Just a short Blog to let all that read this know that I am so busy I haven't had time to write a daily blog. Sorry. Tomorrow is my last day here and there is much to be done, including packing and I am hoping to get some sleep tomorrow night instead of pulling an all nighter like I normally do before a trip.

Today was an extremely busy day. I was on my feet for 6 hours and got to sit down at 5:30ish for the first time all afternoon. It was exhausting, but most rewarding, I believe everyone had a good time and it was a wonderful way to end my Dad's Birthday celebrations.

I am going to miss my family but, Christmas is just around the corner, I'll see them all again soon!

I have been keeping a log of my daily activities and will update this site with them as soon as I can.

Take care.

O:o)

13 September 2005
Don Bartlett's birthday.

Woke up early today. Dad left to go do stock taking and I started work on one of my assignments…
I have so much work to do for my courses it scares me silly! Anyway I'll have the assignments done in time and I will just have to work hard in the next few weeks to cover the work I need to get through before my exams.
I worked on my assignment for about an hour then got myself ready and went to town to start the shopping for Dad's birthday celebrations and also to get a few choice items to take back home with me.
I spent the whole afternoon in town running from one place to the other finding all the items I needed…Pick 'n Pay stocked bamboo shoots but not water chestnuts, so I had to go to Spar for that etc. I found some net curtaining at a very good price, which made me happy, even though I had to get my dad to meet me so he could go with me to get it as it is in a notoriously dangerous area of town.
I arrived back home at 5:30…WHAT A DAY! I was very glad to be back home. I unloaded the groceries, alcohol and sundry items from the car and then put the kettle on for some tea (had gone 8 hours without a tea fix)! Dad arrived home just then he had perfect timing. He helped me unpack and we sat and had our tea.
This evening had been pretty uneventful. I watched CSI:Miami (the best of the "CSI" batch) and 24. I am now typing this and am about to log onto the net to check email and update the blog.
Good night all.
O:o)

Monday 12 September 2005
Shane Noble’s Birthday

The phone woke me up this morning as it was in my room. I had showered at 2am, and only got to bed at 2:45. SO it was an unwelcome intrusion in my peaceful sleep.

Anyway, Dad made me the usual…an awesome cup of tea which I drank in bed before finishing up some post card writing and getting ready to get going! I hit the post office first and posted off a pile of cards, maybe it will get there before Christmas…Ooo that gives me an idea maybe if I post my Christmas cards now they will actually get there on time!

Next on the list was Mndeni Meats where I bought bread rolls, ham and Chelsea buns for lunch and tea time. I tasted a piece of the ham and all I can say is they don’t make it like they used to…so many fillers now, no wonder it was so much cheaper than the grocery stores….okay I’ll stop disgusting my many readers, hehehe.

I then went to collect my jewelery, look back at last weeks entry to see what had gone wrong. They had done a good job this time so I was happy. I left there and drove out of the shopping complex when I realized I had a list of items to get for Gran so I had to go to the next light and go around the block and back to the shopping center. I got the Asthavent and lotion Gran needed at the Chemist and then went across the road to Pick ‘n Pay to buy the sweetners she wanted….Boy are they expensive here! Mental note to bring back Splenda at Christmas time!

Okay errands done now I head out to Gran’s. I am so tired. We had lunch and tea and I still felt drained. Too little sleep makes for a tired Taryn. I eventually got to work and had a very successful afternoon. I managed to sort out Peter’s entire store room! Everything is boxed, labeled and ready to go when the movers come to fetch it. Yay.

I took Joyce home at 3:45, once again the car was loaded to the max and then some, this time with 4 garden chairs she had been given by a previous tenant of my Gran’s. If you knew the size (as Chris does) of my Gran’s car you would realize how ridiculous we looked driving down the road with the back hatch open and 2 chairs sticking out the back. Thank goodness it is only a mile or so from my Gran’s house, but the speed bumps they put in proved to be tricky even at 5 kilometres per hour! As the chairs were not tied down! Oh well we made it.

