GETTING TO A HAPPY PLACE

MY MOST FAVOURITE PLACE . MAURITIUS

US 5 ALL IN ONE BLOCK

MY FACOUT\RITE COFFEE. FRAPPACHINO

WOULD LOVE TO BE THERE NOW- DUBAI MARINA

OK I have had enough of myself and my "jannie jammer gat" today. I will now get up and get my act togther and find things that are "lekker"
The geyser is fixed (R5980.00 later....) Good thing as their is no more water leaking from the cupboard and the water is hot and good. Will just check the cupboard tomorrow as it may have to be replaced. Hello insurance......
All lights are fixed and working so that is done and dusted.

I did my SMALL month end today. Gee it is so nice to have so little to pay..... It is tghe first minth end in 15 years that I do not have the practise to do as well. Feels kida strange.....It was done in no time.
I am going to my nephew, Pieter and his fiance Michelle's wedding in November in cape town. Am really looking forward to that. I just hope my outfit is Ok as it is th eonly one left in my cupboard in SA.
I have booked the flights and am taking JC with me as he will not be able to join us in Dubai in December as he cannot take leave form work yet. Ths will just give hin something to have by himself...
Jc has had to find other accomodation and he seems to have found a place again.
Rossi is studying for his finals. I can oly hope he knows hoe important it is to study and pass.

Dian and I had a fantastic time in Phinda. You are so spoilt form all the staff. The "room" (more like a villa) is fantastic as it is in the bush and the animals wander around you as you lay on the deck. We even had leopard tracks around the camp and our spalsh pool on the room deck.
We got up every morning before "die mossies poep" en went on game drives. We saw Lion, cheetah, rhino (black and white) giraffe and all the common stuff like Njala, pumba's, Impala, zebra ect.
On Sunday we did the flight of the fish eagle. They take yiu with a small plane onver Phinds reserve and you also fly over lake Sibaya and then to the ocean. We saw Whale sharks and whale and Dolphins in the sea..... Dian even got a chance to fly the little cessna for a while. he was so chuffed.
Do not go to Phinda if you just want to rest. It is up early (by choice) and then game drive then breakfast and 2 hours later lunch and 1 jour later cake and coffee before the next game drive and when you get back it is dinner. All of these are by choice but I was so scared if I skip anything I will miss out. I also have a saying that if I do not use opportunity's as they come, they wil be taken away.......................
The last night we had a bush dinner. only candles in the bush and a braai in 5 star service.........It was superb.
Monday was a tough driving day as I had to get Dian back to Durban and then straight back to Richards bay as both vehicles went for their services today. I travelled 700km in a roud trip....So I was vehicle less. I had to send the lighting mechaniscto town to get more globes by taxi !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! His name is Phineas. he is my resident handy man. he paints and chops big tree branches and now also does electric's.... he even arrived with his own tools. A screw driver and a knife in a pick and pay packet. Too sweet....
hannes and I skype daily and it feels so much better to see each other talk. We tend to spend an hour on skype each time. he is doing well and adjusting to not too much hard work. The hospital is still fairly quiet. he now has 2 night shifts ahead the 3 days off again.

I have taken my arabic CD out and intend to start with my arabic lessons..... I am useless ith languages but just want to try. maybe I wil be able to understand the pakistani kaniverstani a little as well.

The house sale is dead............... the agents say it very very quiet....I might just be in SA a wee bit longer than intended..... I am taking it day by day now.
It gives me time to sort out all the cupboards on what has to be stored and what needs to be given away or sold...........(Garage sale)

Tomorrow wil bring new adventures I hope.
Chat again later.
l

NOT GOOD TODAY

I want to run and find a hole like this Phumba.... geyser burst, replacing light fittings , both cars in for a service, checking all with auditors for the close of practise and also checking on all insurances and taxes.......... Feel tired to the bone...Will blog later tonight or tomorrow as I am very bad company...
L

BACK IN SOUTH AFRICA

MY PHINDA FROG.......JUST AS ALONE AS ME


PHINDA VLEI LODGE WHERE I AM GOING TOMORROW..SOMETHING TO LOOK FORWARD TOO



PHINDA ZEBRA'S



LOOKS LIKE ME WITH A DIRHAM........ CLYDENE DO YOU REMEBER THIS ONE.....?



