Terrible Twin Tuesday!

Ai, my fok what a day today has been. Up in the morning and off to school. 06h00 and the coffee was poured. Time for a bit of sneak jigsaw puzzling for Ingrid as Justin was still opening the eyes. Riley was also awake. Justin and Riley moved on into the living room to lie on the matress and have a little rest. Ingrid steadily pieced together pieces of the puzzle. I do not know how she does puzzles upside down, but it definately she has talent (One of). 

Bundle into the bus of a cruise and to survey the mornings options. The wind had turned easterly and that meant a choppy unruly sea. No good for diving of surfing this morning, so we walked Riley along the Wild Side so that she could have a bit of stretching the legs and do her business. On the way home Justin announced that he was going home to PE. Nothing for him to do here and he has to work tomorrow.

He packed his bag and the all important box of tools and stuff and we waved goodbye like parents waving their kids off at the airport. It had been a great few days and it was time for him to head off. About 45 minutes later he phone to ask where I was, "At Home". Good, I will see you in 5. He had left his laptop here in the house. When her stopped in front of Jackpot to pick up the bag with his laptop, I asked how far he had been on his way home before he realised that his laptop was still here? No, man I was still at the main beach. SIngle twin trouble: Riley has an iTag on her collar and that had apparently fallen out/off somewhere. Last known location was at the beach where we had sat last night soaking up the sun, the sea and the perfect eatly evening. No luck. No tag, but he did have his laptop. end Act 1.

Act 2: Picture the scene; Sicily 1924.... (I think that came from rhe Golden Girls TV programme - don't hit me on the year). Ingrid had her 2nd Pilates class at the lighthouse and although the wind was not ideal in direction, I was umming and ahing as to whether to go for a paddle or not. My gut feeling said, "Do not go. Stay at home and arb". The other guy on the other shoulder said, just do it man. What can go wrong? 

I went for it and dropped Ingrid off at the lightouse for her class. I had an hour to do my thing on the surfski. On getting ready I had the car key strung aroung my nek in my new waterproof pouch. I thought, Mmmm perhaps I should just run the cord through the carabine on my life vest. As per usual I also hooked my phone in it's waterproof casing onto the carabine.  I set the Go Pro up on the top of the surfski and it was; Ready, Set Go.

Getting out proved not much of a problem and soon I was trying to decide what I was going to do. Would I paddle to the wreck, or just up and down the penninsula to the lighthouse and back. I took option two as I may arrive back too late to pick up Ingrid. Funny this gut feeling that would just not go away! I felt uneasy on the surfski, not due to my abilities, but just uneasy. 

At the point I turned back and there were some really big swells rolling down the homewoard journey. I caught 2 unbroken waves (runs) and managed to go pretty far back toward the beach with each run. Finally I was about to enter the surf zone and caught a beaut of a wave straight to shore. I should have called it quits there and then.

But. But, I had not switched on the go pro before going out and thought that I might get some footage of my paddle. Go pro on and I set off once again to get back out beyond the break. Timing, or Kabouters I do not know, but a large set came rolling through. Due to the rip, although I was sitting waiting for the waves to break and lose at least some of their force, I was being drawn forward and on the 2nd wave of the set, I just managed to punch through, but the 3rd wave caught me, just as the Kabouters had planned. I was stuck in no mans land and was going to take a hit.

1st priority survive the onslaught and second try to keep the surfski whole ( No laughing for those in the know). I bailed overboard, grabbed the straps and rolled. That was the correct option and I was dragged a bit by the white water, but came up with my head hitting the wave deflector. My head started leaking, Shark blood! Fortunately I and many like me have grown up in the sea, so it was just a little setback. I had to wait 2 more waves before I could remount which in the Carbonology Sport Vault was like climing on a bicycle for me. Up and on paddle in hand an I stuffed the waterproof pouch back into the top pocket of my life vest and thought, mmm FOK, my phone must be dangling around somewhere as should be my hat.

No time to sort stuff out as I was in the wave zone and made a beeline for the beach. Double Twin Trouble on a Tuesday. My phone was somewere in the ocean nicely packed in it's waterproof casing. The phone and casing had snapped off the cord and she was lost at sea! FUCK. (I do not usually use the word, but this was definately a FUCK moment! Terrible Twin Tuesday. My twin brother had lost something and so had I!!! Expensive paddle!

On walking back to the car there was a surfer getting kitted up and I complained to him (Complete stranger) that I had just lost my phone in the water. I was not ready for his reply, but on hearing it I thought, well that is logical. His comment was where did you paddle? Oh, just up to the point and back. Then why did you take your phone with you? Well I thought, good question, but then I remembered that I might have paddled to the wreck across the bay and it is always good to have a back up if something goes wrong. If i had intended to only paddle to the point and back I probably would not have taken it with me.

The Go pro did not survive the thumping and the whole thing including mount was stripped from the top deck. Fortunately this cord was strong enough and I had scooped it out of the water and bundled it into the space in the front of the footwell. Back at the car I placed the surfski on the grass and took off my life jacket and paddle vest. No phone and no watch = no idea what time it was and when to fetch Ingrid. Quick thinking, if I start the car, I can see on the dashboard what time it was. 

