New York, London, New Kasama

'Mwezi and 'Maka dressing the Christmas tree

2011-12-28T20:03:00.004Z

Happy Birthday Dad!

2011-12-14T16:02:00.002Z

And an especially happy birthday from Wamaka:

http://sendables.jibjab.com/view/k1C7Oudl4QxjaB0E

and Namwezi:

http://sendables.jibjab.com/view/tVjdAVcpOPP03n6F

Photos from London

2011-09-14T08:23:00.005Z

Dear All, here are some pictures from Dylan, Chil and the girls' visit to London last month.

Happy Birthday to Chil

2011-07-18T14:28:00.002Z

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO CHIL!

Have an excellent day Chil - we'll be thinking of you.

We hope to see you fairly soon.

With love from

bill and claudia

Protea + Mulenga

2011-05-30T13:24:00.009Z

Some pictures from our recent trip to Protea Safari lodge with Mulenga

Hibernation

2011-05-12T13:55:00.000Z

If you've been wondering what we've been up to, there's been a bit of hibernation. The Ottawa winter, since our last post, was loooooonnnnnngggg....

With frozen waterfalls...

...0ur friend Sylvain, demonstrating what happens if you leave a can of coke in your car when it's -20 overnight

The longest skating rink in the world - the canal at the bottom of our street

But although there were still snow banks in some shadows last month we've had a blink-and-you've-missed-it spring, and suddenly summer is here. The farmers market is open and everyone's out on their decks firing up the BBQ. Hibernation's over.

PS I'll have to report our hibernation-breaks to New York, Sudan and the Emirates in another post.

Update from Kaela

2011-05-12T13:52:00.000Z

Well let's start from the top

Me
I'm cool- excited to be starting school June 1st. I'm getting a French AuPair called Amandine Delpeuche. She arrives soon. Can u believe that is the cheapest childcare I can find? A live in AuPair.
We are all eagerly waiting to meet Yosi's family at the end of May. Lesa has sent a schedule, name tags and script and we are ready, set....

Tashe
Her recent disastrous foray into the game of basketball was followed by some shocking success at Volleyball! So we best stop there. She continues to get good grades (although Eva sat her down after her last report to sternly enquire why she got only 96% in English). She still has issues with 'mean' girls but has recently been chosen as a champion for 'project good role model'

Sunjo
Is the star football striker with 7 goals in 2 games this season! He recently remarked that Asamoah Gyan was the greatest football player ever. 4 DVDs later ( Pele & Maradona's greatest hits) and he was crushed into submission. He is finding that being elected to the student government involves too many meetings at recess. This experience might have soured any political ambition.

Zanga
We are still trying to work out exactly what sport Zanga likes. He continues to be the most popular child in the family, with lots of requests for playdates. We recently decided to have a daily dinner tradition where each person round the table states what 'random act of kindness' they performed during the day. Zanga always tops the list closely followed by Sunjo. I'm afraid Tashe and I struggle and are constantly disqualified.

Eva
Is on cloud nine after watching ManU beat Chelsea( 2-1) live at Old Trafford last weekend. He walks around singing: 'Who are ya, Who are ya!' & 'Can you here us Merseyside' & 'You're not singing anymore'

Happy Birthday to Mia And Ella!

2011-01-21T12:34:00.003Z

I don't suppose the twins are checking the blog each day but here's to a very Happy Birthday (for tomorrow) to Mia and Ella from all of us in the UK - have an excellent day girls!

Norwich Evening News, Tuesday, October 12, 2010

2010-11-01T16:47:00.003Z

Congratulations!

65 years is a truly amazing achievement. Looking forward to your platinum in 5 years time!

Dylan

I guess Winter's here!

2010-10-31T03:29:00.004Z

Chil's in Winchester for Lucy's wedding, well, the weather's changed!
I wonder what the girls will make of it tomorrow?

Autumn in Ottawa

2010-10-10T12:53:00.009Z

It's still just about Autumn (fall) in Ottawa... although it was 2c this morning when we went to the farmers market. Its been really pretty in the Glebe which has a lot of old trees.

The road on the right is closed on Sunday mornings except for bicycles and goes for miles along the canal to Byward market. Chil had bought the first bike that she's ever owned, I've got one for the first time in about 10 years and we've even got a little trailer for the girls! They love the trailer but don't love the helmets.

We spent a weekend with our friend Mike Shanahan in Montreal, who was visiting on a sabbatical from the UK. Here's Namwezi running after squirrels. Our friend Sylvain had taught the girls a few words in French the weekend before and they remembered to say "bonjour" and "au reviour" to the Quebecois in the park.

And here's Namwezi again, getting to grips with the local sporting culture. Wamaka is in the shadows.

Hope you have enjoyed Autumn. We're getting prepared for the winter that is surely just around the corner. Last year was mild but apparently they had 8 meters of snow the year before, so much more than Toronto.

Love, Dylan and Chil

Happy Anniversary!

2010-08-29T00:22:00.004Z

Happy 40th anniversary Mum and Dad

If you have a fast internet connection you can see a hi-def version of this video at http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1435548/Happy%20Anniversary%21.m4v

The picture speaks for itself!

2010-08-26T19:02:00.000Z

Luke sent me this comparison... uncanny!

Happy Belated Birthday Claudia!

2010-08-12T00:01:00.002Z

Would you believe it's still your birthday here!?? It's the time difference, you see...
Hope you had a great day,

love Dylan and Chil

Ottawa Summer

2010-08-08T16:53:00.005Z

We've moved into our home for the next year or so (seen above). Our friend Yvonne's place was really nice and had home comforts I'd not imagined: the fridge was plumbed in to provide chilled filtered water and ice, the BBQ was plumbed in to the gas, there was forced air conditioning (and forced air heating for the winter) and even centrally piped vacuum, you just push a hose into the wall! But it's great to have our own place again and we are getting more and more settled in. We've got some really great neighbours and the Glebe is a lovely area to live in with a lot of stuff for kids to do. We have a spare room so can start accepting visitors straight away!

