Hello there dear friends. We have had some requests for our address details so here they are!
170 Park Road
Cowes
Isle of Wight
PO31 7NE
United Kingdom
We look forward to all the pressies, postcards, photos and bank cheques you will be sending to that address!
Wednesday, 30 March 2011
Saturday, 26 March 2011
Saturday evening ramblings
Its hard to believe that we are already on our second weekend here on Mud Island. I feel a lot better now that we have arranged a proper bank account and car insurance for our little skedonk a.k.a Seat. Its name will be Whiney, as it has a rather odd and loud whine coming from the wheel bearings when you drive it. Still it is 100% roadworthy and has a valid MOT until next year. It also has a proper sound system, so if the whine gets too much, we will just turn up the volume on Isle of Wight Radio. Well we will do when we collect the car tomorrow!
On that, Isle of Wight radio is just like Jacaranda Stereo, belting out golden oldies, one or two newish numbers and interspersed with local news and advertising relevant to the Isle. Sam and I have a good giggle when the classics come on. We are starting to adjust to the way of life on the island. Its a small community, and as mentioned before, its no bigger than Lonehill (ok that is an exaggeration, its the size of Sandton, 35kms wide). Some of the great things we have become used to already. Forgot to by bread? No problem, down the road to the local corner shop, and back, in 5 mins. Feel like some beans on toast at 2 in the morning? No problem, up the road and around the corner to the 24 hour supermarket. There is a beautiful park just down the road from us, and more than a few good pubs in the local neighborhood. Its easy to walk anywhere, and the bus service is good if we need to use it. Conan, Kerry, Jody and Mark all live in Ryde which is a 25 minute drive from us, but over a stunning ridge that provides 360 degree views of the island and its scenery. We can get Mrs Balls chutney down in the village of Cowes! Today Sam and I found a really good fresh veg store, all organic and at reasonable prices. Sam was so excited she logged onto her favourite food sites to get all her best recipes so she can go shopping as soon as we got home. There are also foot paths all over Cowes so you can take a stroll too.
So we are getting on just fine! I have some pictures to post tomorrow. Oh and also we had out first house clean up today. (Not that we have left it messy!) Sammy and I work very well together cleaning and ironing, although I suggested to Sam later on in the afternoon that maybe we should find out if our old domestic worker Tobikele has a valid passport!! Its not too bad, I think I will become a wizard at ironing soon!
On that, Isle of Wight radio is just like Jacaranda Stereo, belting out golden oldies, one or two newish numbers and interspersed with local news and advertising relevant to the Isle. Sam and I have a good giggle when the classics come on. We are starting to adjust to the way of life on the island. Its a small community, and as mentioned before, its no bigger than Lonehill (ok that is an exaggeration, its the size of Sandton, 35kms wide). Some of the great things we have become used to already. Forgot to by bread? No problem, down the road to the local corner shop, and back, in 5 mins. Feel like some beans on toast at 2 in the morning? No problem, up the road and around the corner to the 24 hour supermarket. There is a beautiful park just down the road from us, and more than a few good pubs in the local neighborhood. Its easy to walk anywhere, and the bus service is good if we need to use it. Conan, Kerry, Jody and Mark all live in Ryde which is a 25 minute drive from us, but over a stunning ridge that provides 360 degree views of the island and its scenery. We can get Mrs Balls chutney down in the village of Cowes! Today Sam and I found a really good fresh veg store, all organic and at reasonable prices. Sam was so excited she logged onto her favourite food sites to get all her best recipes so she can go shopping as soon as we got home. There are also foot paths all over Cowes so you can take a stroll too.
So we are getting on just fine! I have some pictures to post tomorrow. Oh and also we had out first house clean up today. (Not that we have left it messy!) Sammy and I work very well together cleaning and ironing, although I suggested to Sam later on in the afternoon that maybe we should find out if our old domestic worker Tobikele has a valid passport!! Its not too bad, I think I will become a wizard at ironing soon!
