On Saturday I attended the Jubilee Joining Course with about 40 others to see how those looking at membership of  the church here were taught about the Vision and Values of Jubilee. From mid morning there was an increasing and uncomfortable pain in my stomach. Long story short, as they say here in Cape Town, but I was to discover that I had picked up the office bug as a number of staff have been suffering the same way. The unfortunate thing for me was that on Saturday evening we went to a 50th birthday party for one of the staff members and I really was not in a state to eat or dance, but I did manage to open the proceedings in prayer!

Sunday morning and I was preaching on the Power of God at Jubilee. It was extremely hot, but we had a really good morning. By the time we got to the repeat meeting in the evening, after a day of constant sunshine and very high temperatures, the building really was feeling like a furnace. Cape Town gets perhaps 3 or 4 days each summer of really high temperatures so it’s not worth the very high cost of installing A/C and one hopes that a Sunday is not one of the really scorching days. But this last Sunday it was. I don’t think I have ever felt so hot in a Sunday meeting in all of my life. A student fainted because of the heat and by the time I stood up to preach  I felt so overwhelmed with the heat that I really had some difficulty keeping focus for the first few minutes - possibly because I was talking about waterfalls - if only!

But Monday was even worse. Debates rage about the exact temperature reached, but it certainly registered into the 40s on our car thermometer and there are claims that it was the hottest day in Cape Town for 40 years. It was hot, hot, hot with a searing wind, just like we have sometimes known in Dubai, but no A/C.

Fortunately by Tuesday it had cooled down a bit, which was just as well as we had the first day of a 2 day Conference with Mark Driscoll. Mark was challenging, provocative  and, by his own admission, at times aggressive! In the evening men’s meeting he said he would give us all a kick in the batteries; which is what I think he probably did. A second day with Mark today and the promise of good things to come in the future with 74 Cape Town churches sending leaders to this event.

This will probably be my last blog until the week after Easter as from this Friday we are travelling for about 3 weeks up to and around the Durban area. It’s going to be a kind of church crawl, as compared to a pub crawl, as we visit various churches, meet up with a lot of old friends, teach and preach a lot, including  joining in a Conference that Terry Virgo is speaking at in Durban and where I am also teaching at a seminar. We hope to get a few clear days as well and to enjoy the drive which will probably be at least 6,000 kilometers.

All being well we will be back in Cape Town in time for the Easter Services - but will we have that extension to our visas? As I was told recently, if anyone can sort out the Department of Home Affairs then they’ll leave a bigger legacy in South Africa than Nelson Mandela.

Tweet This 

Here in South Africa we are issued automatically with a visa on entry to the country and which is valid for 3 months. If you want to extend your stay, which you can do once, for up to another 3 months, then you have to apply for an extension at least 30 days before the original visa runs out. This brings us to the South African Department of Home Affairs which does seem to have achieved legendary status here in Cape Town. Various horror stories are told of complex administration systems and hours of queuing, which as regular followers of this blog will have learned is something I do have views on and have even preached about!

Anyway at the present time we are, as South Africans like to say, on a mission. Some told us we could renew our visa at a local office in an area known as Wynberg, while others said that we couldn’t do that and would need to go to the city centre office. A friend actually rung the Wynberg office for us and was told we could indeed apply locally. Joining the queue about 7.15 we surged into Home Affairs at 7.30 and after a few false starts found the correct office. A wait of only 15 minutes and we were in. Yes, we could apply there, but they would need to take our passports for up to 6 weeks. We didn’t really fancy that, but our journey wasn’t wasted as we were given application forms and then to our surprise a list of other documents that we would have to supply. This included confirmed air tickets proving that we would return to the UK - that’s certainly fair enough, and you’d think would suffice. But no, also bank statements, a letter from someone who would guarantee to pay our fares if Home Affairs wants to deport us, a letter from us stating how long and why we want to stay longer (despite already putting this on the application form) and 70 pounds in cash please.

