It can’t have been colder as wind does not alter temperature, but only how it feels.

I didn’t realise until recently that a strong wind does not make the temperature any lower, it just makes the ‘feels like’ temperature lower.

I’m hoping that problem has been overcome with electric cars!

I have a house in South Africa and usually spend just over six months of the year there.
I don’t have personal experience of this company, but they look no better or worse than dozens of others.
One really important thing is to know exactly what you want and check that the company you use provides it.
For instance, many will offer safaris and many people want to do one. However many of these safaris are what I call ‘canned’ safaris. These cover thousands and thousands of hectares but the animals don’t exist in a natural way. The lions in these places are always kept in enclosures (very large ones) as there is an insufficient range or number of other animals for the lions to catch and feed on. Seldom either will you see Leopards or Cheetah in these places.
To see life in the raw without these constraints it’s necessary to visit the Kruger National Park in the North East of SA where accommodation can even be booked. However if you don’t like seeing lions bring down live prey and eat them, the Kruger may not be for you.
Some packages on ‘canned’ safari areas provide different length packages and some travel companies include longer ones that can actually become boring.
It’s always been my advice, dependant on what people want from a holiday to book themselves into accommodation in areas they want to be in. SA guest houses are usually superb although you always should confirm that breakfast is included, as it’s not in some. Eating out is fantastic and very cheap, at least compared to the U.K. Driving outside of busy cities like Cape Town is easy, but outside of peak traffic times, larger cities are OK.
In summary I find most travel companies are a little restrictive in what they are able to offer.
SA has a reputation of being unsafe with lots of crime. OK there is crime and it’s essential to be careful. However avoiding townships after dark is vital.
My wife and I drive into our local town, Stellenbosch, regularly to visit movies or restaurants. We usually park in the street, ask the inevitable car guard to look after the car and give him a few Rand when we return and there’s never a problem.
Don’t even contemplate booking anything until Covid gets sorted. We were locked into the country in March when all international flights into the country were banned. We only managed to return to the U.K. on a very expensive repatriation flight. At the moment with the new SA mutation of the virus, again most countries have banned flights from SA certainly the U.K. has.
My wife and I are spending our first winter in the U.K. for fifteen years as a direct result of Covid.

It seems a shame that the value of all the medical treatment you’ve had might be lost if C***d k**ls you now.

If you spend too much time thinking long and hard about taking the v*****e you just might get k**led by C***d in the meantime.

Today in the U.K. more people overall have been vaccinated than have been known to have contracted the virus during the pandemic.

The science actually supports this approach.

The problem with the latest vicious mutation in the UK is even the recommended precautions are not working. A woman doctor here who knew exactly what to do passed an asymptomatic infection to her father and killed him. She has no idea how it happened as she exceeded all of the recommended protocols.
With the USA already having the highest percentage of infections and deaths, I just hope this mutated version of the virus does not spread there as it’s doing here.

All of the things many of you describe are totally prohibited in the U.K. at the moment. Leaving home for local outdoor exercise once a day is all that is permitted for social or leisure activity.
Recently two people have had fines of £200 each for driving in separate cars five miles to walk in a National park. This is however currently under review, but gives an idea of the difference between the U.K. and USA.

Try saying deoxyribonucleic acid instead of DNA then.

You could try practicing there for a few weeks before coming. 😂😂

A couple of years back my wife and I got into our car and were putting our seat belts on when the rear doors opened and two people got in. They sat there and said nothing. It was not until I turned round to look at them they realised they’d got into the wrong vehicle. The one they should have been in was parked on the other side of a large van parked next to us. This car was an identical make, model and colour. The driver of this car was doubled up with laughter when he realised what they had done.

What a great reading list. Accompany that with some nice background music and you’ve got it made.
I do have to say though that in the UK, Mr Trumps behaviour yesterday significantly altered our news headlines for a while.

Wow, in the UK, under the current Covid restrictions, we’re told to stay at home and are not permitted to travel far outside our local area for leisure purposes. Hotels and guest houses in the vast majority of the UK have been forced to close. Even with these restriction the new mutant variant doesn’t seem to have been brought under control.