I few campers have left as the weekend ended, others joined and the dynamic seems to ebb and flow. New casual acquaintances are made from time to time as people pass every so often.

I’m sitting in my tent now watching the monkeys as they try to penetrate the dustbin and my parents’ tent – both of which are tightly secured to prevent their curiosity from paying off.

Yesterday my dad and I discovered by the truck was overheating. There is a tiny hole in the air intake pipe from the carburettor. I put on a vest my mother had put aside for me and along with my running shorts and short pants looked like a regular redneck. We noticed a lead just before we were to take the truck 30 mins up the road to Winterton, to get some more food and supplies. However, before we could do that, we needed to understand the problem with the leak.

We set up a tarpaulin under the front of the truck and after a series of discussions understood what the problem was. This entailed untightening in the fastening mechanism that was holding the rubber pipe that took the water/anti-freeze from the carburettor to the engine and trying to move it over the tiny hole. This was a stop-gap measure and after a quick stop part way in our journey, we rechecked it. It had held but it was slowly leaking. We decided that this was an acceptable risk and carried on to Winterton. We drove into a car mechanic, asked his opinion and he advised sealing the hole in the metal. We got some sealant and extra fastener.

We also did some shopping at the local Spar and did a quick stop for biltong at a service station. I eat it all on the way home, while my dad drank his drink.

In the shop, I was amazed at how our existence in the scenery reminded me of Far Cry 3. There is no doubt that we are in a ‘developing’, 3^rd world country, quite run down and very much in the middle of somewhere that perhaps the world didn’t care about. The other interesting thing was the sheer volume of sweets available at the shop, almost like a factory of sugar-based treats. Later that day my mind was again indulged with a fact read out by my dad from his cell phone stating that South Africa had just become the unhealthiest country on the planet! From the sights seen during checkout that day at the shop, it was clear that sugar was a leading culprit in this regard. Nutrition is a problem.

While out, my dad said he was quickly going to pop into an alternative shop to buy eggs and I decided to browse the John Deere shop. I was ready to buy a cap and then realised I really didn’t need one and that its usually the prospect of owning something that isn’t useful all the time is worse than owning it to begin with, so I decided better of it and left the store empty-handed.

I can now hear guinea fowl calling on either side of me. I’m definitely in Africa. I think I’ll never see this land the way I did while growing up, it’s no longer the arduous endurance marathon it once was but now more a temperate scenic trail-run with sensible shoes.

Since Cricket, Quiche and luggage I started my day early in the morning having slept a lot better. My cold seems to have dissipated substantially. This allowed me to sit outside my tent in the morning sunshine and write about the previous days’ experience. I used my Thinkpad to write with.

Terry came over to wish us all well as it was his last day before going home. Having met my parents here at the resort, and through conversations, it was determined that he, in fact, lives very close to my parents back in South Port. We had been experiencing increased “load shedding” in the prior days having been upgraded from stage 3 to stage 4 which meant that there were increased periods of blackouts due to no electricity.

My father says that the electricity provider, Eskom cannot provide the same level of electricity to all areas of the country all the time. This is partly due to the inability to adequately fuel the power generators. This is further explained by the recent discovery within the government of large scale corruption and diversion of funds(stealing basically) from industries like electricity, which has resulted in a crippled infrastructure. One interesting and the unfortunately dire situation is that the criminals involved, bought mines as investments, and in collusion with the corrupt president signed deals enforcing that the electricity provider was to receive all their fuel from these mines. The mines provided sub-par quality fuel and as a result(along with other effects within the industry and government at large) the electricity provider’s service has degraded to such an extent that load shedding is a reality that all residents of the country must live with.

All throughout Africa, the inability to deal with power and responsibility has resulted in the sub-par quality of service, enablement of corruption and theft of money. Unfortunately, the problems are widespread and it seems that only a minority that feels that it is outrageously immoral while the rest seems to consider it to be the way it is. And perhaps this lowering of expectations will result in the average quality of all services to reflect throughout Africa once and for all. Terry brought the newspaper. Along with it, he amusingly reflected that the reasons given by the government as to why load shedding had progressed to stage 4 as recently as highlighted in the newspaper, was because it had rained in Mozambique – something to do with how this affected the Hydro-electric power generator (South Africa purchase electricity from them). We all found this ridiculous and laughable, which I think is the situation many South Africans find themselves doing to cope with the problems encountered by inept management, that being the government.

After that quick discussion and a cup of tea with us, Terry wished us all well before leaving for home. He’d been in the park for a month.

