Travelling mercies granted

Robynne's big move was this past weekend and as with any planned event involving various people, all didn't run exactly according to plan. Firstly, Robynne was expecting her dad to leave on Thursday morning but he didn't, as he had work to finish up and kids and their mom to ferry to and from school and work. He only hit the road at about 1.30pm on Friday afternoon! He and my son travelled right through at a steady pace and stopped at about 1.30am at a service station/rest stop to rest. Dad climbed into the back of the bakkie, locked himself in and fell asleep on a comfy mattress with a blanket covering him and left his son with nothing warm to wear or cover himself with, to sit in the cab and keep watch. He was only supposed to sleep for an hour and then carry on but one and a half hours later, Dael couldn't wake dad up. He would rock the bakkie and dad would stir and then drop off to sleep again. Dael texted me and I ended up phoning dad, who luckily had his cellphone with him, from Kwazulu Natal and with my last 62 cents of airtime and succeeded in waking him up before we were cut off. Dael actually ended up getting sick with a bad cold after catching a chill while waiting for dad to have his sleep. They continued on their journey but only reached Cape Town at 12.30pm on Saturday, a long trip of about 1.500kms.

By this time a very grumpy Robynne had almost given up on them and told me she was going for a nap. By the time they arrived, Dael was also grumpy but all three went for a nap. I would have preferred them to delay their departure until Sunday but the decision was made. After waking, the bakkie was packed with Robynne's belongings, her bunny babies loaded into her little car and Dael climbed into Robynne's little Chevy Spark to travel with her. And the little convoy commenced the journey of the return trip to Gauteng at 19.50pm on Saturday evening. They travelled through, stopping every 100kms or so to rest and eventually stopped to sleep at a place in the Karoo called Leeu-Gamke at about 3.00am, where they stayed until 5.30ish before starting off once again. They continued on and I couldn't rest either until I knew that they had arrived at their destination. They almost ran out of travelling cash quite close to their destination but managed to get to into Gauteng without running out of fuel! I was pleased that they had accomplished a quite amazing and tiring trip in good humour but it was not to be.

They were travelling in the big city of Gauteng, through traffic, about 10 mins away from dad's house when a miscommunication caused dad to lose his cool. When he turned on his emergency lights, Robynne was supposed to flash her lights to let dad know where she was. This was dad's version of the story. He didn't want the kids to get lost because he knew he wouldn't have enough fuel to drive around looking for them. The kids had another version of what they were supposed to do and this confusion was like a spark to a tinderbox for dad. He stopped at the nearest traffic lights, jumped out his bakke like a crazy person and tore strips off the kids. So a rather sad end to a very long, tiring and dramatic trip. But it was all due to being over-tired and over-stressed.

They eventually arrived at their destination at about 21h00 making their travelling time inclusive of stops, more than 24 hours. Not something for the faint hearted to ever think of doing.

I am proud of my kids though for accomplishing such a long road trip with no experience of long distance driving without giving up and falling apart. They finished what they started out doing. And of dad who has a lot of faults but was prepared to sacrifice his rest and push his limits to make sure Robynne got to Gauteng before Monday, 26th October.

Everyone's eyes were red and puffy the next day but Robynne started her new job as arranged and after a quiet first day, is now involved in a major exhibition which is keeping her at work until the late hours of the night but which suits her fantastically as she is a very social person who enjoys being involved, and which is the prime reason for her needing to get up to Gauteng by this week.

So well done family and I'm just grateful that this trip was accomplished without any vehicle breakdowns and with everybody arriving safe and sound!

School b**ches um.. teachers!

Since this term began, Bradley has been coming home with a lot of detentions. Now this shouldn't be happening since he is on Ritalin and should be concentrating like a pro.

The first detention for 14th Oct. was for talking in line. Then he got a detention for not taking his PE kit. Now I know that he did take his PE kit because I made him pack it but they wanted his swimming kit. I wrote on the slip that he had his PE clothes and I didn't want him swimming anyway because he had a cold.

14th October - Detention for talking in line. On the 14th I checked if he went and he said yes.

16th October - Detention for no PE kit. I wrote a letter on the slip. Brad didn't hand it in!

21st and 22nd October - Detention x 2 for not attending detention on the 14th.

26th and 29th October - Detention for not attending the detention on the 16th October (that I wrote the note for) and detention for not having pe kit again. This time I wrote on the slip in big letters - No Costume, no money!

30th Oct. and 2nd Nov - Detention for missing break detentions.

