Dr. Livingstone I presume?

Today is the 200th anniversary of the birth of David Livingstone. He was born not far from my home, in Blantyre, and close to where I took the car for a service, so I took the chance to brave the sleet for this quick shot of 'Livingstone and the Lion', a sculpture in the grounds of the David Livingstone Centre.

It interprets an event when Livingstone was out shooting lions that were killing villagers - he shot this one that turned and attacked him then suddenly dropped dead! Lucky for him, though his arm was badly damaged and never the same.

Although I don't particularly like the sculpture, in an earlier working life as a tourism consultant I did some work at the DL Centre and was involved in the planning stages of the sculpture. It was designed by the great Hollywood special effects producer Ray Harryhausen and initially it was to be an anonymous donation as a surprise for his wife Diana, who is Livingstone's great-granddaughter. It was quite exciting being party to the secret, though of course it didn't stay a secret for long! The actual sculpture was cast in bronze by Gareth Knowles in Ireland, and seeing this huge, massively heavy chunk of metal being lowered onto its plinth was quite a sight!

Celebrations this week have included a visit to the Centre by Joyce Banda, president of Malawi who hails from Blantyre in Malawi, where Livingstone is still held in high regard.

Home now and waiting for the plumber as our heating is slowly giving up the ghost, radiator by radiator. We had the boiler serviced and some sealant added to the system to stem a small leak, which seems to have had the effect of completely messing up a perfectly functioning system. He is only half an hour late so far...

An early social evening at the pub tonight, at 5.15, for some food and a meet up with old work colleagues. Drinking on a Tuesday - whatever next!!