MARTINJPHILLIPS

Goodmorning everyone!
So I now have an explanation for why I dissappeared. It comes down to the fact that I was without a computer connection, or at least it was working then it wasn't, then it was and so on. Today I realized that the problem was my SKYROVE wifi and not in my computer and indeed when I spoke the men at the SKYROVE store, their server had stopped serving so to speak. Now that it's all reconnected -- Grahamstown is back
Yesterday was another terrific day, other than the fact that by leaving open the front door I let in a rather large bee...he or she no longer inhabits this world, but it was a knock down-drag out fight. And I won.
I took out my two colleagues who have been so helpful for lunch. One has loaned me a bike and now a television. I have had the bike just a little fixed and now it is a little easier getting up the large hill to the journalism school. Unfortunately I didn't get much done in terms of work yesterday, but will go into today (Saturday) or (Sunday). I met some of my neighbors in the apartment building -- a biochemist who is here from India doing research. Doing work on the medicinal properties of South African plants. Fascinating. Incidentally yesterday for lunch I had lamb curry and you guessed it, Mrs. BAlls chutney. Fabulous.
There are some cute stores in the little mall next to me, that is besides Wimpys. One is like a health food store and alternate medicine place run by a very nice Inidan fellow, who I asked about possible meditation places here. He drove me down to a friend who is the local head of the Brahman Kumaris sect here in Grahamstown. For those who don't know the BK sect, its American headquarters is the place I have for the last few years gone to meditate in Great Neck. Nancy and my kids know exactly the place as I have wanted them to come to their nightly meditation several times, and in fact I believe Joey and Jonny did....I believe he was so relaxed he fell asleep. "Dinesh" who runs a local mens ware store and heads the meditation sessions here, welcomed with the the proverbial "Om Shanti" and has offered to come and pick me up to come to his home where they hold daily meditations. I will take him up on this. This town is incredibly friendly. Once a whites only town, it now reflects the African majority and white minority. Those of Indian descent tell stories about how they had to leave during the apartheid era and return to India to become educated as significant education was simply not available to them here. I am also struck by how the apartheid regime has receded into the back of people's consciousness, todays issues are just like hours. Education, Unemployment Drought, Energy, the Environment and so on.
The town today is filled with school, not college kids coming in to go shopping for books as the term for them has already begun. Incidentally they have GREAT stationary, for those who know my love of pens. They all walk around in town in uniforms with kind of straw hats. It's an impressive sight. When I close my eyes I can see all of my cousins as kids walking around here. David, Richard, Peter, Jean, all who went here, not sure about Suzmans or your kids, AJ....and it reminds me of the uniforms we wore in Wynberg. There are some town kids who seemed to have spotted me as an easy target for small change. Sometimes I give, but I confess I don't like it when they ask me for money and call me grandpa. "'Granpa do you have some spare change, please."
Now a kind of warning. My blog has been noticed by the local newspaper, which as most newspapers uses a google alert system and anytime a blog with the term "grahamstown" is mentioned in any blog, they get an alert. I got a call from the online editor who wanted to know about me and wanted to try and incorporate some of the Rhodes students television work in the paper. Incidentally the paper the Groscott Mail is the oldest newspaper in South Africa. He then came to see me and he was just great. He was just looking for a way to connect with me. The only reason I mention this is that you should be aware blogs are completely public, and I am UNinclined to make this one private as it will restrict it in so many ways. I love the comments section and hearing from all of you in that section -- thank you Darrell for creating it -- and I love the interactions that are happening there. So I would suggest that from now on you identify yourself by your initials only. But please continue to speak out. Just remember no institutional names or work names that might get back to people unless you don't care. Feel free to e mail me privately if there is something that personal I should know.
TTFN