Dale's Arrival

On Sunday we had a lazy day around the house. Abigail decided to make the flowers she had been given off Emily this resulted in me helping her as some were quite tricky however they were very effective when complete. Bradley was back to his usual self on the afternoon playing with Abigail.

On Monday afternoon we had a craft afternoon again making some of the flowers and then using the left over pieces of foam to make mosaic pictures Abigail a parrot and Bradley a giraffe. Amy managed to pop around before heading back to Brikama for a pizza with those in her compound. Then on the evening we called in at Francisco’s for a drink with Emma and Emily they were having a last meal there with friends. We were the first to arrive followed by Kanti, Carol, Kate, Courtney, Paul and a couple of peace corp volunteers which Emma knows. We finally said our goodbye’s to Emma and Emily I know we will all miss them over the coming year, we are hoping to meet up when we get back to the UK.

On Tuesday Paul woke up ill he had been up most of the night rushing to the toilet. He spent the rest of the day laid up in bed sleeping in between bouts of rushing for the loo. It was raining most of today so we didn’t do much. Abigail and Bradley amused themselves by painting a welcome to the Gambia sign for when Dale arrives on Friday. They are getting very excited about seeing their big brother.

We were all up early on Friday Paul to go to the VSO office and then on to get his car taxed. I spent the morning giving the house a quick tidy sweeping and mopping the floors before heading out for some shopping. Bradley all morning has been asking me what time it is and counting down the hours as to when Dale arrives. When Paul arrived home we quickly ate lunch then he went out to try the car no guesses to what happened it wouldn’t start. A quick call to Mowlah to ask him to check the car then we got a taxi and headed off to the airport arriving there at 2.30pm. We watched as the flight landed from a small restaurant upstairs and saw Dale exit the plane. When he passed through arrivals the children held up there welcome to the Gambia sign. After greetings we made our way to the taxi. We had come in by the tourist scenic route however the driver needed to get some petrol so we ended up going home by the Serrekunda highway so Dale got a good look at the real Gambia the same as we did when we first arrived. Before dinner we took Dale out for a walk around the golf course then spent the evening at home relaxing.

On Saturday Paul had arranged for Mowlah to bring back the car battery which needed charging early as the plan was to go to Sanyang staying over this evening. Just before midday he arrived and managed to get the car started. We loaded up and headed out the car sounded great or so we thought as we passed the turntable roundabout heading towards Brufut it started to backfire and then cut out. We then spent two hours sitting under a tree with some friendly Gambians whilst Mowlah arrived and disconnected the battery taking it up the road to get checked. Then Paul ended up following him to pay for a part for the starter motor. At 3 o’clock I had had enough so we gave up all plans of getting to Sanyang so all of us except Paul walked back to the turntable and jumped in a taxi for home. As we neared home the police were out in force and when we were asked to get off the road it became apparent that the president was travelling. We got out of the car to witness the president passing especially seen as it was Dale’s first time. Whilst waiting a European girl was walking along the road and was suddenly shouted at by angry Gambians asking her to stop walking and to respect their president, she was very embarrassed but did stop to watch. The president finally arrived behind a army truck with men holding guns and another couple of cars with bodyguards and flags flying. As he passed he was stood up and throwing biscuits out most of which landed on the road or just at the side no wonder kids get ran over. This was then followed by more vehicles who swerved from one side of the road to the other and then a truck which apparently was full of the biscuits. This was part of his tour as it had been independence day on Thursday.

Chameleon

Mick and Jenny arrived just after midday unfortunately they had been pulled over by the traffic police for not being in the correct lane however they were let off when Mia started crying. We sat in the compound until lunch was ready chatting. The children played in the paddling pool which we had decided to get out, shooting water at each other with water pistols. We ate a chicken roast dinner with all the trimmings followed by mango crumble and custard. We then sat in the compound relaxing whilst the children played. We decided to take them for a walk on the golf course as they haven’t been there yet. All the pigs have now been rounded up and put into their sty so they don’t damage the crops as they are now starting to plant the rice etc in the fields. We headed towards the bridge at the edge of the golf course seeing some lovely coloured locusts, green, yellow, black and red markings of which Paul decided to catch a couple in a jar. We continued on around the edge of the golf course before heading back home for a cup of tea. As Mick and Jenny were leaving for home it started to rain yet again.

We now have a little guest who lives in our kitchen called Freddy he is a skink and is quite tame. I have even managed to give him a dead fly and he sometimes licks my finger. This will be great to get rid of the cockroaches which we seem to have quite a few off. Although only small its quite a shock when one runs out of a drawer, toaster or the seal of the fridge when we open it, we make sure all our food is covered just in case.

Freddy

On Wednesday we had to take Bradley to Africmed, he was complaining of ear ache. This resulted in ear drops and antibiotics being given to clear up his infection. He spent most of Wednesday and some of Thursday sleeping so we didn’t manage to do much other than a trip to Kariba for some shopping.

On Friday Anne, Elsie and Ninky came around for a cup of tea. Anne is from Norwich and has been living here with her seven year old daughter Elsie. She has been running a guest house for the last four years. She has lately been in dispute with her landlord as he is asking for an excessive increase to her rent which she can not afford this has resulted in the landlord trying to evict her from the property. She is most annoyed at this as she has finally got the rooms all decorated and has put a lot of money into the business. This year she was hoping to open a restaurant bar and was hoping to make some good money. Abigail, Elsie and Bradley enjoyed playing for a couple of hours before they left for home.

On Saturday we were woken up with Bradley coughing this went on for about two hours he just couldn’t stop. We ended paying another visit to Africmed. It appears the infection is now on his chest so he was given a stronger antibiotic. From there we had a short walk on the beach at Bijilo before making our way through Senegambia Hotel. Paul wanted to check flight times as Dale will be arriving next Friday and he will be staying for a month with us. We arrived back home, Solomen the guard from next door asked if we wanted to see a chameleon which was in the garden so Abigail and Paul went off to have a look at it. Bradley was too tired so I took him inside it wasn’t long before he was fast a sleep. When he woke up his breathing was worse, Paul decided to take him back to Africmed whilst I stayed with Abigail. He was given some oxygen and a steroid injection in his bum. They were there until 7 o’clock in the evening as they wanted to monitor his progress. When they arrived home he seemed much better and he was very hungry as he had only eaten a banana at breakfast. He ate a sandwich and then went off to bed. Paul and Abigail changed and went out to Courtney’s as Amy, Emily and Emma were having their leaving party there tonight. They will be leaving for the UK on Tuesday so that is more or less all our group gone now. They didn’t arrive back until nearing 11 o’clock Abigail had thoroughly enjoyed herself and brought a couple of presents home for her and Bradley from Emily.