So on Monday we were down at the city centre office with all the documentation, at the earlier time of 7am and in a much longer queue (these are becoming deeply sanctifying experiences). The slightly worrying feature about this queue was not simply its length, but the way people were carrying books to read, packed lunches, portable loos and camp beds….well slight exaggeration. Once again at the magic hour of 7.30 we surge into the office, up flights of stairs and into a room where people went confidently left or right. Being new to this it took us some time to work out we needed to go left and having lost several positions as people charged past us we sat in a row of chairs waiting our turn. Severe notices attracted our attention with warnings not to throw our chewing gum on the carpet or action would be taken. To be perfectly honest chewing gum would have improved the carpet. Also the staff could be heard behind closed doors loudly laughing as no doubt they planned administrative pitfalls for the customers. Eventually staff began to emerge like champions ready for battle and each time someone was called to the counter we shuffled up the row of chairs - not I might add without a few disputes. But we made it to the counter pretty quickly, our papers were stamped with a machine the size and ferocity of a guillotine, we paid our 70 pounds and whispered to each other - ‘this is going to be easy’. However the lady then told us that we needed a receipt for the money and she wouldcall us when ready. 45 minutes elapsed before we were called to the counter again to recieve the receipt which she had written 45 minutes earlier; but no matter we were about to get our visa extended. Then the fatal words; ‘You can come back next Friday for the result of your application’.

In Ephesians 3 Paul speaks of the ‘administration of this mystery.’ Was this prophetic of the Home Affairs Department? Anyway as yet, we don’t have the visa; we are still on a mission.

Tweet This 

On the whole we aren’t really aware of any more bugs or insects than we tend to have  around in the UK. But now being high summer we do have some nights when we battle with a mosquito. There is that nasty high pitched whine followed by an even nastier silence when you wonder where the thing has landed and how much blood is it withdrawing? In fact I have squashed a couple of mosquitos here that have left sizeable blobs of blood on the wall - my blood I’m assuming. My worst encounter with mosquitos was on a ministry trip to Sri Lanka some years ago when as the sun went down I sat in the home of a couple that I was visiting, with the windows wide open, to be attacked by really vicious insects who, and I am not exaggerating, drilled their way through my trousers. I returned to Dubai the following day covered with bites and feeling quite ill. The worst of it was that someone then told me that they not only had malaria in Sri Lanka but also that the mosquitos there could  carry dengue fever. Anyway, I have lived to tell the tale.

One of the Elders here, Dave Adams, is about to begin a 3 month sabbatical which will take him and his wife Herma to South America. Dave reckons he is a slow adapter to new technology. However we have been trying to persuade him to write a blog while he is away so that we can follow their every move. Steve van Rhyn even prayed that Dave would have a blogworthy visit to South America, so we’re only trying to apply slight pressure!

It reminded me of my tirade 2 or 3 years back when I started to hear of all these people who were regularly posting blogs. ‘What an egocentric thing to do,’ I cried, the idea that other people would want to read about the small inconsequential details of your life. So, I stand condemned out of my own mouth, as I now write this weekly blog, but we really would like to know the details of Dave and Herma doing carnival in Rio and whether or not they get bitten by insects or even have to tackle an Anaconda while having coffee on the patio.

Tweet This 

Valentine’s Day might be thought of as a special day, which allows me to observe that South Africa goes in for quite a number of special days which are public holidays alongside the regualar ones at Christmas and Easter. So we have Human Rights Day, Family Day, Freedom Day, Workers Day (when we don’t work), Youth Day, National Womens Day, Heritage Day, Day of Reconciliation, Day of Goodwill and I suppose there are also a few days when people actually have to go to work! But who’s complaining about all these public holidays?

Last week there was a very special day - though sadly not a public holiday - which celebrated the 20th anniversary of Nelson Mandela’s release from prison after 27 years. It’s amazing that he has lived on another 20 years after such a long and fairly brutal prison sentence. President Zuma gave a special speech in Parliament and Mandela, looking frail now at 91 was present and greeted with rapture by the MPs. I well remember the day of his release as we had returned only a few months earlier  from our first 4 month stay here in South Africa which was the first time we were involved with Jubilee Church and which I had led during that period. Mandela’s Long Walk to Freedom, was, within a few years  really to bring about the rebirth of this nation with the first genuine democratic elections. So it was a day to celebrate and remember and when Mandela is gone I really wonder if they will turn the day into another public holiday.

But there is another special day this coming Saturday and that is Terry Virgo’s 70 birthday, and so the very warmest of congratulations to him. I suggested to Steve that as this was such a special day it ought to be properly marked by giving all the staff a day off to celebrate in the spirit and tradition of South Africa having so many public holidays. Steve said the staff could have the Saturday off as this is Terry’s actual birthday. But as the majority of the staff are off anyway on that day I felt it lacked a certain generosity of spirit! As for myself I will be teaching on Eternal Security on Saturday, but HAPPY BIRTHDAY TERRY VIRGO.