Oh yes! In addition to having 1 hour detention in the afternoon, he now has indefinite break (both breaks) detentions for not completing his daily writing homework and for handing in sloppy work. There are also pretty red writing notes in his homework notebook that he keeps ditching the break detentions and running off to the playground to play.

Oh my gosh and you wonder why I hate the schools. There are only about 30 days left to the year. Can you please leave my child alone so that he can try and pass the year!

I just screamed and screamed this morning. I hate doing that and Bradley hates it. I just wish it would all go away.

I think I had 2 detentions in my whole school career. This is why Bradley is as closed as a clam when it comes to school. I have walked through the school and listened to the teachers yell the ugliest things at the children. Its like a war zone. We were treated and likewise treated our teachers with a lot more respect than is flowing around out there now.

On the way to school, Bradley finally piped up (he had been sullenly silent up until then) and pulled his Bio test result out of his bag. "See mom, I'm not concentrating on all that now. This is what I'm concentrating on at the moment". And it was rather a good result too.

I know the teachers have to keep discipline but really, you know my son battles at school. Can't you just f**king back off and give him space to breathe!

First Blog-oversary!

I thought I missed my blog-oversary so looked back on my posts - and its today!

My first post was a year ago and it feels like yesterday that I first took the plunge of committing thoughts to the written word.

It hasn't been as easy as I thought it might be. Sometimes words and ideas don't flow so smoothly. You experience something during the day that you think would make a good post and then when you come to write, you can't remember what the heck it was you wanted to write about! Or all of a sudden you feel very boring and can't write at all. Eventually you come to see that people are mostly the same the world over. We all have confidence issues at some time, we sometimes feel stupid or boring. But someone somewhere is interested in what we have to say and that really builds self-confidence. Over the past year and more especially fairly recently, I have come to appreciate the release that writing gives me, the freedom to express myself in a written form. When I keep all my thoughts inside my head, I actually find it difficult to process my thoughts and I forget words - my mind becomes a muddy backwater.

So thank you friends and followers and Internet for giving me this platform for freedom of expression and for showing interest in the happenings of my life and my mind! May our relationship continue for many more years to come.

Teenage boy blush!

I embarrassed Bradley this morning! Not on purpose...I'm not so mean. Just by being a mommy.

We arrived at his school and I noticed a group of grade seven girls, obviously prefects, standing by the entrance to the playground from the parking lot. They were giggling and not taking any notice whatsoever of the arriving students.

Bradley was still zipping up his bag and I spotted yesterday's empty lunchbox still inside his bag, together with today's full lunchbox, just taking up space. I made a grab for the empty lunchbox and came out with the full one instead. He made a grab for the lunchbox and stuffed it back inside his bag, his cheeks flushing pink with embarrassment. "Mom leave it! There's girls watching!"

"But they're not even watching you. They're talking to each other."

"They're always watching....", he closed the door with an arrogant kick and stalked off without a backwards glance.

I overstepped my mark as the taxi driver. Bad mom!

(P.S. Thats why I won't change my old jalopy until all are through the moody teenage phase!)

The calm after the storm!

Bradley was a bit sad and quiet for a day after the family left but has since perked up since he realised he's not being given instructions by older brother and can watch whatever he likes on tv. He's coming into his own already. We are getting into a quiet evening routine and best of all the house is still tidy when we get home. Bradley has been going to my mom in the afternoons as he doesn't want to go home at the moment with nobody there. I can see that changing shortly though because he already texted me today "Mom come early to fetch me". My mom likes things done in a particular way and I can see he will be deciding to go straight home from school in the near future.

Yesterday morning, when Brad got into the car his hair was wet and on glancing at him I noticed some specks of white almost like dandruff in his hair except that the specks weren't budging. Now he had been complaining that his hair was itchy but with my bad eyes I can't usually see anything small hidden away in hair and I used to rely on the older two to spot things like that. These specks I could see. I knew just what to get and last night we started on our remedial treatment of *lice*.

First a (much) shorter haircut. Brad doesn't like his hair too short as he likes to style it in a 'cool' style for school etc. He bit the bullet though and didn't argue because he wanted his problem sorted out. Then a nice bath and hairwash after which I dried his hair with the drier and then applied the ointment to his hair, rubbing it into the scalp. He had to sleep with the ointment on his hair and we rinsed it off this morning followed by another bath and hairwash. I will change all the bed linens tonight and wash them well. In a few days time we will repeat the whole ointment process again. I texted the Gauteng bunch to check the hair of the two little girls and their mom, Trish who had visited cousin R's house during the weekend reported that she had seen lice ointment in their bathroom. Now he was also visiting during the weekend and at one stage had such itchy hair that he had to go and shampoo his hair for relief. Share and share alike but there will be no more visiting until this is all cleared up to my satisfaction.

