Day 1: Thursday 28 June

It was a 10-hour trip from Heathrow (terminal 4) to Johannesburg. The plane was full, and the seats were narrow and uncomfortable, so I didn't get any sleep. Read James Ellroy's "The Big Nowhere" all night--it's an apt title, I'm still trying to figure out what it's all about!

The exchange rate for the Rand was about 8.4 to the Punt. The rand has lost 47% against the US dollar over the past year.

Romie, an old friend from Hannover days, met me at the airport and brought me to St. Catherine's convent school at Rosebank. My cousin Olive, who lives next to the school, was on retreat, but had arranged for Sister Evangelista to meet me and fix up my living accomodation.

After some badly-needed sleep met some of the sisters. There were 6 in total from Ireland. The dinner conversation dealt with problems the sisters were having with email and sending images over the Internet. As I was trying to put some of the solutions into terms a layman could understand, Romie arrived (Olive calls Romie Romany, which suits her).

We drove to Melville, close to where Romie lives. Melville is an arty place with lots of bars and restaurants. The air was crisp, dry. A dry cold, unlike back home. We went to a Portuguese restaurant, which in fact seems to be more from Mozambique. We had sardines as starters--they are in season now. Shoals of them are coming down the coast--they can be scooped up into the hand. Dry red wine and brandy, prawn curry (mild with cocoanut milk), 200 rand for the lot.

For all its wealth and natural benefits, South Africa has a lot of problems. We discussed the AIDS problem, one of the major talking points right now, then went on to the economy. Compared SA to Zimbabwe, which 10 years ago was a prosperous country, but which is now, under Mugabe, going downhill fast. The whites still control the economy here, but many young people are leaving, heading overseas, while many white farmers are in a state of siege on their isolated farms. The question is, is South Africa going to go the way of Zimbabwe, where the white farmers are being dispossessed and the economy is in tatters?