Well, I typed out a long addition about our t...
January 28, 2002 by Sue in Wielesek
Well, I typed out a long addition about our trip, but I managed to erase it before inputting it.
I'll do my best to reconstruct. Seraph, Robbie and Isa took us to Portland, and our plane left at 1:20. We were a little surprised at how full the plane from Portland to Chicago was, and how crowded the flight was from Chicago to London.
We had made arrangments to meet cousin Sandie at her office in Pimlico, and we left our stuff at Left Luggage (sounds vaguely politically, doesn't it?) and took the Heathrow Express and Underground. We were pleased and surprised to find that Mary had come in from the Isle of Wight. We had a good but all too brief visit.
It was a little eerie to be back in the London airport. Security there still seems much more thorough than here.
We had more space on the night flight to Johannesburg, and both got a little sleep. However, we both arrived a bit groggy, and were promptly set upon by hordes of people obviously not airport employees, who were anxious to direct us in the right direction, for a small gratuity.
We had reserved a hotel, called The Senator, over the Internet. We were even further non-plussed when we got there and the desk clerk said, cryptically, "We've been having Big Brother parties, and there have been complaints about the noise. We're going to move you to The Emperor". The shuttle took us a little further, to a gaudy, glittering hotel with a huge statue of four horses leaping through an enormous fountain.
At this point, it will be obvious that Dick and I don't watch enough TV to figure out that Big Brother is a reality type show, and the Africa version of the show had just ended. It will also be obvious that we don't spend much time in Las Vegas, or we would have recognized a replica of Caesar's. The place was surrounded by a wall and patroledby men with police dogs, and the only auto entry was through a security check point. Even so, the parking lot had guys offering to watch the car, and we were advised not to part in a secluded area of the lot.
Sadie was due in on Friday, so we picked up our rental car at the airport. For some reason, it was hard to find anything but manual transmission. Dick spent an hour driving around the parking lot at the hotel, trying to get a handle on left hand driving.
We weren't quite sure when Sadie was to come in by plane, so we spent yet more time in the Joburg Airport. The Johannesburg airport is one of the least lovely places on the planet. It's dirty, and the sound system blasts unintelligble Afro-pop and old 80's american hits. The food is awful, and Joburg has a higher percentage of noveau riche and white trash, all of whom seem to hang out at the airport. I did find passable coffee, but coffee went rapidly downhill from there.
Dick and I decided we might as well stay at the Emperor on Friday night, in part because everyone uniformly advised us of the dangers of travelling around Johannesburg. Sadie finally arrived, looking brown and lovely, and we all went back to the hotel. Sadie was slightly stunned by the opulence, having spent at least some of her time in Botswana
using an outdoor privy at a house with no electricity.
We had thought we would heading north to Botswana the next morning, but Sadie wanted to wait for her gentleman de jour, who was flying home through Jburg on Saturday. However, instead of spending more bonding time with Jburg International, I said I wanted to go to Sterkfontein Cave, part of a World Heritage archeology site, so we all piled in the car. Dick was still white knuckle driving, but we finally found the cave, and had a wonderful tour. We saw our first Weaverbird nests, and guinea hens, too.
We never did find Sadie's boyfriend, and learned later he got hung up in customs.
South Africa was very strange. It took me awhile to figure out that what I felt so uncomfortable about was the fact that white people did all the sitting jobs and black people did all the standing and stooping
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Hi from mom
January 25, 2002 by Sue in Wielesek
Hi from mom. Sadie should be getting into Northampton just about now. While Dick and I were at symphony last night, Sadie called, and called again just as we got in to tell us that there was some security breach in St.Louis, which meant that their flight was delayed and she missed the flight into Hartford. They put her in a Ramada Inn, and she was fine. Thank heavens we had made arrangements for her to go back a couple days early (classes start Monday).
Dick and I are going to the Coast this weekend, but hope to have some grandkid time next week or next weekend. Love to all
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