November 2012

It was still raining; just our luck the weather came with us from Ireland.

We were 2 days into November before I realised Halloween had come and gone, then thought about everyone back in Ireland trick or treating and got a little homesick.

The good news:
I met with the junior principal at Scottsville School and they put Liam into Grade 2. We found an entire uniform in the charity box and I just had to give a donation. We found everything, 2 uniforms, jumper, school hat, tracksuit, PE clothes, swimming costume & swimming cap. Mad dash home as he could start the next day so I had to get the majority washed and dried with no sun 😦 Thank goodness for tumble driers. The school fees for the next 6 weeks were 2337.50 really reasonable considering they supplied all his books all I had to send was his stationary.

He was a little shy when he met the class but did eventually get excited. The nice thing about school in South Africa is the after school activities. I have to say I did miss that in Ireland, the lack of sports after school always amazed Gus & I.
So school was from 7:30 to 12:30 daily but Mon to Thurs they stayed till 2:00pm to do sports. Mon he played tennis, Tues & Thurs he did cricket & Wed was ball skills. All the equipment was provided so I didn’t need to go and buy a tennis racquet and cricket bat. Plus they had swimming lessons twice a week.

The bad news:
Ok more drama, if nothing else this blog will give great advice on how NOT to move to Australia.

2 November and Connor and I arrive at the doctors for our medicals having already had our chest x-rays and bloods done on the 29^th October. Apparently we were not on the system, the system being the e-health portal that is used as part of the electronic visa process. Odd since Gus had already had his medicals and everything was grand; there was no mention of not being on the system to him.

Then I find out that they had processed the x-ray’s manually not electronically argh!!! I definitely told the women at the desk on Monday that it was being done electronically but they neglected to tell the radiographer so all the documents including the form 160 which I completed with the words electronic visa had been sent to the doctors rooms manually.

I emailed Gus asking him if Sarah knew we were in South Africa and not in Ireland with him. Factious I know but the 6-8 weeks were stretching further and further ahead. (If you haven’t read the first post, this was how long the VISA process was supposed to take)

Eventually after much backwards and forwards it turns out that because Gus was in Ireland and we were in South Africa we couldn’t both have our medicals done electronically. Really!! She couldn’t have mentioned this before I stepped on the plane.

So far:
Chest X-rays R445.00 x 2 each
Connor’s blood test = R153.70
My blood tests = R327.40 (no idea why it was more I think they tested for aids as well)
Medicals R700.00 each
Petrol wasted and stress caused – cost not calculated

But wait there’s more because the doctor came back and said they needed an updated review on Connor’s heart. Thankfully the heart surgeon that performed the operation when he was 4 years old was still around and still in the same place. Score! Something finally went our way.

8^th November a trip down to Durban to see the heart surgeon at a cost of R3300.00. Good news though as the patch they had given Connor the week of his 4^th birthday was still in perfect shape and no further operation was needed. Yes I know this may change in the future but until this point we had lived under the notion that when he stopped growing they were going to replace the portion of his aorta that is too narrow. So comforting to know there is a chance that this may never be required.

22^nd November a 3^rd journey to Westville to the doctors to now pay for the medicals, x-rays and blood tests to be sent to Australia manually via courier, cost R270.00

Yes bit of a gap between the 8^th and the 22^nd, it took that long to get the heart surgeon to write up the report and give it to his secretary to fax it through to the doctors. A lot of phone calls later and one very annoyed Shelley.

By this stage I am losing all hope of ever being reunited as a family and slowly returning to that deep abyss called depression.

Before you assume I am being melodramatic I wasn’t, the above was not the only drama’s going on, read on for more disheartening info….. you have been warned!

I was in pain, all across the right side of my jawline. Mind numbing, excruciating pain and the doctor had no idea what was causing it he ruled out anything dental by banging on my teeth with a metal stick and he ruled out anything neurological by performing a few tests. So I was living on pain killers. Joy! I also had instructions to return if the pain did not subside with the pain killers because then I would have to undergo an MRI. I didn’t rush back, there was no way in hell I was going to be able to pay for an MRI without medical aid and not being residents of SA, just being out on a holiday, it wasn’t something we had. I suppose I could have gone on the public waiting list but I fear I may still have been on that list if I had.