The slow, some say catatonic, pace of life is taking a bit of getting used to, but we have not been deterred by Ottawa being called "the town that fun forgot" and have unearthed some fun anyway.

Our big news is that we have some childcare for the girls, a nanny for 4 days a week so Chil can start thinking about her career again. The girls seem to enjoy getting out in the Glebe during the day and about and apparently their antics get all the other kids laughing. We also have a babysitter so we can explore Ottawa in the evenings a little. I'm well settled in at work at CHEO, they are a friendly bunch and it's great to finish in the operating room at 15:30 so I cycle home and can see the girls in the park before 4!

Last weekend we went to visit the cottage of some friends, about a 90 minute drive from home in Quebec. It's amazing to be right out in bear country, off the electricity grid and by a quiet lake after such a short time on the road. It took us about 90 minutes to get from Tooting to Islington on a Saturday afternoon, a considerably less picturesque drive. The girls enjoyed splashing about looking for frogs. Little fearless Wamaka wanted to head for the middle of the lake and as always took some dissuading. We ended up drying off in front of a campfire where the girls managed to get toasted marshmallow hair.

Namwezi and Wamaka are saying more and more words: hi, bye bye, yes, no, more, all gone, dog-dog, woof woof, miaow, up, socks and their favourite - shoes. They are getting less and less shy on Skype which is definitely the best way to get us all. Let us know when you're online.

Dylan

* * * Happy Birthday * * *

2010-07-18T20:45:00.000Z

Happy Birthday Chil!
We hope you have an excellent day.
with lots of love,
from bill and claudia

Green bin racoon

2010-06-29T17:44:00.000Z

It's not just me that's getting confused by Ottawa's refuse system.

Ottawans

2010-06-28T02:57:00.006Z

We've been in Ottawa for one week now and the girls have recovered well from their trip. We have been given a very warm welcome by our friend Yvonne who has kindly offered to house us for the rest of this month and for July in her beautiful home in leafy Glebe. It's a much shower pace of life than Toronto and we have been adjusting to all the other differences of the nation's capital. In particular, the Ottawa recycling and refuse system is pretty complex. Ultimately I put out the neighbours trash by mistake after quite a lot of poking around to check everything had gone in the right bins. Apparently the neighbour thought I was one of the homeless people who searches the bins for the bottle deposits, which doesn't say much for how well I was looking with the jet lag.

We have already experienced very hot days, a heavy rain storm and a 5.5 earthquake which slightly curtailed Chil's shopping for suddenly needed summer clothes. Most of our time has been taken up with trying to find a place to live although we've found time to keep up with the World Cup and to explore this part of Ottawa. We haven't found a place yet but are starting to get a feel for the city. Next week Wednesday is Canada day, a national holiday, and I start work the Monday after.

A performance on the Trinidadian national instrument, the bottle and spoon, at the Ottawa Jazz Festival, by the excellent Drew Gonsalves and the Mash Potato Mashers.

Before You Leave . . .

2010-06-18T18:58:00.003Z

It was really great to see Dylan and the girls in Norfolk last week. The girls were remarkably well behaved and Dylan wasn't too bad either; he seems to be getting the hang of almost single-handedly looking after Namwezi and Wamaka. Respect!

I thought I ought to post a few shots from their couple of days here. We went for lunch to the Wiveton Hall Cafe (Big House near the coast at Blakeney, small, informal bistro-type cafe and lots of acres of strawberries in tunnels and in the open air, plus asparagus and soft fruit bushes) and we witnessed exactly how much The Twins like strawberries . . . lots!

Hope you like these few pictures. We take this opportunity of wishing Chil, Dylan and The Twins a smooth and trouble-free flight to Ottawa and trust that all your planning will make the next few weeks easier for you all.

Leaving for Ottawa

2010-06-18T09:15:00.007Z

We haven't had much time to post or upload pictures recently so here are a few from our last month or so in England. We'll arrive in Ottawa on Sunday afternoon and are staying with a friend for the first month. We'll be sure to update you when we have a proper address but in the mean time email is probably the best way to get hold of us. We'll keep you posted!

Dylan

Oldabould's stll awake!

2010-05-31T19:02:00.003Z

Hello all! I'm still here and getting about but slowly and not very far. We have been in the throes of decorating our sleeping quarters and things have been a bit hectic but we are I hope) back in some sort of business - its just that everything seems to take abit longer. I have't yet brought myself up to date on the blog and again its seems to me that I'm doing things backwards - you will get used to it perhaps!

Twins in Norfolk

2010-05-08T15:30:00.003Z

Here are a couple of pictures from the twins recent visit

2010-04-13T20:55:00.001Z

2010-04-06T20:25:00.000Z

Oldabould

2010-04-06T20:07:00.002Z

Wamaka and Granddad

2010-03-30T19:59:00.001Z

Don't be shy Granddad... there are nice pictures with you in them as well!

Babes in Hats

2010-03-28T18:25:00.008Z

It was great to see Namwezi, Wamaka, Chil & Dylan in Hindolveston over the last few days and even more wondrous to witness the rapid progress being made by the girls in walking, copying just about anything and many other areas. Just a few weeks and they'll be talking, I'm certain! Here are just a couple of photos of Namwezi & Wamaka for everyone to smile at.

We are fully aware how busy you're going to be preparing everything for your departure for Canada, so it was especially generous of you to make time to visit Norfolk.

Here are just a couple of photos of Namwezi & Wamaka for everyone to smile at.

Tis me!

2010-03-28T14:55:00.003Z

Hi familie Bould, Theis my first essay into the land of Blog and I've got everything crossed on the hope that I've managed to retain what you imparted to me yesterday; I got the feeling Dylan, that it was hard going for you to get the messages across and I can only say thankyou for your patience.

Sad to say Nanna is not feeling very well today and has taken to her bed. She has these set backs from time to time and feels very nausiated (that aint spelt right) but bless her she struggled to prepare our dinner and was able to eat after which she went up to bed. I'm no good at cooking but wanted to do what I could to help but Nanna does'nt give in easily. She is now having a cup tea which I managed to bring up for her and sends her love.

