Sunny South Africa

Well, we're on our way. Arrived in Joburg about a week ago. It's fair to say that it's been rather a pleasant experience so far. Our days have typically been a lunchtime appointment with friends followed by one in the evening with a bit of sunning and lounging around in the meantime. These people know how to eat and drink hey?! Eish!

For the first week we stayed with Isy's cousin, Mike and his wife Shim in their "castle" in South Joburg. Dylan thoroughly enjoyed running riot around their garden and even plucked up the courage to pat their two Jack Russells, Jack and Russell :-) This week we're with our pals Marli and Ken and doing some catching up and a fair bit of reminiscing abouth the halcyon days in London Town. (The parts we can remember anyway...)

Tonight's bash is Trevor's 40th birthday party (Fancy dress with the theme of 60's). We're all going as Hippies... heh heh heh.

Anyway, it's lunchtime here and we're off out in a minute. Apologies for letting another week pass without an update but what can you do when your mates' PC gets taken out by a lightening bolt? (I kid you not).

Ciao.

The TV's gone. It's time to go.

Well it sure does feel like things are about to happen. The boxes have finally gone *shudder*. I swear, when I close my eyes, all I can see are boxes, boxes, boxes and it's fair to say I will not miss them. It wouldn't have been so bad if we didn't have to tidy the place up every day so that potential tenants could view the flat. Anyway, job done.

Speaking of the flat, after some hard last round negotiations (Nico would have been proud) we finally have tenants! Yey! They move in two days after we scoot so things couldn't have worked out better really. It's a relief to know we're sorted before boarding the plane but I think I might have been right in my earlier post... Two "proffessional" guys sharing. From Holland. Let's hope they don't burn the place down hey.

Well, as I no longer have the luxury of free internet connection I'll wind up this entry. Next stop Jo'Burg!!! Yee Haa! Got an awful lot of catching up to do with a bunch of people and see some little kids for the first time. Probably find time to squeeze in the odd Windhoek or Castle as well...

See you all sunny side.

Happy New Year!!

Ok, Ok... yea, I know. It's over a month since I've posted anything but what can I tell you!!? Life's a blur at the moment. The only way I know a week has passed is when we watch the next episode of "Lost" on Wednesdays...

So, a quick catch up is in order.

Pre-Christmas saw plenty of partying mainly by our resident Christmas Elf. Dylan went to see his old friends at the nursery for his Christmas party and apart from being scared into a crying fit by Santa seemed to have a great time eating junk and generally making a mess. Santa completely missed the obvious and failed to award Mr.D the "Best Fancy Dress Costume" prize but as I said, they weren't on speaking\babbling terms by then anyway...

Next up was Dylan's first birthday!! Not too much in the way of a big bash at our place but grandma, grandpa and 'vovo (Portuguese grandma) all put on a heck-of-a-do with plenty of cake, party hats and balloons! As you can see, some of the balloons really did go down a treat with the little guy.

Christmas week was spent with my folks (Hi ma & pa!) in Kirkham and for the most part we indulged in a great deal of eating and drinking with occasional winter walks. Our young elf was again the star of the show and took it upon himself to start walking properly for the first time. This was no doubt due in some small part to the fact that he actually had space to walk in for once :-)

After Kirkham we spent a couple of days with my sister and Dan in Manchester catching up and talking about our previous trips to Oz. Flicking through her old photo album of backpacking days in Sydney got us pretty fired up... We also managed a quick visit to Angie and Mal's new gaff just down the road but unfortunately didn't have time for a VIP tour of Angie's carpeted allotment. I'm led to believe this time of year is not great for growing veggies anyway.

New Year saw us zipping over to Lisbon for a week and staying with Estela. The weather was a very palatable 15C with sunshine and we enjoyed a few strolls along the beaches of Estoril and surrounds. I have to say that the Christmas lights in Lisbon we very good indeed. None of that "These Lights Are Sponsored By Birdseye" tat that I saw in Oxford Street a few years back. Just nice, twinkly Christmas lights. Cool.

Well, that's it for now. 7 days to go. Must phone Dangerman tomorrow to find out how the hell he managed to break both his big toes over New Year...