More jacaranda

I've been told that I should've been here a month ago when the jacaranda were REALLY in bloom - half the blossoms have dropped now. But they're still spectacular.

(BTW many thanks for the comments! Great to know that you're looking!)

The office

Most offices are very boring neutral or ugly spaces, but my new one is actually quite attractive - mostly because it's decorated wiith African art.

Categories of visitor

I'll be moving in to my new house the weekend after next - I've been to see it and it's great, far too big for me - but that means I have lots of space for visitors. There's a garden, with exotic birds in the trees (one type is bright yellow; I'll have to find out what they're called). There are also ghekos. There's also a very efficient-looking security system - cctv and an "electric fence" (this doesn't mean that uninvited visitors get electrocuted, but they set off the alarm and the rapid response team patrolling the streets arrives within minutes; I asked if birds and cats etc don't set this off sometimes and was told yes, this happens but the security teams are used to it). More photos when I take up residence...

Do not disturb

I'm trying to get used to the idea that only some very delimited parts of the city are safe, and that you should drive or be driven from one to the other. This evening I wanted to cross the pedestrian bridge from my hotel to the mall (full of restaurants) on the other side - but staff at reception said not to do it - "because there are no lights" and immediately called a driver - for a free shuttle service. So we drove a couple of kilometres to get to a point a hundred metres away. I then agreed with Mr. Massani, the driver, to pick me up ninety minutes later. Once in the mall everything was very calm and laid back. There were buskers in the car park singing and playing those instruments with metal prongs that you pluck - a wonderful African sound, very much at odds with the American style fake environment all around them.

I don't have a photo of the mall yet (partly because all malls are pretty much the same everywhere and partly because I've been told not to carry a camera around when I'm on my own, or in the evening) - so here's one of the very wonderful dolls used by the hotel as "do not disturb" and "clean my room" etc. signs.

Jacaranda trees

(As expected) it's spring here; what I didn't know was that there are tall jacaranda trees lining many of the streets - at least in the northern suburbs that I'm seeing - and they're gloriously in flower. They're also shedding flowers, so the pavements and roads below are also covered in a blue-purple mantle. The effect is hallucinogenic.

Day one

I am now in South Africa. The flight went well - it was dark when I took off from Istanbul but daylight when I woke up some time later over Zambia. I had a window seat and saw some interesting things - vast wheels of cultivation presumably due to some kind of hub and spoke irrigation system (above), and, coming in to land in Johannesburg, oddly shaped hills of gold-coloured earth, which I later learn are all over and around the city - and are made from the dross left over after the gold has been removed from the ore (there's probably a more scientific explanation, but that's the essence of it). (above above)

Material goods

Today the packers came, and went. My flat has been cleared as if by a plague of burglars. I forgot to hold on to a mug; and teabags; so I had to go out and buy these essential items to get me through the next 48 hours.

(above) BEFORE and AFTER

Leaving home

I came back to Sofia today and did some triage on my meagre possessions - some will go by air (making giant carbon footprints on the way), the rest will take a more leisurely sea journey, to join me by Christmas if I'm lucky.

It's autumn in Bulgaria, trees are shedding leaves with exuberance - the photo above was taken on my balcony. But I'm about to leave this for spring in the southern hemisphere.

Preparations for the journey

Africa.... Africa? Four days until I go. In the meantime I've been to London for a bit of brainwashing, and I crossed the river a few times.