I'm celebrating 10,000 hits and 100 posts

There was good news waiting for me after I returned from a great two-week holiday visiting our son, Andrew, and his wife Michelle, pictured below, in South Africa.

We spent a few days in Johannesburg where the couple work full-time for the huge God First Church in Johannesburg. The pastor is P J Smyth and the church has 2,000 members, nine venues and 65 staff.

Andrew and Michelle flew down to Durban with myself and my wife Jan where we spent a few days in a spacious villa beside a lovely beach near Margate before all going to Mozambique visiting the capital Maputo and two resorts.

I had read that Maputo, formerly Lourenco Marques when it was a Portuguese colony, was a pleasant city with wide avenues.

I must say I was a little disappointed with the capital as there were so few historic buildings remaining.

However, one highlight was the railway station, pictured below, which still retained its historic grandeur.

Designed partly by Gustaff Eiffel, who also built the famous Eiffel Tower landmark in Paris, it is still an imposing building.

Incidentally, it was used as a movie set for the film Blood Diamond starring Leonardo Di Caprio.

The two resorts we visited, Portuguese Island and Barra Lodge, both had beautiful beaches and it was a pleasure to swim in the warm Indian Ocean.

Mozambique suffered a terrible 15-year civil war from 1977-1992 and it was encouraging to see that the country was returning to some stability and making progress economically.

We were lucky to see the country, which was once one of the three poorest in the world, in its early stages of development and we hope it isn’t spoilt by rich Westerners and a few Mozambicans who were charging sky high prices.

Getting used to cold England this week after the heat of southern Africa there was warming news about my book, Four Centuries at The Lion Hotel.

Firstly, I have just topped 10,000 hits and this is my 100^th post after only nine months of setting it up which I am really pleased about.

Secondly, Peter Trifunovic, from Yorkshire, read my blog and ordered a copy of the book which I sent him.

This week he replied: “Thank you for the book, it arrived over the weekend. I must say it’s an excellent read and well done on such a wonderful book.”

If you would like a signed copy of Four Centuries at The Lion Hotel for the special price of £6 including postage anywhere in the UK or £7 worldwide please email John@jbutterworth.plus.com

To read more see my blog http://thelionhotelbook.blogspot.com/