Unwanted Receiving and Unwilling Giving January 1, 2009

The festive season has finally drawn to a close and quite honestly by December 31st, I was quite ready to see the back of 2008 and face what 2009 might hold.  Christmas is a time for giving and receiving and Hubby and I just kept on receiving after the 24th and I’m not referring to a gift like the green jersey your Aunty Mable might have knitted for you!  We also gave a gift we would rather not have given on the 28th!  Let me explain the chain of events.

On Christmas morning along with the gifts left under the tree we received, from Eldest, a fabulous throat infection with accompanying high fever!

On Boxing Day, December 26th, we received an immaculate world class fever, from Wee One, topping the scales at 40.6 degrees!

On December 27th, along with a sleepless night of Ibuprofen administration and tepid baths, Wee One started sporting a few spots.

On December 28th, after another night of much the same, my long suffering Homeopath opened his rooms for me on a Sunday to take a look at Wee One’s spots and it was confirmed, despite a costly vaccination, that Wee One had the Chicken Pox!

On the evening of December 28th we discovered that although we were receiving things we would rather not have we had also given a large monetary gift we would rather not have given – to a fraudster, resulting in our bank account reflecting a R12  000 total debit!  Yes, we were still in possession of our credit cards… they are so clever these days!

On the morning of December 29th, despite Wee One’s obvious improvement with his ‘pox’ marks and copious Bicarb baths, a strange rash was starting to appear on his face – we wrote it off to a heat rash – or should I say we hoped for a heat rash.

December 30th and I could no longer deny that said rash was growing from Wee One’s face to his knees and with bated breath I rode back to my Homeopath to have it confirmed that although his Chicken Pox were healing beautifully he had also started German Measles!

December 31st, I went to visit my Dad for his 60th birthday and on my way back, along the freeway, I had a front row seat to witness a full scale “Hollywood” style rifle shoot out between police and the occupants of a white bakkie!  Nothing like a bit of ‘Wild Wild West’ to end off the year!

Did I make midnight to see in the New Year?  What do you think?

A Mystery Solved! October 14, 2008

It was a complete mystery.  Hubby was hobbling upstairs and downstairs in his nightgown. Cursing his old sports injury for resurfacing and unable to find the anti-inflammatory gel that he had been applying to his knee for the past few days.  He looked at me to pull it out of my magic top hat – obviously I, being mother and wife, am all knowing!  Eventually even I conceded defeat, blamed Eldest and found a substitute cream for him to apply.

Yesterday I had an intruder!  Not the human kind so there was no need to phone the Police, but a furry visitor with a very curious little face!  Sitting with my morning mug of coffee going through my emails and catching up on the current global economic crises, I saw movement in my peripheral vision.  Looking up I found I was being watched by a furry little character of the monkey kind!  Now for people living outside of Kwa Zulu-Natal this is unusual and exciting!  For people who have these frequent visitors in their homes, this is annoying!  You leave your bedroom window open for a second and they are in like a flash, some are neat little cat burglars, others trash your home and use your floor as their porto-loo!

I chased my little intruder from my home and believed that they must have gained entry through Eldest’s bedroom windows!  I cleaned upstairs, stripped bedding and believed that all monkey essence had been removed!

This morning Hubby informed me that he had found the elusive anti-inflammatory gel!  While opening our little bathroom window he saw the box in the garden and the tube in the gutter!  My furry intruder had entered into my bathroom and nicked the tube off my vanity! He was of the neat cat burglar variety as I never suspected a thing!  Mystery solved – it was all down to a little monkey business!

So you will need to excuse me, I am off to the shops to buy new toothbrushes!  Just incase! (“shudder”)

Sunday Bike Day July 23, 2008

The Durban Beachfront hasn’t seen me in years but that changed this weekend due to very energetic friends of ours!  We were invited to join their family and cycle down the promenade with the kids.  My first instinct was a big “NO WAY”, and then I thought about Eldest and how much fun he would have cycling with his friends.  So I volunteered my husband to accompany them and Eldest while I would push Wee One in his pram at my own leisurely pace.  I have to admit that I am a nervous cyclist, riding in the open is no problem but in between people and cars is pushing me out of my comfort zone.  I was offered a baby seat for Wee One, cycle helmet and eventually I conceded to joining the Sunday bike ride gang.  As we loaded the bikes onto the bike rack I was a bit panicked, I even put in Wee One’s pram just in case he didn’t take to the cycle helmet.  My bike was pulled out from the back of the garage, dusty, flat tires and the longest cobweb you have ever seen extending from the front wheel to the wall.  Oh the shame. 

As Hubby pumped up my wheels I secretly crossed my fingers behind my back and hoped for a puncture but it was as if my dear Mountain Bike couldn’t believe it’s luck, with it’s newly inflated wheels and smooth changing gears, it proudly glistened in the winter sun.  If bikes could be happy, my one most certainly was.

At the Beachfront it was pandemonium with people everywhere taking advantage of a warm sunny day.  Unfortunately for me Wee One didn’t so much as squeak when we strapped on his bike helmet – in fact he sat back and looked like a pro.  I on the other hand had to hold fast to the saying that once you know how to ride a bicycle you never forget…. and the saying is true.

I enjoyed our little family outing riding along and seeing what Durb’s is getting up to. Parts of the promenade have been repaved, there is a strong police presence, and sadly the Fitzsimmon’s Snake Park has been demolished.  The people are as vibrant as ever, playing drums, selling tat at the Flea Market, and building magnificent sand sculptures in the hope that those viewing their work will donate a bit of spare cash.  Our kids managed to sit in a BMW completely made from beach sand!  There is still an element of sadness underlying it all, as one can see that they need the odd R2 that gets flipped on the sand, but as least they are doing something as opposed to the other beachdweller who was sleeping passed out in the midday sun from too much drink.    

I was suprised that it was not an entirely painful experiance, afterall I managed to stay on my bike unlike the last time I rode through the forests in Germany and managed to ride into the back of my Aunt’s bike.  We weren’t sure who caused the accident, however I lay the blame entirely at the feet of the Apfelwein we quaffed at lunch!