Thursday, 24 March 2011
Comments
Hi Guys,
Thanks for the comments, for some reason we cannot reply in comments, will try to figure out why. Rich and Sam
Thanks for the comments, for some reason we cannot reply in comments, will try to figure out why. Rich and Sam
Wednesday, 23 March 2011
Pictures!!!
Ok we have found the camera cable and so here are a few pictures. We will take more, its just been a very busy first week!
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| Leaving the dock from Southampton |
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| On the Car Ferry |
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| I am not cold.....I am FREEZING (it was only about 3 degrees) |
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| Front door of our new spot, 170 Park Drive Cowes PO31 7NE. Its on Google Earth and also on street view! |
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| Our bedroom. |
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| View from our room across the road. |
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| Yes that is blue sky (no photoshop) the weather has been great so far |
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| Kitchen, well equipped! |
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| Yes the sign says Red Squirrels, um does that mean I should watch out for brown and white squirrels? Or should Red Squirrels beware? Not too sure! Taken on the way to Yarmouth |
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| Yarmouth Town Centre, old hotel, very quaint |
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| Sammy in the high street of Yarmouth |
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| View of the Solent towards Lymington |
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| Old Pier off Yarmouth harbour, all still wooden including the bit the handles the car ferry to Lymington |
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| Nice in the sun, but Sam is hiding from a cool breeze coming off the Solent |
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| Yacht pier in Yarmouth |
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| Enjoying the sun! |
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| Yacht harbour in Cowes |
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| Advertising the Springboks in Cowes! |
Wednesday update
So sadly we have not yet found the cable for the camera, but we will look for it again after dinner, which is a pity because we have some nice pics to show you.
Its been a busy week so far, but we have managed to buy ourselves a little runaround car (ok its a skedonk but it will do!). Its a Seat (pronounced diesel station wagon which makes me giggle, because everytime I have ever pointed at a station wagon Sam would blurt out "Datsun!!" at the top of her voice, in reference to those grubby old Datsun station wagons of the 70s and 80s. Seriously I could have been pointing at a Rolls Royce station wagon and she would have done the same. But as we need wheels, and this Seat Cordoba was cheap, she has agreed to suspend her outbursts for our car, but can't promise she won't continue to shout "Datsun!!" at every other station wagon she sees. Which means on Mud Island, she is going to be saying it a lot! People here do love there diesel station wagons!
We went shopping at the large Tesco's in Ryde, which sells everything under the sun, kind of like a mix between Game and Pick n Pay. It also has a Costa coffee, so we had a cup there before getting on with the shopping. The other day I had a moan about the silly speed restrictions (see here). Worse than the speeding however, is the idea in the UK that its ok to charge a million rand for a cup of coffee (even more for a mug of coffee) and then not offer a re-fill. We have found ourselves missing the Mugg and Bean a lot, almost as much as friends and family! We have also been to Yarmouth for breakfast, a very pretty part of Isle of Wight, and got pleasantly lost on the way, as I put "Main Street" into the GPS. Except that the main street in any English town is referred to as the "High Street". So when we arrived at our destination according to the GPS, we were out in the sticks so to speak, on a very rural farm road, with only a few lazy sheep and a cow or two for company. Luckily the Island is only about as wide as Lonehill, so it was not difficult to find our way to the main town centre.
We have still to get car insurance, but that is worth a post of its own, when I have finished beating my head up against thewall bureaucracy that we face and I can look back and think it funny, until then lets just say it is yet to be sorted out.
Yesterday we took the hired car back to Heathrow and spent a few hours in London, before travelling down past Guildford and Winchester with Conan and crossing back over to the Isle on the hover craft. As each day goes by we are feeling more and more settled, even my work stuff seems to be lining up, so we are happy about that. Tomorrow we will have been in the UK for a week, its amazing how quickly it has gone by! It has been made a bit easier however by the glorious spring weather that we are having here. There was not a cloud in the sky here today, and we walked down to the Cowes high street in t-shirts. Ok so its not 33 degrees like Durban, but it is really very pleasant. Rain is forecast for the weekend but thats ok, because the other thing we have to get used to is cleaning our own home, so let it rain on Saturday, that way we don't have to feel like we are missing out!