I arrived back in Richards bay today....... The Abu Dhabi airport was terrible........I did a real "Jumeira Jane" tantrum....I had hoped for an upgrade on my ticket (like to business class) but sadly it did not work....My tantrum did however get me 4 seats to myself....So I had a sleep on the plane.........
Jumeira Jane is something like a Sandton Kugel......Just in Dubai style.. I even had the Prada handbag to match....... The time the flight left was so bad too. It departed Abu dhabi at 03h55. the airport looked like a ant hill of activity, but you can only do duty free perfumes for a certain time.. I did the perfume try on and smelt like an "arranged marriage with no hope in succeeding" (what the hell does that smell like !!!!)
Hannes and I had a fantastic 2 weeks and the rand dollar exchange is terrific for us in Dubai BUT no good for us here is SA. Talk about split emotions hey. We spent only in Dubai money and left the SA cards to rest......
I came home with such little luggage I did not even have any luggage to weigh in. All cabin luggage.....This was a first for me.... I breezed through all the check ins and even customs found me very boring.
At home Laurika (who is staying with me now that I am alone) spoilt me too as she did a fantastic dinner for us tonight. So nice not to come home to myself alone.
Tomorrow i am going to Phinda for 4 nights with Dian. That is always very nice for me. I love the bush and wild animals. The Lodge has also recently been upgraded as well. Not that it needed an upgrade as it is very lani. I got a call from the lodge manager tonight just to let me know he has red bulls in the fridge....
Dian is bringing his text books so that he can study between game drives..... I will do the tanning number as each chalet has its own spalsh pool on the deck in front of the room. Wait for the foto's on the next blog entry.

Hannes took me to Abu Dhabi by car last night. We did the highway with no problems BUT in Abu Dhabi we could not find the airport and the road signs were no where to be found. I had the road map on my lap and did the navigation and he did the driving. we had to ask a few taxi drivers as well But in the end found the airport. I did the Abu Dhabi flight as it was on a special and very cheap.......NEVER again. I will rather pay a little more and fly out of Dubai. In the airport waiting area the security officers were very arrogant and rude......This was a first for me. They sat and smoked in the waiting area and did not have a care in the world. Just before me a flight left for Delhi from the same waiting area.. We see pictures of the trains being so full in India.. Well I could not see the plane but with all those people I think the plane was packed in a roof rack style as well............................

Colonel the dog was so happy to see me he made such a noise...barking his head off at nothing . Rambo was also very pleased to see me....Shame I miss Hannes and just want to be in Dubai all the time and here my poor pets are feeling the same about me. I cannot even think of taking them to Dubai. No birds are allowed to go to Dubai and were do I keep Colonel in the dolls house we live in.....

The house looks very good and garden is well kept. It is just that I have said goodbye to this house and now just see it as a burden. Sad hey. I just think that is how life goes. Your priorities shift all the time.....
I have not checked my cupboard to pack for Phinda. Hope I left some clothes here when I packed for Dubai. Phinda will just have to wash and iron if I did not leave enough clothes.

My Skype will work so well now. I bought a 5 pixel camera to use for skype in Dubai. It gives a clear picture and handles movement very well. I now just have to wait until Tuesday to try it out as Hannes is working nights and I am in Phinda with no cell coverage so no inter net available.

I will sadly miss the rugby game on Saturday between the Sharks and the blue bulls. I am a staunch sharks supporter. We even have a small shark on the prado in Dubai......

I am going to bed now to be wide awake tomorrow.
Cheers
L

TIME TO SAY GOODBYE...AGAIN...

BIG CHAIR AT ATLANTIS DUBAI.....


THE TUBE RIDE THAT GOES THROUGH THE SHARK TANK.....