I stopped and took some pictures on the way back as the view is beautiful from up on the hill. I am not sure if they came out. I have not checked yet.

Back at Gran’s we had tea with Chelsea buns (a slightly cinnamon raisin roll with icing on top). We chatted for a while about Gran’s asthma as she remembered it from her youth as well as several other things.

I drove home and went through an accident scene where a minibus taxi had stopped to close to the edge of the road and tumbled down the hillside…maybe now they will put up barrier rails there.

I stopped at Spar to buy bacon and pork sausages (Chris you missed out!), as Dad had been talking about picking some up for the last few days so I decided to do so. I got home to a very dark house. All the doors were open but all the lights were out…Dad’s car was there but I could not find him anywhere. Eventually I gave out a bellow from the back door and heard him reply from the pool! He had been working on the pool, getting the last of it cleaned. So took off my shoes and socks, rolled up my yoga pants and got to work helping him with it. He had already finished the hard work so I just helped him with the pumping out of the dirty water and the washing down of the sides. Time for a cup of tea.

We came inside and were having tea when Rowan arrived with Hayley. He goes and plays pool on Monday nights (he even has his own que), and Hayley goes with as a designated driver. She was a little friendlier this time round. She actually spoke more than 4 words. Maybe she is just shy. I know she is not stupid, she’s majoring in Bio Chemistry and English at University! Well it was good to see them both.

Dad made bangers (pork sausages) and mash for dinner, yum, yum, yum, yum, yum! They tasted SO good. I wish we were able to get them in Raleigh. Matthews is just too far to go for a few sausages. Maybe I could convince HT to carry them.

My mother called and asked if I wanted to do lunch on Wednesday. She knows it is my Dad’s birthday so why does it have to be that day? Anyway I told her I would think about it and she told me she would call tomorrow with the details. I have so much to do on Wednesday, that I don’t think I will be able to see her for more than about half an hour. I have to drive to Durban and back on to fetch Hayley and Caitlin that day too! Sheesh. Keeping my family happy is turning out to be a nightmare! If only they were all as easy as Dad, he’s already happy even when times are rough!

Dad is watching a movie right now with Meg Ryan in it. 'Against the Ropes' is what it’s called…I think??

I am going to try and get an early night tonight.

Good night, sleep tight, make sure the bugs don’t bite. If they bite then bite them back…rrrrrroar!

Mmmmmmm……..rrrrrrrrraaarrrrrrrr.

O:o)

Sunday 11 September
We had a leisurely start to the morning and after breakfast of toast with marmalade we got busy! Dad and I spent most of the day emptying and scrubbing out the pool. It is very hard work and switching arms only helps until the energy runs out. We were at it for about 6 hours and got about 90% done. We are on wire brush number 3. Dad and I are finding out we have muscles we never knew we had! Rowan came home this afternoon very tired from working for most of the night. He went straight to bed and napped for about 2 hours. After coming inside I started dinner of spaghetti bolonaise. Dad added his special ingredients and it turned out to be great. I spent the better part of the evening typing out all the blogs that I have missed. Anyway I suppose it is time to go upload all these blogs and then take a shower. Good night all. O:o)