Its been a busy week so far, but we have managed to buy ourselves a little runaround car (ok its a skedonk but it will do!). Its a Seat (pronounced diesel station wagon which makes me giggle, because everytime I have ever pointed at a station wagon Sam would blurt out "Datsun!!" at the top of her voice, in reference to those grubby old Datsun station wagons of the 70s and 80s. Seriously I could have been pointing at a Rolls Royce station wagon and she would have done the same. But as we need wheels, and this Seat Cordoba was cheap, she has agreed to suspend her outbursts for our car, but can't promise she won't continue to shout "Datsun!!" at every other station wagon she sees. Which means on Mud Island, she is going to be saying it a lot! People here do love there diesel station wagons!
We went shopping at the large Tesco's in Ryde, which sells everything under the sun, kind of like a mix between Game and Pick n Pay. It also has a Costa coffee, so we had a cup there before getting on with the shopping. The other day I had a moan about the silly speed restrictions (see here). Worse than the speeding however, is the idea in the UK that its ok to charge a million rand for a cup of coffee (even more for a mug of coffee) and then not offer a re-fill. We have found ourselves missing the Mugg and Bean a lot, almost as much as friends and family! We have also been to Yarmouth for breakfast, a very pretty part of Isle of Wight, and got pleasantly lost on the way, as I put "Main Street" into the GPS. Except that the main street in any English town is referred to as the "High Street". So when we arrived at our destination according to the GPS, we were out in the sticks so to speak, on a very rural farm road, with only a few lazy sheep and a cow or two for company. Luckily the Island is only about as wide as Lonehill, so it was not difficult to find our way to the main town centre.
We have still to get car insurance, but that is worth a post of its own, when I have finished beating my head up against the
Yesterday we took the hired car back to Heathrow and spent a few hours in London, before travelling down past Guildford and Winchester with Conan and crossing back over to the Isle on the hover craft. As each day goes by we are feeling more and more settled, even my work stuff seems to be lining up, so we are happy about that. Tomorrow we will have been in the UK for a week, its amazing how quickly it has gone by! It has been made a bit easier however by the glorious spring weather that we are having here. There was not a cloud in the sky here today, and we walked down to the Cowes high street in t-shirts. Ok so its not 33 degrees like Durban, but it is really very pleasant. Rain is forecast for the weekend but thats ok, because the other thing we have to get used to is cleaning our own home, so let it rain on Saturday, that way we don't have to feel like we are missing out!
Monday, 21 March 2011
Top Gear - Whats the point??
Having driven on Mud Island for a few days now, and remembering other visits to the country, I am beggining to wonder why on earth a program like Top Gear is even on TV. Mostly because the speed limits are completely over the top here, and also make little sense. A good example, on the highway the limit is 70 mph (about 112km/h). But like in Jozi, if you are going at that speed you are liable to be run over by at least 20 cars doing a million miles and hour in the fast lane. Thats because there are very few speed checks, and fewer annoying signs telling you your current speed and to slow down.
The A roads are the same story, limit is 60 mph but everyone is going a lot faster. Here though, speed cameras loom at every bend, and you have to watch in amusement as the younster in his Honda Ballade with mags and huge rear wing (Boksburg style, or here you would say Chav'ed to the max) tears past you and then leaps on the brakes to avoid 3 points on his licence as he passes the camera. Then a big shift down, puffs of smoke from the exhaust and off he goes again at lunatic speed towards the next camera. So whats the point??? In the towns and villages, the limit is 30, with annoying little signs warning you that you are going to fast, and then advertising the offending speed to everyone like Mr Bean with a pen in his exam. Little grannys shake there heads, and young mothers with babes in arms tut tut as you sheepishly slow down by 2mph to be within the limits.