My dad and I decided it would be good to go for a walk and so we casually made our way towards the wilderness on the edge of the park. We took an alternative route to that which I took with my mother the previous day and on our travels, we came across a group on horses being guided through the park. It was a sedate affair and very obviously a service to cater for novice riders from abroad.

It’s a place of incredible South African beauty and merely being present is an act of liberating the soul. The mountains are so close and tower up majestically before us. My dad says around the Mountains and the sea is when he is the happiest. I can understand why. In many respects, these wilder, more remote places are escapes from the mediocrity and problems throughout the majority of built-up South Africa. Unfortunately, the issues that affect the constant supply of electricity, a tenant of civilization, affects everyone.

As our walk back, I decided to take my dad for breakfast and we sat along with other guests outside. We admired the overlooking water and water animals including the Egyptian geese, which we noticed had about 5 little ducklings. My father noted that they could not be older than about 4 weeks old as they were very small. They huddled between mother and father goose as they drifted across the lake. There are self-catering accommodations that overlook other dams on the resort and I notice how they could cast a line from their balconies to fish if they wanted to. Quite luxurious.

After perusing the menu, my father ordered a breakfast wrap, which included bacon and eggs and a side salad along with a teapot of rooibos tea. I ordered an Omelette with mushrooms, Spinach, Peppers and onions – along with a decaf cappuccino. I figured while on holiday I should perhaps be a little unconventional.

I found myself later asleep on a lounger under the tree, between our tents – my tent and my parents tend are a short distance from each other. It seems the midday meal my mother prepared for me(also an omelette) along with the day’s activities seemed to have caught up with me. I woke to find an Ibis (affectionally called ‘Pegleg’ by Terry) hobbling nearby. Unfortunately, the careless fisherman had left a fishing line around and it had wrapped around the bird’s leg. It has not tightened and is causing damage. This is why he/she hobbles.  It’s a sad and unfortunate situation.

I tried, along with some help from my parents, to catch it but as a wild bird, it had quick reactions to any sudden movements. The idea is that we could cut it free of its restraint.

As the day wound up, I suggested that my mom and I go down to the dam and that she might keep me company while I ordered dinner. We sat near the dam’s edge, and I ordered food. The view was breath-taking because all around us in a semi-circular fashion rose the imminent mountains, almost like spectators looking in on us. The clouds and sun caressing the mountain edges at the top, while the water and water birds made up the rest of the configuration in front of us. We talked at length about many philosophical ideas and concepts and took the time to help each other explore them. The scenery seems to be a fitting platform for this conversation.

During our long and detailed discussions down at the dam’s edge, and having left my dad up at the tent, we made our way back. I had ‘buffalo wings’ and a Stir-fry vegetable dish with strips of chicken. We sat outside the tent and as they cover of darkness fell we discussed all manner of things generally. My dad and I decided to head to the showers and started to prepare for bed.

As an aside, my mother has determined that the surrounding cooing pigeons (turtle doves and/or ring-necked doves) sound like they are saying "let's party, lets party, lets party" or depending on their call, "Want popcorn, want popcorn" and "Hey Guys, let's watch TV, Hey guys lets watch TV..."

Since Flu, fishes and flip-fops, I woke up and headed straight to the showers and my morning routine does not seem to have any dependence on the continent that I find myself on. I still hadn't my luggage and having been informed that it was somewhere in Maritzburg, thankfully I was able to brush my teeth and shower comfortably due to the toiletries my mother had already provided to me along with the dentist kit I received at the hotel in Newtown, Johannesburg.

My luggage eventually turned up down at the reception and my dad came up with it around 11 am. Until then we’d sat in front of them tend to discuss things in general.  A new couple of campers turned up and were set up in front of our tent and we eventually got to talk to them and figure out a little about them. They were farmers in the area coming for a weekend, along with their two children who periodically took their bicycles out for rides. This included occasions when the father would do with them and explorer the surroundings.  We would fairly frequently engage in friendly conversation from time to time.  Terry came down and sat with us also and I talked to him about his journey from Jersey, Rhodesia and South Africa.

One thing I’ve come to realise is how liberal and adventurous could be in the course of one's life, particularly moving from where you were born to a new country and happily embracing the changes and requirements as they arise. I find this quite a determined existence, perhaps brought about by a self-directed appreciation for the opportunities you can take in life. 

