The Silly Season!

Living in a holiday town makes one very aware of school holidays despite being retired and not very connected to schools! The queues at the tills get longer and longer, the shelves get emptied quickly, parking is at a premium and the noise coming from the beach intensifies! Our flat is opposite the "Super Tube" and wow what a gold mine this attraction has turned out to be! Everyone, from toddler to geriatric, delight in shooting down the tubes accompanied by very loud screaming. The louder the screams and screeches must indicate the level of fun and delight everyone experiences.

 

The "singing" from the karaoke bars worsens and if I have to hear "My achey breaky heart" once more, I too will become a Super Screamer! but the local economy needs the masses and the masses need the South Coast!. We as permanents, need to gird our loins by doing our shopping well in advance, stockpile our shelves and adopt a patient and welcoming stance as our cousins from up country flock to the coast.

You can tell a holiday maker a mile off. They are mostly grossly over weight, walk around barefoot and buy everything they see. On the beach the children sport new costumes, shiny new bucket and spades, beautiful new unfaded towels and the best in umbrellas. Vendors manage to sell their wares without much fuss as the visitors purchase hats, wraps and lovely grass baskets. The ice cream sellers do a roaring trade as the fatties throw caution to the wind and cool down with delicious quick melting ice creams, I am surprised no one has thought of having a mobile hot dog machine on the beach!

Of course,despite the tight planning and myriad of "to do" lists successfully ticked off, we had to do some last minute shopping. I decided I would go local instead of to the big mall. HUGE mistake! Whether you wherein the " under ten items" queue or the general queue, you waited and waited and were pushed and jostled. This is where the Christmas spirit is really put to the test!, Serve me right.

 

Traditionally Christmas Day and boxing day are the busiest ever. This year is the busiest I have ever seen the beaches. Looking down from our balcony there were traffic jams , triple parked vehicles, people pouring in from all angles. Music was blaring from all sides and the delicious smells of Braai and breyani accompanied by coconut oil from the tanners wafted up to our place. Who would want to be a lifesaver in this chaos?


 

The people stayed until the sun went down. The litter the following morning spoke volumes about the good time had by all. Another successful Silly season for all.

 

Catching up.

 Sorry but this posting should have been before the previous two but I don't know how to arrange that!

I have been quietly sulking in my corner because I could not get my  I Pad to work at our Bush place. We have to go up to the recreation centre to use their wireless and suddenly, no matter what I did I could not get to send/post  anything on my I pad. I was so disappointed and just gave up.

The remaining time was spent on finishing my jigsaw puzzles, reading and more reading and doing just a little craft work.  In between we had some lovely drives into the park with amazing sights. I can only describe the bush as being magical. With the abundance of rains everything was green and lush and the animals were enjoying the fact that they did not have to go far for their daily drinks!!

The last week Warren's sister Colleen, husband James and daughter Glynne joined us. This was Glynne's first time at the Bush house and she was such a delight to have around. Apart from our wonderful sightings in the Park at night our  special friends joined us. Firstly Janet the genet started getting rather friendly and would come up very close and we were sure he was looking for little snacks. It is an absolute no no feeding wild animals but it appears that Janet the genet has definitely been spoilt by fellow visitors to the estate. I confess that I was rather afraid of the little creature and was petrified that she would come up and rub herself against me. I tend to yelp and make a noise that is most unbecoming!!  I must have had a bad experience in my former life. But the Mitchells were delighted to meet this little creature.

The second nocturnal visitor was a bush baby who watched from the roof while we sat around the fire. His beautiful tail was a sight to behold.  He was much shyer than the genet and after staring at us took cover in the nearby tree. the visit was so brief I did not even get a photograph.

The same night once the girls had retired our friend, Buster, the hyaena came and popped by just making sure we had not forgotten him!! Glynne was thrilled to see him as we had told her so many stories about the local hyaenas. So a bumper time it was!!

The Lift.

Living on the fifth floor, which is the top floor of our block of flats, has its advantages, in fact it is the best place to be.
We overlook the Indian Ocean and the main Toti Beach. The view is stunning. At times we are able to spot whales and dolphins. which gets us very excited.

However, that is all fine and dandy until THE LIFT does not work. Before we left for overseas in February we had to pay a Special Levy which is a double whammy for us as we have two connected flats. The lift really needed fixing so that was fine. we arrived back from our travels in September and the replacement lift was still not functional. Carrying over 60 kilos of luggage up stairs is no mean feat.
We then went off to the bush for two months and we were convinced that we would arrive back to a fully functional LIFT!! It was still not working. One of the flat owners is in a wheel chair as he has had his legs amputated. Mr Rush lives on the third floor. He was virtually a prisoner in his own home for all those months. On the fifth floor a neighbour of ours Roy got very ill. He needed to go to the doctor regularly and had to be helped down the five floors......the story goes on and on.

The contractors have handed over the lift.....and it works for two or three days and then it gets stuck! So it continues. It is wonderful when it works but the thought of getting stuck in it is indeed a frightening one. I have done so much spring cleaning and need to take bags of stuff to Hospice but just don't get to do it as the blasted lift never quite works when I need it to! Soon I will be unpacking those bags and putting the things back into my cupboards!!

We are so reliant on these mechanical objects what did the people do in the old days or were there no blocks of flats??

A bloody business!

I am surprised and delighted that there is still a steady flow of readers to my blog and for that I am most grateful. I am sorry about the absence of my updates but there are a myriad of reasons and the easiest one to tell, is the lack of internet connection! But that seems to be a thing of the past for now!!

Just to catch up, before we knew it, it was time to pack up Sabie Park and set off for home. I was truly sorry to leave as the time spent there had been absolutely magical. The weather was superb, the company great, the viewing wonderful. However, all good things come to an end.

En route back to the South Coast we had been invited to spend a night with our dear friends Ed and Liz in their new home. They have built a lovely place on an estate on the outskirts of Nelspruit. The front of the house is double storeyed and has a great outlook. Just in front of their property they have developed a special garden to encourage all the local birds. how relaxing it was to sit on their balcony chatting and watching the various species of birds coming for their feed or to drink from the pond. Both Ed and Liz have an amazing knowledge of birds and their behaviour. As we enjoyed our sundowners the choir of frogs put on a Grand Performance.

Fortunately Liz had invited her sister-in-law Anne to join us and the five of us had a wonderful evening chatting and catching up.

Sorry no Anne!!

Early the next morning we set off for the Coast. It is a LOOOOONG trip and the whole journey is made longer by the frequent stops due to roadworks! We certainly live in a potholed country.

Once home we were so disappointed to find out that the lift is still not working and lugging up all our luggage was exhausting but my brave husband managed with little help from me!!
I just felt pooped! This feeling of exhaustion continued through the following day while I unpacked and got rid of the dust in our bedroom. During the second night home i woke up and durin a visit to the bathroom I woke up to find myself sprawled on the floor....I have NEVER fainted. Now I knew something was seriously wrong. Off to the Doctor who took one look at me and I was packed off to hospital where I was put on to blood transfusion with immediate effect. After extensive tests the doctor attributes my loss of blood to inflammation around my hiatus hernia.

I wish to pay tribute to all those wonderful people who take the time and trouble to donate blood!! I needed four units and watching those precious  droplets leaving the bag, travel down the tubes and into my veins for 24 hours I had time to really think about life and how wonderful it is!! The medical staff are all angels and a huge thank you goes to each and every person who helps things tick over in the hospital.
I also need to thank my supportive husband, children, sister,  brothers, nieces, nephews  and extended families and friends for their constant care and concern .....and of course I am grateful for LIFE!!