Sam has to babble on to me continuously so that I don't die of boredom/fall asleep driving down to the Tesco's or worse. So what is the point of Top Gear, I mean the slowest car that Clarkson has ever tested would get him locked up forever if he took it to maximum speed in second gear. Let alone a Lambo or Ferrari. And besides which, if I can'tafford drive one, why should he?
The A roads are the same story, limit is 60 mph but everyone is going a lot faster. Here though, speed cameras loom at every bend, and you have to watch in amusement as the younster in his Honda Ballade with mags and huge rear wing (Boksburg style, or here you would say Chav'ed to the max) tears past you and then leaps on the brakes to avoid 3 points on his licence as he passes the camera. Then a big shift down, puffs of smoke from the exhaust and off he goes again at lunatic speed towards the next camera. So whats the point??? In the towns and villages, the limit is 30, with annoying little signs warning you that you are going to fast, and then advertising the offending speed to everyone like Mr Bean with a pen in his exam. Little grannys shake there heads, and young mothers with babes in arms tut tut as you sheepishly slow down by 2mph to be within the limits.
Sam has to babble on to me continuously so that I don't die of boredom/fall asleep driving down to the Tesco's or worse. So what is the point of Top Gear, I mean the slowest car that Clarkson has ever tested would get him locked up forever if he took it to maximum speed in second gear. Let alone a Lambo or Ferrari. And besides which, if I can't
Sunday, 20 March 2011
Our very long arrival post.....
So we have arrived! Finally! It has been a long journey to get to this moment and we are so grateful that we have been able to pull it off. We got to OR Tambo early, and Sam and I could hardly believe that it was happening. We didn't really even get a chance to be excited about things. We had some last minute goodbyes from Rob and Dominic and Cleodene, which made the wait a little more relaxed and easy. Walking down to the flight making some last minute phonecalls was an emotional time, a bittersweet moment as we waved goodbye to South Africa for now.
Our journey on Emirates was great, two easy flights, good seats, good food and both on time. As we arrived over London we were put into a holding pattern for 20 minutes, above a thick carpet of cloud. Welcome to Old Blighty! some might say. Clearing through passport control was very easy, as I was able to join the queue with Sam and was allowed in with no issues at all. Our luggage was out very quickly. Some of you know we have very bright purple suitcases with white and pink spots! Not the most masculine kit ever, but very effective for easy identification!
We have hired a car for the first 5 days, so we got that sorted out and then went off to find the Emirates Cargo building to get the balance of the suitcases we sent earlier last week. The GPS duly took us to the address provided by Servisair when we were in Jozi. One minor issue, when we got there all we found was a building site! Convinced then that the GPS was wrong, we proceeded to drive around in circles for a few minutes. I stalled the car a few times (we have a Golf 6 Tdi which needs a few revs to get going) which was making me more and more frustrated to add to the challenge. Eventually we found someone to ask, and to our relief, it turns out that the building site is there because the facility burnt down. Luckily, the burning down thing happened last year, so our luggage was not burnt to a crisp in the fire in question. We took the directions from the helpful guy, and off we went. Turns out he was spot on because we drove straight up to the door of the Emirates Cargo facility. We only had to wait 20 minutes for the luggage after paying some customs duty. Making the payment was a un-nerving experience, as it turns out, we have made many more purchases since then so it was just early jitters!
Its a good time to tell you we do have pictures of our adventure so far, but we have yet to unearth the cable for the camera, so we will post some pictures as soon as we can.
We obviously were very anxious to see our boys, and went straight down to Wey Farm to see them. It was very tough for both of us, and I think for the boys too. Jinx has been unwell and had therefore been seperated from Tigger for the last two weeks. As a result, he was not happy to be back inside a cage with another cat, even if it was his brother. They were still hissing at each other when we arrived. and then although happy to see us, proceeded to scold us for at least an hour for putting them through their trip and incarceration. We spent an hour and a half with them, and only left once we had both boys settled and sleeping and happy that they had seen us. It was a joy to see them, but we left feeling pretty miserable about how upset they were.