A LITTLE BIT OF ATLANTIS DUBAI FORM THE TOP.THE HOTEL WITH THE WATER PARK.


THE DOLPHIN POOL. CAN TAN AND INTERACT WITH THE DOLPHINS

HANNES COMING DOWN THE "ZIGGURAT" RIDE. IT ALSO GOES THROUGH THE SHARK TANK IN A GLASS TUNNEL AND SPITS YOU OUT IN A POOL..HE DID THIS FOR THE BOYS........


Oh boy it has been 2 fantastic weeks again and I am dreading getting back onto the plane. The time just flew past and so lucky that Hannes has so much time off between shifts as we had such a good "holiday" again.
If you might have noticed I did not evn have time to blog so regurlarly........sorry, hope yo all missed me.
This is so surreal...Hannes has so much time off....we get to do things together , my kids, family and friends are on another continent...I miss them all too. It feels as if I am torn in two....What I really want is not to be so seperatd form all involved.....
I walk in Dubai with all the different smells and cultures (and boy here are so many) and just have to pinch myself to get into the "zone" Shit which zone am I in..........................

We went on a road tip with friends last Friday...It should have been about 150km but in the end we did 600km.. Chris (our friend) was planning driving to Fujaira. This si a coastal town about 160km for Dubai. We took the wrong road out of Dubai and ended in Al Ein......400km from Fujaira... It was so good to see Al Ein as well. It long distances to travel between towns and the road snakes through the desert. The "country side" is dotted with small bushes and nothing else. Reminds me of the Karoo just more sandy..... The roads are fantastic. Strange thing here is you do not see many petrol stations....... So you do not venture out unless your tank is full.
When we got to Al Ein we found a park and had a picnic in the park. In this barren sandy place you will always find a grass area with trees and lants and very well looked after. You can picnic anay where you find a spot. The parks are very clean. No papers and trash lying around. Also very safe to sit in and enjoy.....
We then ventured again to find Fujaira. Chis knew of a place that sells persian carpets and we were trying to find this market. We found it in the end.
The maket is by the road side (sorry no photo's camera battery died....) and is about 1km either side of the road with carpets and fruit and veg and nic nac markets.
I was not interested in the carpets as they came from India and were machine made. Very cheap but not fantastic . I ventured into the fruit and veg......I saw grapefruit the size of a rugby ball..... Bought one and tasted. fantastic. I think that is the same one they put onto tins. Big white flesh and not bitter at all. The vegetables are some the same and familiar and some hell I do not know what they are as thelanguage barrier (again pakistani kaniverstani) in Fujaira at he market is huge..... I tried my usual combo of Afrikaans\English/Zulu\Fanagalo but we stil did not compute... I just bought a few trial runs in the fruit section.
Pomeganite's here e fantastic...No pip inside the tiny red juwels like fruits, soft outer and very easy to eat....just stains hands red...... I will have to do the Nigella number and hit the hell out of the fruit with a wooden spoon.....Just because it looks so good on TV............me the kitchen goddess in my kitchenette the size of 3 small cupboard doors....yeh right........

Hannes and I went to Atlantis for the whle day on Monday.....It is Sun City valley of the waves on red bull and steroids...............HUGE. It was a fantastic day. It is expensive to get in but worth every phill (cents in Dubai). SOLL KEARSNER YOU ROCK...
It is so much like being in Sun City just much bigger and many more tube rides. The "lazy river" is fantastic and has 3 choices. You can go through "Torrents", "Waves" or go to the Ziggarat rides. The Ziggurat is not for me. They are like super tubes BUT you are taken up with a travellator on your tube and then water jets send you on your merry way. I landed in one of them by mistake (there are many of them) I thin it was a weeny" one but al the life guards in the whole water park were woken up immeadiately as I screamed all the way in out and around......................
The torrents and waves are my favourite.......
Hannes did the mean ass (not assorted leon, this one means big) Zigguat for the boys...... I will NEVER go downs that one as I will make the whole of Dubai sit up with my screaming actions....

