Easter Update

After the lengthy essay about my exploits up Mt Stanley in March-April, the creative juices – along my toe nails – seemed to drop off.  With legs resting over the following weekends and a wedding in Italy, life in Uganda slowed to a snail’s pace as work took over and Stanley took his own ‘holiday’ with the mechanics, thanks to a broken timing belt tensioner bolt and associated problems.

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Although I alighted to similarities between Derbyshire and the remote Rwenzoris aside from the obvious a lot of the small things are just different in Uganda.  In the UK April into May typically heralds the end of winter and the start of summer.  The time of year when the windows are thrown open, the spring clean is carried out and the ladies start to appear in shorter and shorter skirts.  In comparison when we arrived in Uganda thanks to the fabulous year round climate we opened the windows on the first day and have never closed them.  While with regards to Uganda’s difference to the streets of Newcastle, if certain parties within the national government get their way the short skirt may be outlawed from Uganda.  In April reports, Politian’s close to the church called for an end to the much loved mini-skirt claiming that it insights violent attacks and would become illegal under the new anti-pornography bill.  Obviously this caused uproar among young Ugandan’s and in recent weeks the bill appears to have rolled off the front page as a result.  In fact it was almost lost altogether after the two largest national newspapers were shut down for nearly two weeks for printing sensitive material.  If only we could do the same with Max Clifford back in the UK!

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Spring in the traditional sense is all about change and in our Mutungo urban-shabby-chic-cottage this month we can certainly side with that.  After lots of side tracked weekends and travels around the country, with Stanley out of action we finally had time to get the timber deck constructed in the front garden allowing us to make use of eating breakfast outdoors and giving us twice the living area.  To Maggie’s initial despair the deck was not the only new introduction though.  As towards the end of May we took possession of two young pigs that were destined for an early death at the local slaughterhouse.  Although I’m happy to say that the lives of Sir Henry Bacon and Prince Fredrick von Sausage have been extended, it won’t be for long as they are feeding well and destined for the dinner table in the run up to Christmas.  Watch this space.