I also had a horrific experience. A gentleman that my dad knew from Wanders club collapsed, they found him because he did not turn up for his usual Tuesday game of bowls. He was lying under his dining room table, unconscious; they have no idea how long he had been there for. He did not recover, he was 94, but that was not the worst of it. He had a wife and she had dementia, my dad was going round to the house to check on her and to take her food, he had to lock her in the house for fear she would wander off because of the dementia, at this stage the husband was just unconscious in hospital. Anyway it all came to a head. My dad had asked me on Thursday night if I would take him in the morning to check on a friend’s wife. When we got to the house my dad asked if I wanted to come in. I almost said no but I didn’t and so we unlocked the front door. OH MY WORD!! The smell of urine greeted us at the door, my dad went in first and found her sitting on the floor in the passage, there was blood on the carpet and a huge gash on her leg. She tried to brush it off as “Sun burn” but it was clear she had fallen. The agony of watching her bum shuffle to her room because she would not let us help her up, cannot be properly described. She was going to use the bed to pull herself up, only she had no strength. The women looked like an Auschwitz victim, she was so skinny she was skin and bone, I now have a firm visual of what that expression means, it is not good. Her toenails were so long they were curling in on themselves, it was horrific to see someone in that state in this day and age. Realising she couldn’t do it she then bum shuffled back to us. Throughout this process she was telling us about when she brought the bed and how much it had cost, in between asking us where Pat was and us having to keep telling her he was in the hospital. Eventually she conceded to my dad’s pleas of “Please just let me help you up” We sat her at the dining table and my dad gave her the food he had brought for her, she tried to tell us Pat would be back soon and again we told her that he was in hospital. My dad tried calling a male nurse he knew but there was no answer so we left her and headed back to my folks place to get his address book and make phone calls to see if we could get anyone out there to bandage the cut. I had such a bad feeling about leaving her on the chair. After a number of phone calls we got no one so we headed back armed with a bandage and ointment. I was nervous because I didn’t know how she was going to react. If lifting her onto a chair had been such a problem, how was I going to clean her leg and apply a bandage? Well when we got back she was asleep so I told my dad we should leave as I was scared that if we woke her we would give her such a fright that she would have a heart attack, so we left, it was the worst moment of my life as I still had such a feeling of dread about leaving her sitting there asleep on the chair but I did not know what else to do and worse I had to head off to Westville for our medicals. The frustration; and then I remembered that Aunty Patti would be finishing work in just over an hour, maybe she would be able to go back with my dad and clean and bandage her, so I rang her and explained what had happened and thankfully she agreed to go.

I am not sure if she did fall off the chair but when Patti got there later with my dad they found her lying on the kitchen floor by the back door, she had a fractured hip, so was rushed off to Northdale hospital. Patti rang me later and said she was horribly dehydrated and that if they had not gone she would have been dead by the morning. So freaking awful!!! She hadn’t even touched the food my father had brought her 😦

Chatting to my mum-in.law she said there was no social services, well not like we have in Ireland so I asked Patti to find out if it was possible to force them into care, I know that sounds horrid but Pat did not want to sell his house and clearly he was incapable of looking after his wife so it was that or they were going to die within a few weeks of returning to that house. Anyway as it turned out Pat never woke up and so she was sent to 7^th Heaven and old age home. I have to admit I was very angry at the old man and the way the world is with neighbours not caring about one another. I was having a very judgmental moment which did not get any better when I watched what my father went through to try and find family members. I helped him pack up as much of the house as we could in case it got broken into, it wouldn’t take long for anyone to notice that it was empty. It was very sad, it seemed they had no children and it looked like no one really cared about them. Worst nightmare, dying alone.
My dad did eventually locate family, they were in no major rush to do anything about the house or the contents my father was storing for them although they were unkind enough to organise a memorial service for Pat and not let a single one of his friends know about it. Humans huh, it takes all kinds to make the world go round.

