I'm really struggling to keep up with the blog now. We have only a week left in SA and I feel as if I am on an emotional rollercoaster. Had my leaving do last Tuesday evening with the guys from work. They took me to The Food Room in Wynberg, the brilliant kitchen run by Kate George that I have been to several times for fun and boozy evenings. However I've always missed Kate's Easy Asian nights and Dot knew that, so she had organised a private party just for us. Kate demonstrated the dishes, plied us with wine, let us join in with the cooking and then fed us a delicious meal. Keith made a lovely speech which made me cry. It would have been sensible to go home at that point, but Sue, Keith and I went on to Jake's all the way down at Steenberg for a few more drinks. More tears were shed, and suddenly it was nearly one o clock in the morning. I had a seriously sore head the next day, but it was all worth it for a really lovely send off I shall remember for a long time.
Lottie and Libby have finished school now. Lottie skipped out, very much looking forward to going home. Libby is struggling but being very brave. She spent the last day 'being treated like a princess' at a class party, though she was in tears for most of it. She's really aware that this is goodbye and has been writing a poem to her old classmates. She has a photo of the class by her bed. However she is also looking forward to seeing old friends again and to doing new things in England.
We went to Kirstenbosch on Sunday, probably for the last time, and I really felt that almost physical pain of knowing that we'll be leaving so much that's amazing behind. Of course South Africa has huge problems, and most fundamentally of all it isn't our home, but it also has so much to offer. I'm really glad to be coming home to friends and family, but I'll miss the mountains and the sea and the beauty and the richness and the character and the lifestyle so very much.
We've started packing boxes and cases so the house is strewn with piles of things to take on the plane, give away, ship. The bigger items are being shipped and the packers come in next Wednesday, the day before we leave for Namibia. I'm working right up to the last moment, and will continue to work for AVSA for at least a month or two after returning to England, which I am really pleased about. Still it won't be the same as being with this amazing bunch of people. I've loved being part of the team here, it's been like Added Value was in 1997 when I first joined.
Anyway, enough feeling sorry for myself. It is the right decision to come home and there is much for us all to look forward to. But I have to admit that there's a very definite bit of me that wishes we could stay.
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Thursday, June 9, 2011
The Allams come to stay!
Here we are in June already and we are all really busy trying to cram as much into our last weeks as possible. Susie, Steve, Alexander and Anna came to stay for a week and it was so lovely to see them that I wanted to record as much as possible from their stay. Here goes!
Friday 27th May 2011
An absolutely beautiful winter’s day. Warm sunshine, still air, fabulous views of the mountain. We look forward to showing the Allams our adopted city in all its glory.
Early hours of Saturday 28th May
Wake to hear bucketing rain splashing onto the deck outside our bedroom.
Saturday 28th May
Still raining when we wake up. Make a dash to hockey, hoping it will soon brighten up but the rain gets worse, so hockey finishes early and we head off to the airport to meet our visitors who are arriving at 10am on the overnight flight from London.
Back home, we huddle around the fairly feeble gas fire and have a great catch up over lots of coffee. It finally stops raining so we drag the children away from the table tennis and their Ninetendos and walk up to Rhodes Memorial where the sun comes out and we get a good view of the city.
Sunday 29th May
Determined not to let the weather defeat us, we headed off to Cape Point after the breakfast. When I looked back at these photos it looks like we’ve taken a trip to the Arctic! It was certainly chilly and blustery on the walk to the Cape of Good Hope, but perhaps not quite a bad as the photos suggest...
We drove along the coast road, through Kalk Bay and Simon’s Town. Stopped at Boulders Beach to see the penguins first. It’s breeding season, so there were lots of penguins on nests and with fluffy babies.
I was sure we’d see the baboons at some point and there they were right at the entrance to the national park. We stopped to watch them for a few minutes, and then drove the length of the park to our usual car park. Braved the boardwalk all the way to the very tip of the peninsula in a howling gale, and showed the children where Neil and I got engaged. A few minutes of trying to stay on our feet was enough for all of us, and we beat a hasty retreat to the shelter of the restaurant for a warming lunch.
Still time for a brisk walk up the hill to the lighthouse afterwards before we had to leave to make it out of the park before the gates shut.