The office is irritating at the moment. Its year end so auditors and other strangers are wandering around. I have been dealing with irritating and irritated rental agents, purchasers, tenants. Everybody has a problem and time is running out. It seems as the year gets shorter everybody starts running around manically trying to get things finished before year end closedown.

Weather is unpredictable too. Its hot when I leave for work but where I work, just 8kms from home but at a slightly higher altitude, the weather is changeable and every afternoon brings clouds and cooler temperatures. Its difficult to know what to wear. I have taken to bringing a pair of track pants to change into because I never just go straight home and by the end of the day, I am freezing in my Summer outfit.

I haven't spoken much to Dael but I believe he is working hard and I'm sure he is excited to make the trip down to Cape Town with his dad to fetch his sister, as he hasn't been to Cape Town before. Definitely beats sitting at my place with nothing to do!

Expecting the unexpected.

I had planned to take the boys out this weekend past because I was anticipating Dael leaving for Gauteng as soon as his father was given the go-ahead to come down to KZN to finish a job.

It was still raining on Friday night but the boys cousin, R had been dropped off to stay over and had brought a stock of crackers with him, much to my irritation. They barely waited for night to fall before dashing out and letting some off. The cats were a little concerned but the dogs reacted immediately cowering below the couch and every now and again trying to get up. R kept on running in and out of the house to the bedroom and when I eventually went into the bedroom, I saw that the carpet was just absolutely full of mud! I saw red and that was the end of the cracker session. We had burgers for supper and I went to sleep because the boys were using the tv for playstation games. I woke up again at about 1am and the boys were still awake. Dael was making coffee when a vehicle pulled up the driveway.

It was the kids dad come down without notifying us and he had the whole family - Trish, Kaleigh and Rachael and his helper, Ishmael. So all systems go sorting out beds for the extras and making coffee and we all went to sleep. I think it was almost 4am before the littlest one stopped chirping.

The weekend was supremely busy and I had a full house the whole weekend. Luckily most of Dael's clothes had been washed and it was just a case of packing and making sure nothing important got left behind. On Saturday night, Dael and friend C wanted to have a last memorable outing to club 54. Well it was memorable for Dael and quite ironic for me. I had been out earlier in the evening and texted Dael jokingly, asking him what he had prepared for supper. He texted back 'My foot' with a pic of his foot. I jumped to the wrong conclusion and thought that something was wrong with his foot. At club 54 later, he and friend C had been descending a metal staircase with full bottles of beer. It had been raining heavily and Dael slipped on the stairs and fell down about 10 remaining stairs, landing heavily on his hip. That was the end of his evening and I got a call at midnight (early for them) to fetch them. C had slipped as well behind Dael but managed to land on his feet. I told Dael he took the fall for his friend and prevented him from injury but to add insult to injury, the bottle of beer also broke and cut Dael's hand though not badly thank goodness. I said to him that I must have had a premonition from the pic earlier that we would have a foot injury. He had a painful roasty and a big bump on his hip and Sunday saw him limping in agony.

Sunday went by in a blur. I spent as much time as possible with Dael and the family left for Gauteng at 6.40pm after visiting ouma (grandma) on route, only arriving at their destination at 3am on Monday morning.

Bradley spent the evening very blue and upset because suddenly now he is an only child with only his mom for company. He was also very tired and soon fell asleep. I think its going to be a few days before he gets used to the new arrangement.

This time I had proof!

I will still at work just after 5pm yesterday, not in a hurry to rush into the traffic when I received a text message from Dael. "Pick me up from R". This is their cousin who lives in the centre of town whereas I normally pop down the back way which brings me out where I live. I reply okay and leave the office.

I arrive at the flat, one of the other occupants recognises me and lets me in. I text Dael "I'm here" and go up to greet his aunt and uncle. As I enter the house, I ask "Is my eldest son here?" and am met with blank stares from everyone. "No." Then another text comes from Dael, "You're not here" and "at C's house". I told him that he had told me he collect him from his cousin not his friend. His friend would have been easier as he lives in the same suburb as us. I saved his messages as proof because he wouldn't believe me that he gave me wrong information but tried to make out I was wrong. Then I had coffee and visited a little!