Finding the ferry in Southampton was also pretty easy, and it was a real novelty to drive our car up onto the ferry and go upstairs for the trip. As we left the harbour Sam and I thought it would be a good idea to go up onto the open deck, needless to say we soon understood why only one or two weather beaten locals were sitting on the deck. Lets just say the breeze could have frozen a chicken in a few minutes! Speaking of the weather, although we landed under some cloud, the weather improved all day, and by the time we got to the Isle, blue sky was appearing and it was a pleasant evening.
We met Jody at the home in Cowes, a picture of which I posted on Facebook on the day. We are so grateful to Jody and Mark, they have provided the home at a reasonable rental to us, and it really is fabulous. It has a nice large kitchen with a table for our meals, a bathroom downstairs, lounge and laundry. Also a deck and wendy house in the back garden. Upstairs we have two bedrooms and the main bathroom, and then a third large bedroom on the top floor. The only thing is the stairs are super steep, as in mountaineers keep knocking on the door asking if they can use the steps for climbing practice steep. And one or two of the door frames are a bit low, but two good cracks on my head has trained me like Pavlov's dog to duck my head when going into the bathroom! The central heating also works well, and the house is warm. It is fully furnished and well stocked so it has been very easy to settle into.
On Friday it was coldish and raining, but we went down to Newport anyway to do some shopping for groceries and also to look for the laptop that we finally bought in the afternoon. We got a great deal on a very well specc'ed Toshiba laptop, sold to us at Curry's by a South African guy. Small world I guess! Shopping for electronic goods drives home one of the realities of SA, in that the pricing here is 30 to 40% cheaper! So we are not complaining. At one stage in the supermarket we had to phone Kerri, who has been on the island for 9 months now, to ask her which brand of washing powder to buy. She thinks like us for sure, as her answer was what ever was on special!
On Saturday morning we woke up to clear blue skies and it was a beautiful day. We did some more shopping and bought a TV (more on that later), and then went to Conan and Kerri for a braai in Ryde. They live in a very nice area and we had a great afternoon. Jody and Mark joined us as well and so it was festive. We did a Pork roast and some sausages on the fire, so not exactly a propper Saffer braai, and by the time the meat was ready it was 3 degrees outside, so a little different from what we are used to!
Today we travelled over to Portsmouth on the hovercraft, which is quite an experience, very quick and fairly smooth across the water, although for some reason it still makes me a little green. Conan has been kind enough to let us use his car on the mainland and so we took a drive up to Woking to see the boys. They were much better today, but Jinx is still very grumpy with us. He said hello and soaked up some love, and then went and sat at the door and meeuwed asking his mom to open the door so he could go home. That really pulled on our heart strings but I guess he will do that more than once to us over the next 6 months! We finished off the day watching Moto GP and Top Gear on our new TV, and look forward to a good week finalising my work and finding Sam work too. And for the first time in a long time, I don't have Sunday blues.
Our journey on Emirates was great, two easy flights, good seats, good food and both on time. As we arrived over London we were put into a holding pattern for 20 minutes, above a thick carpet of cloud. Welcome to Old Blighty! some might say. Clearing through passport control was very easy, as I was able to join the queue with Sam and was allowed in with no issues at all. Our luggage was out very quickly. Some of you know we have very bright purple suitcases with white and pink spots! Not the most masculine kit ever, but very effective for easy identification!
We have hired a car for the first 5 days, so we got that sorted out and then went off to find the Emirates Cargo building to get the balance of the suitcases we sent earlier last week. The GPS duly took us to the address provided by Servisair when we were in Jozi. One minor issue, when we got there all we found was a building site! Convinced then that the GPS was wrong, we proceeded to drive around in circles for a few minutes. I stalled the car a few times (we have a Golf 6 Tdi which needs a few revs to get going) which was making me more and more frustrated to add to the challenge. Eventually we found someone to ask, and to our relief, it turns out that the building site is there because the facility burnt down. Luckily, the burning down thing happened last year, so our luggage was not burnt to a crisp in the fire in question. We took the directions from the helpful guy, and off we went. Turns out he was spot on because we drove straight up to the door of the Emirates Cargo facility. We only had to wait 20 minutes for the luggage after paying some customs duty. Making the payment was a un-nerving experience, as it turns out, we have made many more purchases since then so it was just early jitters!