Tweet This 

We have taxis here in Cape Town which we would tend to call minibusses and they are very popular as a cheap way of getting around the city. But like taxi drivers everywhere they are definitely a law to themselves. Their most disconcerting habit is to suddenly pull away from the side of the road without any warning or any signal, straight in front of you. There is of course at this point a somewhat overwhelming desire to make one’s feelings known by either shouting or playing a symphony on the horn, however the Rough Guide rather warns one against this on the basis that the taxi driver is probably carrying a gun. This proves to be a great restraining force on one’s otherwise legitimate outrage.

Some car crime does however produce its lighter moments. The Cape Town Weekend Argus, which is definitely given to a somewhat  sensationalist style of reporting, informed us the other day that 2 women claimed to be in labour when they were pulled over for illegally driving in a designated bus lane. However both were given on the spot fines with the comment that one of them might have been in labour but the other one was definitely faking it. A lot of drivers were pulled over at much the same time, and 294 fined in one day, due to a special police operation in the area. 17 CCTV cameras should have been picking up offenders, but none of them are working as thieves have made off with the fibre optic cables! Several of those that the police pulled over became abusive with 2 women screaming and throwing items at the police!!

Things get more serious on the next page of the Argus as we read, ”Trial of suspected crocodile killers postponed.’ This is not what you might think. The alleged criminals are actually accused of  murdering someone by throwing them off a bridge into a crocodile infested river. Ummm - very South African - it wouldn’t happen in Sidcup.

Another eye catching caption in the same edition of the paper reads, ‘Non-knife bust enlargement seen as booby trap.’ I won’t comment on that one.

Of all the crime arenas in South Africa the one that seems most common and in a league of its own is the stealing of cell phones. One hears of this constantly and many members of Jubilee seem to have had their phones taken. In fact so many have been stolen that I should think by now everyone in South Africa must have at least 3 cell phones of their own - I can’t think why they bother to keep on taking them. My wife feels she is safe here as she has a Nokia cell phone which could almost be a museum piece and would have no street cred at all. Mind you even that is potentially dangerous as recently I heard of someone here who was mugged for his phone but because it was an old one the thieves beat him up for not having one that was more up to date!

I have never been in any place where I have seen so many people speaking on the phone when driving. Every day I see young mothers with a tribe of children in the car swing round sharp corners, the wheel in one hand and the other hand holding a phone to their ear.  Looking at other drivers on the road  you see a huge number of them speaking into their hand held phones. I observed to a Jubilee member the other day that obviously unlike in the UK it is clearly not illegal to drive and use a phone at the same time. “Oh yes it defintely is” he said!

So, as usual life in Cape Town has that extra and exciting edge about it and so if you are visiting this beautiful city, please drive with care!

Tweet This 

On Friday mornings we have a an Elders prayer time beginning at 10.30 but again a new development means we are now bringing in other full time staff with pastoral responsibility and the Elder’s wives - we had a great time together as we focussed on the weekend. In the evening we went to dinner with our good friends Rob and Christine whose company we have enjoyed many times on our visits here. On Saturday we were invited to the student team lunch. This is the group currently working on campus and welcoming new students and helping to carry their bags. There were about 25 - 30 of us and lunch was followed by me leading a time of prayer before the team went on campus for the afternoon.

We’d noticed that just a couple of  hundred yards from where we stay there is what looks like a very popular pizza restaurant. To be honest, from the outside, it looks a bit seedy and I’m not a tremendous lover of pizza, but with so many people pouring in we thought, on Saturday evening, that  it must be worth a visit.  It proved to be a great discovery. It looks even more seedy inside, but it was absolutely packed. Every table and chair is individual and it looks as though everything has been rescued from bottom level junk shops and also everything could probably do with a good scrub, including the menus. But the pizzas were cheap and really superb. When I saw ice cream and chocolate sauce on the menu for $1.35 it seemed almost cheaper to have one than not to have one. Sue felt I definitely shouldn’t have one, but when it arrived with 2 spoons I noticed that the far half of the ice cream was disappearing as fast as my half. So we have discovered the Cape Town equivalent of Donatellos in Brighton, though I submit that the latter is more scrubbed.