We were thrilled to see you all yesterday and you've got to believe me when I say that we think you are both doing a wonderful job with those two lovelyand sturdy little girls. Summat is saying I o nly have a minute or more remaing. Good bye andlots of love Nana & Nandad

A VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO BILLY

2010-03-04T12:50:00.005Z

Vancouver 2010

2010-02-15T10:13:00.000Z

View the vancouver2010.com medals' table

I guess that's why there's not much winter olympics on TV here: Britain doesn't win anything!

I think I'll support Canada in Vancouver 2010

Mia and Ella 1 - Nandad 90

2010-01-27T19:54:00.005Z

In the blue corner, weighing in at a combined 22kg... the tag team challengers:

In the red corner, at a little over 22kg... the defending champ.

The final score was Mia and Ella 1, Nandad 90. They never had a chance.

Thanks so much for all your birthday wishes, cards and presents for the girls. Only a very small party this year due to some illness (all ok now)... both girls were a little worried about their candles, Wamaka sucked the icing of both cakes and neither were interested in eating the actual cupcakes!

Great to see so many people at Nandad's 90th, would love to see some pictures here from anyone, we will post some but in the meantime there are some on our family album.

Dylan and Chil

One for Evaristus!

2010-01-22T13:59:00.001Z

That (lucky) 3-2 victory doesn't look so impressive now... well we'd better gloat while we can, it might not last long!

Namwezi and Wamaka visit Lusaka

2010-01-08T08:51:00.002Z

I hope you enjoy this short film from our recent trip to Zambia.

Dylan

2009-12-31T16:37:00.002Z

To Everybody in our family, wherever in the world you may be today, we wish you all a peaceful and healthy New Year!

Happy Christmas!

2009-12-25T10:04:00.012Z

Maybe too early for those driving lessons Uncle Luke? Good work on the blog though, I like the new colour.

Lunch with Uncle Joe at Alliance Francais.

I'd never seen anything like this before: a rainbow around the sun. This picture doesn't quite do it justice but still looks pretty awesome. It lasted for hours.

Little Ella clearly hasn't worked out she's meant to be sleeping.

Socializing with the Njelesani's at Rhapsody's in the Arcades.

Having lunch with Uncle Dom at the Buzz cafe, part of a new development called Crossroads just 10 minutes from the farm.
Meeting Triza at the new Protea Hotel in the Arcades, the same group of hotels that has the Lodge outside Lusaka where we got married.

Uncle Lloyd and Auntie Mary meet the twins for the first time.

Ba Shikulu Mpundu

A beautiful sunset on the farm.

Happy Christmas everyone!

We thought we'd finally better get round to uploading some photos of our recent trip to Zambia. We'll put some more festive pictures up later.

I hope you all have a great Christmas,

Dylan.

Protea Lodge for Ba Shikulu Mpundu's Birthday

2009-12-05T13:29:00.014Z

I've been meaning to post some pictures of our recent trip to Zambia but have got stuck in the daily grind. So, better late than never, here are some pictures of a fantastic day at Protea Lodge outside Lusaka with Ba Clement and family for Ba Shikulu Mpundu's birthday.

We're missing all in Lusaka. I guess you're having thunderstorms by now.

Good luck to Luke for his exam tomorrow!

Pete and Yosabeth in Tabarka

2009-11-17T20:20:00.000Z

Apparently, Pete and Yosabeth have been traveling around Tunisia a lot to different cities... looks nice!

The PK!

2009-10-27T19:01:00.000Z

Day out in Hyde Park

2009-09-16T16:37:00.001Z

Photos of a day out in London, taken by Bill.

Pete in Tunisia

2009-09-16T11:41:00.003Z

Photos from Lesa's new home in Tunis. It looks like a step up from Tooting if you ask me!

Thistle!

2009-09-13T19:37:00.002Z

Introducing Mum's new kitten... Thistle!

Mainsah Mania

2009-09-03T21:15:00.006Z

Sorry this is late... it's been carnage moving the family to London, we're still unpacking. Here's the long-awaited footage of the Mainsah clan from our recent visit to Westchester county, New York.

Photos of that trip and our UK tour to follow.

Dylan and Chil

Incredible!

2009-08-10T20:34:00.000Z

Happy Birthday Claudia Welcome home Canadians

2009-08-01T13:56:00.004Z

Happy Birthday Claudia, hope you have a brilliant day......

Welcome home weary travellers, so happy to have you ALL back in the UK

Visiting the Mainsahs in Westchester county, NY

2009-07-22T16:41:00.010Z

Kintashe

'Zanga in the huge Mainsah garden

We had a fabulous time introducing the girls to the Mainsah clan on the twins' grand tour which will shortly take us to London, Norfolk, Newcastle-under-Lyme (in August) and then on to Lusaka, hopefully all in the next few months. Chil celebrated her birthday with a barbecue and a combination of Ice Cream Cake and New York Cheesecake.

'Zanga, Wamaka, Kaela and Sunjo

Joel and Wamaka

Sunjo and Evaristus

More photos of the trip can be seen and downloaded here, and our on line gallery of the girls is here.

I will upload Kintashe, Sunjo and 'Zanga's video shortly, it's still a work in progress but in the mean time here's a video of the eclipse we were talking about:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jul/22/longest-total-solar-eclipse-21st-century

Dylan

Happy Birthday To Chil!

2009-07-18T12:52:00.004Z

Wishing you a most excellent day Chil - we'll be thinking of you :)

Lots of love,

bill and claudia

I've Been Dreaming My Life

2009-07-17T09:37:00.007Z

Dear All,

Just to let you know that one of my photos is being hung in a gallery in Clerkenwell (called Host) as part of their summer exhibition. The picture is called 'I've Been Dreaming My Life' and is an infrared shot from the countryside in Perugia, Italy that Claudia and I visited at the beginning of the year.

Here's a small version of said picture:
(please note the colours are all the results of the film and the development, they have not been photoshopped)

Happy Canada Day!