Back at home, we fed the children their first taste of ostrich, which seemed to go down quite well. Lottie and Libby even overcame their squeamish when they saw their friends tucking in.
Monday 30th May
The weather was absolutely appalling overnight! I had a debrief and a briefing session in Durban today so left the house at 5am – not such a hardship as I’d been awake most of the night. When the wind howls round the house it sounds as if the windows are about to blow in. Plus we’ve got water pouring into the utility room, presumably from a missing tile on the roof.
So the Allams had a very wet day to explore some of what Cape Town has to offer. Unfortunately almost all the main attractions rely on decent weather: Table Mountain, Cape Point, Kirstenbosch, even township tours. However they seemed to have managed well, with a trip to the Waterfront and the Aquarium, plus a drive round the coast as soon as the rain dried up a little.
I didn’t get home until about 9pm – just in time to join in the wine drinking with Neil, Susie and Steve. Neil and I realised that we’ve got more bottles left than we can reasonably drink in the next 6 weeks, so we’re pickling the Allams livers this week too.
Tuesday 31st May
The forecast for the week isn’t brilliant. I feel so bad the Susie and Steve are having such poor weather, as CT just doesn’t look its best when the sun doesn’t shine.
However as today was at least dry, we rang the cable car hotline as soon as we woke up. With limited time available, we felt that the Allams should take the first opportunity to get up the mountain as wind, rain and low cloud all close the cable car down for hours at a time.
I was working, so couldn’t join them, but it sounded as if the whole family really enjoyed their day. Once on top of the mountain, Susie quickly photographed the views through broken cloud before visibility reduced. They walked to Maclear’s Beacon in the mist, but at least they made it up to the top.
Wednesday 1st June
Officially the start of winter. Woke up to quite a bright day. Still cold – I know poor Susie is really feeling it as our house is freezing in the evening and early morning. We have a ritual hot water filling session each evening and Susie is always huddled up next to the fire, but the room is so big that the fire makes little impression. We’ve bought a second fan heater for their bedroom downstairs too, but it’s not very comfortable to come home to a cold house.
Packed Lottie and Elizabeth off to school (poor things have exams this week, otherwise we’d have taken them out for a day), and the rest of us headed off up the N2 to Stellenbosch. We had decided to combine a bit of wine tasting in the winelands with a visit to Spier to see the cheetah outreach programme.
First stop Klein Zalze. Lovely warm tasting room, so a nice spot to linger for a while and sip and slurp (Neil!). Then a drive over to the other side of town to Rustenburg, partly because it’s such a beautiful old Cape Dutch farm, and partly because it shares a name with the girls’ school. Anna and Alexander were absolutely fantastic, and waited very patiently while the adults bored on about wine and nonsense. However we decided we’d pushed their patience long enough and headed into Stellenbosch for a late lunch. Unfortunately Neil and I then had to leave to make sure we got back to Cape Town in time to collect our children from school, but the Allams headed down to Spier and saw both the cheetahs and the wild dogs, plus some wilderbeest on the way and even a small flock of flamingos.
Thursday 2nd June
At last, a fine and settled day. Unfortunately I was working again – as time is now so short for me here I’ve got a huge amount to cram into the last few weeks. As I write this I’m trying to quell the mild panic!
So I wasn’t able to join the Allams on their visit to Kirstenbosch, one of my absolute favourite places in CT. I knew Susie would love it as the actual gardens are utterly stunning. But even Steve was impressed. The thing about Kirstenbosch that makes it so special is its scale, its naturally sublime setting under the mountain, and its variety. You don’t have to be interested in plants or gardens to find it breathtaking.
Leaving their car in the care of the car guard in the car park, Susie, Steve and the children walked the contour path all the way from Kirstenbosch to Rhodes Memorial. That’s quite a hike, but it’s a lovely walk over streams and landslips and through eucalyptus forests.
When they got back home, I whizzed Steve back up to Kirstenbosch to collect their car and then the four adults got ready to go out to dinner, leaving the children in the capable hands of our lovely babysitter Kirsten. We had booked a table at Constantia Uitsig (coincidentally, though we didn’t know it at the time, Susie’s parents stayed in the hotel here years ago). It was a clear but cold night so we had a view of the stars before we went in, though as it was dark we missed out on the gorgeous views. Lovely meal as always, then home for a nightcap.