On a more positive note we were back attending church. My MIL the subtle evangelist lol don’t get me wrong I didn’t mind I had been trying to get us all to go to church as a family for years but it was an upward struggle because Gus did NOT want to go to church so I had no help getting everyone ready on time on a Saturday morning and I had given up. My MIL said I should just take the children and leave Gus behind. Up till then I didn’t see the point I wanted us to go as a family, stupid I know I don’t claim to have a logical thought process. Anyway it started by her asking me to accompany her to Howick church, she didn’t want to drive all that way alone and Ciara asked if she could come along. I have no idea what was communicated between Liam and Ciara during the week or if Nan said anything to them but the following week Liam asked if he could go to Sabbath school to see what it was like but not church, he didn’t want to have go to church. Fine I said we could go to Sabbath school only, I didn’t mind I didn’t really want to have the stress of trying to keep him quiet for an hour in church. So I took a story book about Elijah for us to read after Sabbath school while we waited for Nan to finish with church. They both loved Sabbath school and then we found a place under a tree to read the story of Elijah. My MIL asked if we were sure we didn’t want to come in to church, I said we were fine and so she went, not one to push (a technique I had yet to learn) and we settled down to read, I offered up a silent prayer to God asking him what I should do. A few pages in Liam asked if we could go into the church, sure I said and that was that 🙂 They liked it, I explained to both of them that if we started going to church in South Africa we were going to keep going even when we got to Australia, no problem. Great! Now I just had to get Connor and Gus to church. Well eventually after a few weeks of Connor still not offering to join us I played the mom card. You will come with because I am your parent and I said so. Moan, moan, and moan except that after the first morning he never moaned again. 3 down 1 to go.

I also managed to find a tennis club opposite Greys hospital and so went along on a Wednesday morning, it was great fun, very informal, I just had to pay R10 each time I went. When you arrived you put your name in 1 column on the board, once there were 4 names you went out to play a set. After which you came back in, the winners wrote their names in 1 column and the losers wrote their names in another column, again as soon as there were 4 names (that is 4 winners and 4 losers) you went out to play. Playing on hard courts took some getting used to but it was fun and the people were lovely. I started going down on a Monday afternoon as well. Well as often as the wretched weather would let me.

Plus I was back dancing, going to Zumba on a Tuesday night and doing a senior ballet class on a Thursday afternoon. So in parts life was good if only my husband was in SA, but he wasn’t he had to work although we did have a visit to look forward to in December 🙂

And those were the most memorable moments of November 2012. A few other brief memories of our time back in South Africa so far:

The drivers had got worse, oh my word, they could do with some of the traffic accident adverts they showed on Irish TV.

They had let the gorgeous old buildings deteriorate made me want to cry. We had such lovely Victorian buildings in Pmb, it’s what we were famous for but the state of them 😦 and the stupid thing is now the municipality are trying to fix them up but this obviously costs more than if they had just maintained them in the first place. Oh well I suppose at least they are finally trying to fix them up.

The municipality should be shot, people had to mow the grass verges outside their houses and a few kindly people were even doing the traffic circles, made me wonder what they were paying rates and taxes for.

The litter was truly amazing!!

I couldn’t find a single park to take the kids to not that the weather lent itself much to going to parks but there was the odd non rainy day where we might have gone to a park had there been one to go to.

October 2012

Probably not the best idea to wait this long to start blogging about our move to Australia but I will try remember as much as possible.

