Rich in Time

With the approach to Christmas I am down to just one student, Runbo my 4 year old who I am taking every day. This suits me as it means I still get paid over Christmas and it gives me something to get up for everyday. Runbo continues to be obsessed with dinosaurs and his dinosaurus rex. I have been lent some dinosaur biscuit cutters to make biscuits with Runbo (see below) and I discovered a whole two shelves of books on dinosaurs at the library. I think I'm going to learn a lot about dinosaurs in the coming weeks.

I read Runbo a story about Father Christmas yesterday and I discovered he is a very astute four year old. I've never really thought of it this way but Runbo seemed very perturbed that a stranger was going to come into his house, even if he is bearing presents. He also looked at me very skeptically and said how was Father Christmas going to fit down his chimney. I replied well maybe with a bit of magic. Runbo retorted well why didn't Father Christmas just use the front door? Yes I suppose it would be much easier. To squash all further tales of Sant Claus Runbo announced that his daddy had said it was just a story. Well then, that was the end of that. Today we read Guiji Guiji about a crocodile who thinks he's a duck instead.

Have been trying to be supportive to three friends who are battling with severe depression at the moment. Realizing it is hard to know what to do and what to say at times and whether you're imposing too much. I do know what they're going through though and try think of what helped me but it is tricky. My depression support group meets for a year end get together on Saturday. It has grown since I first started it and people are beginning to share more.

Tomorrow I'm picking up a friend who is coming through from Bulawayo and we're going to brave Linquenda House, the immigration office, in town. The government has just changed how you get your permanent residency renewed. Up until now you could just waltz into immigration and present your passport and they would happily stamp it for the next year free of charge. Not so any longer, you now have to present your life story in the form of certificates and medical letters etc. to prove you have lived here all your life. You also have to cough up $100 and no, you can't pay in bond notes, you have to pay in US dollars cash or supposedly by bank card but conveniently the machines have been down the last week apparently. True this means you don't have to go into town every year - but it was free and much less hassle! OK rant over. We will see what tomorrow brings. I'm armed with a copy of The Girl on the Train to read in the queue.

If I survive till tomorrow evening, I'm going to a bring and share Christmas dinner with a friend's bible study group. I have just finished preparing roasted butternut and red peppers. Will hopefully enter into the Christmas spirit after a day at Linquenda House.

Asylum

Arriving at midnight to cold linoleum floors.

Long corridors of bolted doors

holding people, prisoners of their own minds

numb to everything or else incredibly raw inside.

Medication doled out to soothe internal pain

but the scars that are there will always remain.

Desperate cases with one last resort.

Can they be fixed or left to fall apart?

Dinosaurus Rex and Tea with the Nuns

This morning some of us on the Convent Old Girls committee took Christmas tea to the nuns at the House of Adoration in Emerald Hill. We arrived and set out tea but were waiting for the seniour school madrigals choir to arrive. When 10 o'clock came and went I phoned the school secretary Mrs Gatsi and she said no bus had been booked for the choir. She said she would follow up for me. In the meantime we went ahead and had tea and we sat at different tables with the sisters. There were some from my time at the convent who have now retired. One nun, Sr Loyola taught piano at Convent and she is now 103!

Tea over, the nuns started to disperse but suddenly a Convent bus came roaring into the car park and the madrigals came and sang four pieces. We were just thanking and saying goodbye to them when another Convent bus came into the grounds. Turns out the juniour school choir were coming too. One after another they came in and then got everyone into the festive spirit with Christmas carols. The nuns loved all of it and we got two choirs worth of entertainment for one morning when we had pretty much given up on having any.

Taught my four year old Runbo again this afternoon and we looked at a book on dinosaurs. He then proceeded to announce he was a dinosaurus rex and was going to eat me up. He is a bit torn though as to whether he would rather be a dinosaurus rex or a pterodactyl. I don't know that I knew what those were when I was four!

Oh, and on a different note, finally had a paper I worked on with Rosemary Groom and Craig Jackson on wild dogs and lions accepted for publication in Animal Conservation.