Feeling Festive

I spent the last week in Kampala trying to be festive. Eggnog at Book Club on Monday, four Secret Santa games (yes four!!) at various parties, mince pies, Christmas carols and mulled wine, all in the hottest week since August. All of these activities conducted in floaty skirts and flip flops. Whatever you do, it's hard to understand that it's Christmas.
Now I'm home and have forgotten I have ever been warm. I'm wrapped up in fleeces and blankets, unable to tear myself away from the fire. But it does feel Christmassy. As I drove back from the airport this morning, I saw the blanket of snow covering the surrounding hills.  There were even 2 reindeer in town this morning! Since when do we get so much snow here? Must dash - it's time for a mince pie and a Baileys!

Season's Greetings

They say Christmas gets earlier every year ... well this is the first time I have ever seen tinsel and fake snow on sale in MAY ... oh Uganda!

Strange but true
 
Today we had a hailstorm in Kampala. I am not kidding when I say the hailstones were the size of golf balls. Children and adults alike came out of their classrooms to watch this extraordinary experience. How is it possible for big lumps of ice to fall to the ground in a tropical country on the Equator?

As for snow - I think it will only ever exist in aerosol form in Uganda!

Christmas chaos

The other Llandudno!

Waiting for my parents to arrive in South Africa was like ... well literally was ... waiting for Christmas. As I turned up the fan in my room, I found it hard to believe that it could possibly be minus double figures in the UK. First there was the snow in Paris, then there was a laissez-faire attitude to rebooking the flight on behalf of the French airline. I was lucky a couple of friends from Kampala were in town as they kept me entertained. On Christmas Eve, I joined the throngs of local shoppers in the mad Christmas rush, buying ingredients for our first ever Christmas braii - several bottles of wine and bubbly, a Christmas cake, mince pies and I even made a good attempt of buying the meat!
On Christmas Eve I spoke to my parents as they were in transit in Dubai and we realised they had neglected to book a hotel for the overnight layover in Jo'burg. Armed with only a 2004 Lonely Planet, I contacted all the hotels and eventually found them some room at an inn. I then worried whether my Mum would survive a night in a guest house that the Lonely Planet only described as 'passable'! I contented myself with the thought that if the room was that bad, they could pitch the tent they had brought with them for me inside the room. This is not as improbable as it sounds, as my Mum was famous for bringing her own deckchair and cushion to sit on when she visited me in student houses, so afraid was she of catching something from the ancient brown velour sofas (my former housemates will testify this fact)!

On the way to Cape Point on Boxing Day

On Christmas Day I awoke to blue skies and a blazing sunshine over Llandudno, Cape Town. This Llandudno is far more beautiful and upscale than its namesake in North Wales. I collected two travel weary parents from the airport and we took a scenic drive along the coast to our temporary home. We ate, drank and made merry, preparing for the rest of the trip ... but that's another story!