Sex, Drugs & Striptease in Chingola!

The full shocking truth revealed below!

"The above photographic material is not for sensitive viewers" 

Small town secrets revealed!

She may look sweet and innocent but she could be YOUR neighbour! Do we really know what goes on in the gardens of our neighbours? Melanie Bousfield, it is alleged, has been allowing frolicking fairies to get up to all sorts of mischief in her garden in Kabundi!
The photograph above proves just how bad things really are.Rumour has it that there may even be more evidence around showing the fairies misbehaving as they pose beside their signs....(intrepid reporter Val may have this evidence???)
Ok! Ok! Enough of the nonsense!The truth is, Mel asked me if I'd paint some fairy signs for her fairy garden.
This was obviously a dangerous request as I immediately started imagining these really bad, naughty fairies up to all sorts with signs to prove it! Even better, the thought of handing the signs back to Mel and seeing her face as she realised that by giving me 'carte blanche' to paint on them what I wanted had resulted in a big problem for her - especially for when her grandchildren next played in the fairy garden!!!
My plan back-fired though.......Mel actually loved the naughty signs and showed little or no interest in the real signs (which were underneath the cardboard 'bad' ones)!
And so that's the story really, it was just another bit of fun had in Chingola (well, we have to try and keep life interesting don't we?!!)
So........... if you ever find yourself up Kabundi way...................try and take a peek over the wall.................and let me know what those fairies are up to!

"The real fairy signs!" 

"Linzi & Justin hold Mel up after one too many..." (only kidding Mel!) 

"Charmaine cooking up a storm in the kitchen!" 

"Mel & Johnny (friend) shake it down!" 

"Donald & Michelle show us how it's done!" 

THE event of 2004 in Chingola!

It's not often that we get to dress up and look fabulous in Chingola! (???) So when Donald & Michelle and Adam & Charmaine decided that a party would be hosted at Adam & Charmaine's for Mel's 60th, pretty much the whole town got into a state of wild excitement! (you must understand, we sad Chingolans get excited very easily - a fresh vegetable delivery in our local supermarket can have us all nearly wetting ourselves!) So this was MAJOR!
It was held on 27th November 2004 with a great deal of planning.
We had to all arrive at a certain time, followed by Mel's blindfolded arrival with Pat at the wheel and Amy in the back! (Pat is a dear friend of Mel's and also lived here once and Amy came to visit with Pat and is now also a good friend)
And so Mel arrived to find us all there and the party began. Drinks flowed..............and flowed.............I attempted to take photos of everyone (aided by my trusty assistant 'Barb'!), preferably with Mel, so that I could make Mel a beautiful album full of memories for afterwards. A delicious sit-down meal was organised in a beautifully decorated marquee and speeches followed. Pat had written a lovely 'poem' all about Mel's life which was great!
Well, the drinks flowed and kept on flowing................hours went by...............our dancing shoes came out and we all suddenly thought we were in Saturday Night Fever! (see photos for evidence!)
Slowly people drifted off home and it was down to us few stalwarts to keep the party going!
This we did with pleasure for many hours! We all had a fabulous night and just wish Mel could be 60 more often!

"The Carlisles boogeying on down!" 

"The girls in action!" (Michelle, Linzi & Barbara) 

We crawled to our beds around 3am....only to be up the next morning for a Champagne Breakfast at Mel's..... 

Justin dutifully poses with THE cake! 

Justin's not over the hill yet!

No, but he's been over the mountain! Groan..........................................................................
For Justin's 39th birthday last year I used caketoppers to make me an edible topper for his birthday cake from a photo! And very cool it was too! Yeah, yeah, it was a photo of us at Uhuru peak, but hey! let us do a bit of bragging here and there ok?!
The cake, on the other hand, was probably the worst cake in the history of cakes! (it tasted alright though!)
So, check out the website if you want to make an extremely cool cake! (no, I'm not on commission, I just think it's a great idea!)
Oh yay! I nearly forgot! That's my cake in the website picture! At the bottom! CHECK IT OUT!

www.caketoppers.co.uk - fame at last! 

Hakuna Matata! Justin in his hammock! 

Jambo from Zanzibar!

Ok, confession time! There was a teeny weeny incentive planned for the week following our trek up Kilimanjaro! Zanzibar! Sun, Sea, Sand...............
We spent 5 or 6 days at Nungwi Village Beach Resort at the northern end of the island and I am slightly ashamed (but only slightly!) to report that we did nothing other than lie on our loungers gazing at the ocean, sipping cool drinks (generally of the alcoholic variety), flipping idly through magazines and occasionally pushing our bodies to their limits by walking along the beach to a restaurant for a bite to eat! Bliss! Just what we needed!
We finished off in Stone Town for two nights at one of the most romantic hotels in the world - Emerson & Green - straight out of an arabian nights fantasy - go there if you want to be blown away!

Getting hennaed up! 

Back at Springlands Hotel, Moshi 

29th July 2004, 5895m, Uhuru Peak, 6.45am, with our guides! 

Heading for Lava Tower (4630m), to acclimatise, Day 3. Mt Meru peaking through the clouds behind Justin. 

How to get your husband to do what you want!

Ok, fair enough, you'll say there's loads of ways to achieve the above, but do they really work?

Here's what I did last year and it's still paying dividends!

I climbed Kilimanjaro with Justin! Yep! (granted, I made the decision after a few glasses of vino....)

Seriously now, it's something my wonderful husband had wanted to do for a long time and I could either share the experience with him or watch from the sidelines as he went and tackled the highest point in Africa with others. I decided I wanted in and there followed about a year of researching and preparing - not so easy when you live in Zambia - trips to South Africa are required to organise gear, etc.

We planned out our training methods and had to do most of it in our little gym at the bottom of the garden (Zambia is a very flat country!), but it worked! By the time we set off - 25th July 2004 - we were as physically prepared as possible.

Mental preparation is another thing altogether and that altered each day with the terrain, reaching a full panic crescendo on summit night! (for me at least!)

We did the 6 day Machame route, longer, harder and more scenic than the Marangu (coca-cola) route.

We shared our climb with Linda & Liezl from South Africa, good friends.

We relied on our guides and porters and are sobered by the fact that these guys risk their lives at high altitude regularly, scratching a living for themselves and their families while we trust them with our lives.

What can I say? Phrases such as 'experience of a lifetime' come to mind, 'hardest thing we ever did', life-changing', 'a sense of achievement beyond belief'.

The time we spent on the beautiful mountain of Kilimanjaro was so precious, so removed from everything and everyone else in our lives (ok, we had photos of our six animals, family and close friends with us). It was about the two of us, needing each other totally, experiencing peace and serenity at times and learning to draw on our inner strength at other times.

It was a time that we'll never forget. Not a day goes by when we do not think of Kilimanjaro.

She was good to us, she looked after us and she let us climb her.

For that we thank her.

And I thank her because any time I like, all I have to say is "I climbed Kilimanjaro with you Babe......."

And he says "Ok then..................................."

Day 2, heading for Shira camp (3840m), Kili's beautiful peak behind me!

Moi!