Saturday 10 September
Karen Bartlett's Birthday
Dad and I woke up early this morning => 7:30. Dad made tea and bought me a cup in bed and took his back to his bed with him. It was heavenly tea but I decided to let it cool a little and while waiting and reading I dozed off, only to wake up to a super cool cup of tea (it was a chilly morning)...1 hour cool in fact. It still tasted good. I have decided tea tastes so much better with sugar, sometimes.
I got up and got dressed, I had some persuading to do to get Dad to do the same, he was playing Freecell on his computer in his jammies! We had toast and marmalade for breakfast.
I am falling asleep writing this! Must.....not....close...eyes...even for "just a minute."
Dad and I headed out to Gran's stopping at Federated Timbers (Fed's for short) to get wire brushes for scrubbing the pool) and SPAR (grocery store) to get ham, lettuce, a newspaper and 3 enormous rolls for lunch before heading out to Gran's.
I worked in my store room all day and had a very successful day. I finally got everything sorted, boxed, placed in it's place and covered with plastic. Yay. Dad however did not have such a good day, in fact I may go so far as to say he was accident prone today, let hope he has seen the end of it.
1. While moving corrugated iron the piece he had in his hands slipped and sliced along his finger at the middle joint so that had him running for a bandaid.
2. While hammering roof nails into the roof of Gran's new Car port he slipped and hammered the tip of his stumpy finger (he lost part of the top of his finger as a child, in a cement mixer), which is already a very sensitive finger (always has been). He broke the skin on the top and quite badly on the bottom of the finger, just below the nail. I had to engineer a special bandaid to cover both sides of the finger and not stick to any bad spots.
3. He slipped in the shower and to break his fall he had to use his injured hand (both injuries had been to the same hand).So he was in a lot of pain for most of yesterday afternoon, poor Dad.
Tired........Okay I can't keep my eyes open any longer, I need to go to sleep NOW. Good night.
Sunday 11 (finishing Saturday 10th)
We finished up at Grans and had a couple cup s of tea before heading home. Dad showered while I read a gourmet vegetarian cookbook I had taken out of storage. At 6:30 we headed up the road to go visit and have dinner with old friends who have lived in the neighborhood a long time. It was an interesting evening. I just sat back, listened and watched. Several people became somewhat drunk and loud but it was fun to watch. I was asked 20...000 (felt like) questions by Lesley (the hostess and neighbor) who is a touchy feely kind of person. Like I said it was an 'interesting' evening. We finally left to go home at 11:30pm! Boy was I glad to get home, I was ready for bed!


Friday 9 September 2005
Slept in today as Dad did not make a sound getting ready, so I did not wake up as I usually do when I hear stirrings in the house. Bad dreams woke me up at 9:30 just in time to make a cup of tea before dad arrived home. I felt very lazy for sleeping in for so long.
Right now I am waiting for my bed to warm up...old fashioned way. I have 3 bottles of hot water in strategic positions in my bed, feet, legs and torso, so hopefully I will not be cold tonight.
I went to NWJ (Natal Wholesale Jewelers) to fetch the jewelry I had sent in for repair, only to find it had not been done properly, 2 of the 6 charms I had asked to be soldered to my charm bracelet had not been soldered at all. I have to go back Monday to collect them. I walked next door to Pick 'n Pay (grocery store) to buy pies for lunch and a large Yogi-Sip (drinking yogurt). I also changed the dinner booking at Quincy's from 9 to 6, for Dad's birthday dinner. The mall was my next stop to pick up my ticket outta here, then on to Gran's house.
My cold made me feel really 'Grotti' (horrible) today. At Grans we had coffee then lunch and it took me a while to get motivated to want to work in the store room. But I managed to get a LOT of box sorting done this afternoon :) I took Joyce home at 3:30 with a couch she had been given...I am sure it made for a funny sight....a small compact car with a couch in the both/trunk and the back door wide open! I stopped working in the store room at 5:30 and locked up. I had found what I had been looking for...my teapot and my Chinese dinner service. I headed home at 6pm and had tea w/Dad.

I went online and checked email etc. I also tried to confirm my seat booking for the long haul flight, but could not. I have to call to do it. I downloaded the Rose Garden pictures for Dad to see, he loved them.
Okay bed should be warm enough by now....Over OUT! O:o)


