The Heat!

Hello dears
I am not sure you realise what I mean when I say it is hot here: it is so hot the air feels as if it is blowing out of a red-hot heater. The sun feels as if it will give you third degree burns and it never cools down, even at night. We have cold showers throughout the day and the kids swim, even though there are biting things (invisible and unidentifiable) that leave them covered in red bites. I am in love with my little white fan - it is my most precious possession. I carry it into my office and blow it straight onto me at the desk, and I carry it back to our room at night and point it right over me, under the net. It has saved my life. But today the water pump has broken and there are no cold showers to be had. Will have to go to the pool at the lodge down the beach for a swim when the last guests have left after 3.
I don't usually go anywhere, because that would mean going out of this shady property into that dusty heat glare out there. But naturally I made an exception for the Monkey Bay market and went, alone, in the heat of the midday sun. I felt faint and when I saw myself after two hours of trawling the piles, in the mirror at the loo at the petrol station, I was a vile shade of puce. It was rather shattering! I splashed water all over me and emerged looking as if I had tried to drown myself under the tap. The Malawian attendants, with their usual impeccable politeness, merely smiled cheerily and said "you are most welcome" when I staggered out and thanked them from the bottom of my boiled heart.
(Unbelievably, I shopped in that heat for winter clothes for the Cape winter next year. I bought fleece pants and jackets and jerseys - I was a hero in my own bizarre tale.)
Not much going on here in the heat... Ed got a fever for 24 hours and we treated him for malaria but I don't think it was - Malawians all just nod sagely when anyone sickens at this time of year and say "it happens now. It is the lake." The mangoes are ripening slowly and we drink may many glasses of water all day.
We are heading off to the tea estate under Mulanje mountain in the beginning of November - it has an enormous plantation house, sleeps 10 and has huge shady trees and a lawn and a swimming pool! There are also all sorts of mountain streams to swim in. Can't wait. Have even booked for the factory tour (being a tea head, I think it is a necessary pilgrimage.) (Google Lujeri Lodge and then go green.)
Both islands are full now, but are empty for the few days we go away. Malawi has been full of young Poms who came for the Lake of Stars music festival - colonisers. They irritated us with their arrogance - sending beach boys to fetch kayaks for them with vague promises to pay when they returned and infesting our jetty and generally behaving as if Malawi never got its independence 50 years ago and this was their own personal playground replete with cheerful slaves - but perhaps that was just the thoughtlessness of youth interpreted by the cynicism of age (made worse by the irritation of intense heat) - drink more iced water, dear...
Everyone who comes through here gets all misty eyed telling me what an ideal environment this is for kids. It is and it isn't. It's hard for them - the lake makes them itch and there's nowhere to go to get out except for two places - Gecko Lounge for and ice cream, and Cap Mac Lodge for a swimming pool. That's it for outings, and they only happen once a week as the grownups are all working the rest of the time. It is quite a limited life compared with life in town, where you see many other kids and play at each others' houses and go out to see things like the harbour and the shops and various play parks and whatnot. Buj and Javi at least have a wider circle of friends because they speak Chichewa and have grown up here, but my chaps are pretty isolated with only Buj and Javi to play with. So it's very safe and there's the lake and it's a great experience, but they really want to go home. They remember everything about it - every place they went to, every toy that is waiting for them. Still,, they'll miss it all when they leave.So the plan is to always come back for a month or two during the Cape Winter - and maybe every second year to do Christmas here too (and if we can persuade family and friends to visit us then that would be heaven!)
Must go now - hear the boat chugging towards us full of guests coming off and others are on their way here. The dads are taking the kids to swim in the pool and I'll join them there later. (Damn the pump!)