South Africa, August 2009

Rats! They fought the dogs and killed the cats… I felt as if I’d landed in Hamlin, not Johannesburg, South Africa.My brother started the rot a couple of months ago. He’s a biology teacher and needed some rats for his school lab, so he started breeding them. White ones with horrible red eyes and scaly tails. My niece Megan, she of dubious taste, fell in love with them and adopted one and called her Penny. I still can’t believe that my sister allowed it. When we arrived here my mother suggested to Alex that he also adopt one for the duration of our stay. Alex thought this was a brilliant idea and so did David. So too, to my huge surprise, did Steph. So we are the proud owners (temporarily) of three baby rats called Toxy, Zigsy and Striker. Alistair felt left out so he too got a rat, called Harley.So….5 rats.Yuck.

Yes, well there’s more to our African holiday than rats. Much more to my taste, my sister’s little Jack Russell, Trixie, has presented us with six beautiful puppies. They are absolutely gorgeous and it breaks my heart that I can’t have one for myself. I must admit to feeling a little bit miffed with Trixie though - we moved to my sister’s house for the birth of the puppies on Friday (having landed on Thursday) and spend the entire weekend watching Trixie nest with huge anticipation. Eventually on Tuesday, the powers that be moved us back to my folks house - and that very night the puppies were born. I reckon Trixie was just waiting for us to drive down the driveway before getting down to business. Women! Anyway, all went well even without my eagle eyes surveying and all six puppies were a good weight and are thriving.

There is no winter like a Johannesburg winter. It is decidedly cool, but crisp and clear with vivid blue skies, mornings show off frosty lawns and frozen bird baths. By lunchtime we strip off our jackets and sit in the sun in our shirt sleeves - actually getting too hot. Come the evening the temperature plunges again the moment the sun sets and we dive inside and light the log fire, feeling cosy and warm. Of course, the log fire alone would not be enough to create cosiness - the underfloor heating throughout my sister’s house is of huge benefit! My parents aren’t lucky enough to have either fire or underfloor heating, so we huddled around gas heaters wearing layers of jumpers and blankets….
But that was just for the first 10 days or so, by the end of the trip we had turned off most of the heaters (except the one in my bathroom, I'm such a wuss!) and were wondering why on earth we had brought our big winter jackets.