LET THE GOOD BYE'S BEGIN

CLYDENE,MYSELF,GESIE AND MARIETJIE
We are the Bali Btches........................... Always were and always will be. ( SORRY i PUBLISHED THIS FOTO TWICE IN THIS BLOG ...... Do not know how to edit or delete the extra one so you will have to wait for the story on us later in this blog entry......... give me a break it is 02h52 in the morning......)

GOOD BYE LAURIKA
She has been my rock and roommate for the the last months since Hannes left. As I explained before she worked for us in the surgery and was my right and left hand "wing man". I adore this girl and am going to miss her so much. She is a very good friend and always so extremely loyal.
I have to start saying goodbye to her slowly as early next year we will only have contact via face book or e-mail. Strange how life brings people into your life who leave a huge crater when they have to move on. She had such a tough time early on in our relationship. She was shit scared of me and used to go into nervous fits just thinking of having contact with me. I must say I am a very difficult task master to work for. I strive for perfection and expect nothing less in return.
Laurika however has come to learn to even think like me so we are like little BIG ME and MINNIE ME. You can decide who is who..................................... I always used to say that I am wife NR 1 and she is wife NR 2 to Hannes. . . . Today however all her fear has gone and we are just such good friends and colleagues.
Laurika I have so much respect for you in how far you have come and still strive to go..... YOU GO GIRL .....................I love you very much and am always on your shoulder............


AHH......My "Pastrami friends".....
ERMANNO AND CLYDENE ON UMDLOTI BEACH
CLydene goes all the way and a little more. Just look carefully into this foto and you will see to what extend she goes for casual "sun downers on the beach" I mean check our dress code and her table setting. She did a full silver service for this bun fight..... Clydene is ALWAYS just there. She is not intrusive and very quiet (except in Bali with a cork screw in her pajama's !!!!!) I can drink coffee with her all night , literally have done so on a few occasions... She makes a killer "cuppa chino"..... I will easily swap a Starbucks "cuppa chino" for one of hers............... Now these two (Eramnno and Clydene) are like bread and butter, scones and cream, cheese and crackers,....they fit together. Ermanno is always there in the back ground too (normally with a cold one in a green bottle in his hand...) but always there. I have had some very bad situations and they just come to your rescue in what ever way they can.
What a "lekker" travel mate she is too. She scares the living daylights out of me on her spending abilities.... She loves to shop and saves me a lot of money in return as just looking at her satisfies my buying urges.....She is not good at bargaining for an item........That is where I fit in. You know good cop bad cop scenario....................But hey does she travel light. We went to Bangkok for a week once and she only had a little travel bag as hand luggage going to Bangkok. I mean did not even hand in her luggage........ But boy oh boy when she came home Ermanno had to nearly fetch her from the airport with a flat bed truck............................
Clydene I will soooooo miss you. I have to start with the goodbye action tomorrow when I see you..............Not looking forward to that as I am now so "over it" as the kids will say. Too many goodbyes in my life these last 4 months.
Look after Umdloti for me while I am away................. Remember we have not finished with Dubai shopping yet......

THE BALI BTCHES.........................
CLYDENE, MYSELF, GESI AND MARIETJIE

How do I begin to explain this friendship....It is so special to have such tight friends for so many years and we share just about everything with each other......WE travel together in such a fantastic manner although we are so different

GOOD BYE GESI

This is such a special woman.....She has so much compassion and love to hand out and does exactly that. I have said in previous blog entries of how beautiful she is. (She is a race horse!!!!!!!!!) and loves PRADA.................

"Rerig", my friend how will I survive without all your love and talks............ We have also done a few all nighters...........

Now she can "really" cook. Understand nicely, we all are good in the kitchen department BUT Gesi is of another class. Every thing she touches in life turns to "best" be that friendships or food.
Gesi you have taught me so much of "letting things slide" in the reaction department. Thanks so much for that. You taught me to take a breath first and then react.... You know Steve Covey (author) writes about the 7 habits....Well my 2nd habit (reactive and pro active) was so out of sync..........I just go for reactive instinctively......never a good outcome hey, just ask my kids for affirmation...... Her husband Bob will also be sadly missed as he is also such a good friend. All out men also get on very well together and this helps this friendship to blossom. Thanks guys....

