South Africa 2017 - Day 7 – 24th November

I was up about 7:30am packing my suitcase and rucksack ready to head to Johannesburg a bit later this morning.  Somehow despite only buying one t-shirt while here my case seems to weigh twice as much as at the start of this trip!  We had a good breakfast with Chereen and her father Gordon then loaded our stuff into Gordon’s huge Toyota as our stuff wouldn’t fit into Chereen’s little VW.  Godfrey gave Gordon one of his CDs as a little parting gift; I hope he listens to it.  He’s a lovely man and Chereen would love him to grasp the message of his inclusion in the finished work of the cross.

Chereen drove us the hour and a half or so the Premier Hotel (not a UK style Premier Inn – a nice hotel) which is right next to the O R Tambo International Airport. She and her father have looked after us so wonderfully.  I'm so grateful for people like that who can put you at your ease in their home and make you welcome.  

It was quite uncomfortable for me to have people take my bags off me and put them in one of those baggage trolleys you see in the movies and show us to our rooms, I’d rather take my own bag but I guess these guys have a job to do and a tip to earn.  My room faced directly into the airport and you could see the planes taking off and landing, Godfrey’s was directly opposite and only had a view of the end of the runway so we swapped as he loves plane watching.

We had a light lunch in the hotel bar and spent the afternoon relaxing.  I did some more reading and watched a couple of shows on Netflix, oh how I’ve missed a fast unlimited WiFi connection to the internet. We met up mid-way through the afternoon for a swim in the rather cold outdoor pool, sadly the sun wasn’t out as it was cloudy so it was too cold for a long swim.

We had dinner in the hotel restaurant which has a buffet/carvery arrangement.  It was OK but not brilliant.  I think we’ve been spoiled with the quality of the food we’ve had with our South African hosts in Hartbeespoort and Stilfontain!

I managed to have a good long chat with my lovely wife via FaceTime in the evening before going to sleep.  Tomorrow will be a lot busier.  We have rehearsals with the band in the morning then the evening meeting starts at 6pm.