On Sunday we had lots of student guests at Jubilee and we had Sam and Sheralyn the new, full time, student leaders to lunch. They are a dynamic young couple, full of energy and ideas, and for dessert we had ice cream and chocolate sauce. Lex preached, at our repeat morning and evening meetings, the first in a new series under the heading, ‘Right or Wrong?’ and did and excellent job on dealing with doubts about the truth and authority of the Bible. I’m due, myself, to preach 3 messages in this series.

Monday was a day off and we went to Fish Hoek, a rather drab little town just south of Cape Town, but with a magnificent beach. It’s the Worthing of South Africa and people retire there, including, so I am told, many Baptist ministers.  No, we weren’t looking for a property for ourselves, but we did witness the landing of a a huge catch of Yellow-tail fish; very popular here in South Africa. Apparently the local fishermen haven’t caught much for a long time, but suddenly yesterday morning the Yellow-tail were running and they landed hundreds. These are serious fish, each 2-3 feet long. People were buying them straight off the beach and others were  immediately being shipped off to restaurants and hotels.

From there we drove back towards Cape Town and stopped at Muizenburg which has a bit of a Bognor Regis seaside feel about it. Here they sell superb ice cream under the brand name of ‘Sinnfull’. I felt that I had been a bit short of ice cream in the previous few days so I considered a scoop of chocolate and one of honeycomb. I was tempted, yes it was sinnfull, but I ate and was entirely unrepentant. We wandered across to the beach at a furious lick only to see large numbers of sad looking surfers in their wet suits and holding their boards at the edge of the water, but none of them in the sea. Then we noticed the flag up warning of great white sharks off the coast. This is a serious issue here; in fact a tourist was killed by a shark off this beach just a few weeks ago. What they don’t tell you in the guide books about Cape Town is that on one side of the peninsular there are some of the most stunning beaches in the world, but the water is ice cold. On the other side the water is warmer, good for surfing, but you risk being eaten by a shark. As for me, I prefer to be sinnfull. That reminds me - another Elders meeting this afternoon.

Tweet This 

However here in South Africa they not only run marathons, they run ultramarathons. The Two Oceans run sweeps around Cape Town fora full 56 kilometers and right now many are in serious training for this fun event. But even this is eclipsed by the Comrades Marathon which is run a full 90 kilometers from Pietermaritzburg to Durban - downhill; but every alternate year is sadistically reversed and run uphill! One of the saddest stories I’ve heard was told to me last week by one of the staff members here in Jubilee who some years ago ran the Comrades. After 11 or 12 hours a gun is fired to declare that the race is over and if you haven’t reached the line, that is it, you are deemed not to have finished. For this particular staff member the gun went off when he was just a hundred meters from the line - he was the first person ‘not to finish’ - surely there ought to be a prize for that.

Runners, of course, need a good and substantial diet. Several people have asked me what I think of the food in South Africa. Well the most important news here is that Marmite is readily available. In reality we eat very much the same here as we do in the UK, and any differences are rather subtle. I am slightly penalised at breakfast because my morning cereal of many years, namely shreddies, are not available here. I therefore eat Weet-bix, which is rather like the English Weetabix except that they add some quick drying cement. Clearly the biscuits can double as highly effective roof tiles, which is what I personally call them, though I do actually quite like them; it’s just that you have to chew a lot harder at breakfast.

One of the slightly odd things here is that green is red and red is green - I’m referring to the milk. In the UK, no fat, no taste milk is purchased with a red top. Low fat, attempting a slight hint of flavour milk, comes with a green top. But in South Africa they swap the colours round to confuse the British. You can imagine the scene early every morning as I stagger towards the fridge to get the milk in an attempt to melt the roof tiles, how that every day I have to think is it red or is it green that I want. And of course on occasions I forget and pour South African green top onto my tiles, to see them, in effect, lying in a pool of murky water.

Fruit is generally quite a bit cheaper in South Africa and there are some rather exotic fruits available. This generally pleases my wife who is a great consumer of fruit. She also produces large quantities of fruit for me for dessert - what’s wrong with ice cream and chocolate sauce I ask? Also any fruit is only available in its season, which actually we appreciate. I’ve never reckoned it to be an advantage to eat strawberries in January in the UK as well as at every other time of the year. And of course outside of the delicious English strawberry season we get those rather grim Spanish strawberries, as large as tennis balls, seemingly produced out of waste rubber and with as much taste as red topped milk - or green topped in South Africa - I nearly caught you out there! In fact years ago Sue’s step father bit deeply into one of these imported straberries and found a large and live worm in his mouth ; but don’t let that put you off; even though it was the start of the Spanish worm flu epidemic.

