I was looking back

Our first trip worked out well although it was largely unplanned and in hindsight, we overdid the mileage covering more than 900 km in a day. But we made some friends and had a great time exploring Kenhardt in the Northern Cape and visiting Verneukpan where numerous “speedsters” had attempted to set land speed records.

The most famous being Sir Donald Cambell – I recently gave Ian our CEO a scale model of his famous car the “Bluebird” Ian is having it restored to fine pride of place in the display cabinet in the Cross Country reception alongside the other vehicles on display.

That being said we decided to carefully investigate future destinations and plan more carefully to make the trips more enjoyable without the stress of a hard drive. This enables us to take in the scenery, eat properly and explore the little gems that pop up that are not necessarily on the map. A good trip can be an extremely immersive experience given the cost of travelling. This way also gives us the time to take in any sporting events that may take place. We love watching a good game of Rugby when the opportunity affords. And then I have this insatiable desire to collect things from our trips most of which are displayed in a glass case in the entrance hall – one of the best being a pack of cards from the “Hamburg America Linie” which bears the stamp of the “Deutsche Reich”.Indeed a great find which was a bargain at a decent price.

I have a lovely collection of tin soldiers which I bought at the site of the Talana battlefield but sadly they don’t sell them anymore in the shop adjacent to the museum.

I have also been lucky enough to find some military badges which I display with some of mine and my father’s on his WW2 log book – he flew in Northern Africa and Italy.

So the display cabinet and one bookshelf are full of nostalgia which is important as good memories are important to me.

I had a decent collection of walking sticks but after handing them over to have them sanded and varnished a few never came back, sadly as they all had great memories of trips to Zimbabwe and Botswana.

So take all the pictures but don’t forget a small memory, it’s often a more tangible memory.

Happy travels. And don’t forget good books!