I flew out from South Africa on 10th February, with a six hour layover in Abu Dhabi. I had arranged for Clare & Ahmed to meet me & we quickly exited to a pub/restaurant on Yas Island. How this place had changed! It is even more impressive now than when I was resident here.
It was great to see them again & Clare is having a baby boy due in early April! She is looking well & appears to be having no trouble with the pregnancy. We chatted about all the recent events since I last saw them in South Africa in October.
The little gifts!
The all important bump!
All too soon it was time for me to get back on the plane & resume my journey to London Heathrow. We had a fantastic few hours together but it was far too short a time.
My arrival!
I arrived early morning on 11th February. It was freezing cold, typical for February weather in England! Jonathan was there to meet me having drove all the way from Dorset to pick me up. It was nice to see him again & I was thankful that he had made the effort to pick me up. Rowan was working from home that day, so wasn't able to be there.
We quickly drove to Shaftsbury where they now live. Jonathan is the manager of The Mitre Pub in the small market town. Shaftsbury is set among rolling English country side & is a very scenic little town of around 9,000 people. After settling in & meeting Rowan we conducted a little walk around the town for me to get my bearings. It was a cold day but quite pleasant to be out & about.
The first signs of spring!
Snowdrops!
Shaftsbury is the place where the famous
Hovis advert was shot.
We walked to the famous Gold Hill where the Hovis advert was produced. This was probably one of the most famous adverts of the time & ran for a long time.
Quite a surprise!
Canon R5 Mark2!
That evening I received a surprise! It is my 70th birthday in April & unknown to me Delana had organised a very nice present indeed. While on The Flock to Marion I noticed that quite a few birders were using this camera & achieving fantastic results. The huge difference was the speed & accuracy of focusing, particularly a small grey bird like a Storm Petrel on a grey sea. I looked into it & thought that I couldn't afford it at this moment in time. Delana then contacted my daughters & a couple of friends to contribute for the body of this camera. Which they did do & I am immensely grateful for. So she ordered the camera body for Rowan to pick up in England, which she did. However, as this was such a short trip I didn't take any camera lenses with me so I will have to wait a little while to use it. In my absence Delana also bought a RS to EF converter, so I could use my old lenses on this body. Can't wait to get started!
The next day we all drove to Newport in Wales in order for me to renew my UK passport. I picked the emergency four hour service, which worked very nicely. I was in the office for only a few minutes & then returned four hours later & it was ready! Two hundred & fifty pounds well spent! After picking the passport up, we drove the short distance to Caerphilly & enjoyed a short walk around the castle in freezing conditions. We saw a few birds including a lovely pair of Goosander. It was a really nice day out.
On 13th Rowan & I had a nice walk around this small town, visiting some really interesting local shops, culminating with a couple of drinks in The Mitre, which is a nice place to hang out.
At The Famous Green Man pub.
Nicci & me.
The next day we all drove to Ewell, where I was staying with Nicci & family for the next three nights. We ended up enjoying a nice meal in the newly revamped Famous Green Man pub in the village.
Rob & myself in the cafe.
Me & Happy the husky!
In the pub again!
On 15th February Rob Quested came to visit. Rob is an old friend from the days of yore in Abu Dhabi. He had caught the train from Winchester to spend the day with me in Ewell. We started by enjoying a full English breakfast in Nicci & Sara's cafe, followed by a walk around the village & lunch at the very plush Derby Arms on Epsom racecourse.
Shaun
On 16th I was finally meeting Shaun Ferguson. Shaun is a South African birder who has been living in the UK for twenty six years. Three years ago he & his wife Karen moved just two doors away from Nicci. They got talking & she mentioned that I was a birder as well. He has been very instrumental in cleaning up the local Hogsmill Green Space close to where they live. So this fine Sunday morning we set out for a couple of hours birding, which was very pleasant indeed. We recorded forty species including Red Kite & two species of Woodpecker. It was great to meet him &we had a good chat while birding.
Then it was time for me to pack my bags again for Abu Dhabi where I met up with Clare, Maarten, Lorraine & Dave. Ahmed was flying to Washington DC, so wasn't present. We all met in the local pub &had a great time before I was once more on the plane to OR Tambo, where Delana met me in heavy rain. It had been a short but very nice trip to see three of my daughters, Rob & Maarten & got both my passport & driving licence renewed.
