I love my MA

Our little Rum Tum has always been an affectionate cat. Although he has a strong sense for "stranger danger" and seems rather aloof and snobbish when we have visitor he so enjoys being around Chris and I when we are home. Since I have been pregnant, this affection has been a lot more obvious and was one of the tell tale signs that things with me were most certainly different.

On Sunday, having had a rather busy weekend, with the trip to Ficksburg as well as my final wedding on Saturday I was feeling rather exhausted an took the opportunity to keep Chris company while he read the papers outside in the courtyard. As you can see I was being really lazy with not even a book in sight when Rum Tum decided it was time to play "find the fingers". It all started with him hiding behind my legs and then diving for my fingers. After a bit he just settled in between my legs as if he was going to be on the cover of the feline GQ while Chris snapped some pics.

You gotta just love our precious Rumble Tumble!

Going ...Going ...Gone!

So now D-Day 1 has come and gone and we have all survived to tell the tale....

D-Day 1 = The Great van Gelder Auction #1.

Chris and I went down to Ficksburg for some moral support for the big auction last week. We left JHB on Thursday afternoon and arrived in Ficksburg in time for some hearty home cooked food (which has been rather scarce in our home for the past 10 weeks) and a good old chin wag with the folks.

Friday morning the men were all busy from early while I tried to catch a few extra winks and Mom went for her weekly hair-do. By 9.30am we were all at the hall waiting with baited breath for the proceedings to start. There appeared to be quite a good flow of people through the hall "checking out" what they wanted to bid for. Amazingly enough in amongst the crowd were a few folk we had not seen for years..... Namely Duncan & Irene Winkworth. Duncan used to be the resident town vet when we were growing up but they had left to live in Bloemfontein some years ago and have an antique shop there in between still running the surgery and Irene's teaching at St Michaels. They were particularly interested in the Mel Brink paintings and managed to get the one they were most interested in. Also, another blast from the past was my old history teacher..... Michael Mitchley. It was great to seem him again and hear all about his antique shop & ...... a sore loss for the kids out there who wont have the opportunity to be taught by him. He also managed to get quite a few good pieces from our family home.

Then it was down to business and the bidding started. It is really sad to see the family treasures being sold off (sometimes for a steal and other times a seemingly worthwhile or high price) but also a good reminder that these are merely worldly goods and can never be taken with us when we go. Overall the sale went extremely well and here's hoping that the next one this Friday is just as successful!

One plus One makes Three

We are very excited to be new members of the "parents club" Although this membership is probationary we should ~ all things being equal ~ be fully fledged members by the end of October when our little jelly bean (JB) is due to make its appearance.

Today we had our first check-up and so far so good. JB has good heart beat at 139/min and is right where it should be for now. Dr is pleased and seemed quite in amid by what she was seeing. I must admit that it was quite awesome to see the fluttering heart beat but the rest really didn't make all that much sense to us lay parents-to-be. According to the scan, I am now 7 weeks and 1 day pregnant. However, this is all too confusing as according to my cycle dates I should be 8.5 weeks......... so we keep wondering??

The progesterone poisoning as aptly named in a book I am reading, commonly know as morning sickness and tiredness has its moments but am pleased to know it will pass within the next few weeks. And as a few of our JHB friends have already witnessed, "porridge brain" has also set in. Sadly, I have been assured that this will not pass so I must just get used to it.

Our next check-up is in April, so will keep you posted.

Was it the media threat?

A 2pm update......

How amazing, numerous phone calls with no real action till I took it upon myself to call Caxton Newspapers and tell them about the burst pipe and thousands of rands sailing down sixth and third ave. The journalist I spoke to said she was going to call JHB Water (she said that often the media get a real reaction going) as well as take a drive past herself. Within and hour or so after I spoke to her, the water had been turned off! Apparently we now really worried about all the wasted water......

and now another hour or so later - all of a sudden there is a team digging away to get to the root of the damage, while another team lies on verge across the road snoozing.

Unfortunately I was not able to get the 2 sleepers. As soon as they saw the camera they thought they may become famous and got to "work" around the vehicles and massive hole in the road.

So, who knows....... did the media get them jumping or was this truly the first opportunity they had to really attend to the problem?

There goes your tax payments

So, just in case you were wondering how the taxpayers money was spent this week. Have a look above, this is just outside our house and this water has be pouring from a burst pipe for +30 hours now. We have reported the fault to JHB Water numerous times and as you can see they are "attending to the matter"

Basically, sometime between 12 and 3pm yesterday they did come, opened up the tar, placed a cone in the road and left. I spoke to Floyd at around 4.30pm, was assured that the matter was in hand and were waiting for a part, Chris then spoke to them again a bit later and was assured they were en-route, I called again at 11.30 to be told by Wilson that they would be there by 3am.......This morning Chris called again at 6.30am and I called at 8.30am. Simon, the supervisor says it will be attended to during the course of the day.

About 5 months ago, the same pipe burst on a Fri night and was miraculously repaired by Sat lunch time. The whole in the road remained for a few months but the water was saved and residents could continue with normal living. This time round, its a week day and nobody seems able to get the job done.

So much for this being a precious resource that we need to conserve as the world is running low on it! JHB Water seems to believe that the more we let it run down the road the more we will get!

Home Sweet Home

We're back from a fabulous week in Switzerland. We arrived in Laax at around lunchtime last Saturday, dropped our luggage and changed into our ski gear and headed for the slopes. We arrived to no great snow but like "vaalies at the beach" still managed to get a run or 2 in before sunset. True to the weather forecast, we had plenty snow till Wednesday and much fun was had by all.

To draw comparisons to skiing in the USA, I would certainly vote for USA. Its just a pity that the travelling is that much further.....As a novice, I felt the slopes to be better groomed and skiers more polite whilst skiing and queuing for lifts and gondolas. The Europeans seem to have a free for all attitude and never mind the fact that you may have arrived at a table well before them and may be keeping places for your friends when they plonk themselves down right next to you and light up a cigarette right in your face. This happened to me twice, the second time I actually got up and walked away and stood waiting, I noticed they kept looking at me and were obviously discussing the situation. Guess we have been spoilt in SA with the divinely strict smoking laws.

Our apartments were great and we stayed in most nights. Each couple had a turn to cook whilst the rest of us relaxed.

On Saturday, we left LAAX relatively early as we were all keen to spend the day in Zurich. We has a lovely lunch in the old town and spent the afternoon shopping. Switzerland is a very expensive country so not much bargain buying to be had. Its more the fact of having bought it somewhere other than SA.

Idea on costs :
500ml (machine) coke on the slopes will cost 5CHF = R30
average lunch on slopes costs approx 30CHF = R180
pizza 18CHF = R108
bread 4CHF = R24
bread roll with ham & cheese = 7CHF = R42

as you can see not a cheap place at all but we really had a fantastic time and hope to go back someday.