Friday 3rd June
Anna bravely went to school with Libby this morning. Libby had been campaigning for this all week, and as her teacher was cool about it, and Anna was willing, it seemed like a good idea all round. Hardly a taxing day as they apparently watched a movie for half the morning as a reward for their hard work during their tests (!) Not sure what Anna made of the Xhosa lesson though!
Susie, Steve and Alexander popped back into town, and we collected the girls at lunchtime and all met up for a quick bite to eat before Lottie and Libby headed out again to go to a cross country race. This week the venue was over in Noordhoek, so Susie came with me and really enjoyed the climb up and over Ou Kapsweg and down into the valley. This was Lottie’s first race (Libby’s third). It was a scene of happy chaos at the athletics club with hundreds of children milling about waiting for their race. There’s between 50 and 70 children on average per race. Libby did very well and came 9th and Lottie came 18th in her age group – pretty good for the first time.
Neil, Steve and Alexander had the braai going when we got home, so we all tucked into some hearty SA food. As it was ‘gala night’ Susie and I cracked open the fizz and polished off the bottle standing on our deck and watching the sun set behind the mountain.
Saturday 4th June
As the Allams weren’t flying until 6.45pm we decided there was time this morning for one of our favourite walks: Lion’s Head. In two hours or so it’s possible to walk up and down a small mountain, made more exciting by the option of taking the challenging route which involves a bit of ladder climbing and pulling up by chains.
The walk should also offer magnificent views of the CBD, Camps Bay, Green Point, the Twelve Apostles and Table Mountain all the way up. But sadly not today. Much of the way up we were in mist, and once at the summit we were actually above the cloud completely – and only able to see white fluffy stuff below us, not spectacular views. However the children really enjoyed the walk and they all did very well with the rock climbing bit.
And so home for a late lunch and a quick spot of packing before we took the Allams back to the airport after another week that has just flown by.
Typically of course since then we’ve had a beautiful week, with warm almost spring like days and sunny skies. The mountains have still been shrouded in mist as Neil and I found when we had a ‘day off’ on Saturday. After hockey, the girls went to play with a friend in Constantia, so Neil and I popped down to Muizenberg and hiked up to St James’s Peak and the Muizenberg cave before a quick lunch in Kalk Bay. Despite appearing sunny from the beach road, we had soon climbed into cloud. But once we got to Di and Anton’s beautiful house on the Groot Constantia estate we were able to sit chatting and drinking tea in the afternoon sun.
Yesterday I left Cape Town for my last overseas trip – this time to India. My flight wasn’t until the evening so I really wanted some exercise before getting on an overnight flight to Delhi via Dubai. As it was an absolutely perfect morning, we headed up to Silvermine and did the long circuit that takes in Noordhoek Peak. The views are simply breathtaking from up there, and the walk was utterly fantastic.
We’re now talking about returning to England on our walks, and discussing some of the things the girls want to do when they get home. But we’re also enjoying listing all the highlights of our stay out here, and the things we’ll miss most. Lottie and Elizabeth only have two weeks left at school, then a week of tennis and riding camps whilst I finish my project, and then we leave SA for Namibia.
So here I am in Delhi, at the famous Imperial Hotel, steeped in history and Raj-style tradition. I’ve been travelling for 20 hours, so it’s time for a bath and an early night. Hoping to see a lot of the city, even if just from a car taking me to and from meetings.
Night night,
Sarah
Friday 27th May 2011
An absolutely beautiful winter’s day. Warm sunshine, still air, fabulous views of the mountain. We look forward to showing the Allams our adopted city in all its glory.
Early hours of Saturday 28th May
Wake to hear bucketing rain splashing onto the deck outside our bedroom.
Saturday 28th May
Still raining when we wake up. Make a dash to hockey, hoping it will soon brighten up but the rain gets worse, so hockey finishes early and we head off to the airport to meet our visitors who are arriving at 10am on the overnight flight from London.
Back home, we huddle around the fairly feeble gas fire and have a great catch up over lots of coffee. It finally stops raining so we drag the children away from the table tennis and their Ninetendos and walk up to Rhodes Memorial where the sun comes out and we get a good view of the city.
Sunday 29th May
Determined not to let the weather defeat us, we headed off to Cape Point after the breakfast. When I looked back at these photos it looks like we’ve taken a trip to the Arctic! It was certainly chilly and blustery on the walk to the Cape of Good Hope, but perhaps not quite a bad as the photos suggest...