Today I am having a lazy sun day. his Arabian sun does not tan me much.......I think it has a thick layer of sand or dust protecting us from sunburn..... ow ever I am going to try. Hannes is working a 7/7 shift so will only be home at 19h45 tonight.
Tomorrow is cleaning, ironing and packing day as I have to leave tomorrow night back to sunny SA.... Luckily i will ease nto SA life as Dian and I are going to Phinda for 4 days. He had mid term break and there is no cel coverage in Phinda and also no TV. So he can study between the game drives. His final exams start in 10 days......
Lesson for today:
The united emirates consists of 7 areas.
1. Abu Dhabi
2.Dubai
3. Umm Al Quwain
4. Fujairah
5. Ras All Khaima
6. Sjarjah
7. Ajman

Ok all see and write again in Sunny SA
L

LONG SILENCE - PART 2

DUBAI CREEK. BOATS OFFLOADING CARGO (ANYTHING) WILL STAND ON QUAY SIDE UNTIL FETCHED, COULD BE FEW DAYS. NO SECURITY. NOBODY WILL STEAL ANYTHING......IF CAUGHT STEALING WILL BE JAILED AND DEPORTED ASAP......BOATS ARE OF WOOD AND LOOK OLD...... CITY OF CONTRAST.....SEE MODERN GLASS SKYSCAPES IN THE BACKGROUD... CREEK DEVIDES DUBAI BETWEEN BUR DUBAI AND DEIRA...

VERY GREEN AND WELL LOOKED AFTER AREAS INBETWEEN HIGHWAYS ALL OVER DUBAI. 90% OF WATER IN DUBAI IS SALINATED WATER....... ALL THE HIGHWAYS HAVE VERY NICE GRASS AND PLANTS AND TREES IN CITY CENTRE. WATER IS DONE BY "UNDERGROUND" IRRIGATION. (LIKE UNDERFLOOR HEATING SYSTEM)

BUS STOPS ARE IN GLASS CAGES FOR AIRCON PURPOSES AS IT GETS VERY VEY VERY HOT HERE...................

ATLANTIS ON THE PALMS......IT OPENED ON 23 SEPTEMBER. HOPFULLY WE WILL VISIT IT NEXT WEEK.....TIME PERMITTNG

SOME IDEA OF THE TRAFFIC SITUATION ON THE HIGHWAYS. THIS PHOTO WAS TAKEN AT ABOUT 16H30.......

Ok lets carry on with this whopper.

Our social life here has been hectic this last week. Every day has had some "bun fight" We have been out with freinds and had been t dinner at one friEnds house. I made pei peri prawns as a starter and we had a wonderful night. They are another SA expat here working with Hannes. he is a radiologist. They also stay in the marina BUT their aparment is very beautiful and bigger than ours. They also have a ground floor unit and they have a little garden area as well. We had a great evening. Thanks Rene and Marlene. Here you take all your drinks along with you as every one has a liquor license and it is limited......We also went with a taxi and not our own car as even 1 drink can put you in jail if you are caught driving after drinking. It is just not worth it to even try.............

The Phiilapino's (big work force in Dubai) can not ponunce a "F" or "TH"It is so funny to hear them say "16 dirham pipty" instead of 16 dirham fifty................ maybe I should also try this an say "pucket" instead of !!!!!!!!!
At the hospital Rene told us they say "breap in" instead of Breath in...............Wonder ho the patients will handle that number

Today I visited the "Old Souk" Souk is like a market or bazaar. I am hunting for better shoping grounds than the malls as they (he malls)are very expensive.
I bought myself an abaya(female penquin suits) (for my bad hair days)...............Hannes thinks I am nuts.but when in Rome.................... They have the most beautiful materials here and also the sequined material. The souk's also have the real tourist "crappies" that clutter your mantel piece or show cases..................I will skip those numbers........................ The souk owners are very freindly and not too pushy. A smile and no tahnkyu is enough for them to leave yo alone. (just wondr what they mutter to themselves with no acial experessions...........................) they must just wait a while as i have bough a a CD which teaches you basic arabic !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I also saw a drive thu auto bank..............was too late for a photo as taxi was moving fast, but will get one again......

