Catch up.

So I am behind about 2.5 days now on the blog. Perhaps it is time to get behind the screen and have the fingers flit over the keyboard. We are up to Tuesday morning and a morning would not start quite right without a cup of coffee and a quiet chat about what our vague goals for the day would be. Subject to change.

It was time for the yoga teacher to come so I entertained her on the yoga mat with my usual lack of suppleness and inability to perform some of the poses that she required of my body. Somehow she got a bit caught out by her evil twin sister, the Pilates teacher. I never knew that my yoga teacher had a spilt personality. 2 for the price of 1!

After the yoga/pilates lesson we got all dressed up for our hike. We were going to the wreck to stimulated the blood flow some more and burn off a few more calories. We set out in the misty morning and walked along the beach and although it was wet, it was hard going as the sand was too soft underfoot. Hard walking, but step by step we gained on our goal.

At the wreck we once again came across the supervisor who told us that it was too misty for the helicopter to fly at that time and his troop of scrougers were picking up pieces of debris and things that had washed up onto the rocks. Perhaps later in the day the sun would evaporate the mist and the helicopter could continue to airlift chunks of the wreck back to the airfield to be disposed of.  We could see a marked amount of work had already been done this last week as the large chunk of the boat that had been ripped off and carried about 50 meters away from the wreck was now gone. Supervisor suspected that they had bit to go on the remaining hull etc and then apparently they are going to blow the wreck to smithereens. Word has it that they do not have enough expolsives on site and are waiting for more to arrive from Johannesburg. I am guessing that they are going to get explosives from the gold mines or at least companies that supply to the mines.

Our journey home was a lot easier than we had thought and we made it home by about 11h30. Mom had proposed last night to leave her place at 10am, so our timing should be just about right. When we got to Jackpot Mom had not yet arrived and I checked my whatsapp. She had left about an hour later than planned. Time for that shower.

Mom arrived and bless her little soul. We were subjected to another 4 trips to her car to collect her things and the stuff that she had bought even though I had told her not to bring anything in the way of groceries. My Mom will not learn! It is frustrating as she thinks that she is doing a good thing, but her list of goodies entails high sugar items that we just do not eat! End of the day we waste and that I find is a waste!

We showed Mom to the bunker and  got her settled in. Next order of business was shopping for a few groceries. Before we went to the Spar we went to a latish lunch at the Rambling Rose. We have never been disappointed with Craig and his staff and service and food. This man has his heart in the hospitality and oozes it. Lunch and shopping and we were done with the chore of the day. I went to bed with Ingrid for the afternooner and wonder upon wonder she slept like a little baby. She usuallly does not do the sleeping part, but does like to have a rest in the afternoon.

Wakey, wakey and I felt that it was time for a session on the Malibu. I left Ingrid and Mom at home to do woman things and I got Dusty dressed in her headbands and tied the Mailibu board to the soft top roof racks and left for the beach. Wetsuit on as the water yesterday had been My FOK freezing.

The waves were not large and I had a great time cathing a few waves and sitting bobbing beyond the backline with quite a few surfers as it is still school holidays and the youth have nothing to do but catch a wave. I am sure that the play stations and barbie dolls are waiting at home for when they return from their surf. Yes, there are quite a few girl surfers. Surfing etiquette is an age old tradition. There are rules as to whos turn it is to catch a wave and I like it as it is a from of respect that surfers grant eachother. We are all out on the ocean to have a good time and it is nice to feel that everyone wants everyone else to have a good session. Some waves that look tempting to take are passed up as you do not have priority and the person with priority can decide to let the wave pass, or go for it. If he decides to pass it is usually communicated either by himeself or by the other surfeer asking if they can take the wave instead. I like that... give and take. RESPECT!

I wish that on land people would be more like this,. Less egotistical that is. In Holland it is generally accepted that people will take "priority" in some or other situataion even if it is not in their best interest at the time. I have priority and I will flex my muscle and show you all. How sad! South Africans oftentimes still have the old values and will allow someone else to do something or other and sit back and wait until they are next. Not all Dutch people are like this, but the majority are. Not bashing anyone, but there is a glaring difference between the average South African and the average Dutch person.

No beer after the session for me and after my shower I got down to cooking the evening meal for Mom and I. Steak and vegetables with mushrooms. Ingrid had her eyes on a pizza and the oven baked it for her. Full and happy after a wonderful  and full day I thought that this could probably had been another remarkable day in Africa!

Later it was time for bed. Good night wonderful day!

04h00. Bam, Bam, Bam, Bam. 4 shots echoed in the African sky! I generally tend to sleep lightly and I was now awake. 2 houses down there was an attempted break in and apparently the owner had let off a few warning shot. From the safety of behind the curtain (LOL), I walked around checking if I could see anything. Security vehicles and 2 police vans were in the street. I did not know where the shots had come from. We only found out the next morning. Nothing more to report on that for now. Details are sketchy, but apparently the owner who had fired the shots was in hospital and going to be operated on that afternoon. We believe that one of the bullets possilby ricocheted and lodged in his cheek. 