Saturday 29th September 2012
Our first official day in South Africa, and the day I had to keep pestering my poor sister-in-law all the way in Cape Town.
We were meeting my mom at the Midlands Bee market that was organised by Diane one of the ladies she works with. Mad panic as we had woken up later than expected. Rang mother to say instead of coming to her house we would meet her at the market. Lesley had very kindly left us her “Donkey” to use, so in mad panic mode I headed off to Pietermaritzburg from Howick and pulled into the petrol station at the bottom of Hesketh Drive to put in Diesel. Turned off the car as you do and then spent what felt like an age trying to find out how to open the petrol tank, no luck. So first phone call to poor Lesley but I cannot reach her, so I decide well I’ll just move the car until I can find out where the lever is to open the tank, only now I cannot start the car. Argh!  I break into a sweat, I hate being the center of attraction unless I’m on stage in a costume, then I’m grand, but stuck in a petrol station holding up cars, not so much. Frantic phone call to mother who is en route to market with Patty, the lovely Patty turns her car around to come and save her friends lunatic daughter. More frantic phone calls to Lesley and Connor, eventually I get Connor who puts me on to Lesley and I get to ask the dumbest question on earth. Where is the petrol lever? (Roundabout now she’s probably wondering if it was such a great idea to have this loon look after her house and animals). All is good we get the tank open, but still cannot get car started. The attendant was so nice; I think she could see the blind panic in my eyes. Much praying happened, and as my mother and Patty drove into the petrol station I manage to get the car started.

So off we go to the market, Ciara was ecstatic, Mickey and Minnie mouse were there, plus Aunty Patti was spoiling them with rides on the swings, sweets, etc. It was a great day and I even bumped in to one of my high school buddies Amanda. I did have some lovely photo’s of the kids at the market but sadly they went along with my pc, a later post and serves me right for not uploading them to fb or sending them to Gus.

The time comes to return to our home for the next week, I want to leave before its dark so I don’t get lost. I have no idea why my parents are in the car with me but they are, not that they were any help at all mind you. Remember back to my blind panic leaving of the house in the morning, well I didn’t pay much attention to the way I was travelling, now I need to get back to the house. All I can remember is Jerome telling me the night before that I have to take the Merrivale South exit, yes yes it was actually Howick South, don’t jump ahead of the story. So we are travelling up the N3 and I am looking for the exit. We go past the first Howick off ramp and I say to the folks: Is there a Merrivale off ramp? Silence! Hello you live here, is there a Merrivale off ramp I say again as we go past the second Howick off ramp. Neither of them are sure, mmm should have just left them at home for all the good they were lol We then go past the third Howick off ramp at which point I am fairly sure I have gone wrong but now we have to go all the way to Lions River before we can turn around. Not a problem I wanted to see the old country side anyway as I glance at the sky and wonder how long till sunset. Finally back on track I’ve now taken the correct Howick exit, Howick South and things are sort of looking familiar but not so much. We drive around the area looking for the road my SIL lives in, all the while my mum telling me she’s sure a friend of hers / was it my god mother, I can’t remember lived in the same road years ago and she is sure it is near where we are. Well after annoying poor Lesley again for directions because I couldn’t get Kelly to answer her phone (not that this is unusual, we all wonder why she has one lol) it turns out we had managed to drive past the road a number of times without noticing, hangs head in shame. The poor dogs ended up being fed an hour later than usual but they were super happy to see us 🙂
Then we went back to the folks place had some supper, left them behind this time, they were useless at directions anyway 🙂 and headed home for the night.

Sunday 30th September 2012
We then headed back in to Pmb to the Botanical gardens for the Deeper Difference concert Jacyn and Sabello were running. Got to see the kids from Chistlehurst dance for the first time and had a little driz. Had a great day with family and friends and I was delighted at how well my 2 played with Kaelin and Peyton after only just meeting them. Well ok Liam had met Kaelin back when he was much younger but I doubt he remembered that, it had been 5 years since we were last in South Africa.
We spent most of the week up in Howick, it was just so hot in Pmb and it was much cooler up the hill, plus I was shattered and needed to veg and recharge the batteries and I was running out of cash. Disaster had struck again. The money Gus had sent us did not arrive, he rang Nedbank to find out where the money was only to find his bank account in South Africa had been closed, rather annoying considering he had been talking to Nedbank 2 days previous and they never mentioned the account was closed. Better still it would take 15 days before he got the money back in his Irish account so he could resend it to a different bank account in South Africa. Really!! Thank the Lord for family is all I can say.