That is odd. Condensation on the waterproof pouch. That is not good. I had bought the thing a few days ago and this was only the 2nd time that I had used it. Car key out of the pouch and I blew over the key to use air pressure to dispel any possible water on the key. Next I examined the water proof pouch. FUCK a hole at the bottom. Holy cow, I hope that the key works still and did not get soaked. Thank the stars that the car turned over once I put the key in the ignition. That would present a serious set of challenges.

Surfski on the roof and it was 10h45. Perfect time to go fetch Ingrid. She came out of the Pilated/Yoga studio with that smile on her face and she said 'GOOD MORNING"! Get in the car! She knows me well enough by now to say OKAY and we drove off before I unloaded my sort of disasterous morning. TERRIBLE TWIN TUESDAY! FUCK!

Funnily enough I was not that stressed about losing my phone and things going a bit South, but what really irked me was that gut feeling. He had poured it on so thickly this morning and I overrode the feeling and pushed forward. I was more cross with myself than I was angry with the Kabouters (That does not mean that I forgive them, but they get a sort of get out of jail free card from me today).

You know what this means, a trip to the big city of Jeffreys Bay. On the way to the Mall we stopped off in the village for breafast/lunch. It was almost 11h30 and we had not eaten yet. I thought best to get a full stomoach before tackling the sim card/ cell phone thingy as we did not expect it to take 2 minutes and I wanted to go from start to finish in 1 go. Expect the worst...

To the Mall to try to purchase a new phone. Things are decidedly different here. In Holland I would have popped off to the Media Markt on my scooter, picked up one of the phones on the shelves and done an online request for a new sim card and within 24 hrs all would have been sorted. Perhaps a refurbished phone, but little effort required. New phones here are basically the newest of the newest and if you are lucky 1 version earlier. My ex was a S22 and they only stock S23 and S24 in both the mobile phone (cellphone) stores. Perhaps I could try next to the biltong shop, but i was warned against refurbished.

As for a new simcard with my old number that required another oddity. I was first ot visit the local police station for an affidavit to say tht my mobile phone was nowhere to been seen and that I had searched everywhere for it and was certain that it probbly was not recoverable. Yesterday the sea giveth with a perfect paddle and today the sea taketh away (Kabouter driven). So off to the police station and it was almost as if the Kabouters felt sorry for us. The Police station was directly down the street albiet about 3 kilometers further, Straight, straight!. 

We stopped outside and could park infront of the police station. Thankfully we were the only ones on this side of the counter and on requesting the SImswap as advised by the local provider, Constable Whatkins took out a form and asked me to fill it in. He asked to Id and I gave him my drivers licence (Kabouter card number next I was thinking). Once again, I think that the Kabouters were feeling a little sorry and Constable Whatkins got to ticking the boxes and stamping and signing the form. Thank F that we did not have to go all the way back and return with my passport. Time from start to finish, 5 minutes. Thanks Africa (rules are rules, but one might possibly bend them some) and Thanks Constable Whatkins (Names have been changed to protect the innocent).

The Kabouters were really helping as Ingrid had wished to purchase some board shorts for booogie boarding is. These would prevent her bikini bottoms from accidentally perhaps ending up around her knees or better still taken by the sea (Did I say that out loud?). The Billabong factory shop was literally around the corner fromt he police station and about 100m further down. Time from start to finish, 5 minutes.

Armed with my affadavit we were back at the Mall in seemingly record time. I went off to the shop that sells cellphone casings and screen protectors and cords and stuff to enquire about an S22. Glory be. Kabouter guilt trip! He had only 1 left in stock. Paid and sorted with a protective casing, and thanks to Kabouters he threw in a screen protector for free.

I think that the Kabouters then went off for afternoon tea. Back in the shop at the provider it was wait for my turn and finally it was my turn. Ingrid had gone to the coffeee shop around the corner to sit and wait for me to come and fetch her. It proved to be a lengthy process as I did not have my passport with me, and Africa would bend the rules a bit, but I had to have the override by someone in charge and they were busy with another customer. Long time, long time. I had the new phone and my old cellphone number. I guess that the next option is to try to backup what we can and will probably cuss a little along the way, but I am back online.

At home Ingrid was in her new outfit and sat waiting while I logged into the new phone. Unfortunately with 2 step validation I needed my receptionist in Holland to verify that it was me by clicking on a link on the work phone. Thanks Catja. She was awake and I was done in 5 minutes with the activation.

Off to the beach for our swim, but the Kabouters were back online and had placed Bluebottles (Portugese Man o war - Stingy things in the sea). Not a good idea to swim with these guys in the breakers. They can cause some serious anaphylactic reactions. Beter be safe than sorry.

Now to trying to restore backups. That has taken a few hours, but I am not home yet. Probably need to sign into all of the apps and that will probably take some 2 step validation.

I was going to go big and have the Gupta tonight. A 1 litre beer that brother had bought. I thought that this would drown the day, but I decided against it and braaied and Ingrid and I ate the left over "cheese sauce" (Grazer lasagne) with avocado and beetroot. Yum.

Tomorrow we awake and our day is a blank page. We will fill it in as we see or as dictated by the Kabouters.