My mother enjoys watching the cricket on T.V and today South Africa were playing Sri-Lanka in Newlands in cape town and as I enjoy cricket, particularly South African cricket having been brought up on it, we decided to do down to the recreational facilities near reception and watch it. At this time, I’d already given my father his new phone and he had been taking the time to investigate how it worked and was quite established and so the cricket came and went and he hardly saw any of it as his attention was squarely directed elsewhere.

I decided to order some food from the restaurant and ended up choosing a chicken salad and a trout and pea Quiche. I enjoyed it tremendously because I was hungry and had decided early on in the morning that I forgo any sustenance until I went down to the restaurant in favour of having something ‘exotic’. The cricket was interesting and served as appropriate background entertainment for both my eating and my dad's exploratory learning session. My mother casually was knitting a square or something. We also ordered and enjoyed some drinks in the form of sugar-free ‘Sprite Zero’ and ‘Coke Zero’ which was mine and my parents’ preferences respectively. Thankfully we’ve all embraced the idea that sugar isn’t necessary – even more so because my father is diabetic so having these options suited us well. It was also a warm day and I’d put on a long sleeve exercise-like top which quickly became apparent was not suitable.

Terry came over for a scheduled stop and my folks shared a beer or two with him as it was his penultimate day and he would be leaving the next day.

I decided to leave them talking and considered it an opportunity to re-read my research paper for my university assignment and make a concerted effort to start evaluating the paper critically. This is an interesting but quite laborious exercise requiring deep understanding and concentration.

I put a camp chair outside my tend and with a pen and pad started to externalise my thinking and interpretation of the paper. I’d read the paper in full on the bus from Johannesburg to Ladysmith to familiarise myself with it however it required further iterations and reflection to prise the viewpoints I needed to critique it. I found a new technique by linking phrases and words together with arrows and interconnect them as well as expand them with ideas/questions with arrows as they became apparent. I used this approach to analysing the previous days’ podcast.  I made some progress and as the scheduled ‘Load shedding’ kicked in and the lights went off I had about an hour in declining light fuelled by a headlight to keep me going, at which point I felt sufficient progress had been made.

I re-organised with my parents as night fell and discussed what it was, I liked eating in the UK, specifically the more interesting things like, Artichokes and chicken sausages. We talked about food and we talked about politics. Specifically, we talked about Brexit and Trump and it was, as always, and interesting platform for debate. My dad decided to go to bed and me and my mother shared a few jokes before we agreed to go to bed at this time was a good idea.

In my tent, I used my laptop to write out my critique and went to bed.

Since A Finchley change and Darkwing duck, watch-straps and a mouse I've been on holiday and unfortunately, I arrived in the campsite having started to show more advanced signs of a cold; my nose was running and blocked and my throat was sore. This is no doubt a result of not sleeping very well on the flight and the general circulating cabin air within the plane. It probably didn’t help that there was a lady in front of my seat coughing and a baby to my side coughing.

As an interlude to the days' events, the prior day, Day1 I had a lovely discussion with my parents about all matter of things and I remembered instantly how I enjoyed conversing with them. Inevitably this led to long, deep conversations with my mom about the nature of human behaviour and our interpretations of the past growing up and the impact it has had on us as developing, exploring adventurers trying to understand the essences of ourselves. These conversations I find the most rewarding because the utmost respect and fascination leads to incredible insights from these conversations.  Unfortunately, in our enthusiasm and fascination in each other’s interpretations of things, we stayed up far too late and this probably didn’t help my ailing body – but it was worth it.

I didn’t sleep particularly very well mostly because of the heat and my congestion. I easily woke up to a fidgeting sound above my head and discovered that it was my dad fixing a fastener on my tent window. I felt somewhat rested though less improved however the novelty of my new surroundings and circumstance allowed me to pursue the day with intent, albeit without much vigour.

We had Terry, an ex-electrician from the UK and fellow camper come over and have a cup of tea along with his delivery of the newspaper – which my parents read through while I was otherwise invested in my assignment during the day. I decided to go and have a shower and made my way down to the ablution blocks to have a very warm shower which I enjoyed and probably lingered a bit longer than was necessary.  My mother, as is always the case, had thought of everything and insightfully bought me a toiletries bag full of new products, a pair of “flip-flops” which she’s ‘trekked’ around 6km in town to find – a determination I do not doubt. Furthermore, she takes great effort to facilitate every possible situation that the world might produce in the 2-3 weeks that I would be staying with them. It’s an endearing feeling to know how loving she is and this has always been a constant consideration in everything she does. This is probably one of the reasons why she means so much to me and so I appreciate the kindness and gestures.

