Jan Leeming - The Official Website

Only hours away from boarding

29th March 2008

Hi There,

Am only hours away from boarding the Oriana for my cruise back to the UK.  Due to immigration problems here in South Africa (surprise, surprise) they are having so much difficulty in boarding passengers that I've been told I must board as Crew - puts me in mind of bell-bottom trousers and a jaunty hat.

My good friend Doreen is accompanying me on the trip home.  We are a bit like a couple of naughty school girls so the trip should be fun.

What have I been doing over the last few weeks - Well, my son Jonathan came out for a holiday.  I caught him between girlfriends! 

We had a fabulous time.  As an early birthday present for him, I booked us in for two nights at Sanbona Wildlife Game Reserve.  It was a very interesting experience.  It was at the sister game reserve - Shamwari - that I participated in the making of 'Safari School' almost two years ago in which eight of 'celebrities' were trained as Game Rangers.

Sanbona is very different from Shamwari in that it is situated in the Karoo and there are far fewer animals.  The Reserve has only been going for 7 years and it's a slow process reintroducing the animals that would have roamed the terrain before we humans devastated the area.  I think that's one of the reasons I liked it so much - we really felt we were searching for the animals and that they weren't just sitting there waiting for our visit.  Probably because I lived in Australia when younger and love the aridity of Provence in France, I find the Karoo quite breathtaking.  It's arid but the terrain is so interesting with it's folding limestone hills and scrub.

Sanbona has two Lodges - Kanni which is more family orientated - and Tilney which has six suites. They are exquisite with stand alone baths and outside showers.  Tilney was actually the 'weekend pad' of a Magistrate called  Tilney - infamous for signing the document which made it legal to shoot the indigenous Bushmen as vermin.  I hope he got his come-uppance in the hereafter.  Near the lodge there were some Bushman and San paintings.  My son wasn't very impressed but then he's not as steeped in the Cape and South African history as I am.

The highlight of our two-day stay was locating 5 Cheetah which we watched for about half an hour from very close. 

Jonathan has never been on Safari before so everything was new and exciting for him.  Having said that, I don't think one can ever get tired of going on Safari - every day is different and every experience unique.

We were very lucky in that the other four on our truck were great fun - one couple were on honeymoon and the other couple were German, delightful and with a great sense of humour.

From Sanbona we traversed across country to Paternoster.  My friend Doreen introduced me to Paternoster a few years ago.  It is still lovely but being developed fast.  It's a fishing village and got it's name from some sailors who survived a shipwreck and ended up on the beach - they must have been saying their prayers and so the place became Paternoster - latin for Our Father.

Jonathan was very impressed with our superb B & B - The Dunes - and we arrived on a gloriously sun and almost windless afternoon.  Windless is fairly unusual for Paternoster where one can often get a free exfoliation walking along the beach.

J did his Sky Dive for Charity on Good Friday and the Gods were smiling on us.  We've had very unseasonal weather with horrendous winds but on the Dive Day, the winds dropped to almost nothing, the Mountain shed it's table cloth and he had a wonderful dive with a superb DVD presented to him 15 minutes after landing.  He's now raised over £3,500 for Orchid a Cancer Charity dealing specifically with Male Cancers.

Afterwards we went to the Waterfront and had a fish lunch.  Again J. was very impressed as the last time he came out here three years ago, it was Christmastime and we couldn't get near the Waterfront for people and cars.

I then took a chance on going up to the Cable Car.  I'm not a great one for queuing and sometimes one can stand in line for hours waiting to go up the Mountain.  A friend told us the time to go is early morning or late afternoon - and so we chanced it at 5.00 pm and only queued for about 15 minutes.  I've never been on the Mountain at sunset and it was very moving.

We also did a mini wine tour of some of the Vineyards which I know best.  J was in seventh heaven.  He's done two parts of a three part wine course and knows a thing of two when it comes to the Grape.

All too soon his holiday had come to an end and I regretfully took him to the Airport on Tuesday evening.  Now it's Saturday and I'm still trying to pack and fretting because I haven't fine tuned all my talks for the voyage on the Oriana.

Apparently we are not going to have much in the way of telecommunications whilst on board so I may not be able to update the Blog till we dock on 16^th April.

If there is a chance to do an update before then, I shall try - otherwise I'll let you all know about the Cruise once my feet hit Terra Firma.

Jonathan has entered me on Facebook but, as yet, I don't know how to use it. 

I apologize for not showing you the Sanbona photographs but I'm really up against it timewise and am not the most dextrous when it comes to utilising the Internet.

I'll owe you photos from both the Safari and the Cruise so - WATCH THIS SPACE.

By the way, I'm very curious as to how people from places like Korea and the USA are tuning in to my site - perhaps they are googling something like Cheetahs and get me!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Be back soon.

Affectionately, Jan

Damn and blast

15th March 2008

I don't believe it.  I've just spent an hour typing all the latest news only to lose it twice.  Sorry folks but I'm too tired to do it again. It's all this technology which completely foxes me.  

You were going to get an update on my son's visit and his Sky dive for Cancer Research - but I really cannot set to and type it all again.  I've just noticed a little message at the top of the page which says that I will be logged out after 18 minutes.  I always have been verbose and as I am a touch typist, I write to you as thought I'm talking and that's why I keep losing copy.  I type for too long.

