While she was in transit, being unattached was exhilarating, but the moment she stopped, so did the high. - Whitney Otto

23-28 December 2019, Freetown (Lumley)
Airbnb 132,753LLE (R508 less discount voucher 3557.58 - 2212.85 = 1,344-73 = R192)

We spent seven nights in Freetown, settling quickly into a pattern of doing as little as possible, resting our bodies. Most mornings, we cooked breakfast in the communal kitchen downstairs, then showered before going out later for lunch somewhere nice. We shopped after lunch at whichever supermarket was closest to our restaurant, and spent the afternoons and evenings watching YouTube or catching up the blog, preparing an evening meal at home, usually something fresh like an apple and pickle and herring salad with mayonnaise.
We discovered a tailor lived next door to us, so we asked him to alter an old shirt of mine into one suitable for cycling in. He also mended Charl’s torn shorts, took in my PJ waist, now too big for me, and replaced the rusted hooks and eyes on my sports bra with buttons. And Charl had a spoke replaced on hi back tyre…
We celebrated Christmas with lunch at the Swan in Aberdeen, the wealthy end of Lumley, and celebrated Charl’s 70th with lunch at Crowne Xpress in Wilkinson Road.
Accessing cash in Freetown was not always easy, so we had to make a careful selection at the Swan, checking our available funds against the menu item prices. We selected two separate starters (a prawn and avocado salad and a feta and sundried tomato salad) and shared a main (roast chicken and pasta salad). Charl drank beer, I drank wine. And we came away well-satisfied with our delicious choices. On the 27th, Charl’s birthday, I was very happy with my Thai beef salad, Charl a little less so with a rather scrawny steak. It’s not easy finding good cuts of meat in much of Africa.
We were relatively well-located, needing a short walk only to reach Regent on which we could get a taxi - often a tuk-tuk - to anywhere in the city. And our host was quick to respond to an issue we had with the aircon which needed service and regassing. So a happy stay…