The road is calling, and I must go ...

In the long, empty days of autumn we began to talk with some seriousness about a way to avoid the coming winter.

"Why" Said Reinhard "do we not go diving in Mozambique?"

And the seed was sown.

And as the day approaches, life happens. You know how it is. Suddenly the seemingly empty days fill up with important, urgent things that just cannot be postponed.

Now, fitting four people and their luggage and diving and camping gear into the Cruiser wehere two of us had our camping stuff was never going to be easy. Especially as Madam flatly refuses to have her diving gear on the roof rack.

And then things started happening. An Ambassador of a country we MUST visit one of these days, asked me to come and see him. And the new and wonderful modem stopped working after a week. Amd my brother who had emigrated to Cape Town was going to be in town. And Shahnaz had to attend a meditation workshop And then our estate agent decided to stand us up, leaving us two days to renegotiate all the rental contracts, arrange for the servants to be paid, and get the municipal accounts sorted out.

Well, we did have a moment when we thought that we should postpone. After all we do want to see our friends who will only arrive in Maputo on 31 May, and will probably be visitable a month or two later. But Lorraine had already asked for leave, and after all, once we are on the road things will work out, somehow. We know that.

So I got to packing. We will take the Cobb charcoal stove, the Jiko stove, now converted from petrol to gas, and the small Chinese camp gaz stove we bought in Mauritania. And Raienhard has a Cadac gas stove ... Do you get the impression that we are going to be over-stoved? Ok, the Cobb will stay, especially as we will do some camp fires.

So, from the middle of our pile of torches, inflatable mattresses, groceries, batteries, clothes, and sundries, we send you greetings!