Its a good time to tell you we do have pictures of our adventure so far, but we have yet to unearth the cable for the camera, so we will post some pictures as soon as we can.
We obviously were very anxious to see our boys, and went straight down to Wey Farm to see them. It was very tough for both of us, and I think for the boys too. Jinx has been unwell and had therefore been seperated from Tigger for the last two weeks. As a result, he was not happy to be back inside a cage with another cat, even if it was his brother. They were still hissing at each other when we arrived. and then although happy to see us, proceeded to scold us for at least an hour for putting them through their trip and incarceration. We spent an hour and a half with them, and only left once we had both boys settled and sleeping and happy that they had seen us. It was a joy to see them, but we left feeling pretty miserable about how upset they were.
Finding the ferry in Southampton was also pretty easy, and it was a real novelty to drive our car up onto the ferry and go upstairs for the trip. As we left the harbour Sam and I thought it would be a good idea to go up onto the open deck, needless to say we soon understood why only one or two weather beaten locals were sitting on the deck. Lets just say the breeze could have frozen a chicken in a few minutes! Speaking of the weather, although we landed under some cloud, the weather improved all day, and by the time we got to the Isle, blue sky was appearing and it was a pleasant evening.
We met Jody at the home in Cowes, a picture of which I posted on Facebook on the day. We are so grateful to Jody and Mark, they have provided the home at a reasonable rental to us, and it really is fabulous. It has a nice large kitchen with a table for our meals, a bathroom downstairs, lounge and laundry. Also a deck and wendy house in the back garden. Upstairs we have two bedrooms and the main bathroom, and then a third large bedroom on the top floor. The only thing is the stairs are super steep, as in mountaineers keep knocking on the door asking if they can use the steps for climbing practice steep. And one or two of the door frames are a bit low, but two good cracks on my head has trained me like Pavlov's dog to duck my head when going into the bathroom! The central heating also works well, and the house is warm. It is fully furnished and well stocked so it has been very easy to settle into.
On Friday it was coldish and raining, but we went down to Newport anyway to do some shopping for groceries and also to look for the laptop that we finally bought in the afternoon. We got a great deal on a very well specc'ed Toshiba laptop, sold to us at Curry's by a South African guy. Small world I guess! Shopping for electronic goods drives home one of the realities of SA, in that the pricing here is 30 to 40% cheaper! So we are not complaining. At one stage in the supermarket we had to phone Kerri, who has been on the island for 9 months now, to ask her which brand of washing powder to buy. She thinks like us for sure, as her answer was what ever was on special!
On Saturday morning we woke up to clear blue skies and it was a beautiful day. We did some more shopping and bought a TV (more on that later), and then went to Conan and Kerri for a braai in Ryde. They live in a very nice area and we had a great afternoon. Jody and Mark joined us as well and so it was festive. We did a Pork roast and some sausages on the fire, so not exactly a propper Saffer braai, and by the time the meat was ready it was 3 degrees outside, so a little different from what we are used to!
Today we travelled over to Portsmouth on the hovercraft, which is quite an experience, very quick and fairly smooth across the water, although for some reason it still makes me a little green. Conan has been kind enough to let us use his car on the mainland and so we took a drive up to Woking to see the boys. They were much better today, but Jinx is still very grumpy with us. He said hello and soaked up some love, and then went and sat at the door and meeuwed asking his mom to open the door so he could go home. That really pulled on our heart strings but I guess he will do that more than once to us over the next 6 months! We finished off the day watching Moto GP and Top Gear on our new TV, and look forward to a good week finalising my work and finding Sam work too. And for the first time in a long time, I don't have Sunday blues.
