Johannesburg November 20th

Our hotel, The Quatermain, was near Sandton City Shopping Centre. The bed would have comfortably held 4 but we got used to that as the trip went on. We'll just have to adapt to the more confined space when we get home!

The only animals I saw were lifelike but lifeless!

However the birds around the hotel were far from lifeless and emitted a shrill raucous sound that made us search for the source:

One of the culprits!















The hotel provided a shuttle service to the Nelson Mandela Square in front of the shopping centre. Jim and I decided to suss it out for lunch while Charlotte was meeting up with her friend Darlene from Pretoria.

Hmm? Is it the one we know? I don't think so but we didn't try it out just in case we would add to his fortunes!


















After lunch we did a round of the shops and then sat for an hour or so over a Striped Horse local beer and a Grenadilla Granita.

This grenadilla granita was lovely and a great cooler on a hot day!

This was the only wild animal we saw but it couldn't have been too wild if it could tolerate me on its back!
















On our return to the hotel we had a freshen up and then joined Charlotte and Darlene for a pre-dinner drinks.

Darlene couldn't stay for dinner as she had an hour's journey back to Pretoria and she wanted to get home before all those who had spent a leisurely Sunday afternoon eating and drinking would hit the road, lots in an inebriated state! It was really interesting getting Darlene's perspective on life in South Africa.

During dinner we had great fun with our black waiter, Arsene. He was really quick witted and interesting to talk to. However, something strange happened. All I remember is laughing heartily and then finding myself in a heap on the floor beside my chair moaning about the pain in my shoulder. Seemingly Jim and Charlotte didn't notice me falling. I must have blacked out as I had no recollection of falling. I was mortified! Fortunately Garth and Eileen (whom we had met in the transfer from the airport and are in the Ilios group) had left the restaurant. However, another group of 3, who would also be in our group, were there and one of them - as it turned out the couple's autistic son of 41 - kept staring at me. It took him quite a long time to thaw to me in the subsequent days. My shoulder was very painful and I hoped that it would not cause me difficulty during the holiday. What I didn't realise until the following day was that I had also banged my head and had a huge lump which is still tangible now that we are home almost 3 weeks later.