Thursday 8 September 2005
Had a lazy start to today after waking up at 7am, I went back to sleep until 9! Dad bought me tea in bed but I was so sleepy it took me a while to wake up and by then it was cold, but still good. It tastes so much better when he makes it than when I make it.
I headed out to Gran's (which is a 30 miniature drive from here) at about 10:30, stopping only to cash a check for her. I arrived in time to get coffee which Joyce my Gran's house maid) makes especially well...hmm maybe it is the sugar that both my dad and she put in. I am not used to having sugar in my beverages but it tastes good when they put it in. I decide to have a second cup while Gran got ready. I bought my work/get dirty clothes in from the car and Gran and I left to go to town (which I had driven through to get to her), to look for a birthday gift for my dad. We went to Game stores first (a small scale Walmart) and were lucky enough to find what we were looking for there. The Staff were SO helpful (NOT!). We asked 3 different people and got sent through the store once before going back to the place we had started at and found what we were looking for there. We were looking for a Philli-shave electric razor/shaver. After we had purchased it we wondered around the store a bit as Gran had not been in the store since they renovated and remodeled. Gran does not go into town very often.
We then went to the Chemist (Pharmacy) and the Grocery store where we bought lunch...pies (go figure). I had steak and kidney and she had chicken and mushroom. I took Gran home having had a very successful trip to town to shop.
We had lunch w/ tea which went down very well. The weather seems to warm up substantially during the day now, but it is really cold at night. I have 4 blankets on my bed as well as a duvet, coming form the warm weather, I really feel cold easily.
I changed into "get dirty" clothes and got to work in the store room on my many boxes, the good news is that by consolidating boxes I now have 5 empty boxes which = more space. Still have not found my teapot, but it will turn up I am sure of it. I did find my fondue set though, and if I have space (weight) for them I will include then in my items I am bringing back. I worked at Gran's until 6pm then went home. Dad and I relaxed for a bit and had leftover curry for dinner again, but at least it is gone now. OUT! :(


Wednesday 7 September
Dad's phone woke me up and as he was outside I had to run to find him in time, no problem. He gets his phone and the other one rings! Run to get that one before the automated voicemail picks up...clearly someone up there wanted me to get a running start today! That or my brother (who was on the other phone) thought it was time to rise. I got ready and at 10 am went down the hill to town to go see my travel agent. I had hoped that I may be able to get a cheaper ticket as I had received a general email from them with all their specials for this month...alas it was not to be, the ticket had specific departure dates which would not have worked for me. I got the final price for my ticket and drove from the mall to the bank to draw the cash to pay for it and drove back to the mall to pay and get my itinerary. They were kind enough to give me a R200 discount as I was paying in cash. Today was also a very bad day headache wise as I woke up with a migraine and it only got worse as the day went on, although a BC did help at the end of the day.
I went to the Natal Society Library, with proof of address this time, to join so that I could take out a textbook that I need for my studies, only to find that after going through all the hassle that the book is not available for removal from the library so I have to go there to do my assignment...argh! Oh well.
After the fruitless time at the library I decided to go do something good. I went and donated blood, something I always do when I am back here, call me crazy, but it's my part. I decided to visit a friend of mine, Carl Bartlett, as his office is around the corner from the blood bank and I had some time to kill. He was surprised to see me and we chatted for a while and parted saying we'd get in touch to meet up at another time. I still had time to kill before going to see the financial guy about gran's finances so I decided to go look at curtain fabric. I am hoping to find some that is as thick as the fabric I used to make the curtains I put up in Dad's spare room, but no luck there, I did find some great fabric to make pillow covers for some cushions to replace the "fugly" ones currently on the couch. Dad called and we arranged to meet at home and go from there in one car to see Guy Miles my financial advisor. He told us pretty much what we already knew and a few extra details that we had not considered. dad and I headed home to do a few chores before eating dinner and settling in to the TV programs for the night....Growing up Gotti, Laugh Out Loud (a local comedy show) the Simpsons and Runaway Jury (movie). Now I am sitting in the living room watch the fire burn out. I was supposed to be posting to the blog tonight but I am just too tired to want to fight with dial up tonight. A nice hot bath and a cold bed are waiting for me so let me leave today at that. Good night.
Time, 1:30am Thursday morning/7:30pm Wednesday night.