We drove along the coast road, through Kalk Bay and Simon’s Town. Stopped at Boulders Beach to see the penguins first. It’s breeding season, so there were lots of penguins on nests and with fluffy babies.
I was sure we’d see the baboons at some point and there they were right at the entrance to the national park. We stopped to watch them for a few minutes, and then drove the length of the park to our usual car park. Braved the boardwalk all the way to the very tip of the peninsula in a howling gale, and showed the children where Neil and I got engaged. A few minutes of trying to stay on our feet was enough for all of us, and we beat a hasty retreat to the shelter of the restaurant for a warming lunch.
Still time for a brisk walk up the hill to the lighthouse afterwards before we had to leave to make it out of the park before the gates shut.
Back at home, we fed the children their first taste of ostrich, which seemed to go down quite well. Lottie and Libby even overcame their squeamish when they saw their friends tucking in.
Monday 30th May
The weather was absolutely appalling overnight! I had a debrief and a briefing session in Durban today so left the house at 5am – not such a hardship as I’d been awake most of the night. When the wind howls round the house it sounds as if the windows are about to blow in. Plus we’ve got water pouring into the utility room, presumably from a missing tile on the roof.
So the Allams had a very wet day to explore some of what Cape Town has to offer. Unfortunately almost all the main attractions rely on decent weather: Table Mountain, Cape Point, Kirstenbosch, even township tours. However they seemed to have managed well, with a trip to the Waterfront and the Aquarium, plus a drive round the coast as soon as the rain dried up a little.
I didn’t get home until about 9pm – just in time to join in the wine drinking with Neil, Susie and Steve. Neil and I realised that we’ve got more bottles left than we can reasonably drink in the next 6 weeks, so we’re pickling the Allams livers this week too.
Tuesday 31st May
The forecast for the week isn’t brilliant. I feel so bad the Susie and Steve are having such poor weather, as CT just doesn’t look its best when the sun doesn’t shine.
However as today was at least dry, we rang the cable car hotline as soon as we woke up. With limited time available, we felt that the Allams should take the first opportunity to get up the mountain as wind, rain and low cloud all close the cable car down for hours at a time.
I was working, so couldn’t join them, but it sounded as if the whole family really enjoyed their day. Once on top of the mountain, Susie quickly photographed the views through broken cloud before visibility reduced. They walked to Maclear’s Beacon in the mist, but at least they made it up to the top.
Wednesday 1st June
Officially the start of winter. Woke up to quite a bright day. Still cold – I know poor Susie is really feeling it as our house is freezing in the evening and early morning. We have a ritual hot water filling session each evening and Susie is always huddled up next to the fire, but the room is so big that the fire makes little impression. We’ve bought a second fan heater for their bedroom downstairs too, but it’s not very comfortable to come home to a cold house.
Packed Lottie and Elizabeth off to school (poor things have exams this week, otherwise we’d have taken them out for a day), and the rest of us headed off up the N2 to Stellenbosch. We had decided to combine a bit of wine tasting in the winelands with a visit to Spier to see the cheetah outreach programme.
First stop Klein Zalze. Lovely warm tasting room, so a nice spot to linger for a while and sip and slurp (Neil!). Then a drive over to the other side of town to Rustenburg, partly because it’s such a beautiful old Cape Dutch farm, and partly because it shares a name with the girls’ school. Anna and Alexander were absolutely fantastic, and waited very patiently while the adults bored on about wine and nonsense. However we decided we’d pushed their patience long enough and headed into Stellenbosch for a late lunch. Unfortunately Neil and I then had to leave to make sure we got back to Cape Town in time to collect our children from school, but the Allams headed down to Spier and saw both the cheetahs and the wild dogs, plus some wilderbeest on the way and even a small flock of flamingos.
Thursday 2nd June
At last, a fine and settled day. Unfortunately I was working again – as time is now so short for me here I’ve got a huge amount to cram into the last few weeks. As I write this I’m trying to quell the mild panic!
So I wasn’t able to join the Allams on their visit to Kirstenbosch, one of my absolute favourite places in CT. I knew Susie would love it as the actual gardens are utterly stunning. But even Steve was impressed. The thing about Kirstenbosch that makes it so special is its scale, its naturally sublime setting under the mountain, and its variety. You don’t have to be interested in plants or gardens to find it breathtaking.
