As usual time is passing very quickly here in Monze.
We have had large swarms of moths over the past few days. At night they find a way into my house and thanks to my mosquito killer they cover the floor by the morning. The weather is getting hot – low to mid 30s with the occasional cloud, but still mainly cloudless skies. We have also had a couple of windy days.
The bird life has perked up recently. I had wondered why the flocks of sparrows contained only males. The reason is that they are not sparrows but Bronze Mannequins. However there are some house sparrows – today enjoying bathing in the bird bath. The mannequins along with a couple of Blue Waxbills were having great fun playing in the spray from a sprinkler in the garden. The Fork Tailed Drongos (the first birds I identified in Zambia many years ago) are around as in an African Pied Wagtail. There is also a bird I cannot identify – the nearest I can see is an Oxpecker – it has a very distinctive yellow stripe under its eye. The Pied Crows and Common Bulbils are ever present. The flowers are coming into bloom heralding the coming rains but the mangoes are all but invisible. Whether I will taste a fresh mango before I leave is doubtful.
I have shown a few people around via WhatApp video. The garden is a nice view, but it is on the Great North Road at the bottom of my drive that you start to get a feel for Africa. Appropriate since I am told that the road stretches from Cape Town in the south to Cairo in the North!
Today I was invited for lunch with Obert and his family. They killed a village chicken for me – happily not in my presence. The village chickens are special in that they peck around finding their own food and wander some distance. As a result they are particularly tasty. I enjoyed mine with some nshima and 'soup' contained onions, tomatoes and other vegetables. My friends make a lot of effort to prepare special food for me – I am very privileged.
I came across Alec – Sampson's brother during the week. He told me that he now has his licence to drive lorries. He needs to get approval to carry goods and he will then try to get work. He then wants his dangerous goods licence!
Our campaign to get funds to buy 250 bags of cement in 50 days for the Science Lab foundations is now live on JustGiving you can check out the campaign and buy a bag of cement by following this link
https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/buildingasciencelab
Best wishes,
Chris
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