Leah is 8

Leah's had her eight birthday party, a fairly standard activity nowadays with an entertainer (no bouncy castle or water slide of any kind this time), though we did book a pizza person and do it over lunch this time. They bring along a special BBQ for cooking a few pizzas at a time with coal and make the dough and everything fresh, with a variety of toppings to choose from. With her current obsession with Subway sandwiches we might want to think of a party Sub next time as well!

As is common we had tried to get people to RSVP through Leah distributing invites at class, and did get some in advance, but others RSVP'd in the morning of the party (and some cancelled due to illness) whilst others just turned up without RSVPs but it doesn't really matter for Leah (Hannah is a bit more picky about needing a lot of people, and certain people, to come). Leah did have one short moment trying to manage her emotions, which is quite common generally nowadays. It was certainly to be expected during a high emotion activity and one with many people around, often several at a time wanting to be right or to get their own way.

During a night away with a few other friends last night there was another moment, though this one more unreasonable, with Leah demanding a board game to go her way rather than by following the rules, taking the turns etc. Anyway, eventually everything was fine and her friends (and sister) generally are happy enough to move on. They can happily play nicely for hours, but when there are multiple strong personalities (and often a weak personality who follows a stronger person but not another stronger person) then conflicts tend to come up.

Driving an hour and a half or so out to the airbnb last night which was on the escarpment overlooking the Great Rift Valley with great views (and dusty tracks, dry barren savannah and strong winds), we often have traffic jams caused by cows crossing roads, donkeys pulling carts slowly or the usual slow, loaded, truck.

Several years ago there was a small organic farmers market at a restaurant in a wealthy part of town; once the restaurant was forced to close down the market moved to some space at the back of the animal rescue shelter which could earn some rent from the stands. We've been a regular customer for a year or two and recently found the market mostly empty thanks to the market's organiser's dispute with the shelter on payment and thus taking most of the stalls (and customers) back to the old location (minus the restaurant, now just in the grounds). The shelter is trying to keep the market going on their own, so we will have to see over time if there is space for both or what happens. Either way it is a nice place to get some artisanal food, drink and gifts (and some organic food of course!)

Overseas business trips

With the pandemic now a distant memory and the Summer holidays over with, it is back to normal in every way, including regular international business trips. At the end of August it was a couple of days in Lusaka, the capital of Zambia, and a first time visit. I won't suppose I really saw much of the country, just the roads from the airport to the conference center and hotels were impressive, there were decent traffic lights and security cameras around town, and the brand new conference centre (a gift from China) was very nice. I wouldn't say I even had much Zambian food really either unfortunately; and the people I met at the conference were from the entire continent.

Last week it was a few days in Cape Town, a place I have been to a few times; the conference center there has long been one of the best in Africa and Cape Town is a popular place to visit, despite not having many direct flights, and being very far (even from Johannesburg it is about two hours flight). Apart from moderating a few sessions, accompanying some guests at the events and having some meetings, there was time to go up Table Mountain (this time the weather was absolutely perfect compared to last time when the famous table cloth of cloud was covering the top) though not enough time to walk, so we took the cable car up and down, but did stroll around the top (actually there are several kilometres of trails along the top) which is one of the world's unique ecosystems.

There was also time to go, for the first time, to visit the penguin colony close to the Cape of Good Hope which was quite special, and also entailed passing by some quite spectacular houses on the way, whilst also being reminded again of the really good road infrastructure that South Africa has, even whilst the country has incredible social and employment challenges (it has also has legendary power challenges nowadays). The flight down stopped at Victoria Falls but I was seated on the wrong side of the plane to get a good view unfortunately, and the return flight was all messed up since there was no fuel in Cape Town airport and the flight was delayed the better part of a day with a different route.

It is nice to see colleagues from other offices face-to-face at some of these meetings rather than always talking online, and it is no longer so tricky working out all the requirements for travel during the pandemic. South Africa don't even require a vaccination nowadays, though it still requires a yellow fever certificate which is something I almost forgot was ever needed, though it was the main vaccination requested before 2020 (and fortunately i did have a copy in my bag).