Leaving their car in the care of the car guard in the car park, Susie, Steve and the children walked the contour path all the way from Kirstenbosch to Rhodes Memorial. That’s quite a hike, but it’s a lovely walk over streams and landslips and through eucalyptus forests.
When they got back home, I whizzed Steve back up to Kirstenbosch to collect their car and then the four adults got ready to go out to dinner, leaving the children in the capable hands of our lovely babysitter Kirsten. We had booked a table at Constantia Uitsig (coincidentally, though we didn’t know it at the time, Susie’s parents stayed in the hotel here years ago). It was a clear but cold night so we had a view of the stars before we went in, though as it was dark we missed out on the gorgeous views. Lovely meal as always, then home for a nightcap.
Friday 3rd June
Anna bravely went to school with Libby this morning. Libby had been campaigning for this all week, and as her teacher was cool about it, and Anna was willing, it seemed like a good idea all round. Hardly a taxing day as they apparently watched a movie for half the morning as a reward for their hard work during their tests (!) Not sure what Anna made of the Xhosa lesson though!
Susie, Steve and Alexander popped back into town, and we collected the girls at lunchtime and all met up for a quick bite to eat before Lottie and Libby headed out again to go to a cross country race. This week the venue was over in Noordhoek, so Susie came with me and really enjoyed the climb up and over Ou Kapsweg and down into the valley. This was Lottie’s first race (Libby’s third). It was a scene of happy chaos at the athletics club with hundreds of children milling about waiting for their race. There’s between 50 and 70 children on average per race. Libby did very well and came 9th and Lottie came 18th in her age group – pretty good for the first time.
Neil, Steve and Alexander had the braai going when we got home, so we all tucked into some hearty SA food. As it was ‘gala night’ Susie and I cracked open the fizz and polished off the bottle standing on our deck and watching the sun set behind the mountain.
Saturday 4th June
As the Allams weren’t flying until 6.45pm we decided there was time this morning for one of our favourite walks: Lion’s Head. In two hours or so it’s possible to walk up and down a small mountain, made more exciting by the option of taking the challenging route which involves a bit of ladder climbing and pulling up by chains.
The walk should also offer magnificent views of the CBD, Camps Bay, Green Point, the Twelve Apostles and Table Mountain all the way up. But sadly not today. Much of the way up we were in mist, and once at the summit we were actually above the cloud completely – and only able to see white fluffy stuff below us, not spectacular views. However the children really enjoyed the walk and they all did very well with the rock climbing bit.
And so home for a late lunch and a quick spot of packing before we took the Allams back to the airport after another week that has just flown by.
Typically of course since then we’ve had a beautiful week, with warm almost spring like days and sunny skies. The mountains have still been shrouded in mist as Neil and I found when we had a ‘day off’ on Saturday. After hockey, the girls went to play with a friend in Constantia, so Neil and I popped down to Muizenberg and hiked up to St James’s Peak and the Muizenberg cave before a quick lunch in Kalk Bay. Despite appearing sunny from the beach road, we had soon climbed into cloud. But once we got to Di and Anton’s beautiful house on the Groot Constantia estate we were able to sit chatting and drinking tea in the afternoon sun.
Yesterday I left Cape Town for my last overseas trip – this time to India. My flight wasn’t until the evening so I really wanted some exercise before getting on an overnight flight to Delhi via Dubai. As it was an absolutely perfect morning, we headed up to Silvermine and did the long circuit that takes in Noordhoek Peak. The views are simply breathtaking from up there, and the walk was utterly fantastic.
We’re now talking about returning to England on our walks, and discussing some of the things the girls want to do when they get home. But we’re also enjoying listing all the highlights of our stay out here, and the things we’ll miss most. Lottie and Elizabeth only have two weeks left at school, then a week of tennis and riding camps whilst I finish my project, and then we leave SA for Namibia.
So here I am in Delhi, at the famous Imperial Hotel, steeped in history and Raj-style tradition. I’ve been travelling for 20 hours, so it’s time for a bath and an early night. Hoping to see a lot of the city, even if just from a car taking me to and from meetings.
Night night,
Sarah
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