The hospital formaly opened it's doors to patients this afternoon. All licensing done and dusted.
Hanns is on call tonight so he might see his first patient tonight. he was so smartly dressed for this occasion as they all work with ties.....He has a long white coat as well. In trauma they will work with "scrubs" (theatre clothes) but do not know if they are ready yet......

I had time to do all my house work ( cleaning and ironing.....) tonight and UPDATE THE BLOG.........All of you know if I have to choose between spending time with him or updating blog, the blog will have to wait...........
I HATE IRONING.........I even bought a steamer (lani job) to help with the ironing......... I have also perfected the art of hanging up the washing so that he minimum irioning is required............ I would be a usless housekeeper in SA..............
Tomorow we meet Mario and Marietjie who are in Dubai for 2 days before returning to SA. I am planning on taking or suggesting to take them to Souk Madinat.
On Friday we are going to look at carpets in te desert somewhere with other friends.............
Bye for now.....
L
PS. The spell check is still not working..........................................
Chat later again

Ok that is me for tonight.........

AFTER LONG SILNCE...PART 1

HANNES WITH OUR KAR.....


IBN.BATUTA MALL SO BIG THEY TAKE YOU FROM ONE SIDE TO ANOTHER WITH A GOLF CART...NOGAL WITH STARBUCKS COFFEE IN HAND TOO

HANNES IN FRONT OF "RED BUS" WE DID THE REAL "TOURIST NUMBER" FOR A DAY

DUBAI VERSION OF "SUN CITY HOTEL".................

DUBAI CREEK.

TO ALL COMMENTS ( Jinny, Clydene, Gesi and B) ON WHY I WAS MISSNG IN ACTION,THANKS AND HERE GOES....

Sorry for taking so long to update the blog BUT hannes has started with his shifts...They are so good that tonight was the first time he worked since I arrived. I could not have planned this visit any better. Friday was the normal Muslim religious day and his shifts had not stated yet. sateday is the 2nd day of the weekend. Sunday he was not on shift until tonight. we did all the tourist stuff. Is so nice to see him so well rested but he is rearing to go now.
We did Emirates mall by ourselvs in our own car. I nearly crapped in my pants for the traffic but hannes did it the real Dubai way. it is frightning......You have to stay left (fast lane) until your turnoff and then move over to the right to exit the freeway (8 lanes) This happens with very little warning. We also do not know all the roads and off ramps so well so we really did a few sight seeing trips (heavan only nows where we were at times) You weave into the rffic with speed and precision...... I will stay in the taxi's for a wee bit longer....The prado is very big and I must say I feel very safe inside but keep hanging on to the handles just in case. I look like a stuffed animal at times i am sure as my face has very little xpression except absolute fear and only because it is unknown. The cars also use their hooters very regularly as showing hand signs is strictly forbidden......The cars luckily are sound proof so nobody can hear what we say to them and you have to say it without facial expression too.......new one for me too as I love to show how I feel. Try it at home some time and tell any one (Taxi will be good and easy...) in traffic he is an A HOLE with out expression or eye contact........
Gees i thought I have learned a lot but this driving will be another lesson. Luckily I may not drive until i get my Dubai license for insurance purposes. (I sure as hell will not attempt these roads withour insuance coverage) Some tanuilizer might be needed too....For me to get a Dubai drivers license I first need my residence visa.
Will tell yo all about the visa later in this bog entry.
I had lekker krispy kreme dougnuts for breakfast on my first morning here. They are so nice and you have to take a dozen as you save so much money. Six cost 16 Dirhams and 12 cost 18 Dirhams.... So u see I am money wise and always buy 12...........................Hannes and I polish them in no time at all.
We went ut to dinner with friends on my first evening here and we had such a laugh. We should have seen the "writing on the wall" form the start. First 2 palces we went to were either fully booked or not open. The last restaurant we tried had space.................Plenty of space...Did we notice this....NO..... Well dinner was a total fiasco. Food was poor and sevice was even worse. Hannes got the real tail end here. The waitress buggered up his oder every tme. From his drinks order (I mean how difficult is mango juice...) to his food...He was not his accomodating !!!! self either.....I think the Dubai fairy just gave us a miss that night......It was bad and very expensive.
No bleddie wnder the place was so empty to start off with.........
Lesson: never eat in empty restauant.

