Warriorbern on the Move

I don't usually write any blogs when I am home but most of this one was already written while I was still in the Seychelles. I had anticipated having an internet connection over the weekend but that didn't work out so here is what I wrote and a little more. On Friday we finished all the work before lunch and, on looking at what we had spent over the week, decided that we could afford to go out for lunch. Originally we had talked of going to the Pirates Arms but since it was the first day of the Seychelles school holidays, everyone decided that it would be better to find a quieter place. We ended up at a restaurant called Moloko in New Port Docklands. They serve a mixture of Chinese, Italian and Creole food. Most of the group had pizza but I settled on a delicious lasagne. It was a fun lunch with easy conversation and lots of laughter. Happy lunchers! After lunch we returned to the office for a while. I should have been driven home almost immediately but due to a n...

Up until today we had a really good working environment but this morning we were moved out of the venue we have been using. It was a fair enough decision as the room was enormous and there were only 6 of us in it. Another meeting with many more people needed the space. Initially we moved to a very nice conference room at the fishing harbour or area called New Port. It was a nice venue with plush leather chairs but the internet cables from the offices to the conference venue had not been connected so it wouldn't work for us. We decided to have our tea break there and then return back to SFA. We ended up working in one of the large open plan offices. The downside was that we didn't have a data projector in the office so everyone had to crowd around a small screen trying to see what was going on. Clustered around a laptop The group has suggested that next year their workshop should be held in Durban! What a pleasure that would be but way beyond the means of the project. ...

After work yesterday I put my walking shoes on and went for a walk to Bel Ombre and back. It took me just over an hour and was good exercise. I really don't enjoy the lack of pavements here though. The whole time walking I have to stick as close to the edge of the road as possible and sometimes flatten myself against the houses' walls to get out of the way of oncoming vehicles. The Seychellois are so used to this situation and they casually wander along the roads without much regard for the cars and buses. I'm sure that if I did that though I would just be taken out. A situation I don't fancy much so I squeeze up against the walls or drop down into the gutters when necessary. Bel Ombre is just a tiny village that has a small craft harbour and, other than little boats, there isn't much to see. It is a good distance from my guest house though - about 3km which makes a nice 6km round trip. My guest house is on the right and Bel Ombre is on the left  The...

My final night in Mauritius was very pleasant. I had dinner at the guest house with two British couples and it was an evening of good food, good conversation and lots of laughter. Eventually I had to excuse myself though to pack my suitcase ready for the trip to the airport and on to the Seychelles. While I was waiting at the airport to board the plane there was an older gentleman sitting near me who was having a long conversation with himself quite loudly. I felt really sorry for him because I think it was not something he could help doing and everyone near him kept on staring at him and whispering about him. I was concerned that he would tear up his boarding pass because he seemed to be going through all his papers and ripping everything up. Thankfully he didn't though and I saw that he got on the plane without any problems. The flight to the Seychelles was fine until the final 10 minutes. There was a toddler running around the plane and when she was told to sit down fo...

This morning, at breakfast, I met a lovely older couple from the UK, Ted and Lyn. Lyn was born and raised in South Africa and we recognised each others' accents and got to chatting. They asked what I was going to be doing with my day and when I said I was going in to Port Louis on the bus they said that that was their plan too. So we discussed all the various attractions to see and what would be good or not so good. I left them thinking that I might see them on the bus or at the very least in town somewhere. I walked to the second bus stop because it had some shade and a bench to sit on. I also checked with the other people waiting there if I was in the right place and they confirmed it. I didn't have to wait too long, the bus arrived after only 10 minutes. The journey was about 45 minutes into town and along a route I had previously not been on so that was good too. My first destination in town was the Citadelle or Fort Adelaide. There are differences in opinion in w...