From Warmington to Missions Ablaze - Day 305-307
Updated: Sep 23, 2018
These three days takes us from Warmington to Missions Ablaze in Durban.
Our last full day in the UK was lovely. A lazy breakfast with our family and the McCormacks, who are like family to us, lots of banter, much laughter with an ease and much love. It was John's 24th Birthday. Where did that time go? We are so proud of him. He has such a lovely easy going, happy nature and yet is so driven with his own business BodyCare Therapy. We are very blessed to have such wonderful sons. Barnwell Park was having a food fest, so we all eventually got down there at various times and wandered around the stalls. George, Laura and we two had a stroll around the lakes, passed the ducks and swans, one being rather on the large size. We so enjoy hearing about their new home, their work and their ideas. Such a creative couple. Back at the fest, a ukulele band were playing, all dressed in black apart from a piece of blue and yellow material which was adorned in some fashion; a headscarf, flower, tie, neck scarf etc. One gentleman didn’t seem to be wearing it. We wondered if he had made it into a pair of pants. Walking around the stalls, we had fun critiquing some and how they could improve, Laura always has such great ideas – a budding entrepreneur. Just as Tim went to buy some pulled pork in a bun, the stall announced that they had run out of buns so were giving away the meat for free! Great for our family, but not great for their business. Perhaps they didn’t realise that the local Co-op was a walk away and they could have zoomed there and bought more buns.
We returned back home, being the McCormacks’ pad. Our home seems to be anywhere where our rucksacks abide! Time for Tea and Birthday Cake before our sons and girlfriends returned back to their homes. Huge hugs and a slight welling of tears (I don’t think they noticed) saying goodbye…only 98 days before we see them again – next time in Brazil!
We popped around to see friends Maura and Clive, loved hearing about their family. Tim was very envious as they are now Grandparents. Their daughter Laura has an App that creates a short film from daily snapshots of the baby (a second a day). What a lovely way to see her develop and grow over the next few months. Onto our friends Sarah, Simon and Charlie for Sunday roast. Again, so lovely to hear their news and share the highlights of our trip so far. Life has its ups and downs and having close friends to share both times is comforting. We have both lost a parent since we last saw one another, and both Mums suffered horribly. We wouldn’t allow our pets to suffer like this and so sad that in Britain, people don’t have the choice to depart from this life humanely with dignity.
Time to get back and pack our bags. I’m not a great “finisher”, I pack well to begin with, but with all the bits and pieces, in the end I just scoop them up, shove them in a pencil case and put them in my rucksack. I am sure over the next 3 months I will get to sort these odds and ends out.
Our next two days were spent travelling; Warmington to Northampton to Birmingham to Istanbul to Durban. Has the room between the seats on airplanes got smaller? It seems so cramped and I am hardly of tall or big proportions. We both didn’t get much sleep. I am such a wriggle bottom and admire people who sit upright, head back, mouth open, sound asleep for hours on end. An aim for our next long haul?
Over 24 hours later we picked up our hire car and arrived at our Airbnb greeted by amazing blossoms on the trees of different hues. Pinks, deep reds and vibrant violet. The Airbnb is called Missions Ablaze and is a Christian charity, which, we discovered, feeds over 1 thousand people in various locations in and around Durban. Incredible what people do and glad that our Airbnb money goes towards such a worthwhile cause. So, our next adventure begins. I wonder what our time in South Africa will bring. Any tips, places to see, people to visit, charities to actively support, please do let us know.