Luckily the kids were having a ball playing outside in the sun, there was a trailer in the garden and they turned it into their pirate ship. Needless to say they were not so happy with me and my factor 50 but I was not taking any chances. It really was great seeing them out all day not asking to watch TV coming in covered in sand that the bath water was brown when they got out. Here’s a cute story hope it doesn’t offend, I go outside to find my 2 sitting on the ground covering themselves in sand. What are you doing I ask? Their reply, we’re trying to turn our skin brown, they wanted to look like the African people J ok they did call them brown people which led into a conversation of why that was not appropriate and more because then I was answering the question why are there more of them here than in Ireland, etc.
The kids were so busy using their imagination they hadn’t explored the garden much so it was a couple days before we found the “Orchard” and so we raided the trees and had some delicious fruit. There were a few other minor drama’s like me slicing my finger while peeling potatoes and not a plaster in sight. Liam eventually saved the day by finding some electrical tape, my father appreciated that lol Liam almost killing Ciara; I still don’t know how she fell off “the Pirate Ship” and probably will never find out, hangs head in defeat. Running out of gas for the stove, I did refill a gas canister but it was the wrong type doh! Thankfully I can cook in a microwave, must say I did have a good giggle at my children, my SIL’s family are vegetarian, the kids never even noticed their spag bol was different I even got away with sausage and mash. Just shows there is nothing wrong with the taste of Fry’s it’s all in the mind 🙂

Then Lesley and crew returned from Cape town, including our eldest. His siblings were delighted, they had missed him, needless to say it did not last long lol

Sunday 14th we had another birthday party for Ciara (she’d already had 2 in Ireland, spoilt much) but this time was with family. All the cousins, my mom & dad, Aunty Pat, Uncle Win and Aunty Moira, Shannon, Mark and their boys. Thankfully I had brought her presents before leaving Ireland so being cash strapped was not too much of a drama and Jacyn (niece), my SIL’s Kelly, Lesley & Irene (& their spouses of course) kindly paid to get her a princess bouncy castle. 
She was absolutely delighted with it, however embarrassingly spent hardly anytime on it, the big boys were bouncing too hard lol. Typical but it was alright as the cousins who range from 10 to 18 years, Kaelin and Peyton had a ball on it, did I mention the majority were boys J and Ciara and Ben played in the sandpit, so everyone won in the end. Aunty Moira made her a beautiful cake. 
and everyone helped with party food and Jay & Rog provided the venue as well. Like I said thank God for family. Plus the weather played with and so we had a lovely sunny afternoon with a barbeque and milk tart for desert (my favourite).
Yes that would be Aunty Patty hiding under her cardigan 🙂

Not much else happened in October that I can recall, other than it rained and rained and rained and I had 2 very grumpy children demanding to know where the sunshine I had promised them had gone. We were now living with my mom-in-law, Connor & Ciara were going to school. Connor was at Chistlehurst (Kelly & Lesley’s school), Ciara was going to Irene’s crèche Puddle jumpers and loving it and I was home schooling Liam, or trying too. Home schooling is not for the faint hearted and so I started looking for schools to put him into till the end of the year.

I tried 3 schools for Liam, schools that were on the school route of the other 2, and they all said they were too full, I didn’t understand that as it was only 1 extra body for less than 3 months but anyway. So I tried Scottsville school, they wanted forms filled in, certified copies of everything and an ID photo of Liam so I hoped that meant they were taking him and of course they did. Phew!

Oh yes and on the 22nd October 2012 Gus got an email telling us to go for our medicals, his was easy peasy all done in 1 day ours for whatever reason we had to go for the chest xrays then wait 3 days before we could go to the doctor for the medical. Of course both of these were either in Westville or Durban and of course there was a wait. Sure why wouldn’t there be a wait!

