April 6: Pretoria

I spent the morning sorting out my Indian Visa which had to be done online. There were lots and lots of issues, and I dealt with Live Chat, and together it worked!! All is done, so I will be able to return to India May 30. Really pleased about that. It was too long sitting, so I went for an hour's walk. It rained very very gently for some of the time. It seems that the rains are now happening in South Africa. Johnny came home at lunch and we had a good visit. Then I spent the afternoon talking to Intrepid travel about the upcoming camping tour to Botswana. Seems like everything is falling into place. I can only take a small bag with me to Botswana and Zimbabwe as it is camping, but the rest of my stuff needs to go with me to the UK. So Johnny has arranged for my second bag to be given to me  at Johannesburg airport, as my Harare flight stops there for three hours. This will work well!!

After that I read my Shantaram Indian novel, which is really holding my attention....very exciting, but real as I have Indian experience, especially Mumbai, where much of the action occurs.

Well that's all.....supper and TV, and bed tonight ahead. It is now raining quite hard, and has got quite cold. This is autumn, not called the Fall here. Some trees are shedding leaves which have turned yellow, and in the Western Cape some trees actually have the golden, orange, red leaves we have. Most trees in winter do not shed leaves. No basements in South Africa....but there are some heaters in the rooms.