Making a Plan

There is a saying in the bush ‘ Making a Plan’ and this is usually but into action when you are in the middle of nowhere and the car breaks down or something has gone wrong, we did not expect to put it into action in Maun.

Sim and I are in town for the week and staying at our friend Cally’s house. We went out for supper at the Sport’s Bar, after England were defeated by South Africa in the rugby. I was certain that we would win and was very disappointed; all the South African pilots needed little to rub in our defeat when we arrived.
It was a lovely evening, catching up with Cally and Wilmie and Chris, who had been staying in camp for a while but had flown out that day.

We dropped Chris off at the Old Bridge Backpackers before going to Cally’s, where Wilmie could pick up her car and go on to home. It was late when we got back and I was very tired, I am definitely more of an early bird than a night owl! And I was dreaming of bed. Unfortunately bed was going to be a little while off, as the electric gate into Cally’s was not working. We were stuck outside. We walked the length of the fence line to try and get old of anyone on the inside, as the plot has 3 houses on it. There was no answer so at 2330 Cally had to ring her landlords (oh dear), as they should have key that would make the gate manual. They did not have a key. We were getting frustrated and annoyed, Cally was flying to Kenya the next morning and had not yet packed!!!

Eventually we gave up on getting a key and Sim set to with a high lift jack to lift the gate off its rollers. This did not work, as we could not get the jack low enough to be able to jack with the handle. In the end it was very simply as Sim lifted it off it railings with the spade. This would not usually work, as the gate was not shut properly which enabled us to move it enough to slip through.

In the morning we faced the same problem, and Cally had to phone her landlady to let her out of their gate. Not the nicest thing to do at 0715 on a Sunday morning but Cally had to check in for her early flight. I felt like a naughty school child.