Wednesday, 16 March 2011
At the airport!
Well we are finally here, and booked in with great seats on both flights. A minor blip with the luggage was easily sorted (more on that later) and we have been sitting at the Mugg and Bean for a while. It is all a bit surreal but now finally we are super excited, and can't wait to arrive on Mud Island.
It has been both sad and humbling to say goodbye to so many friends and our family, but we have never felt more loved or closer to all of our friends ans family. See you all very soon! Don't forget our door is always open, its just a longer trip to visit us! And happy anniversary to my darling wife, we chose today as a celebration of our new adventure. Can't wait for the next 16 years my angel.
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Saturday, 12 March 2011
The countdown continues
With only 4 days to go until we leave, both Sam and I are feeling the pressure! But we are happy to say that most of what we needed to do, sell and throw away is now done. I delivered the ST to it's new owner on Thursday *sniff* and we dropped off 80kgs of luggage at Emirates Cargo on Thursday. It has been a bitter sweet week, saying goodbye to so many people we love, but also getting excited about our move. We travelled down to Durban yesterday, and it was a really good road trip. We had planned to stop for breakfast in Nottingham Road, but the combination of a very slow but reliable Polo, and advancing hunger, meant that Harrismith was the candidate for breakfast. We were overjoyed to find that the famous Bergville One Stop in Harrismith now has a Mugg & Bean. So we were happy to stop and have breakfast. We did still pop into Notts, and had a cup of tea/coffee and bought some Notts Road Brewery beers to drink at my Dad. Last time we were in Notts, it looked like this.
Luckily it was a beautiful morning and we drove down past Michealhouse and through the Midlands which was great. Our lunchtime arrival was perfect timing but when I opened the door of the car, I thought we were parked in an oven. It was so hot but cooled down in the late afternoon. Well I thought it was hot, but it turns out it was a cool day. Today is hot, as in seriously tar melting, stupidly hot! It feels like I can't breath, and Sam is melting like an ice-cream on a hot day. I suggested as much on FB and obviously the chirps varied from agreement, to being told I was being soft. Well I am a bit, but only from melting slowly in the heat! Still, we have Andrew's wedding celebration in Pietermaritzburg tonight, and we are looking forward to that and the pool at his home! Again it will be very sad to say goodbye to all our friends and family both down here in Natal and back home in Gauteng. But I do have scenes like this to look forward to (taken in Bath in 2009)
And Janet has just told me that it is even hotter in Pietermaritzburg. So hopefully I don't melt first.....
Luckily it was a beautiful morning and we drove down past Michealhouse and through the Midlands which was great. Our lunchtime arrival was perfect timing but when I opened the door of the car, I thought we were parked in an oven. It was so hot but cooled down in the late afternoon. Well I thought it was hot, but it turns out it was a cool day. Today is hot, as in seriously tar melting, stupidly hot! It feels like I can't breath, and Sam is melting like an ice-cream on a hot day. I suggested as much on FB and obviously the chirps varied from agreement, to being told I was being soft. Well I am a bit, but only from melting slowly in the heat! Still, we have Andrew's wedding celebration in Pietermaritzburg tonight, and we are looking forward to that and the pool at his home! Again it will be very sad to say goodbye to all our friends and family both down here in Natal and back home in Gauteng. But I do have scenes like this to look forward to (taken in Bath in 2009)
And Janet has just told me that it is even hotter in Pietermaritzburg. So hopefully I don't melt first.....