Tuesday 6 September 2005
I went and had my hair cut this morning at 10am. Jane, the woman who cut my hair, did a great job, but cut off more hair than I was expecting her to. But anyway...it's just hair, it'll grow back. Sound familiar? I also had a protein treatment put in my hair that needed to stay in so Jane put my hair up on the back of my head and gave me another product to put in when I got home. So I had to go about my errands, looking like a slick Italian, while the treatment worked it's magic! I went to the University of Natal Library to see if they had any copies of the text books I left behind in tha US as they were to heavy. They had one copy of the one book but it was on loan. The other one could be found at the Msunduzi Library (used to be called the Natal Society Library). So I went into the centre of town, which is not a safe place for a white woman by herself but I was lucky enough to find a parking right outside the entrance to the Library. I went inside only to find I needed proof of address. No problem! Proof of address I have.
I went to pick up my photo's and bought pies for Dad and I for lunch, then headed home.
I spent the rest of the day working on my assignments in front of a fire my Dad and I had made because it was so cold outside!
Dad made an awesome curry for dinner with all the fixings (sambles, popadoms, banana, chutney, atchar, and bread). It was great and just what I needed to warm me up and my nose running!
We saw Rowan briefly tonight. I stayed up late and watch the Human Stain.


Monday 5 September 2005
We had an early meeting at home with the insurance assessor/investigator, so we were both up early. I took a shower so I could wash my hair, but the water was not hot and so I could not turn on any cold water to increase the water pressure to anything more than a trickle! So in between freezing from lack of warmth I was trying to wash soap out of my hair and eyes with a trickle of water! Anyway I had to try hussle after the shower, to get ready on time. Steve the insurance assessor/investigator wrote out a statement for Dad to read through and signed. It was just basically a break down of what had occurred and what was taken. He told me that I should claim for both rings that were stolen and not just the one. This meant I had to g back 4 years in Credit Card receipts (That are in storage SOMEWHERE) to find proof of payment. I told him I would try but I could not promise anything. After he left I got my things together and Dad and I headed out to Gran's. He dropped me there and continued on to Fawn Lea's to make deliveries and see farmers.
I first looked in Peters storage unit, for the credit card statements, as I knew the files with all the credit card statements were in Peters store room. I dug through several boxes before I found the one I was looking for. The file was there but there were statements missing and the ones I needed just happened to be among them. Then I thought of another place I might find proof. I thought I may have saved the actual receipt and I had put some receipt into a wedding scrapbook, so I decided to go find it and look in there. It took me a even longer to track down the box that contained all the wedding stuff but my search was rewarded. I found the receipt and the valuation certificate among many other receipts. Yay, problem solved. I stacked the boxes in such a way that 'nimble fingers' could not get to the open boxes and went and had tea with Gran. I drove for the first time since getting here, and I have to admit I was a little worried about it, but it came to me as second nature. I did not make any mistakes. I headed back into PMB and went by Mutual and Federal (the insurers) to drop off the valuation certificate. Steve was happy I had been able to find it.
On the way home I stopped by Zane Jones' work to drop off the invitation to my Dad's birthday, for the whole Jones family. Uncle Jones (Craig) was also there so I stayed a while and chatted. It was good to see them again.
Oh I forgot to mention the weather had turned cold Sunday and remained cold for a few days...brrr. The days get pretty warm, but the nights are cold enough to warrant a fire in the lounge and hot water bottles in my bed!


Sunday 4 September 2005
Slept in.
When we both got up Dad and I began working on the pool by emptying and scrubbing the sides as black algae had grown in the rough spots of the pools marbilite. Dad got a little too much sun on his back while bending to scrub.....sunscreen dad!


