me last day here officially

I am going to leave work just now as my last day is finished.

Not a tipple to be seen, I did say we must open the pub to say goodbye, but it doesn’t appear to be happening. All I want is acknowledgement for the five and a half years I have been here.

Stuff them too!

Jabu left, I didn’t even know he was going – so no farewell for him.

Sonja left – the same – she just walked out on her last day.

I will be back next week, Monday and Tuesday unless otherwise canceled.

Things are a total mess here – a stock take was not performed, I did not even know about it, and the superintendents were supposedly informed. Hmm, things are falling apart in a big way.
Sigh.

end of the Cape Town sagas!!

We went onto Cape of Good Hope which had a lot of kelp on the beach due to the huge storm last week. We saw Sponge Bob!!!

Sponge Bob!

(a clue to Nicole and my sense of humour – her: ‘Lots of kelp from the storm’
‘Kelp, klep, kleptomania – the need to collect kelp.’ Giggles – really silly stuff)!

Anyway from there we returned to the hotel for a few beers, then back to the mall, and had sushi for supper – now that was divine!! My fav? A California roll with mayonnaise and caviar. Oh, yeah!!

Pictures of the hotel garden follow and the ‘breakfast room’ plus pics of the canal – the walk to the mall – really picturesque!

I hope not too many of you have been bored with my adventures in the Cape! It was such a joy for me. Thanks of course to Nicole and Ian.

CapeTown Sunday - picture heavy

On our third and final day in Cape Town we took a drive around the coast. Nicole accompanied us and we went from our hotel to the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Point. Although it is not a long drive, the roads are narrow and slow going. We went firstly to Hout Bay. (Wood Bay). There were many strange and defunct ships in the harbour. Pictures follow – aren’t they odd?

Note my wind burn!! Very pink!!



The scenery though was fantastic as was the weather. At Simonstown we saw some whales basking in the bay – these are the first ever I have seen in the sea!. Then I spotted my own whale – you can see a ripple where he was floating around. (More or less in the centre to the left)

We then went onto Cape Point – see the vernicular train? The Cape is in a reserve, which is lovely change from the streets. I did not walk up to the lighthouse – I was so stiff from the walking on Saturday. I stayed at the viewpoint that was afforded at the vernicular off load area. Then we looked at the curio shop and had a cool drink.

Sorry I do not know how to turn this!

Picture of the one poster on the wall in the museum part: Nicole nearly choked when she saw it! (any doubts as to the meaning please search Wiki!)
Part two to follow – too many photos!

Cape Town, day 2 - Airshow

This plane (Boeing 737-300) Ian worked on with the conversion to a cargo plane.




There's a plane, and some little ones - no I haven't the foggiest!



They go so fast you cannot take a decent photo!!

Our second day (Saturday the 20th September) in Cape Town was at the air show. The air show was about 4 kms from the hotel, so we ‘parked and walked’. We walked about 2 kms to the air show, then of course there was the air show itself to walk through. The air show was at Ysterplaat, and was (naturally) very long – the old runway, you see!

So of course we walked towards the main hangers that had mostly Russian missiles etc in them (yawn).

We encountered mud on the way – lots of mud. I stepped into a mud puddle – which I thought was mud, but it was mostly water, to have my shoes leak!! I had on ankle boots. We went back to the dry bit by walking down the road.

The aircraft were amazing – some ‘world firsts’ were shown, including two helicopters, an SA and a Russian one doing manoeuvres. My photos came out pretty badly.

Nicole met up with us, then met a friend. I walked the road back to the food stalls with Nicole, and on the way back hitched a ride with policemen.

We were there most of the day, and I realised I had got pretty wind burnt. Very pretty!! And let’s not mention how stiff I was from all the walking!

We had a few beers at the bar in the hotel, and then went to the mall to have supper. It was most delicious. Thanks to Nicole’s recommendation.