2009-07-02T00:16:00.008Z

The best thing about Canada Day for me is that I didn't have to go to work. Instead, we went for lunch with our friend Deborah, who also happens to have twins. The city of Toronto workers are on strike and there's no garbage collection. Fortunately, they didn't cancel the jazz festival.

Here are two little canucks celebrating the 142nd birthday of Canada in their own special way!

Dylan

Mum's visit to Toronto

2009-06-21T16:51:00.011Z

These are some pictures of Mum's visit from a while ago because I misplaced some data when my Windows machine died.

This is our 'flatiron' building: 25 The Esplanade.

It was the first day of Summer on a week Sunday. It seems like the winter was a very long time ago now that it's very hot and sunny most days. In fact the current crisis is that all city workers in Toronto have gone on strike so there's been no rubbish collection for days: public bins are sealed with plastic wrapping and a sign saying "no littering". Some cold weather would actually be useful with all the rubbish buiding up! The Liquor Control Board of Ontario threatened a strike last week, which would have made the entire province practically dry as even restaurants and pubs buy alcohol from the LCBO. There was city wide panic buying on Friday, with hours of queueing for half empty shelves, but fortunately this disaster was averted at the last minute.

First video footage of the twins

2009-06-11T17:55:00.004Z

When we got a new camera before the girls were born we chose one that shot HD video. We haven't got round to using it as much as we'd wanted to yet, but here's some footage of Mia and Ella from the first few months.

Dylan and Chil

Johanna visits

2009-05-10T05:16:00.004Z

As it's been a long time since we've posted anything here (turns out it's busy having twins!) I thought I'd show some springtime pictures of us. Chil loves here B.O.B. stroller, you can't see the girls behind the sunscreen in the picture, but they can see out and it keeps the insects out and the UV off.

Chil's friend Johanna, the proud godmother, came to visit: her third trip to Toronto in 2 years. Winter has finally left us now so we took the ferry to Ward Island in Lake Ontario and had a walk in the sunshine.

Here's one of the twins, I have to admit from this angle it's hard to say which, looking at her favourite: Lionel the lion.

Happy Birthday to Dylan!

2009-03-22T15:51:00.004Z

Many happy birthdays to young dilano.

Wishing you a very happy (albeit slightly older) day today from your slightly younger brother and from Claudia.

bb x

Video for Sunjo

2009-03-06T18:22:00.001Z

I saw this video and it made me think of Sunjo, I thought it might provide inspiration!

I hear there was an earthquake in Melbourne, 4.7 in the Richter scale? Hope you were OK Mwamba!

Dylan

Update from Toronto

2009-02-15T01:21:00.010Z

This is our stroller out in action for the first time. The girls looked very snug inside as we braved the Toronto winter to go out to the distillery district. Also pictured are Lyndon and Wendy, friends of ours who have just left Toronto to go back to the 45 degree heat of Melbourne. Perhaps Mwamba will see them there.

This is Wamaka in her little vibrating musical chair which she's usually really happy in during those increasingly lengthy active times in between sleeping and feeding. For some reason her sister doesn't like it at all and will not sit in it!

This is Namwezi in her electric swingy chair, which she sometimes seems to really like although it's fairly unpredictable.

It's was fantastic having Mum stay for all this time, we were really sorry to see her go back to Lusaka. Thanks so much for all your help!

Bye!

Ontario socialism

2009-02-13T03:52:00.004Z

What do you think that this is a picture of? Why would all these people be patiently queueing in a -20c and windy day? What could possibly be at the end of such a queue?

Welcome to the Liquor Liscencing Board of Ontario, basically your only option if you want a drop of the strong stuff to take home. When I got inside half the shelves were empty because it was Superbowl Sunday. It's a strange form of socialism they have here, you pay full price for prescription drugs but can only buy a bottle of New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc from a bonded government establishment.

...no business like snow business

2009-02-03T18:22:00.005Z

I agree!

I still get excited about snow but didn't think to take any pictures as it snows 15cm in a day quite frequently here...

So while BB processes his film I've taken the liberty of reproducing this excellent snowman from a gallery on the Guardian website.

Here's one from T.O. that shows one of our downtown streetcars

Here's a photo of Mwamba's flat north of Morden that I liberated from Facebook

And one of Changala...

I am particularly looking forward to seeing some Zambian or Australian snow.

Dylan

There's No Business Like Snow Business

2009-02-03T10:46:00.008Z

woo hoo!
we have snow.

for those of you like me that still get excited by this kind of thing, this i reckon is the place for snowy pictures...i've not yet developed the bunch of films i shot yesterday but when i do they'll make it on here i promise.

ok, i finally developed some of my films and here are a few of the snowy shots...

Google Maps Street View

2009-02-01T22:11:00.003Z

I love google earth. You can get some amazing pictures, even of the farm in Lusaka, as you can see from earlier posts on this blog.

If you haven't seen it, and you can get a really good broadband internet connection, check out Google Maps Street View, and incredible way to explore the world from your armchair. It hasn't come to Toronto yet, or the UK but covers a lot of mainland Europe, Australia (including Melbourne, Mwamba) and the US.

I can't wait for sea floor views from Google Ocean, yes it really is coming!

Dylan

Returning home with Namwezi and Wamaka

2009-01-28T18:00:00.011Z

Thanks for all the phone calls, messages of congratulations, flowers, gifts and ululations.

We were really well looked after at St Mike's. All the staff were awesome and we were lucky enough to get a (normally 2 patient) post-partum room to ourselves. I don't know how we would have managed otherwise as our stuff and the twins seemed to take up the whole room.

It's been great to be home though. Namwezi and Wamaka had their first check up at the doctors today and they are doing really well. They are back to their birth weight already and seem to have lost the jaundice that they were monitoring while they were in hospital.

this is Namwezi Ella (above)...

...and Wamaka Mia (above and below).

There has been a little controversy as to whether the girls are identical...

...what do you think?

Love, Dylan and Chil

P.S. Pete found this great link: http://www.un.int/zambia/ambarchivenew.html

Congratulations!!

2009-01-25T16:25:00.001Z

I know I've already said it but congratulations again for producing two lovely great-nieces for me. It's great to see more photos.

