Day 1 at home.

Friday morning and that fresh coffee from ground beans and made to Barista quality is the Bomb! Yummy. Lekkerrrrr!! I had not had as wonderful nights sleep as I had hoped. A few times a year I seem to somehow develop a cough in the night and then it is game over for a few hours. I regretfully picked up my pillow and dragged myself upstairs to sit it out. It really is a weird thing, but I guess that none of us are perfect. Some of us get close, but not all the way. I can already hear Ingrid saying, there he goes again. Arrogant man! No, I will contest. Arrogance in my opinion is when one compares oneself to another. I am not comparing, I just tend to have a positive self image.

At around 4am it was time to go back to bed after spending a few hours in the spare room (couch). No problem anymore and it was lights out for me. Funny how the biological clock will tend to wake us up at around 06h00 without fail. Up in the morning and off to school. Bo soon joined us as she had to go to work (My practice where she works as a receptionist since we left for The Beautiful South). Between 08h00 and 08h30 we were expecting the men to replace our central heating unit. We have been using this company for probably the best part of 20 years for our yearly servicing. Good service and customer relations we are keen on. They have served us well.

They arrived on time as per usual and after making them a cup of that quality coffee they got to work. I have to say that by the sounds of things it was not plug and play. They made quite a noise with their comings and goings and things, but we were not worried that would not complete the job as expected, although a few gentle swear words here and there indicated that they had their work cut out for them. This was a job I gladly left to the professionals. I could see Justin tackling the job with the help of youtube and google. He would complete the job, but instead of taking the 3 hours that these guys did with sweat on their brow, I suppose brother might take a week or so to complete. He loves a project as we have found out!

Once they were done we are now able to shower with hot water once more. The Wim Hof ice bath method under the shower is not my favourite. It was weird to shower under cold water. We are used to immersing out bodies in the African sea which is probably the same temperature, but this is a totally different experience. Perhaps because immersing ones body in the ocean is sort of an all in once experience, but the shower spits droplets on ones skin and each droplet activates the oohh it is cold response form the helpless body. I do not know. I am speculating, but it seems a plausible theory. Myth buster me!

Time is flying and it was afternoon and I took one of my surfskis on the roofrack after getting the setup back  on the top of Ed (our buddy from 2011). Ed has been a faithful servant for more than 20 years. He is a trooper and sometimes has his issues, but throw some money at the problem and he is tip top once again. Thankfully he is an indirect decendant of the Toyota family and will go for probably a lot longer than me. Ed already has almost 400 000 km on the clock. He was almost a virgin when we got him, but he has showed us a few tricks along the way, most noticible when we go to Autstria and go skiing. Automatic 4x4 with winter tyres, he is a pleasurable and trusty companion on the snow and sometimes ice covered roads. Not quite farm roads, but I would not be shy to take Ed on the farm roads prepared by his farmliness, David Hurr.

Surfski on the roof and off to the river. The wind was favourable for a up and downwind. 5 km against the wind, but with the current and then 5km with the wind, but against the current. This creates favourible conditions as the current tends to "spike"the waves produced by the wind and we are in business. Great conditions today! I did 1km against the wind and then turned for the 1km journey back to test the waters and immediately decided to go 4km downstream  and turn for home. It was a fine downwind on the way back to the kajak club. Stoked I was!

Side note is that before I left in February I may have borrowed a friends surfski for a last minute downwind and the rudder may or may not have hit a submerged rock and done some damage to the hull. FUCK! (F... in other languages). To be continued...

What a nice paddle I had on my own. Thankfully I was also able to navigate around barges on our river. I say our, but it is literally our river. I/We spend more time on that piece of river than most. I claim it! Unfortunately no Gopro images/video as I had the Gopro in the car and I had the stand, but not the protective connection piece. Ummm. I am over 50 and sometimes do not think everything through. I looked for the appropriate accessory and not having found it, I just went for a paddle with myself, the ski and my leash for safety (also wore a life jacket, but the leash is THE most important piece of safety equipment to my mind). My mobile/cell phone does not have service in Holland as I have a South African Sim card and my new sim card would only arrive tomorrow. (2nd most valuable piece of safety equipment - mobile phone). I had missed this piece of river and it's joys. Nothing like living my best life thus far this year! (although it rained).

After a hot shower at the kajak club and a catch up chat with the local lady who lives there on her boat it was off home for my pyjamas and a few beers from the oh so famous Munks. I guess that the Monks sacrificed some pleasures (of the flesh), but supplemented with the pleasure of some really superb beers. Tip of the day; Best drunk cool, but not cold. In South Africa we are accustomed to chilled beer - Pilsner or Lager. No can do with these gems. (Maybe the Monks had no feezers or fridges and ...evolved). Interesting, no?

Cheers and beers and our first full day was almost at a close here in Dordrech, South Holland, The Netherlands. 

What is really strange is the light. It is light here until 21h45 at present. I only arrive home at 17h30 after my paddle and we ate at like 19h30ish. No problem, no worries. The light helps keep you awake a lot longer. Usually in South Africa by 18h30 we were already thinking, When is bed time?  We would be crazy to go to bed before 21h30 here (Only 24 hours later). Odd and yet soooo good!

Dog got his last walk at dusk and it was beddy byes for us. Maybe tonight would be a good mights sleep.