Sunday, 6 March 2011
Lazy Sundays
As our countdown begins to our departure on 16 March we spent a reasonably varied but lazy (on my part anyway) day with Nat and Dom. Sam was out early for a breakfast and then to the office, and I spent the day watching the Proteas choke lose to England. But when she got back, Nat and the kids, and the two of us went for a walk around Lonehill. It was fun to spend time with them, watching Andy push his bike up the hills, and then tear off down the downhills, leaving his uncle (me) and his mom and aunt sweating as he negotiated the paths and other obstacles. Sam did the walk with us, which was 3kms, and then did the loop again but this time at a canter/jog. She is a little loopy, but she looks fabulous! I could learn a thing or two from her! We are having a roast dinner with veggie option for Sam. Andy has a silly looking grin on his face, but that's from too much Sparletta Raseberry juice. Dom has some dodgy local "music" playing, whilst he consoles himself at Man Utd's spanking at the hands of Liverpool. Despite the mozzies trying to carry me away, we are going to have our roast dinner outside. Making the most of our last few days in Africa then!
On that note, I had a long chat to Conan this morning on Skype (my Skype address is richardwillssa) and we are getting really excited about our move. Conan mercifully had the camera off as he was talking to me from his bathroom, having a morning bath (or is that weekly in his case? never sure). I think, no I know, we are going to be just fine. We are steadily planning our first few days in the UK, which will include two trips to see the boys in Ottershaw, and a day in London. But most of all, Conan and I have planned my first braai on the Isle of Wight for Friday 18 March. Looking at the long range forecast, it says it will be 11 degrees at lunchtime, and 4 degrees in the evening. Perfect weather then for a braai.....
On that note, I had a long chat to Conan this morning on Skype (my Skype address is richardwillssa) and we are getting really excited about our move. Conan mercifully had the camera off as he was talking to me from his bathroom, having a morning bath (or is that weekly in his case? never sure). I think, no I know, we are going to be just fine. We are steadily planning our first few days in the UK, which will include two trips to see the boys in Ottershaw, and a day in London. But most of all, Conan and I have planned my first braai on the Isle of Wight for Friday 18 March. Looking at the long range forecast, it says it will be 11 degrees at lunchtime, and 4 degrees in the evening. Perfect weather then for a braai.....
Friday, 4 March 2011
Sam rocks the PostNet
While Rich has been having fun writing blogs, I have been hard at work doing some of the admin work needed to get the cats overseas. Not that he didn't do some, but this is a little excerpt from my Monday morning madness. I needed to get the two veterinary certificates faxed off to Pets en Transit, but Rich and I were busy with the move. So off to the PostNet I went. I walked up to the counter and asked the guy to fax the two pages.
Me: Please can you fax these two pages to this number
Postnet Guy: Sure no problem, that will be R14 please
Me: R14??? Are you mad?
PG: Yes because we are faxing to a 086 number
Me: Fine, I really don't have the time to argue with you but this is daylight robbery
So off he went to fax the documents. In the meantime I remembered that during the move I had done some spring cleaning. So when the Postnet Guy got back with my completed fax, I counted out R4 in 5c coins to pay him!
Me: Here, here is a ten rand note, oh and 80 shiny 5c coins for the R4....
PG: Glad I could make your day easier in some way ma'am
And off I went. That will teach them for trying to rip me off!
Me: Please can you fax these two pages to this number
Postnet Guy: Sure no problem, that will be R14 please
Me: R14??? Are you mad?
PG: Yes because we are faxing to a 086 number
Me: Fine, I really don't have the time to argue with you but this is daylight robbery
So off he went to fax the documents. In the meantime I remembered that during the move I had done some spring cleaning. So when the Postnet Guy got back with my completed fax, I counted out R4 in 5c coins to pay him!
Me: Here, here is a ten rand note, oh and 80 shiny 5c coins for the R4....
PG: Glad I could make your day easier in some way ma'am
And off I went. That will teach them for trying to rip me off!
Tuesday, 1 March 2011
The cats have arrived at their new home!
Just got an email from Wey Farm and the boys have finally arrived after a very long day in customs, making their journey a long 28 hours since they left the house. I feel terrible but also elated that they are ok and that we will have them with us in the UK. Jinx is still hissing, but now he is hissing at Tigger. I think he is seriously pissed off upset with us about the trip. We plan to lavish them with love and attention the day we land, and every weekend possible until their quarantine is over!
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