Peli & Richard

Namwezi and Wamaka

2009-01-24T17:19:00.004Z

Introducing...

Namwezi Ella Bould, born 2.7kg at 00:13, 22nd January by Cesarean section and her sister Wamaka Mia Bould, born 2.4kg one minute later.

Namwezi means 'princess' and is a Mambwe name in honour of her Zambian grandmother (arriving in Toronto tomorrow), Wamaka is Bemba meaning 'God is great' in honour of her Zambian grandfather.

Our thoughts are with their great grandparents, we really hope that Nandad's knee surgery went well.

Love Dylan and Chil

Twin Daughters for Chil & Dylan

2009-01-23T19:30:00.004Z

Audrey and I are ecstatic at the news of the twins' births. All our family here in Norfolk, UK, are thinking of Chil, Dylan and little Namwezi and Wamaka. I would like to send our thanks to Chil and Dylan for producing such beautiful (grand)daughters, and our fond regards and congratulations to the rest of family, wherever you may be in the world.

Graham and Audrey
Proud grandparents.

Hooray for Mia and Ella!

2009-01-22T10:30:00.003Z

Hip hip hooray!
Hope everyone is well - look forward to seeing some pictures before long.
Uncle Bill and Auntie Claudia

The finished extension to the farm in Lusaka

2009-01-05T20:36:00.008Z

Pete sent me these photos of the newly finished extension to the house on Mum and Dad's farm in Lusaka. If you can't remember what it used to look like check out these photos from the first post on this blog, December 27 2006.

It looks fantastic on the inside...

This is how the veranda used to look

Thanks for the pictures Pete,

Dylan

PS

Mum just sent me these extra pictures of the new main entrance to the house in the extension. It looks huge!

A Mainsah/Che Christmas

2009-01-03T21:27:00.011Z

Did everyone have a quiet Christmas? ...not everybody! Here are some photos of what the Mainsah/Che clan got up to over the holidays. If you want to see more then follow the 'More photography by Joel' link on the right.

For those of you that don't recognize her, this is Ese, Winnie and Victor's Daughter who is now 3 years of age-ish (not 100% sure of the dates here). Ese didn't recognize me in the summer, when I said "hi, Ese", she answered "how do you know my name?" in a very suspicous manner!

Kintashe, Sunjo and 'Zanga striking poses. Sunjo may look confused about your pose Zangi but we think you look cool.

Uncle Evaristus with Elsa, now about 2, last time you saw her on the blog she was just 6 months. She keeps getting prettier every day, just like Uncle Eva!

Left to right: Joel, Sophia, Joe, newborn baby Yana, Winnie, Eseosa, Kintashe, Monique, Evaristus, Kuzanga, Judith and Michael.

Chil promised that she'd grow an afro this big but got fed up with it and cut it! What do they put in the water in Budapest, Judith? Awesome!

The present-frenzy...

Some of little Elsa, obviously the star of the show, and below with her daddy Joel.

Nice boots 'Tashe, bet they keep you warm!

Looks like it was a great Christmas, wish we could have been there,

Dylan and Chil

Boxing Day

2009-01-02T02:03:00.002Z

I thought I'd post this excellent portrait from Boxing day, stolen from Stephen's collection of photography, which you can find by using the Photography by Long Strattonian link on the right.

Dylan

Happy New Year from Toronto

2008-12-30T22:55:00.017Z

Happy Christmas! I hope you've all had a great holiday.

This is Chil and I and friends at the work Christmas party at the posh restaurant at the top of the Royal Ontario Museum. As it was an event for the department from the hospital I left in July most of the people hadn't seen Chil for some time and were very surprised to see her so pregnant. This made a change as most of the time people have been saying how tiny Chil looks and how the bump can't possibly be twins. Personally, I think it's a pretty impressive bump!

We had a great Christmas, much busier than expected. We went to Vern's for Christmas Eve Eve for dinner.

This is our friend Vern and his 6 month old girl Laurel: we seem to be increasingly surrounded by small children these days and I think that it's only the start!

On Christmas Eve itself we had a party at our condo and invited all the other lonely expatriate fellows we know: British, Australian, Swiss, French and Belorussian. However, the stars of the show were definately Joshua and Nathan, the twin baby boys of Chil's friend Deborah who also lives in our building. One or other of them skillfully exposed Chil's inexperience in nappy changing by howling like a car alarm until his mother (and everyone else) came to see who was causing such a commotion. Chil had to be rescued mid-nappy change. I'm sure we'll both be experts before long, however.

On Christmas day one of my colleagues from my old job at St Mikes kindly invited us round for dinner with his parents. I actually had a week off work but after all that we were just happy to sleep.

Thanks to everyone for their Christmas cards and gifts. We were especially inefficient this year and didn't send out any cards at all. I know you can forgive Chil under the circumstances but I'm afraid I don't have much of an excuse. Especial thanks to Mum and Dad in Zambia who bought the twins these beautiful cribs, here being put together by myself...

...and to Mrs and Mr Bill Bould Snr who bought us the most amazing all terrain pram, essential for getting around in ice and snowstorms while -20c outside.

I was very impressed to see that Nandad is now fully operational with Skype, including webcam in glorious technicolor. I think there's definately no excuses now for Skypeophobia, it will be the best way to see the twins, when they come.

Happy New Year from Toronto,

Dylan

Christmas in Zambia

2008-12-30T22:36:00.007Z

I got these pictures from Pete's Facebook page, so for those of you who don't do Facebook, these are some pictures of Christmas in Zambia. Were you hunting for turkey, Pete?

Winter's here!

2008-12-07T23:40:00.002Z

I think we've caught up with the Norfolk winter. It's the wind chill that makes it "feels like -21" that tells the true story.

Ultrasound pictures of the twins

2008-12-02T23:55:00.006Z

These are our latest pictures of the twins, in case you don't know, expected to be identical girls. They are probably all pictures of twin A as twin B is so active it's hard to get a clear picture: despite being identical they certainly seem to have different personalities already. Chil is 30 weeks tomorrow which means a maximum of 7 weeks left before they arrive. We are busy looking for an all terrain pram with snow wheels and a storm shield to enable mobility in the Toronto winter and getting things together to turn out solarium into a nursery. We're also anxiously waiting on information as to who's going to come and visit us, especially on visa information from Zambia!