After visiting the local shop for supplies, I picked Dael up and waved my phone in front of his and C's faces because they were still taunting me. They were forced to eat their words. Who's the old one now? At least I would have an excuse for getting it wrong with 25 years seniority on Mr Dael!

At home, we had leftovers from two nights this week so I made the official decision that it was leftover night and I wasn't cooking and made an early night of it. In between drifting in and out of sleep I became aware that my bedroom door was closed probably because the boys were making a noise with the Playstation. However, in the early hours, even that closed door wasn't enough for me to sleep through a loud bang. I flew up and out of my room and discovered that Dael had heard cats screeching and in his effort to stop whatever fight was happening, had banged on one of the small panes of glass in the french doors and shattered a hole clean through the middle of it. He had a small scratch on his knuckle which was bleeding. I cleaned up the glass while he sorted out his hand. He was lucky as it could have been worse. So now we have two panes out in that one door. The 'hole' further down is used as a cat and dog 'door' but I think that two panes out is a bit much and we're going to have to sort out the whole thing now.

Incidentally why Dael reacted so violently to the sound of the cat fight was that he had heard a cat screeching the night that our one kitten Spidey went missing and we think that he was wandering and got caught by dogs. Last night was a territorial cat fight though with a lot of male yowling going on. Dael in his haste couldn't distinguish between the sounds and thought that another one of the cats was in trouble. He maintains that the glass has become fragile and gave me a technical reason of glass being still in a 'liquid' state although it seems solid but I think he just doesn't realise his own strength!

Bradley has the privilege of staying off today, Friday as the school has officially closed for Diwali. This is a first with this school but they now have a different headmaster. So now the kids are missing yet another day of school. Its not even an official school or public holiday so we will still see if the Education Dept has anything to say about schools going this route as I believe there was a communication from the Dept advising that schools were supposed to open per normal. Again Bradley is not complaining...4 day weeks are becoming the norm!

Happy weekend and watch your animals during the fireworks and 'big bangs' displays!

Seen on the streets - Plant Man

Driving down my street with Bradley, we first went one way to get to the shop and then we returned along our street on the way to the school. On our first trip down the road we passed a ragged fellow who seemed to be holding an armload of junk including some plants in small containers. When we returned along the road, he seemed to be talking or fighting with a large bush on the bank. He then recoiled from the plant, throwing his arms in the air. Bradley had to run up to the house again before we moved on and I waited in the car, watching this fellow. He was staggering around the street gesturing towards my neighbours as they emerged from their driveways. As Bradley and I drove past him, he was picking small somethings off the kerb and holding them in the air as if he had found some priceless treasure and was examining it.

He was obviously suffering from some form of delusion and my first instinct was to be a bit suspicious of him, not knowing what his next move was or what he was capable of. Strange and a bit disturbing to come across an individual like this who probably fends for himself in a world he probably doesn't relate to or understand!

Out and About - Weekend Edition Two

The sun was shining as we left the exhibition and we decided to take a drive up to the city suburbs and buy lunch at mom and dads favourite bakery which is right next to the city's Botanical Gardens. We bought pies and colddrinks and found a shady parking at the park. As we entered the park we became aware of a lady, mid-thirties, walking distractedly around, up and down paths calling someone's name. We realised that she was looking for someone and as we approached her we asked her what was wrong. "I can't find my daughter, she's only five, she's wearing a pink tutu!" I told her to go to the exit and that we would look out for her as we were walking in the other direction to her. As soon as she hurried off, I thrust the pies at my mom and said to my brother "Lets spread out and look for her". He and I rushed off and I took an adjoining path just behind some other walkers. I asked these people if they had seen this little girl and they said they had just passed her further down the path that Greg was taking by the duck pond. They stood and pointed her out as they could still see her from where they were standing. I called to Greg to fetch the child and went to find her mom. The mom was still by the entrance/exit calling hysterically for her daughter. I called out and her son, a boy of about 8 came running over to me. I sent him off to his sister and as mom came up to me I could see she was very broken by this trauma. She had tears and mascara streaming down her face. I hugged her and told her that we had found her child. In the meantime Greg and mom had taken the opportunity to give the little girl a pep talk about running away from her mother. It was definitely a wake up call for mom to not rely on her daughter to keep close to her but to watch her all the time. Children can go missing in the blink of an eye. Every mom's worst nightmare!