OK well I'm not going to type all the news again - I'll have to find out how I can extend my Log time or else be less verbose.

But I will tell you that Jonathan, my son, is going to do a Skydive for Cancer Research.  Having had Testicular Cancer almost three years ago, he now tries to raise money for Orchid - an essentially Male Cancer dealing with Testicular, Penile and Prostate Cancers.

He's booked his Skydive but we are praying for less wind.  The Cape is known for the wind - known as the Cape Doctor as it's supposed to blow away disease and infection - but the last two months have been totally abnormal.  Today the wind was ridiculous.  Had I been carrying an umbrella, I would have taken off like Mary Poppins.

Anyway, Jonathan has already raised over £3,000 in sponsorship.  So if you are feeling generous and lucky to be alive and without illness this is the site http://www.bmycharity.com/LeemoLeaps    it is secure.

Better log out before I lose this little lot.  Will write at more length when we get back from our mini Safari.

Affectionately, Jan

Hey, I've just read about that tourist who ended up with her head in the Lion's mouth.  Well, if that happens, I'll get Jonathan to tell you on the Blog.

 

So sorry not to have updated the blog for a while.

9th March 2008

So sorry not to have updated the blog for a while.  I actually set to and wrote at great length and lost my writing twice.  This time I'm going to write it in Word and paste it into the site.

So for the third time, I write again.

I was waxing lyrical about the fact that one can attend so much Theatre here at such a reasonable price.  In the past month I've seen Merchant of Venice and Giselle in the Open Air.  I'd never bother going to an open air show in the UK - Invariably it would be rained off.

Merchant was superb and the actors playing Shylock and Bassanio would have been at home on the English stage - they were brilliant.  This was close to my heart as I played Portia a million years ago when I joined a company in Australia taking Shakespeare to the Bush.  It was potted and often in order to make the quorum we'd see little children with their feet hardly touching the floor - heaven knows what they made of it.  Bit like Felicity Kendal's family touring India with Shakespeare which, I think, her sister wrote up in a book called Shakespeare Wallaj.

Apart from my visit to Siberia ten years ago, I've never been colder in my life than in the Motel Titania at Oberon in the Blue Mountains - 100 miles west of Sydney.

 Giselle had been rained off two weeks earlier and we were treated to an 'extra' show.  Had it rained again, we'd have had our money refunded as the Open Air Theatre at Maynardville shuts up shop at the end of February.  We had mainly understudies - but they were superb and the ballet dancer playing Giselle was out of this world - she moved like a cloud of gossamer.

 Then on Saturday a group of us went to see Swan Lake on Ice performed by the Imperial Ice Stars of Russia - most of them International Champions. Superlatives escape me - our group spent the show gasping and ended up being thoroughly exhausted.  These skaters usually perform on a rink 60m x 60 m and here they were performing on a stage 15m x 15 m. 

Two weekends ago, a dear friend had a Big Birthday and took a group of us for the weekend up to Paternoster on the West Coast.  We had a fabulous time despite a cold front rolling in and hearing the foghorn most of the weekend.  We've been visiting Paternoster for several years and what was once a lovely little fishing village is being totally spoilt by Devolopment.  It's staggering to see the development all over the Cape and here we are fighting Electricity Cuts and Water shortages.

On the way back from Paternoster, we called in at a Fossil Park.  It was amazing.  It used to be an Open Caste Phosphate Mine.  Our guide was telling me how he'd seen 500 million year old fossils being crushed to make phosphate and any employee who mentioned the word Fossil would have been fired on the spot.  Now Nicky is happily working a a guide and the joy he displays in his work is quite infectious.  He is good enough to admit that, had it not been for the mining, the archeologist might never have found this site.  It's actually an old river bed and where animals died upstream, they'd be swept downstream in the floods.  The archeological site was thick with the dismemebered bits and pieces of animals from over 5 milllion years ago.  For example there was the forerunner of the Giraffe - a creature with a short neck and big horns!

My son is coming out for a holiday next week - as I've caught him between girlfriends.  We are going to Sanbona for two nights - it's the sister Game Reserve to Shamwari in which we filmed Safari School where eight of us were learning to be Game Rangers.  Having walked with Rhino and Elephant during the filming of the Series, I think I might find Sanbona a bit tame, but Jonathan has not been to a Game Reserve, so for him it will be a lovely experience.

Jonathan had testicular cancer two years ago and now does what he can for Male Cancer Charities.  Whilst he's here he is going to do a Sky Dive for Cancer.  If any of you would be kind enough to sponsor him this is the sit

http://www.bmycharity.com/LeemoLeaps    and despite the fact that it doesn't have a padlock, it's a safe site

I gave the first of my Talks at the Kelvin Grove Club last Thursday.  It must have been OK as no one left and I'm told that I spoke for an hour.  I'd attended a Keynote course here in Capetown in order to be able to illustrate the Talk.

Now, I've got to work on three more for the Cruise back to the UK at the end of March.  No peace for the wicked

I wish there were some way you could let me know how you feel about reading the Blog and if there's anything else about which you'd like me to write.  I'll have to speak to the Clever chap who devised it

Till the next time.  Take care and be happy.

Jan