Josie, Monday morning.

My Mum should have touched down in South Africa by now. I hope she had a pleasant flight and a good seat. She went off feeling happy that her cat Jenny is being well cared for by a kind couple who love Siamese and who do animal fostering for pets of people who have gone into hospital or a nursing home. The charity they work with is the Cinnamon Trust.

She is looking forward to meeting up with an old friend, Ruth Karle. She will spend the day with Ruth then Paul will pick her up on his way home from work and take her to their home in Rustenburg.

My health really isn't too good at the moment so Michelle, who has a day off work, is coming to Dover with me to pick up Wendy from Nursery school. That is, if Caelyn has sent her to school. Wendy is on antibiotics for an ear, nose, throat and chest infection. She said she will see how Wendy is this morning. If she's really under the weather, she won't go, but if she is OK, Caelyn will take her to Nursery with instructions for them to phone her is Wendy shows signs of being unwell.

Yesterday Michelle and I went to Tesco Express for cat food. We bought two tins of Whiskas chicken in Supermeat and six tins of Cuts in Jelly. They had the Whiskas last night and I have been looking for the Cuts in Jelly this morning but can't find it anywhere. I'm beginning to suspect that we left it in the shop.

Sean came to see me last night and we watched Round the World in 80 gardens because it was featuring South African gardens. The presenter was a pompous pratt who was very irritating, especially when he was trotting out his very PC political philosophy, but the gardens were beautiful. They did Cape gardens including Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens. Then the Drakensberg and Magaliesburg and a school garden. It was sad they didn't have time to show the Eastern Transvaal such as Sabie, Nelspruit and Tzaneen, because those gardens are a lush riot of extravagant colour.

What really made us homesick were the voices of a Cape Coloured man who had made a beautiful garden in a township and the African school teacher who was teaching his pupils how to grow vegetables to support themselves nutritionally. Many of the children are HIV positive as are their carers, so empowering them to provide good food for themselves and their families is a very good thing. I wish more schools followed this example in a continent that knows famine and poverty far too well.