Meanwhile I continue with the skipping so that should I recieve a sudden call to run the Comrdes or if Matt Davis funks it and pleads a pulled muscle and I have to replace him in the Brighton Marathon, I will be fit and ready. It’s a good thing we can so easily buy chocolate in South Africa as this is a very necessary staple food to support all the exercise.

Tweet This 

Anyway, I was prevailed upon to do a kind of farewell skit, and for those of you that are familiar with the TV programme Room 101 I suggested that one of the 3 things that I would like to get rid of and dump in Room 101 was a preaching lecturn without a shelf. I appreciate that our old lecturn at CCK had probably reached retirement age, but it did at least have a shelf - unlike the replacement model. Preachers need lecturns with a shelf; especially for that all important placement of a glass of water to be easily available when there is a case of preacher’s tickly throat. And occasionally there is a need to take books into the pulpit which can be easily pulled out from the shelf and quoted for the benefit of the congregation. To have to throw your books on the floor and then bend double to pick them up for a quote or practically stand on your head to retrieve a glass of water is just not practical or dignified and indeed demands a certain advanced level of physical fitness.

Which brings me to a real South African obsession - keeping fit. On our way back from the leaders’  weekend - we had to return early on Sunday morning, so that I could preach at Jubilee  - we passed vast numbers of runners and cyclists doing their best to sweat it off in rapidly soaring temperatures. And as for people going to the gym; it’s practically at epidemic levels here in Cape Town. Personally I’ve always been of the view that I can’t see anything wrong in sitting down and having a cup of coffee. But that won’t do in Cape Town; you are almost an endangered species if you don’t go to the gym. Even my wife goes to the gym 2 or 3 times a week here - at least she says she does, I’ve no real proof, so she may be sitting down somewhere having a cup of coffee. But now you can upgrade into a more alarming opportunity of joining a ‘boot camp’. This seems to involve an even more strict exercise routine on a very regular basis, in the open air at an hour so early it’s almost before most people have even gone to bed the previous night and under some sort of sergeant major supervision. One of our staff  members even won his place on a boot camp as a prize! What kind of sadist invents those sort of prizes? Only this morning one of our lovely young female staff members was  moving around the office and up the stairs, clearly in a lot of pain. On asking her if she was ok she told me it was the result of some routine at boot camp - so obviously it’s doing her a world of good.

Anyway, we arrived at Jubilee last Sunday morning and I preached my sermon from the shelfless lecturn that they also have here, stood on my head to retrieve a glass of water in a slightly warmish moment during the sermon, and finally kicked it all over the platform during the appeal.

Last July while visiting our family in Chicago, we went to the magnificent facilities run by Willow Creek Church for a Sunday morning meeting. We met in an absolutely stunning  7,500 seater building with the most wonderful seating, acoustics, audio and visual systems. Everything ran seamlessly and presentations on the platform were flawless. The guest preacher made his way to the centre of the stage to deliver his sermon and I waited for the perfect lecturn to arise out of the floor or be let down from the ceiling - instead of which somebody stuck a music stand in front of him, and that was it!!!

So please join the campaign for lecturns with shelves and save preachers the indignity of having to scramble around on the floor for what they need - it would even save on exercise programs, because, and you’re the first to know this, in order to keep myself supple enough to cope with lecturns with no shelves I’ve actuallystarted skipping.

Tweet This 

Next we are told that our plane ‘is broken’. This rather alarming statement brought to mind a picture of a Jumbo jet with a wing snapped in two, or a wheel missing. It also brought to mind the Christmas present of a DVD that we gave to one of our grandchildren which caused the computer to crash every time it was inserted.  So a change of plane was needed, but we had the assurance that there would be no delay in take-off - now would you have believed that?