Pictures of Chil and bump to follow.

Congratulations to Mwamba on her appointment to the Melbourne office and on Evaristus on his promotion in the New York branch of IBM.

Dylan

Winter arrives in Norfolk

2008-11-23T12:06:00.013Z

Warm greetings to you
all, wherever you may
be in the world. I hope
these shots will give an idea

of our weather just now.

Over the last 24 hours we
have had about six inches
of snow, but of course it

is much deeper in places.
We don't often get much snow
before Christmas, so this is unusual.
It will probably only last a day or two.

Here is our village sign;
it stands just outside our
house, which is behind me.

This is our garden pond and picnic
table.

This is what I call rubbishy
weather!

A view of one of our

neighbours' allotments.
No ploughing today.

Hopefully we'll be able
to keep toasty warm
with these well seasoned
logs.

Johanna visits

2008-10-11T21:19:00.008Z

Things have been pretty crazy here so I haven't had time to post. Here's some pictures from Johanna's visit to Toronto this summer, even though we're well into fall.

This is the sound and light show projected onto the parliament buildings in Ottawa each night over the summer. It's so good it makes you feel patriotic even if you're not Canadian... Chil started humming "Oh, Canada" afterwards!

First Nation's art from the Museum of Civilization

This is the inside of the basilica in the old french quarter on Montreal. We were lucky enough to visit during the annual international fireworks festival. Every Saturday and Wednesday night through the summer a different country competes with a display. We saw the awesome Australia

Quebeckers are a bit different from the rest of Canada, including what they choose to fill their prams with (above).

...this was all part of the Just for Laughs festival in Montreal's latin quarter.

New Orleans

2008-07-03T22:27:00.016Z

Here are some photos of our recent visit to New Orleans, Louisiana. It's a very interesting part of the world, very unique and very different from other places in theUS. Definately recommended.

There's a big graveyard thing going on. We visited the Lafayette cemetary, that was the one used in Easy Rider and Interview with Vampire. We had a random tour, guided by a very drunk cemetary worker who had a good line in graveyard jokes.

Chil refused to hold the baby alligator. It took quite a lot of convincing to get either Nisreen or Chil to the swamps in the first place but I think they were both glad they did, it was really quite beautiful. Lots of alligators too.

In the afternoon we went to an old plantation called Laura. They have a fascinating historical tour that gives you an idea of life and slavery on the sugar plantations before the civil war.

This is Chil and Niz shopping in the French Quarter of New Orleans. These old parts are all unharmed from Katrina. Some parts could reasonably be described as sleazy, and tourist traps, but there's still lots of great architecture, unique culture, jazz and blues music. We found the N'Awlins folk particularly friendly and proud of their reputation for knowing how to have a good time.
There are still some areas that are very damaged from Katrina. We saw one, the lower 9th ward where possibly half the houses were still abandoned, almost 3 years on. The crosses and writing on the walls show that they have been searched, for bodies first, then for pets. We were a bit concerned that visiting these areas was a little inappropriate, but when we chatted to people they were glad that people came to see. They feel that they've been poorly supported and want people to know.

We've got Johanna visiting with us now, she just arrived today. Were thinking of celebrating Chil's birthday next Friday with a trip to Montreal. We'll keep you posted!

Nova Scotia

2008-06-21T15:36:00.013Z

We've been exploring atlantic Canada, Nova Scotia borrows a lot from the old scotland, even their flag is reminiscent, although with the colours reversed. As we found, they definately have Scottish weather: the whole 'four seasons in one day', with lots of fog, high winds, rain and occasionally sunshine.

It feels strange to go on holiday from somewhere with a great summer to all that British style weather. Nova Scotians are a different breed to Torontonians. There's a different accent that even sounds a little British, with hints of a celtic lilt. The pace of life is much slower.

They are blessed with the second biggest natural harbour in the world (after Sydney) and the second busiest on the eastern seaboard of the continent (after New York). We went on a boat trip to look for Minke whales but only managed porpoises... or is that a wave... or is it that one over there...? Apparently there's more to see in Quebec so we might have more luck in September with Mum.

We are now realizing the true magnitude of Canada's geography. When we looked at Nova Scotia on the map it seemed like a very small part of Canada. We'd planned to start in Halifax and drive up to the highlands of Cape Breton in the North.

Although the province is only 300 by 100 miles we ended up having a much lazier time, went south to Lunenburg and across to Wolfville on the other coast. I think we needed the rest, it gives us an excuse to go back and have been told that the weather is even more dismal in the North!

Chil loved NS for the lobster, we both loved it for the rocky beaches and the incredibly well preserved fishing villages. Nova Scotians are ridiculously polite. This is on top of the already high level of politeness amongst other Canadians. If you jaywalk, or even stand by the side of the road looking like you might want to cross, cars will stop in both directions and the drivers will smile cheerily and wave you across.
Chil's been learning the secrets of brewing at the Keith's brewery...

We've now got Nizreen with us for a couple of weeks and we're off to New Orleans on Monday for 5 days. I hope you're all enjoying Euro 2008 as much as I am, I can't say I'm missing watching England self destruct again.

Summer softball

2008-06-04T14:51:00.009Z

We've been seeing the inside and outside of more private buildings in 'Doors Open Toronto'.

This is actually the inside of a 1930's Deco banking building. Chil and her friend Barbara have been trying to get into the vaults...

One if the guys I played hockey with over the winter introduced us to a new sport for the better weather. This is Chil at the plate... while not exactly a big hitter she was a pretty athletic fielder! Chil liked it enough that she's bought a mitt, we'll keep you posted for home runs.

Fantastic news that Mum and Dad have had the bore hole cleaned and now have fresh water again! I hope all is well in Lusaka.

