Road Blocked

On my way to work this morning, I had to sit still for a while and wait for these elephants to kindly let me pass, so I took a few photos of them while waiting. After crossing over, leaving their trails of uprooted vegetation all over the road, they just stopped and hung around - not bothered by me sneaking quietly past them in the car.

We have a brand new road here, which curves its way down the hill to river level. Annoyingly, it's also much favoured by the world's worst drivers, to whose ranks I confess I added myself this morning - indulging in more phone photogpraphy while driving along!  The view of the river floodplain is just breathtaking, with the early morning steamy cloudiness on the horizon.

The road here skirts areas of lush indigenous forest, and as yet, very little development has taken place on these slopes. In the early mornings, this is such a beautiful way to get to the office.

It's been a rather difficult week, actually. Apart from everything else that's been going on, I've been home/business alone for a couple of days, with my other half floating around working in the bush (and also taking some great pictures!). Plenty of tennis being played Down Under, has caused a temporary TV addiction...

I have also been much preoccupied with work permit bureaucracy. The normal routine ebb and flow of expiries and renewals has been rudely interrupted due to my entire file being randomly and mistakenly Archived with apparently no possible means of retrieval! After a year and a half of being lost, the decision was made that I should redo the whole thing. This entails copious paperwork, running around from one office to another, and spending a lot of time at the Police Station, but I have had nothing but help and graciousness all round, which reminds me yet again why I enjoy living in this country. People are most apologetic that my file has been sent to the "Museum" and are regretfully making me jump through bureaucratic hoops, but couldn't be nicer about it all!

Here's a typical blogger's random photo of my second home this week - The Immigration Department. Right next to the river, which you may be able to spot in the top left corner. (This is also a river border post between us and Namibia).

Come to think of it, in many ways it feels as if a RoadBlock of sorts has been suddenly removed in my life, and I think that I can finally begin with what has the possibility to be a great new year! Here's to February..