19th June
Today we did provisioning on the boat. It sounds like
something crazy and it really is a whole day event.
We left home early this morning and went into town with a
list about as long as you can imagine. We headed for Pick ‘n Pay first where I
swopped my points for cash so we did not have to pay for some of our large
list…what a relief.
We did out shop there, then headed off to Oxford. Oxford is
a great grocery store here in the Bluff where the food is cheaper than anywhere
else. We took 2 more trolleys and loaded them up with supplies. Then we stopped
at a liquor store for a bottle of Brandy for Barry and the wholesale cigarette
shop.
Once we got back to the yacht club is was already after 12
but I had to first strip the cardboard boxes from the groceries so we spend a
good 15 minutes removing the cardboard wrapping before we did the 22 trips from
the car to the dinghy, then the 5 minute row across the water before offloading
from the dinghy to the boat. Once all the groceries were in the cockpit of the
boat I start the unloading process.
First I started with the frozen goods, making sure to keep
them in the draw order I have arranged, then the fridge items. Next was the
long life milk to under the seating area, the Cokes to under the counter and
the cereals and tinned food to the cupboards in the starboard hull. Then the
fun began. I opened the pastas and placed them in the airtight containers, next
the sugar, rice, four etc was decanted into their various air tight storage
containers. Keep in mind the containers only take between and 1 and 2kg each so
it tends to be more than 1 container per packet of dry ingredient.
Once we had completed the task we threw away all the
packaging and I got down to making lunch, some quick hotdogs as I was
definitely not up to cooking a big meal!
The boys headed up to watch their TV program a little while
ago and I have started working online a few minutes ago.
Provisioning day is always a long one!
22nd June
On Thursday we headed back to Toti to see Barry’s parents
before they went home on Friday. We spent the day at the Thirsty Whale then
went back to their apartment where we all had a bath, a luxury we take
advantage of whenever we can, before heading home after sunset to get Rauen
back in time for his chess tournament.
Yesterday we didn’t do much, just work a little on the
computer as pushed to get further with the school curriculum before Keagan
arrives tomorrow.
Today the weather has turned and we have overcast skies and
howling winds…typical since we ran the motor last night to charge the batteries
and now without sunshine we have drain them today!
Tomorrow we are picking Keagan up at the bus stop…we are all
very excited, we haven’t seen him in ages!
29th June
Keagan arrived a few days ago, we fetched him from Durban
Bus station. The station is almost a mini airport, with waiting areas for each
coach liner and scales to weigh baggage. We had just arrived when his bus
turned into the terminal, which was great as we ended up not paying the fortune
they were asking for parking.
We headed back to the boat and chatted excitedly catching up
on all the news.
On Monday Rauen and I did some school in the morning while
Barry and Keagan went off to the bottle store and beach, Barry’s attempt at
suntan sales was pointless as the beach was almost deserted. While they were on
the beach I got a call back for a job interview.
We had a drink on Monday evening but were up early on
Tuesday morning as I had an interview.
On Tuesday morning we headed over the Medicross clinic for
Kyle. He has been having trouble with his feet and we finally got an
appointment with the podiatrist there. He checked his feet and discovered he
has a very low arch and has too much roll in his ankle joints. He needs special
insoles so the doctor took a cast of his feet and now we have wait 2 weeks for
this new shoes…almost like Forest Gump I guess.
We headed straight from there to the interview in Durban
North. After the interview Barry decided to stop at “Some like it hot” his
favourite Bunny Chow stop. We headed back to the boat and got home after dark.
We had a few drinks and slept a bit late so ended up staying on board on
Wednesday, the weather slowly deteriorated so we ended up playing Rummy on
Wednesday evening…Barry won by more than 200 points as usual.
Thursday morning was wet and windy and we spent most it of
on the boat. We ended up reading Barry’s novel to Keagan. We were half way
through when it was time to head to land in the driving rain to take Rauen to
the chess tournament.
I ended up losing my temper with an Indian guy who was very
drunk, he came to the boat uninvited and completely drunk with boys. They go up
to land before the chess so Rauen can shower and charge his phone, this guy
came back with them, he got off the dinghy and onto the boat and instructed me
to pour him a brandy. I obviously refused and immediately packed up and we all
headed back to shore. Our uninvited drunk guest then proceeded to trip in the
dinghy and damage our hosepipe fitting, at this point was temper was already
simmering and I cursed out loud, only to be reprimand by the drunk unwanted
guest saying I am rude and should not use vulgar language. Well that had me, I
could hold my tongue no longer and explained in no uncertain terms that he is
rude, drunk and useless. He is to stay away from my children and not intimidate
them and never to ever speak to me again.
I then headed off to the car to get to chess. We got back,
had a shower and waiting the few hours to go fetch Rauen again. While waiting for
Rauen the weather deteriorated further and we ended up rowing back against the
howling wind in pouring rain on a dinghy almost filled with water. We got back
wet and cold so decided to have coffee, I continued reading and we drank more
coffee and ended up completing the novel and only going to bed at 4am.
On Friday morning we had an appointment with a graphic
designer, again in Durban North, La Lucia.
The effect of the Supermoon on the harbour!
We headed off to the coffee shop for
the meet, then spent an hour playing in the park across from the mall, they had
some really artistic swing design and monkey bars. Whilst playing we decided to
head over to the Durban Boat Show, Friday would be less hectic than Saturday
and we wanted to see anyway.
The boat show itself was a little disappointing, not much to
see, but the boys enjoyed the hot bodies of the Honda promotion girls and we
spotted a few boat friends, Norman, Chrisie and Ully and Vanessa all from
Richards Bay, so was pleasant to meet up with old friends we haven’t seen in
ages anyway.
This morning we headed to town for Keagan, as a rule we
NEVER EVER go to town on a Saturday, let alone the Saturday at the end of the
month and I was reminded why. Had Keagan not needed cigarettes we would not
have gone today either.
You may ask why we never head out on a Saturday, well, the
traffic is maddening, you use more fuel looking for a parking than you would
driving there and back on a weekday, you end up parking 5km away, then spend
hours standing in queues to spend your own money, why would anyone ever do
that? Nope, I love heading off to town on a weekday. Even if I end up working,
Barry will need to shop as I have no intention of queuing to spend money!