In the meantime dad had continued meandering down to his favourite bench overlooking the duck lake. He doesn't get involved in his family's doings, just continues on his way - the stable one! We ate our lunch while looking at a family of 9 ducklings with their mom as well as a family of young Egyptian geese and some Ibis being fed bits of bread by a young couple. On the other side of the lake was a wedding entourage, the wedding attendants clad brightly in orange which was clashing with the pink and yellow flowers which they were using for a photo backdrop. Two little flowergirls clad identically in frilly white dresses and Maryjane shoes were balancing precariously on the giant roots of a pondside tree and leaning over the water to try for a better view of the ducklings. I kept expecting one or both to fall in but luckily they lost interest.

Families picnicking and playing games, vivid and varied birdlife, young folks and old, a variety of locals who obviously use the park extensively as a break from city life. An oasis in the middle of the city. And all the while the sun shone, drying up the mud and rain from the morning. We sat for a while and then strolled through the indigenous plant house which also has an array of beadwork creatures such as ladybugs and lizards, which the kids take great pleasure in spotting amongst the greenery and then on to the orchid house which has been in existence since I was a child and every time that we have been there has has an array of colourful and exotic orchids, palms and ferns on display. They have a water feature with a waterfall and a pond holding fish and...freshwater crabs.

After that it was time to go after an enjoyable day out!

On our return to my folks place, I got a text from Dael asking "Are you going to stay away the whole day then?"

Sometimes its good for the parents to go out and the kids to stay home!

Out and About - Weekend Edition One

After helping out my dad with some banking matters, my parents invited my brother and myself to go with them to a local home and garden exhibition which was being held in Durban. I had left the boys at home and just texted them to let them know that I would be gone for a while.

Mom sat in the front passenger next to dad who was driving with Greg and me in the back. As soon as we entered Durban with the Saturday morning shopping frenzy, my mom started freaking out. She was berating my dad for not having left her at home in peace "I don't need this", she was praying out loud, instructing my dad to allow any taxi driver to do whatever he wanted, "If he hangs his arm out the window, just let him come in. Just don't have an attitude with them". My dad quite reasonably pointed out that he doesn't usually overreact when driving, its my mom who has road rage! Hats off to my dad for keeping his patience through this tirade although he's had almost 46 years of marriage to practice. I was battling to keep patient because obviously all this lamenting is very distracting for the driver and I did comment at one stage that I don't like to see mom like this, limiting herself from going to different places because of her fears. I eventually kept my counsel so as to not cause a fight. We navigated the city centre traffic with mom in one piece although decidedly grumpy and moody by the time we had arrived at our destination.

The exhibition was set up along the usual lines of lots of lovely things for lots of money. We wandered around collecting brochures, snacking on unusual but tasty honey-roasted nuts. Very moreish! As we wandered past one particular stand, the Indian presenter demanded our cellphones. "Give me your phone!" My dad and I both said "NO!" but mom and Greg handed their phones over to be fitted for a cover which is touted as basically a protective skin (see-through cover) x R75.00 each - quick sale - good salesman!

My mom and brother both found captive audiences to talk to as they both love talking. Greg felt sorry for one salesman (something to do with swimming pools) and went over and kept him talking for 15 mins. Mom found her talking partner by some exclusive patio furniture.

I wandered off and spotted something quite innovative in the corner by the entrance. A small van beautifully signwritten with a built-in ATM and steps up to the ATM - quite useful and just pack up and go when the exhibition is over. Except it was Out of Order! The number of people that climbed those steps and tried to draw money before realising that it wasn't working was quite comical. People are mostly not very observant.

We stayed until the hunger pangs set in and then decided to leave because the food was just too overpriced at the show and we had seen everything by that stage. As we left, the sun was shining after a morning of rain and a quick decision was made on our next destination...

Happy Birthday Daughter of Mine

My darling daughter turns 22 today. A year ago I visited her in Cape Town for her 21st birthday bash which was held at my sister's house. Just where has one more year gone?

She arrived in Cape Town just before she turned 20 and now she's just about to fly on again just after she turns 22.

She's a whirlwind! My Roby is an ambitious forward thinking young lady who wants to embrace new experiences, meet new friends and continue studying when she gets up to Gauteng. She attracts friends to her like a moth to a light and people like to be around her.

She has self confidence and a drive to get where she wants to be in life. She doesn't run over people and treat people badly while she's striving to get ahead. She cherishes her friends and loves spending time with them. She's sociable and loves socialising!

She loves her bunnies and also dogs and cats. I'm sure that in time when she has her own house she will have a house full of pets.

I am extremely proud of my daughter and especially of the fact that she is prepared to take great leaps of faith and move house in order to achieve her life's ambitions.