Dylan

Doors Open Toronto

2008-05-25T16:14:00.003Z

I passed my exam! I'm still only 3/4 of the way through the degree but very glad that I don't have to do the exam again.

We've been BBQ'ing this weekend and are now off to Doors Open Toronto.

It's lovely and warm here in Toronto and we're looking forward to the summer, which really starts for us June 13th when my classes finish for the summer and we are going off to Halifax in Nova Scotia, the Atlantic region of whale watching and lobster suppers for Chil. Chil's friend Niz is coming to stay after that. My start date at SickKids has been delayed to August, which will give us another summer month of the quiet rota I have at St Michael's hospital. I think it will be a bit of a shock to the system getting back to busy on-calls when at SickKids, but the first month will be broken up by Mum's visit in August. Quebec city is 400 this year, so we might all drive there then.

This is our local park, Berczy Park, as seen from Toronto's flatiron building. It's older but smaller and less well known than New York's flatiron, but a great local landmark and this weekend all kinds of private buildings open their doors to curious Torontonians.

The tall building in the back is our condo block, also a flatiron building. Our flat is now obscured by the new building being constructed but is just behind the top right hand corner of that building. The main road there, Front Street is one of our favourite places and the main street in our St Lawrence Market area. It's generally very low-rise for downtown Toronto with a bit of cafe culture breaking out now the warm weather is coming. The green in the corner is Berczy park again.

Audrey's Garden Studio

2008-05-24T18:28:00.005Z

We are both very proud of our latest purchase! In March we decided that it was time Audrey had somewhere to call her own; somewhere where she could paint and draw and frame pictures to her heart's content. So she designed a studio and we then went to a local company that makes wooden buildings, and showed them our list of design specifications. To our surprise they weren't in the least fazed. So it was delivered in late April in several pieces and four men spent a day putting it up. Over the course of the next couple of weeks they beavered away and eventually it was completed just in time for Audrey to take part in "Norfolk Open Studios 08"- this is a Norfolk-wide celebration of local artists and it's the first time that Auds has taken part.

Leading up to the first open weekend (last weekend) Audrey was really as nervous as I have ever seen her; not just nervous but really racked by a terrible tense headache. Anyway, she needn't have worried because she sold two paintings that weekend! This weekend is a Bank Holiday weekend for us, so we're hoping that we'll get plenty more people coming for a look - weather permitting, of course.

Here are two more pictures, showing the garden and how it looks overall.

Springtime in Toronto

2008-05-04T20:28:00.004Z

Spring has sprung here in Toronto, so we're celebrating it with a collage called "Nandad in his garden".

The snow has long gone and instead its been warm and sunny with green things springing into life everywhere.

University of Toronto

2008-03-31T13:40:00.004Z

This is my study group for the comprehensive exam for my Master of Education degree, celebrating after the exam. The results are out in a few weeks...

Jamboree Kid

2008-03-29T16:08:00.004Z

I came across some interesting photos by someone called Jamboree kid, I thought I'd put a link to them on the right.

It's starting to warm up here in Toronto, although dropping to -5 from time to time. I had my exam for my degree yesterday, I think it went ok. Thanks for all the birthday cards and greetings. We're turing the lights off for Earth Hour tonight, thought we'd sit in the dark and have a glass of wine!

Skype's been down for a week but now the exams over I should have time to get it working.

Dylan

Happy Birthday Dylan!

2008-03-22T11:27:00.003Z

Happy Birthday Dylan!

We made you a cake

love and kisses and lots of cake

from

Claudia

Peli

Richard

Bunny Wunny (Peter)

and MUMSIE

Hope you have a lovely day

(we are donating the real cake to a local orphanage, on your behalf)

XXXXX

Joel's Cameroon Trip

2008-02-24T13:48:00.003Z

Check out these photos from Joel's trip to Cameroon

-30 (wind chill) and counting...

2008-02-11T04:34:00.000Z

Coming back from the cinema today part of the pavement was cordoned off with the sign "caution: falling ice chunks"! Saw Juno, by the way, I'd recommend it, but not for Hindolveston's church hall. There's ice between the panes of our double glazing. The condo management have sealed the window as opening it may cause the heating coil of the central heating to freeze and break.

I was very suspicious of the 'humidity factor' in the summer, but this wind chill, it's real! Chil's gained a healthy respect for northerly or westerly winds over 20km/h. Any potential visitors might want to wait 'till spring...

Dylan

Good luck!

2008-02-09T17:17:00.000Z

Good luck to Cameroon, Eto'o and the Mainsah's in the Africa Cup of Nations final against Egypt tomorrow!

Hyde Park

2008-01-31T14:05:00.000Z

Over the winter period there's been a German market and funfair based in Hyde's Park.

Here's a picture of the ferris wheel they've set-up - the crowds of people each weekend mitigate against doing much more than photographing what's on offer...

.
.

Guess where?

2008-01-29T01:26:00.000Z

China?
Paris?
Rome?
Venice?

Of course, it's Vegas! I wasn't quite sure if it was a theme park or a city!

The Star Trek museum was definately the highlight, they even have a bar where you can be served a Warp Core Breach (pink cocktail in a huge bowl with dry ice in it) by a Klingon! There should have been a picture of myself with a Borg but Nick (above, left) has returned to the UK with his memory stick.

I'm now back in T.O. where it is actually a balmy 1 centigrade today without any significant wind chil. The Canadians keep looking selfconcious and promising it will get really cold in February then wander off muttering about global warming.

Dylan

Africa Cup of Nations

2008-01-29T00:17:00.000Z

Cameroon 5-Zambia 1

Cameroon will qualify if they beat Sudan, or if they get a draw and Zambia fail to beat Egypt, or if they lose by fewer than four goals and Zambia lose.
Zambia will qualify if they beat Egypt by at least three goals, or if they win and Cameroon do not, or if they draw and Cameroon lose.

As Egypt have a player called Zidan and beat Cameroon 4-2 I suspect the Canadian Boulds will be supporting Cameroon on Thursday! Until then, come on Zambia!