Run for the Hills – 20th October 2013

On the 20th October 2013 we offered to volunteer for our church who were helping out at the “Run for the hills” a fun run in aid of Reach for the Rainbow. I was rather delighted that Connor signed up to help on his own bat, maybe I didn’t do such a bad job with that child after all 🙂

We had to meet at 7:30am, a minor feat after the previous days escapades but more of that in another post. Connor had to meet at Heritage park and myself, Gus & the kids at Old Castle Hill Rd. We got a tad lost finding the correct entrance to the Heritage park but eventually delivered Connor into the capable hands of Adrian and Lyndelle. Then we headed to our spot where we met Paul, Pastor Martin his wife Drene and their son DJ. All we had to do was show the runners where to go, simple. OK the men did have to move a few barriers under the glaring eye of the North West Rail link security but they were in the way of the runners. There was a brief panic when we thought they would have to run on the tiny narrow footpath but then the organiser came down and said she had managed to get them to stop the buses for 20 minutes so we could allow the runners to use half the road. Happy days.

We were amazed at how young some of the runners who came through early were, WOW! We were stationed at an intersection and I have to give credit to the poor police guys, they did an amazing job trying to keep cars going through in between runners. There was a hilarious incident when I little old lady berated them because she was tired of waiting in the traffic, she needed to get to the hospital to collect her daughter. At this stage there were quite a few runners coming through so they couldn’t let the cars go. I mean did she want to run over them??? Beside it wasn’t like she was in a rush to get her daughter to the hospital, she was collecting her, not exactly an emergency. Listening to all the cars horns going, unbelievable how selfish people can be. There had been signs up for weeks warning of road closures due to the race and I don’t mean little signs on street poles I mean big flashing electrical signs that went day and night. I guess the usual human mentality – yes yes I know the rules but it doesn’t pertain to me does it? – was well in existence on that street. Anyway the cops were great, so polite, I can tell you if it had been up to me, well let’s just say Gus would have had to block the kids ears 🙂

Once the runners were through we headed back to the start for breakfast thanks to Sanitarium and to have a look at the market that had been organised and to wait for Connor to finish at his post. Since we had finished earlier than expected Gus ran away so he could get to his usual Sunday morning tennis, but not before I got a photo of him looking pretty in pink 🙂

The kids were enthralled there was a petting zoo, they were in there for ages and yes I did the obligatory hand out all my change so they could feed the animals, well try feed the animals while almost being attacked, didn’t faze them at all lol.

Then Ken, one of our friends from church mentioned that they had free kids rides and there went the rest of my morning. Thanks Ken! They did have a great time though and since I was getting free lunch as well for being a helper I didn’t mind too much sticking around. Ken even got the big guy to stick his head through on the bouncy castle and then he too deserted me and caught the bus home.

Liam even survived being dragged off by his sister to go and watch the dancing and singing. They were very good, their timing was impeccable. Ciara was being very cure telling Liam to look there were even boys dancing, hint hint hint. I have that child well trained 🙂

Brilliant because that meant I could nip over to the NAB tent and get the lovely Lisa to sort out our car insurance so we could go and collect our car later. Such dedication working on a Sunday 🙂 sometimes it does pay to be friends with a bank manager.

After that we went over to the pony rides

I finally got the children to leave at about 1pm. A very LONG morning but very well organised and I was delighted to read later in the week that they raised over $26,000 for children with disabilities.

and so it begins

We (myself and the 2 little ones) left the beautiful country of Ireland at the end of September 2012 bound for South Africa, Pietermaritzburg to be precise, my hometown. I couldn’t wait to see family and friends and have them meet our youngest addition Ciara. My husband assured me it would only be about 8 weeks and then we’d all be together again in Australia.

Ha, WRONG!!

Let’s just say that almost everything that could go wrong did go wrong.