Saturday 3 September 2005
We got up around 9am. Tyler and Dad were awake first. I made myself Muesli and yogurt for breakfast and went and sat outside in the sun to eat it until Tyler hinted, for the second time, that he was ready to go i.e. I needed to go get myself ready to go.
We dropped Tyler off at his girl friend's (with privileges as he has told us) house. Dad and I went to Hayfields Pick 'n Pay to buy lunch, smoked neck ham and bread rolls. We picked up Gran's meds and I dropped off a film for developing. We then headed out to Gran's and had lunch just after we arrived there at 12:30. After lunch I got to work in the store rooms as there are a number of items I wanted to pull out and take back to the US with me. Boy what a job! I started with the easy stuff, Tupperware, and managed to condense 6 boxes into 4. I figured the more boxes I could get rid of the neater the store room. Gran had Dad and I do a few odd jobs around the house like replacing light bulbs and filling up the sun bird feeder.
We left around 5:30 and went home. We had leftover chicken casserole (that I had made the night before) and a cheesy russian sausage hot dog for dinner. I went to bed very late but slept like a log!

Friday 2 September 2005

No time to write anything long today so here is a run down of the places/people we visited today.

Lawn and Pool centre - pick up items for deliveries

Head out of PMB, direction - Durban

Watersmeet Farm deliver some of the before mentioned products

Uncle Bobby's (Dad's Cousin)- dropped off a 50kg bag of organic fertiliser, Amberley and baby Mikaela were there although Mikaela was sleeping the whole time so we did not get to see her, we also left an invitation to Dad's party with Amberley for the whole family.

Unisa - did not have the text books I need

Aunt Linda's (Dad's Cousin, sister to Bobby, picture of Dad and Linda above) - had tea, dropped off Respiractin which has been haunting me for the past year!!

Grovida Depot - Picked up potasium phosphate for delivery

Back to pmb - stopped for pies at new BP on the Highway at Cato Ridge

Mndeni - bought long rolls and cheesy russian sausages for dinner

Went back down to fetch Tyler and he stayed the night.

Went to bed at 2:30 am - nose stuck in book - the narrows by Michael Connelly

O:o)

1 September 2005

First official day here! Got woken up at 6:30 am by dads alarm clock blaring! Nothing like here a radio dj first thing in the morning as if they are right in you head when infact they are coming from another room at full volume! It is Rowan's birthday today and I forgot to wish him in my half a asleep state of mind as I heard him stomping up and down the passageway getting ready for work. He then yelled "Okay see you later" from the kitchen and was gone. Oh well I will have to give him his card later. I decided to get up and begin my day, it was probably a good idea to force myslef into the routine and not sleep in otherwise jet lag would hit me harder.