I love a hose pipe and Hannes has constructed one for me to wash my "HUGE" balconies with. It is a "gardena connection in the bathroom hand shower numbr" It is fantastic. My neighbours top and bottom might not be so happy as I did the full washing nuber yesterday. I hosed the verandah's and windows and railing and all......... was so much fun but I was sopping wet after I finished. So now I can also say we have a outdoor shower in the apartment.........................Hannes still thinks I am crazy but he liked it that i still get excited about a hosepipe. It snakes through the apartment from tap to verandah....... Now I dont have t rinse the verandah with a bucket.... Remeber the vrerandah is so small one bucket of water rinses the whole veradah down!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We are so smart (Hannes and I) we do not use aifreshner.......At the grocery stores they have a "perfume" counter. These perfumes are cheaper than airfreshner......So we spary perfume in the loo... Ijust think is so over the top don't you? You just have to test them but most of them are really good. So I have a male and female pefume in every loo...You can choose your own brand. Oh and thet are colour co-oredanted toot to suit the bathroom colour scheme....... Don't ever trust gifts of unknown perfumes from Dubai...........................You are warned they might just be my "toilet spray"
We also only drink Starbucks coffee at home too.................That is my all time best........ I trotnto starbucks and have my coffee grounded and take it home......

At Ibn. Battutta Mall (very close to us) they take you from one side to another with a golf cart asit is so big........ I nomally ask hannes to ark far away from "Giant" (grocery store) jut so that I can buy a starbuck's take away and hop on the golf cart to shop.......AND IT IS FREE......

If We thought GOING TO EMIRATES MALL ON A SELF DRIVE WAS CRAZY THE NEXT DAY WE WENT TO KARAMA BAZAAR............on a self drive. I was so prud of yself as I directed hannes purely from memory on how to get there. It is double the distance of Emirates mall from us. I went to see Reza ( my first take me to your leader friend) just to check on new stock........found oe very nice handbags too...... Clydene reza sends lots of regards and want to now when you are comng to Dubai again????????????????

I did al my Visa aplications for residency an boy oh boy.......I needed a medical and had to get to foreigh affairs. Foreigh affais moved building and no taxi driver knew this. Hannes was not the most friendly persons with all this sclepping around. we decided to take a taxi to do this and not drive ourselves as we were like 2 lost farts with trying to get there. Arabic is also not hhe easiest language to read.............................On he forms it is written in Arabic as wherewe have to go.......You just have to trust one helava lot..... Foreigh affairs the first day was closed by the tie we found it..........they clse at 12. The next day bright and early we set ot again to do this......Fond it easy this time around and now you take a number and wait your turn. Lucky ladies have a seperate que.....(We do not have to be in the same que as men........) This is great as the ladies que is short. Most men here do it for there wives so I did not have to wait long. You pay 150 Dirhams (x by 2.8 to get to rand) for a stamp (like postage stamp) and a rubber stamp onto yur paper owrk. I had to do 2 stamps......so for me 300 dirhams. After they have stamed your papers yo get a sweetie........ How cute... Then off to do my medical. That is only and HIV test... All they care about..... hart conditions or diabetis or other stuff dont scare them at all. If HIV is positive you are deported immeadiately............
I should have my visa on Monday "INSHALLAH" Remember here you always say Inshallah. It means god willing but I have come to realise it actually means "possible but I don't think so......"
It will be wonderful if I can gt it as it makes my life very easy. I can then book my flight on the internet and leave at a day's notice and not wait 5 working days for a visitors visa. I can then also get my drivers license ect.
Ending this one now and will continue with part 2 innext blog... NO More space here................
PS. Spell check not working ................deal with it......