First problem – we missed out connecting flight to Durban. Chaos! There I was in JHB airport trying to get a 4 year old, an 8 year old and 2 trolleys carrying 11 pieces of luggage from one terminal to the next. Needless to say I didn’t make it, and why do they have to make those stupid trolleys that you cannot push unless you are holding the bar down. Picture this: 2 kids trying desperately to have the  strength to hold the bar down and push the trolley forward all the while failing miserably. so I played tag trolley, I would push one trolley a little way forward, leaving Liam to guard it and our bags while I went back to get the other trolley and Ciara. It was so much fun NOT. I nearly threw my arms around the lovely gentleman standing outside the lifts from terminal A to terminal B when he asked if I needed help. Yes I realise it is what he is employed to do but I have never been so grateful for help.

However we still didn’t make it we missed the check-in closing by 5 minutes, 5 minutes! So there we were stranded with only euro’s in my purse and a very unhelpful check-in lady. Lucky for her I am against violence.
We went over to the ticket desk, but they wanted a small fortune for tickets on a new flight, panic I only had a couple hundred euro on me and no credit card. Gus was transferring money from Ireland to his SA bank account so we assumed I would not need much more for the weekend. You know my Std 8 maths teacher once told us, never assume it makes an ASS out of U and ME. Wish I’d remembered that sooner.
Cue lots of frantic phone calls. 1 to my mother to tell her we wouldn’t be in Durban when she expected so not to rush to collect us, 2 to Gus to ask him what I should do, 3, 4, 5….. trying to figure out the correct number for the travel agency so I could get them to book us on the next flight. Note to self always make a note of the travel agents after hours number before stepping on a plane. Just in case.
Most annoyingly no one could call me, whatever was happening with my cell (mobile) phone I could call out but not receive calls so I was playing message tag with Gus, my mom and the travel agent all while trying to stop 2 children from destroying terminal B. Let’s just say I was not in a good mood so when we finally got a new flight and returned to the check-in desk and the same unhelpful lady, I was less than impressed when she tried to charge me for excess baggage. Say what! I just traveled from Ireland to Abu Dhabi to Johannesburg and not once did anyone mention excess baggage. Apparently there had been some piece agreement struck recently. The check-in Lady was not amused when I asked what war we had waged that we needed a new peace agreement, clearly she did not get my sarcasm. Thankfully the lady from the ticket counter noticed my face turning peuce and came to my rescue. We did not have to abide by the piece agreement as we had booked our original flights before it came into affect. Phew!

So we’re finally on the plane bound for Durban, just a nice quiet uneventful 1 hour flight, or so I wished. Nope no luck, Ciara decided now was a good time to vomit and unfortunately I was not quick enough with the vomit bag. It was ok I didn’t like her t-shirt anyway, sigh. Since she had already spilt juice all over her clothes on the previous flight she was in the spare clothes I had brought along so I had to stick her in Liam’s spare t-shirt. Another note to self, pack more spare clothes in carry on luggage.
and then we were off the plane, another round of trolley tag until we saw my mum at the arrivals 🙂 then there was the panic of would we fit everything into Christine’s car, amazingly we did. Needless to say I promptly fell asleep on the hour long drive to Pietermaritzburg.
That was pretty uneventful till we were almost at my mothers house and their laughter woke me up. We had stopped at traffic lights next to a young lady in a truck having a driving lesson, only her driving instructor was fast asleep next to her. She just shoulder shrugged and grinned at my mom – only in Africa.
Finally we were at the house, kids were still past out so put them on the spare bed and I went for a lovely luxurious long soak in the bath.
We had dinner at Jacyn and Rogers house, where I promptly fell asleep on them and then we were taken to Lesley and Eugene’s house where we were house sitting until Lesley and the kids got back from visiting Eugene in Cape Town. Connor was also with them in cape Town in case you’re wondering why he had not been mentioned at all 🙂 As most would know he had been evicted at the end of August lol The summer holidays had ended in Ireland and we’d decided that instead of him sitting home for even longer doing nothing he could attend Kelly & Lesley’s school Chistlehurst Academics and Arts, so we sent him off to Pietermaritzburg on his own and Lesley very kindly added him to her brood. Best thing we ever did but more on that and further adventures of the Phipps clan another time. Now I must sign out and go play with the lovely Ciara, it’s bubbles time 🙂