Tale guide

The great migration

The 12th November 2020 saw Ann and I take off from O R Tambo International airport, on a hot African summer's day in Johannesburg to Dubai connecting to Manchester where we landed 14 hours later in a cold and fresh winter UK.

We had to self quarantine at our children's home in Wales through Christmas and as we entered 2021 the UK imposed a second lockdown.

The first signs of a fundamental change in lifestyle came with my 70th birthday. Although a super day filled with much love, it came and went with the least amount of fuss. No parties, lunches or dinners filled with jocular innuendo, copious amounts of wine and expensive excursions in conjunction with my old friend Big B with whom I had shared the arrival of at least three decades along the journey.

The gang however, chose to give me a English Survival kit comprising a scarf, hoodie, gloves, windscreen protector, snow scrapper and rain suit all of which have come in useful on many occasion since.

We settled into a very comfortable three bed bungalow in a small village in North Wales a few months later. We are sitting out the last few weeks of the second lockdown and looking forward to being able to start visiting family and friends as well as exploring our new surroundings.

From here, I am going to try and share some of the many adventures both personal and professional, encountered on the long and winding road. Africa has been my playground. Three conflicts and two revolutions have been my education. Its been exciting, exhilarating and sometimes scary but in retrospect the rewards and successes have made it all worthwhile.

Ours was no ordinary journey and hopefully it will make for some interesting reading.

Richard 

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All the best