Eventually we arrive at the departure point and of course there is no plane - perhaps they were supergluing that wing. Eventually they find a spare jumbo jet in a garage somewhere and an hour and a half after take off time we are at last on board. Then of course it was weather problems. The British obsession with weather has been indulged this Christmas to an extreme degree. Snow meant we couldn’t go to the staff lunch, snow meant the leaders meeting was cancelled - disappointing as  we missed out on seeing so many people. On board our plane we can’t take off without being de-iced, but  because we don’t get extreme weather in the UK there are approximately only 2 de-icing machines for all the airports in the country, so we’re in for a long wait.

One of the big stories over the festive season was about the guy on a plane going to America who tried to blow it up over Detroit. Everyone is nervous, so next up we have a security scare that shuts down Heathrow completely for about an hour or so. Some drunk on an Emirates aircraft was talking about carrying a bomb - well you’ve probably heard the story on the news. Eventually, after they have sorted that incident we are back to the weather and the overworked de-icing machine which is trying to reach every  plane in Heathrow, until finally after more than 5 hours delay and at one o’ clock in  the morning we take off ice free into the freezing air around us.

Despite the weather we had a really good Christmas. It was great to see the family in Poole, to preach at Matt’s church and for Sue to go to see David and family in Chicago.

And actually it wasn’t even so bad on the plane - we were upgraded to Business Class, with acres of space and flat  6 foot beds to sleep on (obviously we drank the orange juice rather than the champagne). What a blessing.

So we’re back in Cape Town for another 5 months and delighted to be here. So don’t change queues, just keep walking around the same one and after 3 times you might get an upgrade, and after 7 times the walls of Heathrow might fall down.

Tweet This 

Passionate followers of the beautiful game will be aware that the major event in Cape Town (and for some the major event in the world) during the past week has been the World Cup Draw. As host nation South Africa was hoping for a soft first round but have actually been drawn against some quite tough opponents and then comes the news that they have lost their Number 1 position  in Test Cricket and that India have now surpassed them. Living next door to the Cape Town Cricket Stadium sort of highlights the challenging week that South Africa has had in the sports realm. But I must say that the newly built Stadium in Cape Town where some of the World Cup matches will be played is absolutely stunning. One of the more bizarre news items accompanying the Cup draw was that a 68 year old journalist joked that he was carrying a bomb when he entered the hall where the draw was taking place. He was immediately arrested and put into prison awaiting a court hearing - you’d think a journalist of that age would have a bit more sense! Another journalist was robbed at knife point and another one had specialist camera equipment stolen. It somehow sums up Cape Town; surely no city more beautiful on earth and yet a threatening city as well.

So we are leaving this lovely city, basking in summer sunshine, for a 3 week stint back in the cold and damp of the UK. One of the effects of the summer climate here at this time of year is that somehow Christmas seems a lot less hectic. There are Christmas decorations about, but you hardly notice them in the sunlight. There is mention of Carol services, but they seem vaguely remote when you are considering how to cool down. I suppose people are buying presents and mince pies, but somehow it lacks the frenzy of Christmas preparations in the UK.

It’s been a fascinating few months. I’ve preached nearly every Sunday - last week at Helderberg now led by Gary Welsh, have been mugged in some public gardens, visited Dubai, been to a snake park, spent 10 days in Zimbabwe encountering crocodiles, hippos and every kind of insect known to man. We’ve stroked a lion and watched whales coming right up to the shore line, seen dolphins jumping near Cape Town Harbour and then read sensational newspaper headlines nearly every day; ‘mayhem in street due to murder’ being a fairly typical one this week. We’ve had a great time in Jubilee Community Church whilst here and been very privileged to have been co-opted onto the Eldership team led by Steve van Rhyn. Cape Town is beautiful and violent, it has some of the best scenery in the world and some of the worst slums in the world. People prosper and high numbers suffer from AIDs. You can view some of the most fabulous houses you can imagine and a few minutes later be looking at some of the worst shacks you can imagine. You can buy top luxury goods in huge shopping malls and at every traffic light encounter people begging for money and food for survival. Such a wonderful city in which to live and such a challenging city in which to live.

Back in the UK I’m expecting to go to a CCK Directors dinner on the first night and then a CCK staff lunch a couple of days later. There are dentists to see, bills to pay, the car to get serviced, presents to buy, visits to the family at Poole, another visit to preach at Poole, friends to catch up with, a Christmas Tree to erect, a visit to Heathrow to put Sue on a plane to Chicago, and 5 days later another visit to Heathrow to pick up Sue flying back from Chicago……Well, you know what Christmas is like in the UK…..hectic!

Tweet This