Cape Town - Victoria and Alfred Waterfront

The next few days I am going to post pictures of Cape Town, in some sort of order! Look forward to a ‘trip’ around the Cape! This days pictures are from the V&A Waterfront - it was pretty, but it wasn't as 'special' as I thought it would be. We did land up in a great little pub with non South African Breweries beers - it was really cosy. This was on Friday 19 th October - the weather was a bit nippy - so the pub was the best idea.
(Sorry about the underlining, I cannot remove it).




This seal remined me of Patch - in a slump, having a sleep!



A Marimba Band, they were playing Glen Miller's In the Mood - it sounded really good!



Clock Tower









Victoria Wharf

Two cute little fishing boats

HMS Liverpool, in Cape Town - that amused me. I came from England, to Cape Town and land up with an English ship in Africa. It actually looks like it stays here permanently - a bit like me!

I am going for an interview on Wednesday 1st October.
Update on that will follow on Wednesday – keep holding your thumbs for me!

Hello everyone!

We had a great time in Cape Town. And I saw whales for the first time! It was great spending time with Nicole. We stayed at a hotel directly next to the Canal Walk shopping mall – a brilliant location. The weather was a lot warmer than the weather service gave us – and on Monday I landed up buying myself a tee shirt as I was so warm. I will post some more photos later in the week, tomorrow possibly.

And since I have returned found Spyware on my computer at home – I have spent money and time trying to resolve this problem, and I am feeling that I am wasting my time!! Considering I have only used the 3g card for about one hour I am miffed!

Does anyone know how to permanently remove Antispyware2008 and System Antivirus 2008?

Quick update otherwise:

Family; well. Coralie has such bad morning sickness she admits to being very sorry for herself! Sean’s car was rear ended on Thursday last, he is not impressed! It looks like a write off to me, although is currently drivable.

Dog; well (missed us though)

My car; Sean had to change the brakes whilst we were away. That was unexpected.

Job front; nothing upcoming, it looks like I will be temping for a while.

Ian; fantastic!

I am afraid that I am totally disorientated since coming home. And I wish I was still on holiday! Yup, it was that good, even though the air show made me so stiff, it was so big and I must have walked at least ten kilometres. I have bad shin splints!! Maybe tomorrow I will be over the stiffness, yes it was that bad!!

Happy Birthday Nicole!

Today I leave for Cape Town, I am staying a long weekend there and flying back on Monday afternoon. Sean is dropping us at the airport on the way to work on Friday, and picking us up on Monday afternoon on his way home. Very handy!

It is Nicole’s Birthday today – Happy 23rd, my pal!! See you in a little while!


Tomorrow we are going to an air show – we have no idea where it is!

Sunday lunch in Hout Bay.

Monday, I don’t know!! Let’s see what happens!

my pumpkins? pumpkin party time?

Fantasy Land...

I get a phone call “What are you doing?”

“Oh, just lying on the couch, watching TV, eating dry cereal.”
“Would you like to pop in for an interview?”
“Well, you will be disturbing my cereal eating. Oh, okay.”

And of course it is a perfect job with great perks and a fab salary. And very limited hours….
Dream on….

bit of an update!

My days off have been quite exciting this last week.

Thursday morning early I went to the MTN shop to get a 3g card. I really cannot send my CV by running up and down the road to the shopping centre. I had to wait a day for the process to be completed.

Friday Ian and I went shopping for another table lamp for the lounge and whilst we were out there was a Tata car display. Ian looked it over and declared it absolute rubbish. The first thing I saw was the front wing does not fit properly on the chassis. Not a good sign, Ian picked up rust on a brand new car!!

Anyway after the shopping we went past my favourite sign of the moment:

We went for lunch and got home too late. I forgot washing on the line (bath mats, and a baby quilt of Coralie’s that I washed for her). I forgot the dog’s food and my eye drops, not to mention some dreadful cream the Dr has prescribed to clear up the weird patch on my nose – yup in the same place.

Saturday I picked up my 3g card. So I am ‘connected’ Thank heavens, but I will not be too active as I have to stay in my limits!

I went to a Quilting Show in Alberton – it was fantastic, Glenda and I went together and we had a great time. After a total sensory overload we had to leave it was too much at one time to take in! I was so good and went to the shops and only bought two pieces of fabric, both a baby print to make baby quilts with – that will be quicker than cross stitching a large picture!

