Day 12

Another very chilly start to the day, belied by the abundance of sunshine - we have to keep reminding ourselves it's Winter over here - and a cold and windy drive down to Hopewell with Romeo. No Tammy unfortunately, she was at home still suffering from the spider bite she received just before we arrived at Kuzuko. It seems the bite has weakened her body's defence system and is causing other related complications. We miss her bubbly and knowledgable presence very much and hope she recovers soon.

Our now traditional wander down to the waterhole revealed more cubic capacity of water, but as before the increase in surface area meant the difference is becoming less noticeable again. Still, it is at this point still just possible to see a difference in the level compared to the previous day.

Then back up to the Barn, where we all got on with our respective jobs; Ines and Kira busy sanding the windows -won't be long now before they're ready for painting and varnishing - and thanks to Gerhard dropping by with yet more personally sought supplies, we now have the materials to get on with it as soon as the sanding is complete, and Max, of course, doing his thing with a bucket, a scraper, some newly arrived cement, filling in all what's left of the exterior holes and cracks.

Yeah, I'm cementing. Wanna fight about it..?

While they did theirs, I got on with one of my jobs of filling all the gaps in the wooden side door with slivers of old wood. Not having a penknife to hand t was very like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut, except in this case, using a hammer and screwdriver to split some wood.

Incorrect use of tools #43

No-one turned up at lunchtime, we think probably because of the recent staff shortage issues, and with bellies growling we decided to again make the trek back home ourselves. Before we left though, we had somewhat of a crisis of confidence, and discussed how far foward we were with the project, and where we wanted to be by this point in time. While Gerhard has always been superlative in his determined support so far, and was also busy organising more manual support from outside Kuzuko for next week, we once again really began to doubt ourselves, and the possiblity of properly completing the project. We won't be satisfied if we end up simply turning a disused barn, into a servicable barn.

We are 12 days into it now, and have only 16 days left before our deadline, so we collectively decided that the best plan was to spend the afternoon at home re-evaluating where we were so far, and how best to maximise the time we have left. The blog is also behind (I'm writing this on Friday night!), so having the afternoon off should provide the time to catch up with everything too.

All 4 kilometer journeys begin with a single step..or three

Tired and a little deflated, we tidied up, closed up and trudged home. Kira was probably the least happy about the long walk and also the most tired, but with just a little encouragment soldiered on all the same. It has to be said, both Max and Kira have been incredibly hard working and determined so far, so much more than we could, or even should expect, and make us so proud of them that words cannot even begin to express.

I refuse to walk another step until someone feeds me!

Ines taking pics....

...of these

We got to reception where we met Jonathon, who told us that the kitchen had forgotten our lunches :( but promised to go up to the Lodge to get them as soon as possible. Once back at the house, it was Crunchies all round to tide us over until they arrived. We got out all our project plans and began going over them, marking off what we had done so far, and what was still left to do. Despite actually getting a lot done, on paper it didn't look quite as good. We weren't too long into it when Jonathon finally arrived with the lovely Melissa, a trainee chef that we had met at the communal Braai/party on Sunday night, and talked about everything from where she was from and her family to what to do when we leave Kuzuko and start our travels around South Africa next month.

During our chat, Romeo and Tammy arrived and Tammy filled us in on how things were going with her treatment for the spider bite (reminding us how lucky we are in the UK to have free universal healthcare). We told her about our disappointment with our progress, and Tammy, being the kind of person she is, rallied us together and sat down with our plans and several pens, and helped us go through everything that still needed to be done and what we would need to do it. She is really such a strikingly fantastic person, and if the world had more Tammys, it would be a much better place (and considerably more organised!) than it currently is. Put simply, we all adore her!

After hours of discussion and planning, it was time to get our Braai going. As good as Tammy is at problem solving, Romeo is as good as managing a Braai, and soon after, despite a very stormy wind (and somehow not managing to set the house on fire) the Braai was nicely aflame and would soon be ready to start cooking our Texan style steak, which was a huuuuge peice of spicy meat, about the size of a tabletop.

Melissa left a little later to go home to sort out her own dinner, wished us good luck with our plans and left us to it. Hopefully she'll be round again for a good chat again before we go.

With a renewed determination, and a plan in hand, we finally said goodnight to Tammy and Romeo after a lovely evening with them, talking about everything from animals to Kuzuko.I think I speak for all of us when I say that we would be happy to have them round every night for dinner!