Last day in Gaborone.

(picture 1. Calvin, 2. Stitched up Shirley, 3. Nan's lunchtime ear plug invention)














What an eventful night/day,

So, last night we went out for dinner to this plaza called "Riverwalk", in order to get there Collin decided to take us on a detour around the traffic of the normal roads, on a "highway" type road that was under construction, it was literally like off road driving, there were puddles, sinking sand, cows, other cars, sudden turns up hills, quite the adventure.

"Riverwalk" was a cute little centre, best part, a cute boy got out of a car with his parents at the same time that we were getting out of ours. Next best part, they were going to the same restaurant as us, AND sitting at the table beside us. Bad part, I just eye googled him a bit and obviously that went no where, not meant to be.

Dinner was lovely, we all had a wonderful meal, Hayden had eaten before we got there so he had a brownie with ice cream that was played with more than eaten, although enjoyable either way. We had a little trouble whilst paying, Shirley's American Express wasn't accepted, and her Visa wouldn't connect, so she used the cash she had. We finally wound up home and sat downstairs drinking coffee and watching Who Wants to be a Millionaire? Shirley won, and now claims she's a millionaire!

After the show we finally wound up in bed and Skyped with my second sister Kati B. That was a lovely thing, Shirley and I both got to see her and spoke with her a bit about the snow and the expected snow for London, but then realized it was quite late so we needed to get our movie started, which ended up being a movie just for me because mother dearest needed her beauty rest.

After the movie finally finished I still couldn't sleep and therefore I was somewhat surfing the web when I heard something that sounded like a car, quickly followed by lights coming in through the windows. I then began to worry a little bit, Shirley was fast asleep, as was the rest of the house, I had to protect everyone on my own!

My laptop was shut as soon as possible so I could see the lights and car more clearly, which wasn't even possible considering I wouldn't get out of bed because I was too scared, the buzzer rang once, twice, the car made a noise and the buzzer rang again, it was time to wake Shirley up.

There was a loud gasp as I awoke her, but nothing serious, she didn’t believe me that there was a vehicle so she got up to check, low and behold, a truck was outside the gate, I wouldn’t let her turn on any lights as she was going to tell Collin, because if they saw lights they would know that we were here (because they didn’t already?). As Shirley was going downstairs Collin's cellphone began to ring, It was security checking to make sure everything was okay here, they had sent a truck up to check, hence the vehicle outside the gate.

African Break-In Crisis Averted.

Eventually I managed to fall asleep, but not until much later, or earlier? Then this morning I was awoken by the sound of someone telling me it was raining, yet again, more reason to sleep in. UNTIL, all I could hear was Nan basically yelling at Shirley saying something about calling Jane, she would know what to do? Or going to get it checked out? I grabbed my sweater and ran downstairs to find mother sitting on a chair with a towel held to her chin and blood all over her clothing, the foolish woman had fallen off a ladder, and refused to go get it checked and stitched up even though we KNEW it needed to be, I came right back upstairs to start studying as I didn’t want to deal with any bloody situations. I was soon told to wrap Christmas gifts and so I got to work on that, only to look up and out the window to see Jane's car coming home and then leaving again, I could only guess that Nan and mama were with her?

I then heard a knock at my door, figuring it was Patience I said come in, but no one came in, so I got up and checked the door, who was it ? None other than Calvin, now I don’t think I’ve mentioned him yet, but Calvin is Jane and Collin's dog, he is literally part of the family and Hayden loves him. Anyways, Calvin just wanted some attention I guess, so I followed him downstairs and talked to him at the bottom of the stairs, when Patience started looking at me like I was a mad woman, she didn’t realize I was talking to Calvin and thought that I was talking to myself. I cleared that up quickly.

I finished the wrapping, did some studying and then Nan and mother got home, Nan as she had left and Shirley + 4 stitches in her chin.

We made our way to Cannon to meet Jane and go for lunch, Shirley driving standard yet again, she did a fine job on the way there, and parking. We also met Jene but she had already eaten due to the fact we had been delayed by the chin incident. All throughout lunch there was this car alarm that kept going off about every 10 minutes, Nan devised a great invention to deal with the noise (view picture above). After we had finished eating we went into a couple of the shops around the plaza type place and I managed to mis read a couple prices and accidentally purchased two very expensive pashminas, whoops!

Up until now Shirley's standard driving skills have been fairly impressive, although leave the parking lot today was NOT her finest moment. I was CERTAIN she was going to hit the car behind us and therefore I caused a fuss and got snapped at, but the man standing near our car wasn't overly confident with her skills either because he decided to come and guide her, thank god for that! We managed to get out unscratched and without scratching anyone else. Phew.

Weather wise we managed to get out in the afternoon while it was not raining and fairly warm in the sun. As we returned home there was still some sun so I quickly got in my bathing suit and moved a lounge chair by the pool, but as soon as I was settled in the rain began again... FAIL.

I got some more studying in this evening before the rain began even more and then it was a full on thunder storm, which for once I wasn’t afraid of. Until the power went out and I realised my laptop was plugged in, now, clearly everything is okay because I remain to be blogging but it sure was a scare!

Shirley made a loaf of bread and a huge salad for dinner, delish.

Nan did my laundry, perfect.

I am almost finished packing for tomorrow, pleasant and unusual surprise.

Overall today was a lovely last day in Gaborone, Botswana; I will miss it, although I am looking forward to what lies ahead in Johannesburg, South Africa. We arrive there tomorrow morning and will be greeted by more family I assume? Then the day will be spent doing who knows what?