SURPRISE SURPRISE

DBAI MARINA ..........HOME...FOR A WILE AGAIN





I AM IN DUBAI ON MY SURPRISE VISIT TO HOME AND HANNES.................
Sorry for keeping this form you all BUT i wanted to surprise Hannes with a visit and decided not to tell of my plans to come back to Dubai for a sneaky visit. Gees that was so difficult to keep the info to myself and I felt I was lying to all of you all for not telling... SORRY.
I aarived n Thursday morning at 01h30.
Hannes had his key n the door so I could not unlock the door and had to ring my own doorbell to get in. Hannes was vey weary of openng the door at hat tme of the morning and kept on asking "who is there" I knew if I did not say anything he will ignore the door......I just said in afrikaans "maak oop die deur" Well he was blown away...and very very pleased to see me.... We chatted until 05h30... So bleddie good to see him again. Worth all the suffering o fkeping the secret and just getting onto the plane and ariving....
He thought I was in Phinda with no cell coverage for 48 hours....Had to give him some good reason as not to try and skye or phone me.It all worked well. My partners in this crime were my 3 boys. They knew and also kept the Phinda story going. Thank JC, Rossi and Dian.....it all woked well.
It all started with the frying pan..................I wanted to send some stuff to Dubai to use here. The cost of sending a 20kg parcel was very much he same as my plane ticket, so there was the choice made easy. The frying pan was vey pleased not to travel alone as he had anxiety attacks when i took him out of the cupboard in SA and he had to say good bye to the toaster whom he had shared the cupbard with for ages.................... (don't now how the toaster feels in SA but will handle his stress when I get back here again.) I arived with 59kg of luggage.......... Told ou all I do not travel light. Luckily the plane was rather empty so I did not pay excess luggage or else it would have been a very expensive frying pan aiving n duabi.
I will write a longer post tonight with soe photo's and news form Dubai.
Now Hannes and I are going shopping and stuffs.........................................
L