Come on you Chipolopolo

2008-01-23T00:15:00.000Z

Zambia 3 - the mighty Sudan 0
Zambia top Group C

San Diego

2008-01-22T22:33:00.000Z

A conference took me down to San Diego, the most south-westerly point of the Republic of California and the US .

Probably the only day that I'll ever be a Chargers fan: they won the Divisional Playoff as underdogs, the whole town went wild!

This is apparently where the film Top Gun was shot. Check out the outsize sailor on the left.

Saw plenty of sea lions out near the naval base.

This is, believe it or not, a Gray whale in Mexican water, just off the coast of Tijuana. This one was bout 40" long. Apparently they used to be called Devil Fish in the days of whaling as they were so aggressive but are now called The Friendly Whale as they're used to being left alone!

This is the train station.

California was mostly as I had imagined it would be: wide open streets, hot and sunny, good local wines, beaches and abundant Mexican food. I hadn't expected the excellent selection of local beers I'd never heard of before though. My Californian trivia: if California was an independent country it would rank 8th biggest economy in the world, smaller than Italy's but bigger than Canada's. Worried about the US recession yet?

Next stop Las Vegas, Nevada.

Dylan

Make it so!

2008-01-21T18:21:00.000Z

This is me as Worf at the back, my boss/masters supervisor Vern in the center, Nick (right) is another UK fellow and Deven is one of Vern's previous fellows, now staff at St Michael's.

Happy New Year 2008

2008-01-01T23:27:00.000Z

We started 2008 with a very small but fairly loud visitor to our Condo: Mimi, the 4-year-old daughter of Chil's friends Moira and Justin. Definately our cutest visitor so far.

This is Front Street just one north of us on the Esplanade here, the awning on the left is the Hummingbird centre, a theatre, and we're still trying to work out why there's always smoke/steam coming from the top of the TD building.

It's official! you can't live in Toronto and not be a Hockey fan......despite strong initial resistance Chil has now converted to the right side of the force and has not only learned the rules, been a hockey announcer and suffered for the sport we've now been to our first live game together...awesome!!

Happy New Year everyone,

Dylan and Chil

New year good wishes

2007-12-31T16:46:00.000Z

I thought i would like to wish you all a happy new year.

As Janice and I have not been working today, we thought we would take a trip up to Horsey Gap, which is on the North Eastern side of the Norfolk Coast, as we had heard that the grey seals were pupping up there. Which indeed they were. It was great just being able to walk in the dunes within very close proximity to the pups. The beach itself on which they were basking, was out of bounds so as not to cause any undue stress.

As I am sure you will agree, they are charming not so little creatures, which certainly do have the "Ooh Aah" factor.

What I did not realise is that this part of Norfolk is significantly important to the grey seal population as a whole, where the pups can be seen for about 3 months at this time of year. Evidently the young are weened for a period of only3 weeks, after which time they are left to their own devices by their Mother. The milk must be a drop of good stuff!!

Those who are more witty than myself, I am sure will be well able to come up with some suitable captions.

Happy new year to you all.

Best wishes

Steve

Chil at the NIB

2007-12-29T23:42:00.000Z

This is a photo of Chil at the National Institute of Broadcasting here in Toronto.

2007-12-27T19:26:00.000Z

Hi there everybody. I hope that we all had a good Christmas, and wish you all the best for a happy and hopefully propsperous new year.

Although the phot is not particularly appropriate at this time of year, I thought I would include it, if nothing else to add a bit of cheer and hasten on the winter months. It is not a superb composition, but I was quite taken with the reflection, and thought the craft was quite aptly named as "Glistening Horizon". It was taken during the late summer on the Norfolk Broads at Irstead.

Anyway, it was good to speak with Dylan and Chil on Christmas day, and wish you all the best for the coming year. It is good to see all that is going on with the blog, and Bill, I hope you manage to find another five fingers to make up a dirty hand at the earliest opportunity.

Best wishes

Steve

Newsflash!

2007-12-27T19:17:00.000Z

Chil is part of the broadcasting team for the Canadian Multicultural Hockey Tournament, click on the link for the website including a live internet broadcast.

Break a leg, Chil!

2007-12-26T12:15:00.000Z

This is a picture of me as a bridesmaid for my cousins wedding on 30th June this year. The wedding was held at St Michael's church where I live in Long Stratton and the reception was at Sprowston Manor Hotel.

This a recent one of me taken last week at my works christmas do. I am on the left and that is one of my work colleauges Tara, we done the same course at college together and both ended up working in the same place!

Well they are the most recent pics of me I can find, I will get Dad on here soon and he can upload some of his pictures. Until then, Byee xxx

Hello

2007-12-26T12:08:00.000Z

well hey to dylan and chill! thank you for the invite I have now set up an account im not sure exactly what this is that i am writing now but hey never mind! this is a bit confusing! i hope you both had a good xmas, we left grahams about 7 and went to see nanna and nandad and also joyce was staying too. nanna was alot better by the evening luckily but it was a shame she missed xmas dinner.
anyways i am going to go and investigate this site a bit more now will try and get some pictures up somehow, sometime... take care sarah xxx

Merry Christmas!

2007-12-25T16:19:00.000Z

Happy Christmas

It's been six months now since we set sail for this new and bonny land and although we are missing you all terribly the locals have been very good to us and made sure we celebrated Christmas Canadian style...

....with four Christmas parties...

...three Christmas dinners...

...two displaced Britons...

....and a bush for a Christmas tree!

Ho, ho, ho! Merry Christmas!

Chil and Dylan

tanti auguri

2007-12-25T14:41:00.000Z

La nuova macchina fotografica panoramica!

Grazie la mia Claudia!

Tanti auguri a tutti!

Christmas

2007-12-25T14:05:00.000Z

To everyone we care about all over the world: Africa, Canadia ;) Germany, Italy, USA and UK...

Wishing you all a very happy and peaceful Christmas from all of us in Newcastle-Under-Lyme.

Some photos...

...there was a veritable moutain of wrapped presents here last night.

these rainy days start over and over again...

some yuletide flowers

post prandial pair

lobsters for lunch

a heavenly angel

more pictures to follow tomorrow... or not!