Wednesday. Although I had been up at night we were out of bed at sparrows and who would have though, a cup of coffee. Mom had slept through the nights festivities and was not awake yet. Ingrid and I put on our walking shoes for a walk along the road to main beach and back along the beach. We took the back roads which we normally do not take with the car and it was an interesting walk looking at the different styles of house and the architecture. Mother in law in laws son is an architect. Bright young man that one is.

After we had taken the last back road we were once again on the main road and pretty soon we were on the beach. This beach never ceases to amaze. It really is beautiful! The sand was quite hard along the waterline and walking was pretty easy. Before we knew it, we were going up the sand dune to return to Jackpot. We decided to check out the "short cut" through the bushes and it turned out to be a perfect option for future use. A nice path up the hill instead of having to go all the way around. Good find.

Mom was making her coffee when we got home and after a while we got into the car to go to the Spar and do our bit of grocery shopping for the day. Today is Vegetable lasagne day. We popped into the Spar for a something or other and then went to Baker Barry for the lasagne. Barry was sitting outside having some chow, so we let him be with just a nod. Lasagne and a loaf of sourdough bread for us today please.

I forgot about Hippy Jane. We do no know her name. A little along main road from Jackpot there was a youngish woman hitchiking. Conveniently she was walking and hitching just at the traffic bump in the road down. I had to slow down for the bump and decided, what the heck, I am sure that we will be doing her a favour. Hippy Jane got in the back with Mom and I asked where she was going. Oh, to the Spar. Sorted, we were going there too. Immediate change in the energy in the car. She was going to Spar to sell some pancakes that she had made. ?? Yes, she usually sells them in Humansdorp about 20km further as it is easier to get a lift to there, than into the village. That sounded plausible at least.

Hippy Jane has no TV or phone and is selling her pancakes for R10 each. Thankfully Mom either did not get baited or did not hear her. Long story short, just before the spar Hippy Jane asked to be let out as she could not just waltz up to the Spar. Hmmm. Lie detector was going off the charts! We were quite happy yo let her disembark and drove the last 50m to the Spar. No sign of Hippy Jane in the Spar or outside. My theory is that the pancakes that she was selling probably held some other ingredient...

After our shop at Spar and Baker Barry I thought that it was time for a coffee at Granny's Pools. It is always enjoyable to watch the surfers and the ocean and other things going on there. I tried the red cappuchino and I have to admit that I liked it (Rooibos tea with frothed milk). I do not like cappuchino, but this was hitting the right buttons. On our way home who did we see on the side of the road?  Yes. Correct. Hippy Jane was now thumbing a lift back to CSF. How odd that we suddenly needed to go straight instead of turn off to go back to CSF. A little detour to the harbour was an interesting option. 5 minutes later when we came to that junction once again Hippy Jane was nowhere to be seen. 

I was sitting drinking tea after my afternooner and Ingrid and Mom were still down when Mother in law in law knocked at the side door. She wanted to update us that there had been an incident last night. Yes, thank you we know about it. Nice to know that they are watching out for us. I was chatting to her about whether I would go and paddle the time trial, or take the mailbu for a session and as we can see the waves from here I could at least say that the waves were bigger than yesterday. The weather was grey and overcast so my mind was saying, Boet, don't do it. Paddling would be warmer, but entailed taking the malibu off of the roof and tying on the surfski and driving the 20 minutes to the canals. The wind was fairly strong so I was not keen to put the surfski on the roof. Thanks to mother in law in law. You can always paddle in Holland, but you can not always surf. Great rationale! Malibu it would be.

I will always remember a kite surfing friend of mine saying to me one day when he called to ask if I was going to kite surf. I was not keen due to the weather and he said, Once you have your wetsuit on, the decision is made. Humpty Dumpty. On went my wetsuit and once it was on all doubt was removed. I was going surfing! My, my, was I glad a few hours later. The surf was great and I was "out" with only 1 other person. I got caught too far in by the first set and got a bit of a beating having to roll under 4 or 5 waves before making it back to the line up.

After that TURN ON THE PLEASURE BUTTON! I had such a pleasant surf and one time guy and I went for the same wave and both caught it. As per protocol he had priority, so i did the right thing and pulled out and let him have the wave to himself. We had a little bond at the back line and the waves were quality waves. Most of the other surfers had paddled out further to the point where they were catching some beauts, but at the shore break it was also very good. Slowly more and more surfers joined us as they probably had seen us catching a few waves from the parking lot and decided, Great waves, I gotta get me some of those!

My last wave was my wave of the day, a lovely right which took me almost to the beach. One can ride a wave to the left or right after catching it at some breaks. Here the left is generally the direction to go, but this wave stacked up perfectly for a right and it was squealing girl stuff for me as I rode along the face of the wave. Best session of the holiday. I think that perhaps having built up a bit of fitness helps too.

Home with a broad smile on my face and a feeling of having conquered the world. Shower, drink some tea and get the lasagne into the oven for the evening meal. These last 2 days in CFS have been lekker! We can not forget our weekend at the farm, but that is another type of fun. 

Now that I sit down at the computer and write the last paragraph I think to myself. What has been the highlight of the holiday?  There are too many wonderful things that we have done here. More probably on that next week sometime when we are back in Holland and reflect on our Sabattical.