My back got badly sunburnt while at the beach with the Cassals last Thursday and has decided to turn into extremely itchy peeling/flaking skin....signs that sun damage is BAD FOR YOU! Once up and about Dad and I headed to town to go run some errands. Oh did I mention that I was still sans luggage! Dad had been kind enough to put my clothes into the wash so I could wear them again the next day. Okay back to the story...We went straight to the mall as that is where the foreign exchange banks and my travel agent are located. There is a new foreign exchange governing body here in SA called FICA (don't ask me what it stands for as I have no clue) but they have a new rule that one cannot change more than R2500 worth of foreign exchange per year, without proof of residence. Proof of residence is any mailed account with the residencial address on it....err big stumbling block here! We live on a farm, they do not deliver mail to rural areas here in SA so that means no mail with the residential address on it. #$!#$^#!#^%!!!! I would have to get my dad to write a certified letter stating that I live with him, he would have to go to his bank and get a copy of the home loan (it has the residential address on it) and he would have to come with me to show his Identity document (as proof of who he is). What a pain in the butt!!!! Needless to say I was not amused. The good news is that we had heard from the SAA driver who was going to deliver my luggage. He was going to meet us at the mall. I then went to my travel agent to arrange my flight back...it is going to come to R9600...ouch! And it does not fly back on the date that I want it to, nor does it take me all the way to Raleigh! Dad and I decided to go have a cup of coffee and wait for the SAA deliverer to arrive, we first went and got a new SIM card for my cellphone so I can start getting in touch with everyone. The coffee was really good (R25 for 2 cups of coffee, seemed like a lot to me). I then decided I wanted to get a second price quote from another travel agent, dad decided he needed a cigarette! I was almost done at Pentravel when dad came in to tell me the driver had arrived and that he was going to meet him, I was to meet him back at the car.
I got done with the travel agent (it was R700 more to fly back on the day I wanted), and ran/jogged through the mall to get back to the entrance where the car was parked, I had a bad feeling something was not right. I got to the entrance to see my dad about to wheel 2 suitcases away to the car...2 black suitcases, 'wait a minute, that's not right, I only have one black suitcase the other was blue' so I told my dad and he yelled out to the delivery guy to come back. He had given me someone elses suitcase. In fact I think he had already delivered my suitcase to someone else as he had none left in his vehicle he said. He said he would go back to Durban to fetch it and would bring it back in the afternoon, no problem. The only problem I had was that my suitcase had been opened and there was not customs/security form inside it, which lead me to believe someone else had opened it. Anyway we then got in the car and headed to Hayfields mall to try and see if there was a way around the FICA issue. We had to wait a long time but were rewarded, I could deposit the money into my savings account and I would not have to do all the extra running around to prove residence. Yay. It took all of 15 minutes and it was done. I also got a new banking card as my old one was cracked and would not have lasted another year. Dad and I went to Pick 'n Pay to get lunch and a few other sundry items...yumm....pies (they do not have these in the USA) Flaky pastry with various different fillings, we both got Pepper Steak. We then headed back home as we needed to fetch Tyler and I was going with Rowan to visit Gran Campbell. We stopped off at Federated Timbers to look at paint swatches as I want to paint dad's house while I am here. Gosh but is paint expensive here! On the way up the hill on the way home we got a call from the driver saying he was at the mall with the other suitcase, so we had to turn around and go back into town. So much running around for my dad! He had the right suitcase this time, yay. We then headed back home to meet Rowan who had gotten off work early and was waiting for me to go to visit our Gran. We spent some time catching up with her at her apartment in town before we had to leave. She gave both Rowan and I R100 each as our birthday presents. Dad had collected Tyler from school on the way to fetch me. We dropped him off at home and then went and bought dinner (KFC) and headed out to Granny Blakeman's house for a visit.
We made a fertiliser delivery at Hope farms on the way.
KFC tastes different here.
Gran loved the KEDS shoes we had bought for her.
Dad and I watched the news at 8 then headed home, I had a lot of unpacking to do. Funny how all my clothes could have fitted into a carry on item! At least we are covered as far as most Xmas gifts are concerned. Rowan went out to dinner at Franky Banana's (bar) for dinner with his girlfriend Hayley, to celebrate his birthday. We did not see him again until Friday night.

Okay it has taken me long enough...here is the first of my daily meaderings since arriving in SA!

Wednesday 31 August. Cape Town International Airport.
WOW! What a journey. I arrived at RDU only to find I had left my cell phone and charger at home! Eeek! No worries, Chris came to the rescue (at my insistance) by giving me his phone to use while in SA. He is going to use mine (strange phone numbers stored on it and everything... brave man!)
The grumpy sleep deprived guy at the ticket counter was kind enough to book my luggage all the way through to Cape Town for me which meant less retrieving and re-checking for me, so I was happy....emphasis on WAS.
I think this is what lead to my baggage disappearing somewhere alongthe way. But it could also have something to do with the fact the my tickets were booked in 2 different names, which may have confused baggage handlers somewhere along the way.
I am not sure how long the battery will last on this laptop and as the converter plug is in one of the suitcases that has been lost today, I don't think I am going to be able to charge it later.
Anyway back to the flights. The flight from RDU to Atlanta went well andwas over before I knew it. I took my time getting off at Atlanta and walked, instead of riding the express train, between the concourses. I went from concourse/terminal B all the way to E. I'm glad I did as it helped loosen me up a bit for the flight. I was hungry but really did not want to pay $10 for a mediocore breakfast so I settled for junk for a lot less (ham, egg and cheese croisandwich) at $3.50. The caramel late also went a long way to perking me up. Going to bed at 2:30 and getting up at 3:30 is not smart! I then went and found my gate, got my boarding passes and found a seat near a very very tired couple from Salt Lake city.