My mom and I decided to go for a walk. It was a walking guide of sorts, her showing me various aspects of the surroundings and talking to people that we came across. We walked around a small body of water and saw fishes hiding from the morning sun underneath the mat of shrubbery that lay beneath the surface of the water. Apparently, that variety of water plan is invasive and there is often attempts to remove it. During the walk, I listened to the various descriptions of various scenarios that she described as we walked. One being of an experience she had while walking through an area where the “horses kissed me”. This was a friendly encounter with the park horses – of which my mother doesn’t always feel safe around however at this moment, she felt that being kissed (having the horse sniff-nibble her arm) provided an antidote to her uneasiness.

We walked quite a long way around and up the park and I started to realise how large in fact it was and how all-inclusive it was: there was adventuring climbing, mountain biking, horse riding, swimming and being close to the Drakensberg boys’ school was quite alive at times. I could definitely understand a need to actively run a resort like this as a full-time business.

Not feeling that well still I continued through towards the up part of the park having winded our way to the fancier, purpose-built accommodation. We sat in the shade for a while and continued our discussion about how living a life ‘considered’ and appropriately within your means is really important to one’s psyche. We walked back and I was exhausted but quite amused by my mother’s walking prowess – me being the active person that usually I was.

We have taken to sitting outside my parent’s tent, on reclining camping chairs which serve as our platform of collaboration, deliberation and discussions. It’s a lovely way to ‘join’ my parent’s lifestyle and be apart of it while fully embracing it. My nose started to ‘run’ in full-force and I spent most of the afternoon blowing it and thoughtfully (as ever) my mother brought me a make-shift tissue paper dispenser that made it easy to reach for a tissue in a moment of nose runniness.

A family had parked and erected their tent in front of ours and after careful a while the wife came to talk to us and my mother as sociable as ever made her feel quite welcome. My dad had already talked to the husband while we were on the walk and had established that he was a farmer from the area who were friends of the park owners. Their kids were throwing Frisbees and frolicking in the swimming pool and my mom reminded me that its this interaction that makes growing older a much more satisfying and liberating experience.

One of the things I noticed on the way back from our walk and being shown the restaurant and shared facilities (for example where my mom’s watches the cricket from time to time) is how outgoing South African’s can be and very welcoming. I think at times this outgoingness sometimes makes me a little uncomfortable as I often feel the need become like them and which goes against my very reserved, collected nature. An interesting observation was how reserved I am around people generally and I think I’ve become more introverted as the years have progressed – one of the many aspects of behaviour I discussed with my mother the previous night.

As the day progressed an ever increasing need to finish some parts of my assignment became unbearable and I took some time out of the day to listen to a podcast about agile and requirements gathering that I needed to analyse in the context of my current assignment. I took out an hour to listen and take notes, while my parents looked on and went about their business- which most often is very well coordinated like a good team. I had also taken time to read a research paper about software architecture and the cost of maintenance on highly coupled ones as this again was in preparation for my assignment, albeit another question unrelated to the analysis of the podcast.

As the evening progressed the lights went out and the scheduled ‘load shedding’ came into effect which meant for about 2-2.5 hours there would be no electricity to account for the mismanagement and criminal activity of the recently dethroned government.  I took the opportunity to learn about these activities and the criminal charges now being investigated which was insightful however as I listened, I started to feel quite tired and less able to be sociable. I decided it needed to go and sleep and I abruptly went to bed, bidding everyone a hasty farewell.  

I woke up perhaps an hour or two later, by which time the electricity had been switched back on. My parents had retreated to their tent and I, having still this need to make some progress on my assignment, decided to sit up and get some of it done. Thankfully I finished the ‘podcast’-question I had prepared for earlier that afternoon.  

Prior to heading off to bed, we witnessed the Drakensberg Boys choir boys come down for swimming at the local swimming pool. There was much merriment and excitement at and around the pool. My mom suggested that we go and see them perform one night and I was less than encouraged to do so as I’m not that partial to singing however my mother is, being an ex-opera singer. She left the option open and didn’t press me to go. I’ve realised however in the meantime that this would probably be a new and useful experience, particularly as something we could all do together. So, tomorrow morning, I’ll suggest my aversion to it perhaps was unwarranted because I was not feeling that well.

In hindsight it would be special to my mother so for that reason alone I’ll go, and making memories is important and one of the primary reasons I holiday with them.