How does one say goodbye to friends like this...........My tears are so boring lately as the last few weeks that seems to be all I have been doing. Sometimes out of pure anger and frustration and sometimes out of anguish..........

Gesi I will always have you very close to my hart....I am planning on sitting with you at all our kids weddings with my "dusty pink" outfit........(Heaven forbid may it take a few years.......)
You have lifted my spirits in so many ways over the years. You are an easy shoulder to cry on and just as easy to have a great laugh with. YOu still have to come and do the Dubai number.

MARIETJIE (OUSUS)
Marietjie is the sober thinker amongst us all. A quote that she uses has crept into my daily speech as she says it so perfectly the quote is "you know what" and then she gives this absolutely "commonsense" advice................ Her sense of humor is to die for.....Sarcastic, clever, sharp and to the point. She is a big "live and let live" personality. How she became "ousus" is a long story and has nothing to do with age. Let's just say it was due to my "reactive" personality which came to bite me later.........................

OH she does NOT cook...............She has other fantastic talents.............Mario her husband is the chef in the house. Good to see and good to eat his food too. he like other interesting foods and we are always just to happy to comply with finishing our plates............

Ousus gaan jou baie mis..........

LETS GET ONTO A LIGHTER SIDE.................

This is JC as a clown. His work year end function was a day at the circus.......They did clown training and had to dress and do the part. He loved it very much. So refreshing to see a year end function which does not only consist of mega booze consumption. I also think it was a great way to "team build" Hr is not joining us in Dubai this holiday as he does not have leave due to him from work. I will miss him at Christmas and new year BUT he will come and see us in the new year..............

Just a foto to show how they did the opening of Atlantis in Dubai. 15 million pounds were spent on the fire works display. Only 3 more sleeps for me to be there.

Another foto of the Atlantis opening....................

AS you have gathered I am going to Umdloti tomorrow to say my good bye's to very very dear friends. I also have to say good bye to my little piece of heaven, OUR UMDLOTI FLAT. It is not the bricks and mortar I will miss but the whole looking at the ocean. I always felt so safe and secure at the flat. That was where I recharged my batteries.....Had time to just look at the ocean and get inner calm after stormy times... Lived with open doors and windows with no burglar bars. The smell of the sea........ I might not have the privilege to stay there soon again as the flat has been given to an agent to manage the rental while we are away....

I went to my dad's funeral last week and it was exactly what he would have wanted. No frills no fuss. The church was full. he would have been pleased to see that. I had said my goodbye to him on the weekend we visited him about 6 weeks ago. It was so good to have had that time to say all that was needed. he believed in "giving flowers when some one is alive and not after death."

HE kept himself to that goal. So I have no regrets with our relationship while he was alive. I just feels the death of 2 very special people to me is asking a little much.

Maybe that is why tomorrow is very hard for me to do. I have to say good bye once more. OK it is not permanently but the feeling of loss and longing for that person will be very similar..................... I just know the tears will be genuinely felt and deserved.................

I AM SO USELESS AT GOOD BYE............................

Dian is on "matric week" in Balito and having a ball. Rossouw has finished his maths "subs" and he seem to think all went well..... I will see him in Johannesburg at the airport on Thursday when we leave.

The last 2 weeks have been hectic with arrangement before I leave for Dubai and now I have decided that I have done my utmost and all the rest must just sort themselves out .......... The only things I still have to do is goodbye's, finalise the rental agent in Umdloti, get the house in Richards bay in order for the tenants for December, collect Dian, pack and leave for the airport.

I cannot wait to see Hannes again and to live some form of "normal" life. At least my sleeping pattern will return to normal............ I am sure he feels the same. He must be very lonely.

This time I am in Dubai for 6 weeks..................JIppeee.....

OK all I am bushed.

L