Out of the blue...

Good Morning World! Here we are out of the blue! I have some time on my hands today and thought of giving a little update to how the year has progressed since my last post.

I will start with the kids I guess. Bo got her thesis in on time and it was all good. She has since graduated and has been working for me in the 1 office in Oud-Beijerland as the receptionist.  I see this as an investment in our/her future. The money that I pay her is going to family and not to someone else. It is kind of circular investing in the family. Dare I say it, but she is very good at what she does and there have been instances of DAD, You made a mistake and I had to fix it. (Thankfully only administrative errors)...The job provides her with decent funds, a fantastic boss and gives her, I hope, a stress free time to have a think as to what and where she wants to be in the future. I suppose that we can then close the chapter of her education as I do not think that she is going to want to study further. She is in the process of saving for a trip to Namibia with her friend around may of 2025!

That child does like party though! A few weeks ago she told me on Friday morning that I would need to stand in for her on the Monday morning. I enquired as to the reason and was told quite bluntly that she would have a hangover. Simple and plain. But, you are going to party and you have a job to go to the next morning....? Yes, but I would rather give you a heads up so that on Monday I do not have to rudely awake you to tell you that I am sick and will not make it to work. Logical! Sometimes I wonder about this generation and their work ethic.... I can not complain though, she is doing a wonderful job.

Child nr 2 also finished up her studies in September. No dramas there. 2 weeks later she let us know that she was leaving for South Africa at the end of October. Bam! She had signed up with an International Organisation - Work Away and they have a finger in a whole lot of places and it is pretty much a work for board and lodging idea. It was a bit of a mission to get her flight date changed as she was part of our group booking for December (Family reunion in Cape St Francis). One can do a lot online nowdays, but if I was to change her flight date, the system would change all of our flight dates, so it was a question of phoning KLM and asking them to break open the booking and make the necessary changes. Thankfully we can still speak to real people who can do what needs to be done. Hats off to Jan who thankfully knew what he was doing!

Bit of a gadoe (choas) as her first choice was one of the outer lying suburbs near Port Eliabeth and the radar immediately went viral! It is a suburb that I would not suggest to people, but Fleur had contacted the owners and organised her place at the backpackers. Once I told my family of the intended plan all hell broke loose and rightfully so. I contacted the owner and had a good talk with him about the situation and what his requirements were etc, and made a decision that Fleur was not going to enjoy herself there. She would almost be confined to the property and have little to keep her busy. This would be a killer for her as she is an active and busy soul and would be BORED out of her tree within a few days! She is a trooper, but this would not be a happy place for Fleur!

Plan B! Within a few hours she had found another placement in another part of South Africa and we were happy to send her to the new place. More of a vibe and this new option would afford her more freedom of movement and the heart and head was okay with this possibility. No need to change flights, just the final destination would take her down the Garden Route a bit to a backpackers place, Fairy Knowe, in the town of The Wilderness. I did not phone the owner this time as the communication between Fleur and the owner showed a remarkable difference in attitude and goal. Fly little one Fly! I was sad to see her go, but we all know that this is a step that she needs to take on her life journey. She has been there 2 weeks now and reports are all good! She even is pouring Brandy and Cokes for the Rugby watching patrons.

The plans for the end of the year Family reunion have been laid. Baby brother and his family are coming for 2 months from his home In Vanuatu to Jackpot (His house that we rented earlier this year). Our family unit is going to be in South Africa for 2.5 weeks and leave here on December the 26th. I say the four of us, but Fleur is already in South Africa, so we will pick her up when we arrive. EXCITING!

Health wise things seem to be okay. Ingrid decided a few months ago to stop all medication for her Arthritis. She had to take pills weekly (her day was a Saturday). She was like a zombie on Sundays and Monday morning, By Monday afternoon she began to show signs of life and by Tuesday she was back to her normal self. Dreading the Saturdays she decided to stop the pills and thankfully there have been no side effects to that. She has a pain killer/anti inflammatory which she takes as necessary and to date her complaints with the other medication or without are no different. This way she is a human 7 days a week! BIG WIN! She has taken up crocheting and has surprised us both by making some lovely things. She says that it feels good to use her hands and that helps with the general hand joint irritation.

Boy did it take a good few months to get back in the saddle and once again find peace with being here! I still enjoy my work and now that we have seen what a mini sabattical can do and the costs (short and long term) we are confident that this might be the way forward for us. Unfortunately the family reunion was not on the cards and that has thrown some oil on the water, but we are shooting for the last quarter of next year. Time will tell.

Welcome to the family George! Little brother and I have been talking of a possiblity of purchasing a car for Jackpot. It saves us renting a car each time that we come and so he went online to look for a suitable vehicle. George is a distinguished gentleman, a Land Rover Discovery with quite a bit of age and pre-computer era. My other brother knows a guy who is pretty knowledgable in the field of automobiles and guy went to check George over and apparently we now own half of a car. Little brother is a Robinson Crusoe type and the plan is to be able to fit a roof tent and do some middle of nowhere trips. We might only just use it on "farm roads" (for those in the know).

Speaking of automobiles.... that is an intersting word chosen long ago for a car. Perhaps back in the day someone had a vision of autonomous cars (computer era) in the future and coined the phrase auto mobile. Thought to ponder.

The End.

PS: I heard that they are going to make a new Harry Potter mini series. It is going to feature Dumbledwarf! (LOL).