DAD'S VISIT AND GOODBYE'S

MY DAD AND I
DAD, LEO AND MY BOYS
DAD AND LEO

After a very emotional visit a hurdle or rather a roller coaster ride has come to an end. I dreaded this weekend as I did not know how I would handle the visit. It was so mixed with feelings of joy (to have all my boys with me...) laughter when my dad reminisces over stories of the past and my youth, thankfulness for having the opportunity to see my dad still with all faculties working and relief for knowing I could tel him personally that I love him and that he taught me so much in life. Good and not so good......
he did his best to be upbeat for the boys and to still have his humor intact. he tired very quickly and we had at most about 3 hours, spread over the day, to talk and visit. I took him out to lunch every day and he was a real trooper as he never missed the opportunity to "gat skuur" This is one thing he taught me well and that was to drive and enjoy travelling in a car. I love driving and tend to think that I am a good driver..........I am Loreta gatskuur van Dijk
He was a terrible one for car trips with time keeping and management.. We had to get up at the most unholy hours to leave on our holiday trips. The packing was a total other story. We got plastic bags from a fertilizer factory for our clothes. Shit he was worse than an airline on how much we can take along................. We got 5kg max...........The space in the car was kept for his fishing tackle and fishing "paraphernalia". He had lots of that.......and NOT packed in plastic bags either!!!!!!!!! When we left home the next stop was for petrol when he car needed it....You had to wee and get takeaway in the same time as the car was filled up......... Mind you take away was never on the agenda as we had "padkos" hell I hate "pad kos" to this day.... I thought, and still do, that a hamburger from a cafe is so much better............. We would rush to get to the border at 06h00 when the gates opened. Then rush again to get to our destination...... He never enjoyed the trip to get there. he is still like that today . He is "end line" driven in all he does. BUT we had fantastic holidays. Mostly n Mozambique and later in the Transkei.
He told my boys stories of me as a child. They lapped up every word.....They just wanted the goss of when I was naughty. He could not give them much in that department as I was always on his good side and he did spoil me very much. Much more than the other 4 siblings.
I was the youngest by far and maybe he had had his terrible tempers with the other 4 sibling older than me. I was very lucky in this regard as from the other stories of my brothers and sister he was a real tiran in their younger days. I did not know him like that at all. I was privileged to have known my dad as "lekker" I did not try my luck with him as he could get a look in the eye that told you "beware"
He shared stories of his childhood with my boys and I got tears in my eyes to hear what he had to go through as a young child. His parents were not the most love able people......he had a shitty childhood. To just mention one story that really got to me was when he was about 8 years old his parents sent him to live with his grandparents. Details of why I think was due to his parents having marital and financial problems. His grand father had a taxi service and took people from the train station to hotels or home. This was in Kimberley which can go to -5 Celsius in the winter. He had to handle the luggage.....Alone. When all luggage was loaded he had to sit in the spare wheel which is outside the car on the back and hold on. Mostly these trips were at 03h00 in the morning. next morning he had to go to school.....No wonder he did not even finish grade 10 (Standard 8 in the olden days) Oh boy I would have not done the school number as well.
I must say his ego has always been a huge problem for him. he admits it today. He would destroy anybody or any thing that interferes with his "ego" or self image. He is not proud of that at all today. maybe here is a lesson for me as not to be so self opinionated..............or self obsessed....(say me with my own blog.....................)
This morning how ever we all knew the time had come to say goodbye. I did not handle that one very well. I tried my best not to cry too much but could not...He was a little upset to see me crying and he was very tearful himself.......but as always totally in control.
he has deteriorated very much as Hannes and I saw him about 6 weeks ago. He is Ok with the thought of dying and even said he wants to be cremated ( also made jokes of what we should do with his ashes.................)
My boys handled it well although I could see they were not very happy and chirpy. Rossi drove us to PE to catch our flights back home.
IN PE I took Dian for a wizz around PE just to see the university campus as he is thinking of studying there next year. I say wizz as that is the sound the car made passing the buildings. We had a plane to catch.
Oh boy our flight out of PE was late. I had a turn around in Johannesburg of 1hour 40 minutes between flights. We landed at lanseria airport form PE and had to get to Oliver Tambo international for our Durban flight. I had pre arranged a car and driver to get us there.
We did high speed on the highway (thankfully no fines) and literally jumped out the car and ran for the next flight. nearly did not make it as the flight had already closed and it took all the fight and tears and aggression left in me to get boarded on the next plane. Well all was well as we did make the flight and got to Durban in time for me to still drop Dian at school and take the 2 hour journey back home.
I got home at 22h30. Bushed and buggered and then I had e-mails galore to sort and mail to open........ Never a dull moment this side hey.
Good to know all my boys are safe and sound in there respective little holes and me back at "Home"

Tomorrow i start planning to pack the "doos" that I want to send to Dubai with excess stuff needed in Dubai. Like electric frying pans, snorkeling gear, extra clothes of mine, maybe Hannes drill (he requested it) I might even send some ornaments . Weight here is a problem as I have only got a quote for 20kg........... I hate packing lightly.............but will have to as it is very expensive. I can take more in December when I go to Dubai.

We tried to Skype Hannes when we were with my dad to show him the technology and also for Hannes to be part of our visit.. Technology was not my friend at all. The skype had a delay of 20 seconds...........Gees that is a conversation killer of note. We can see Hannes waiting for the words and BOOM it hits him and we already have either forgotten or started a new conversation. Confusing and frustrating is an understatement. This was done with state of the art 3G portable/disposable/wireless/cell / and any other name you can think of technology. If the sales person was close by he would have had a modem stuck so high up his **** they would have thought to take out his tonsils...............................
Hannes did a road trip this weekend that has passed up or down the coast with an Italian friend...........I could not even hear about the road trip with this skype problem.
OK all for now...........