Happy Birthday, Popcat. May all your dreams be fulfilled and your challenges be achievable.

Have a lovely day! We miss you!

Lots of love, Mom, Dael and Bradley. xxxxxx

Seen on the streets!

I had just dropped Brad at school and was making my way along a suburban street to get to the freeway. On the side of the busy street stood a tall elderly man holding two nicely made placards which read "Brothels are illegal" and "Keep our neighbourhood clean". A one-man picket! Obviously he has discovered that some of his nice neighbours are carrying on a seedy business due to the fact that they are receiving an inordinately high number of visitors! I think this type of 'business' is creeping into a lot of suburbs. Well, one cant expect the patrons to have to travel too far for their entertainment, can one? Makes you think doesn't it?

I got to the freeway only to discover that it was jam-packed with traffic. The cars were creeping slowly down the offramp towards the traffic lights and I was fiddling with my bag to put away my lip balm, all the time braking as the traffic was stopping again when whoomp! I was resting bumper to bumper against the car of the lady in front of me. Oops! I was braking but just not hard enough and I was distracted for a second and hadn't noticed that the traffic had stopped completely. I held my handbrake and reversed up a little to separate us from our closeness. She and I got out of our cars and she was such a good sport. She examined her bumper and said "Don't worry". There was no damage as I was just resting against her car but it was reminder to me as we drove our separate ways not to become distracted when my car is moving... however slowly!

More later...

Seen on the street.

I have decided to start up a new series of observations on the street as and when they occur.

The first was as I was travelling behind a tanker truck. I was behind it for quite some time travelling home down the back route from my work to home. I was staring at the rear of the tanker which was complete with all the paraphernalia to suck or blow whatever the contents of the tanker are when I noticed that jammed into the mechanism was a bicycle, quite secure and cosy with its one tyre resting on a road cone. Its necessary to have some alternative transport should your tanker break down!

Last night going home via my parents, I stopped at an intersection and glanced left to check traffic and there was a large gentleman out for his evening exercise. He was wearing nothing to spare anyone glancing his way from the sight of his huge naked belly and the rest of his sorry torso apart from the requisite running shoes and a very small pair of shocking pink shorts. Oh my gosh - that should be illegal! And he wasn't running!

More strange sights to come!

Back to reality.

The school hols came and went. Bradley was either staying at his cousin's place or his cousin was at my place. Now cousin R suffers from allergies which I think are more under control when he is at home but when he is at our place, with our cats and dust, he starts to snuffle and snort like a rhinoceros! He stayed with us from Tuesday night until Friday night and out of a bag of 10 toilet rolls, I had 2 left. I also find it extremely irritating to have that constant noseblowing like a trumpet, the toilet constantly full of paper or little piles of toilet paper everywhere like snow drifts. I would tidy the house in the morning which took the entire time from waking until leaving and arrive home to find that the three boys had almost destroyed the place. Not a holiday for me!

Brad was back to school this week with the benefit now of ritalin which he has decided to be in charge of himself rather than leaving the meds with the teacher, who is rather sarcastic with the kids. I have allowed him this privilege as long as he remembers to take the tablets. Today, the school has already sent the children home (before 9am) because the school has no water. I hope that it is just a pipe problem and not that they haven't paid their utilities bill! Bradley was not complaining...

Dael is now on a mission to get to Gauteng after not wanting to go up at all. I think it has something to do with a new friend. I am happy for him to go because there is just no suitable work for him in our area but I will miss my son and I will miss my two boys being together. I don't like all the kids to be separated from each other. However, if Dael goes to Gauteng, his sister will be up there by the end of October and my older two will be able to renew their relationship. I think Dael needs that more at this stage. He is mixing with a school crowd and getting involved in teenage politics which is not where he should be at now. He needs to widen his horizons a bit more and I think the move will be good for him.

My car seems to have stopped leaking oil. There was a part broken just where the dipstick is inserted and oil was spraying out there and coating the engine and leaking wherever I parked. I was also having to fill up oil just about every week. The last time I checked oil, the attendant said he could replace the broken part and it would only cost R5. I said please do and he did. I needed 3 pints of oil. Then he checked my water - empty. He was disgusted and told me I was trying to break my car. (My water leaks as well and I carry a 2lt bottle of water everywhere I go.) He now has his bad opinion of woman drivers renewed by this crazy woman driving around with no oil or water! Don't worry that I have been driving my car for 5 years without blowing the motor. Oh well, it wasn't worth explaining.

Onwards and upwards!!