What's my problem

Just noticed that Mississauga is expecting -14C this week so not really fair to complain that it's a little cool here. Hope Mr Page and family and our friends there are all keeping warm!!

Anyway, Ahmed - our Egyptian heating engineer - has promised to come on Sunday evening to try to sort a temporary repair.

While Jimmy C's suggestion that we find a local hostelry with a warm fire and spend the weekend there was attractive, we settled for a warm yoga studio for a workshop this morning and we're off to the Lyceum this evening for 'The Barbershop Chronicles'  which should continue our African connection - and hopefully be warm as well - and it's rumoured that they also have drink!

Home Sweet Home

Six weeks in our new holiday home at Pearl Valley seemed to pass by very quickly - It hardly seems a day or two since we were collecting the keys and dealing the bureaucracy which surround every SA transaction.

We had a great time, caught up with old friends, made a few new friends, did a bit of exercise, yoga, wine tasting and quite a lot of enjoying ourselves. 

However, as we packed up yesterday and headed back to Cape Town airport, we were both looking forward to getting back to the new Edinburgh home which we had only lived in for 3 weeks before we left for SA.

The journey was fairly routine - no hiccups - we even negotiated the 55min connection at Doha with very little stress. However the journey seemed to go on longer than the last time. We were greeted by freezing temperatures as we landed in  Edinburgh, and an Indian minicab driver who may have been finishing a 12 hour shift but still drove poorly and tried to access each of three different phones during the 20 minute trip. Despite all this - and the aftermath of 22 hrs travelling - we were both excited about being back in Gardner's Crescent.

Before we left we had decided to turn off everything while we were away and just in case of cold weather, we had even turned off the water at the stopcock. So as Linda commented on the great job Ali T had done looking after the plants, I turned the water back on and fired up the central heating boiler.

Before I had time to adjust the thermostat I could hear the sound of running water and then noticed the stream of water coming from the void above the boiler. Managed to shut off the supply again before the puddle became a lake and got on the phone to find an emergency plumber.

Call number three connected me to a real person rather than an answering machine and we were promised someone would be here within three hours. Unfortunately. this proved to be untrue and by the time I chased them again they had to admit that the man assigned the job had called in sick and nobody had thought to let me know.

Luckily we found another plumber who was with us an hour later, found the leak, replaced the pipe joint and took a bit of time to check that everything else was OK. As we waited for the boiler to start heating the flat, we heard the sound of water dripping again. This time the leak was coming from the boiler which had to be shut off and may require major surgery or perhaps replacement. Neither of which are possible at 4.00pm on a Friday afternoon.

So while we now have a fully functioning cold water system it is not much use when the outside temperature is heading back to freezing, and it looks like staying there for the weekend.

Despite all this it is good to be home 

Right time, right place

While I can sympathise with my English friends who rightly thought that this was their chance to win the World Cup for the second time, it has been tremendous to be here as South Africa won in such style.

 

The excitement and fervour which preceded the game has been matched by the joyful celebrations which followed the win.

We watched the game in a local restaurant with Sue, Ally, Cam and a crowd of our neighbours. Amazing atmosphere. 

Another birthday

As we sit on our deck surrounded by the remains of our Braai, listening to the toads in the lake, we can hear Ronan Keating singing up at the clubhouse - a charity event celebrating Gary Player's 84th Birthday. 

Birthday celebrations

After a leisurely birthday breakfast on the terrace watching whales in the bay, we made it back to the Wine Glass in time for the England / All Blacks game with a few South Africans who were supporting the Kiwis. I think the most excited spectator was the lady who had brought our coffee who was shouting with joy every time England scored - someone suggested that she had a bet on the outcome!

After the game, we managed a walk along the cliff path watching a Southern Right whale with her calf. We could also see across Walker Bay to De Kelders - our next destination - on the horizon

There is a whale and calf - honest!

After lunch at a tapas bar, we were back in the car on our way to Benguela lodge in De Kelders where we had enjoyed such a great dinner on our last trip. This time we are staying there as well.

Jonathan greeted us like long lost family and we were hardly in the door before he handed us a champagne cocktail - to help us recover from the journey. They've been busy over the past few months - extending the building and adding rooms but it still  retains its eclectic feel with an amazing collection of art and furniture. 

 

There were 17 of us for dinner - German, Austrian, Swiss, English and us - with excellent food and good wines in copious supply. With all the chat and Jonathan catering for some of the pickier eaters, we didn't get up from the table until after midnight - thankfully we only had to stagger a few yards across the sitting room to our room.

We woke to a beautiful sunny morning - with a very strong wind whipping up the waves in the bay. Although we were offered breakfast in bed, we had already managed to drag ourselves up to the dining table where we had another great meal - enough to keep us going for the drive home.

I'm sure we'll be back again - although we may have to decline Jonathan's invitation to his birthday  party - 'where we can all get properly pissed'!

 

Seaside towns in the rain

Whether its Skegness, Largs or Hermanus, they're all the same in the rain. However, instead of bingo and fish and chips, Hermanus has the Wine Glass with 96 wines to choose from and a 'Wine Down' from 4-6 on Friday where its two for one on the wine. Very pleasant place to shelter from the rain and even better when Linda found a table next to the log burner. So good that we went back for dinner. 

Spoke too soon

A bit of a change in the weather this week - great weather for hiking to Uitkyk on Tuesday

but then the rain came and the temperature dropped. Wednesday was cool and wet - jackets on for the first time - and is forecast to stay like this for a few days.

We are off to Hermanus and De Kelders for the weekend to celebrate Linda's birthday and it looks like we will be driving through torrential rain storms on the way. Might have to stay in the hotel room on both Saturday and Sunday morning to watch the rugby if its too wet to get out.