South Africans in Wales

The Amazon delivery guy who stopped by last week was a South African from Durban, my birthplace. As he greeted me, I knew right away, and asked "where are you from?" He grew up in Kloof, where Dale once taught High school. His accent was unmistakably from our part of the world.

We recently bought a drawer set from someone in our town, and found out he was originally from Krugersdorp, in South Africa. He sports Springbok rugby paraphernalia and a S.A. flag emblazoned on a cap or sleeve, but his accent and name, de Kok, are also a dead giveaway.

We gave our local butcher the spices and recipe to make South African sausage (Boerewors, pronounced "Bu-ra-vors.”) and came home with 7kg of it! I need more space in my freezer:  there were 6 packs like this:

Oh man! It's so good

Shopping

We had a quick lunch at the Charlie's shopping complex. It offered a great view

over which to sip our drinks

Then we added Morrisons to our list of grocery shopping experiences. I was so very pleased to see I could buy loose (not pre-packaged) produce - oranges and mushrooms were available this way, and small brown bags are provided for this! Yay, Morrisons. They also have a deli section, and sell lamb samosas - yum!

I've compared prices across 4 grocery stores, and the basics I buy are the same or very, very similar in price across them all. Some stores are better for variety (Tesco, especially alcohol), some better for bulk buys (Morrisons, Sainsburys), loose produce (Morrisons) and some for their meat selection (Aldi).

 Aldi Price Matches are advertised at all grocery stores, clearly indicating they're the baseline. But Aldi stocks aren't always consistent, and the checkout process can be rather hectic.

This summer our local Tesco has had its fridges break down on 3 occasions, so Aldi across the street has benefitted from their losses. 

Interestingly, we've encountered more people we 'know' or recognise in grocery stores and about town in Wales, than we ever did in Maine!

Tight Squeeze

This tractor with a trailer of hay bales squeezed its way past parked cars by partly driving up on the sidewalk to get by - all part of a normal day in Llanfyllin. Look at the grin on his face as we marveled at the close shave!

This is, believe it or not, a two-way street

Another tractor in a tight squeeze, trimming the hedges on our street, Coed Llan Lane:

Photo: D. Schultz

Room With a View

 Here is my room with a view, a favorite spot

and view of a room

The third of this season's heatwaves has passed, though we are still very short of rain. It's over 2 weeks since we had any precipitation and things are drying out and burning up.

The sale of our lakeside Limerick home is proceeding and our buyers want to bring the final closing forward to July 31, which is fantastic news.