Blogging From Blantyre

First full day in Lilongwe for the project.  Sun is shining, and it's much warmer here than in Blantyre.

Amusing start to the day, as over breakfast, one of the clients (Richard) who is staying in the house reported that he'd had a slight problem with his bed overnight.

It transpired that in the small hours his bed had a catastrophic failure, which merited a quick photo.  He decided then to move rooms for his own peace of mind.

Being Sunday, it's an opportunity to get acclimatised to the new location, explore the house, and meet the staff - Hastings is the cook.  The house is pretty nice - it will benefit from the additional furniture that will be arriving next week, but the garden is very pleasant.  My room isn't in the main building, but is one of two bedrooms located in the garden.  The bed is comfortable, and there is plenty of space.

We met Malcolm, a lawyer from Scotland who is here to help set up the Capacity Building for Justice project that will have lawyers coming out from the UK to work with legal departments within the Malawi Government, providing advice and mentoring.

We went to Buchanan's for a late lunch.  It's situated in the Four Seasons, which is basically a lovely landscaped area with lush planting, the restaurant, a nightclub, and a variety of speciality shops selling gifts, furniture and art.  The food is very good, and there is usually a band of some sort playing in the evenings.  It also has the advantage that it is fairly close to the house.  We ate at this table, which is right next to the large pond containing some of the brightly-coloured fish (cichlids) found in Lake Malawi.

On returning to the house, I met my new room-mate, who was making himself comfortable on my bedroom door.  He hasn't told me his name yet - I think he's a bit shy, but I'm sure we'll get on really well.