Week 58 (26 Aug – 1 Sep 2007)

Picture: View of the River Nile from our chalet

Sunday 26 Aug 2007
I think the blog entries this week are likely to be very similar. Got up, had a leisurely 5 minute walk to the restaurant. Had a filling breakfast sitting outside overlooking the River Nile as the sun rises higher and the temperature also rise from cool to pleasant. Took a bit longer walking back to the chalet. Sat on the private veranda, also overlooking the river but a bit further downstream. Read and admired the view. Had a cup of coffee (Andrea) and soda (James) with a slice of cake. Continued to read or use the laptop. Meandered up to the pool for a leisurely swim before lunch. Rest beside the pool after lunch with a possible second swim. Return to the chalet to rest after the exercise and read then shower and return to the restaurant for our evening meal.

It’s true that we are missing some things. Like the 5am bell, the knocks on the door, the goats and cockerels crowing (yes, I know goats don’t crow but they are almost as loud!), fending off the cows from our washing. But we have sacrificed the solar power for electricity all the time and a bucket for a shower. But you can’t have everything! Still, it’s a much needed break and rest.

Saturday 1 Sep 2007
The week did turn out as expected. Except that the weather turned dull and cool i.e. very comfortable for us and not so bad that we couldn’t sit by the pool for a few hours each day, have a leisurely swim and lunch. Apart from a few small conferences and occasional day visitors there were generally less than ten other guests at any one time. We had the pool to ourselves much of the time so it was even more peaceful than we had expected.

Our return trip was without incident – the lorry we passed last week still had not been moved. After some shopping on the way, we settled ourselves in Lyn’s flat – she was elsewhere.