With the two names, Delta had double booked tickets for me under both Plumstead and Blakeman, so I had to cancel one and stuck with the window seat and boy was I glad I did. I was in the last row (the row the backs up against the toilet) and I thought it was going to drive me crazy with people going by all the time, but it really didn't. The plane was not terribly full so there was space for the lady next to me to move to the row adjacent so we could each have 2 seats each to ourselves, which really helped when it came to moving around to prevent stiffness. Anyway back to the story. The attendants on the Atlanta to De Sol Island stretch were fantastic! Attentive, happy and great service providers. I wish I could say the same for the De Sol Island to Johanessburg croud...they were terrible. More interested in telling jokes in the galley and gossiping about eachother than they were about customer service. Oh well, you win some you lose some, but it was definitely a wake up call to me about SA customer service. I knew I was getting closer to home as it became increasingly worse! I had a good flight...very long and tiring as I only managed to cat nap for about 10 minutes at a time, but I did get some good reading done and watched a few movies; Madagascar, Monster in Law and The Interpreter. I got my nose into a Michael Connelly book and I have to say the Harry Bosch stories are always fascinating! We had a 1 hour lay over in De Sol but it went by quite quickly.

Apon arriving in Jo-burg a large group of us were sent to the wrong passport control and so had to be ushered back through the airport to the right place. Got through passport control without a hitch but hit a huge snag in the baggage claim area. 1. it was PACKED with people trying to get to and fro with their carts loaded with baggage, gone are the manners of the USA. I waited nearly an hour, watching the carousel going round and round, baggage getting fewer and fewer, until I eventually gave up hope that my luggage had made it and went to report it. BOO HOO, I hate it when this happens. Anyway I was already running late so I ran from International arrivals to Domestic departures, got through Security, placed a very quick call to my dad letting him know what was going on and then dashed to the gate only to find that I was a paper ticket short (as SAA had re-directed my flight, making it 2 extra stops instead of 1, which meant there were not enough paper tickets to go around), they would not let me get on the plane! I eventually got mad and then almost lost it and balled my eyes out (but didn't). They eventually let me on the plane, but took my receipt as proof of ticket purchase. Grrr. I was mad. I got on the plane to find it was packed full like sardines and someone else was in my seat, double grrrr. I finally got my seat back and had half of it taken up by a rather large man who (like me) had not showered in the past 2 days but (unlike me) he had no deodorant on! I really tried my best to not touch him but it was very difficult, like being stuck between a rock (the wall) and a damp, soft, hairy, smelly place! EWW. Anyway, I made do. I read my book and he snored. Lunch was interesting...makes me not want to choose the Vegetarian (lacto, ovo, glyco) meal again. Eastern food will be the food of choice next time!

I arrived safely in Cape Town and besides being told that my luggage "may" be in Cape Town due to loading error, it was not. I went to check they had all my details and address so they can get it to me ASAP! Now I am sitting in the Departure lounge at Capetown International Airport, killing time until my flight leaves at 6pm (4 hours will be killed in total). I am going to sign off for today as I would like to conserve the battery for as long a possible. I will also try and do an entry every day so I have an actual account of the happenings in my life while here in SA. Yawn. I'm so tired! Bed would be SOoooooo good right now actually knowing I have PJ's would also be! Cheerybyebye O:o)

Welcome to my blog.

A huge thank you to Chris (who is currently my only reader, I am sure) for setting it up for me as it would have taken about 10 times as long to do from this side (dealing with dial up here!).

I'll post my first newsy entry tomorrow, it has been a long day and I think it is time to rest my sore throat.

Cheerygoodnight.
O:o)