Easter Sunday and no choccie eggs

Very pleased to have our lazy Sunday lie in and skip the morning walk. The curfew means we have to be back at the boat by 9am so we don’t feel too guilty about not doing it later. So many messages to catch up on and the Sunday papers, so it was a very late start to the day. The East winds have returned which makes life on board a lot cooler and more pleasant, as it gets rid of the flies and mozzies too.

Today’s highlight was speaking to all the kids at the same time. Coordinating Botswana, Johannesburg and UK times with us, works very well on WhatsApp. I had to send a message to Phoebe’s boyfriend to get her to look at her phone at the appointed time, she was so intensely involved in a board game she had her phone switched off. They are having a wonderful time at home with our powder monkey, Coco (our 13 year old dog!). He is in heaven having attention from 4 people all day long! They have planted up the veggie garden, got 3 cute small laying chickens, incubating abandoned wild duck eggs and have found a Norfolk supply of magic mushrooms! They are very happy! Hannah thinks she is the only person in the world who is loving life at the moment…… the Okavango delta floods arrived 2 days ago at the lodge where she is isolated. They have boats that they can get out on and seem to get supplies in every ten days. Besides the wonderful wildlife, she has a young crowd she is working with who are all good fun, they have a chef, who cooks her special vegetarian meals, and they still have a cleaning lady employed at the lodge. Hannah our messiest child is in heaven and living in the tidiest room she has ever had! Poor Luke has the most arduous of lockdowns in Johannesburg, not being allowed out and even worse not allowed to purchase booze or cigarettes, they are not considered essential! But for all of that he was in great spirits and full of his normal teasing banter with his youngest sister. It was the best Easter treat being able to talk to all of them at once. Han is often the hardest to get hold of, as they spend quite a few nights out camping.

Frieda (Khalo), Ada (Lovelace) and Virginia (Woolf), the new additions to the Mettingham menagerie

View from Han’s balcony before the water arrives in the Okavango Delta….

……..and afterwards

I think the police must have been on a day off as no sign of them today so we swam around, a little more discreetly, but had a good catch up with our Beccles neighbours in the water.

Rowan got the BBQ working after a few days of being on the blink. Of course it was the normal WD40 and jiggle/bash that did the trick once again. Who would have thought that Rowan would turn into such a DIY supremo! Delicious big steak to share and R’s magic risotto concoction made a delicious Easter supper washed down with a delicious dark nutty chocolate bar.