Sunday Coralie came to visit and we had a lovely time together. She is so excited about the baby – and funnily enough her face has that ‘pregnant’ look already. Henk looks like he is really excited too. Which is great!

Apparently Coralie’s dad phoned her and upset her enough to make her cry, as he does not approve of her having a baby. For heaven’s sake, she is 27, and it is her life – why dampen everyone else’s excitement with his useless (and unhelpful) opinion – please remember that he is the guy who currently has a 2 year old, and he is 49!! Um, who is making a mistake here? I told her to put the phone down on him. But she won’t!

Anyway Sean is of the opinion that his dad is too old to be a father and too young to be a grandfather. And the rest – meanie!!

(can anyone give me a tip on how to get the photos in the right place)?

miss you, kiss you!

I have had to give back my 3 g connection. I am most sad about that and that means I will mostly out of contact with you all. I will pop into the internet café, but that will be sporadic – I am sorry, but as you can imagine it will be less of a hassle money wise than actually getting hooked up with my own 3g card right now.

Man, I am going to miss everyone so much!

See you soon
xxxx

A granny - me??

I am to be a granny!!

Coralie has let me know she is pregnant.

This is very exciting, a baby boom!

oop, maybe over and out!

It looks like I will be giving back my internet connection tomorrow. Please hold thumbs this is not so!

There is a possibility that I can keep it, providing I keep on the right side of Stuart! (Picture Dustin Hoffann, a bit blonder)!

New baby - not yet cooked though!

Here is a picture of Ian's grandson, he is due in December. Too sweet!

Mamma Mia!!

Well it is not all bad not working all the time. Yesterday I went to the movies and for the first time ever went on my own. The last movie I went to the cinema to see was ‘The Long Kiss Goodnight’ – so it has been a while!

I went to see Mamma Mia, firstly I love Abba music, but I don’t own any – does that put me in a different league? Secondly I love Meryl Streep, she is such a brilliant artist. And of course seeing the eye candy of Pierce Brosnan, does no harm at all.

The movie house was almost empty – me, in the front – 3 older people at the back and two others that came in afterwards.

I enjoyed the movie, and yes, I did sing a bit (I should have danced a bit)! If you see it, watch our during the ’Dancing Queen’ sequence – there is Benny Anderson playing the piano on a boat in the bay!

I did not know that the line up of actors was so fantastic; they were mostly famous faces. Christine Baranski (always fab), Julie Walters (always so funny).

If you want to see a musical comedy – this is the one to make to smile. I ended up having a conversation with the elderly threesome, who was in the cinema, and we all enjoyed it. The lady in particular said she had not been to the movies in ten years, and that she had had a really enjoyable time.


Whilst I was in the shops prior to going in to the movie I went into Clicks, it has just opened in the mall. I asked on of the personnel how long they had been opened, and they opened yesterday, so it was their first day open. So I said “Congratulations” and moved on. I bought a hand cream and a body exfoliator – both rather cheaply, and when I left I was presented wit a gift pack – lucky me! Picture of gift pack, it must be worth rather a lot!

BTW, I am using works 3G card to access the internet, so this may be a short-lived access.

me life carries on

Hi everyone, I have had a pretty eventful few days, but I have done some stitching, so it hasn’t been all rush.

Yesterday I went to visit a company, which is affiliated to ours in a tenuous manner – oh, okay, the Ceo’s girlfriends business, who needs an admin person to help out for a while. I traveled 53 kms to her, it took one and a half hours. I finally get there, having had no coffee yet, and having had no breakfast to be told that I am not needed as she has employed G as her receptionist / admin person and that she has meetings all day and that she will not even be there.

I had a cup of coffee, a wee break and left. Needless to say infuriated.

I had emailed her last week and she had not read her mail. Sigh.

I got home at eleven o’clock and continued to do some washing and mopping and vacuuming, as you would!

I am working only two days a week at this company until the end of September. There after, who knows?

So, my communication with you all will be sporadic to say the least. – I am not too happy about that!
I will be suffering from discomgoogolation very soon, no doubt!