I have been searching for inspiration for the next blog update………….
Still searching, so I resort to a generic sort of post, pass on the news and maybe stumble onto something while I a about it.
There must have been a clattering of keyboards back in South Africa towards the end of last week and over the weekend, coz I opened my mailbox on Monday morning to a host of news and responses to the last blog update. WONDERFUL!
News from:
Joanne on Ivan’s starring role and Erinn, Chaye and Amber’ progress.
Sean and the system upgrade. (could not resist teasing Sean on the price of new cars here, sorry Cuz)
Updates from the folk (2x, thanks) – Seems Pa is the designated spokesperson now and is tackling this role with heaps of enthusiasm. Keep ‘em rolling in!
Val, my dear friend, with all the EDS SA news (and gossip – that is sooooo cool) and the progress on her “retirement home” Not that kind! Her house outside Hermanus she is retiring to, one day! (tee hee)
Jax, my uvver friend, who delights in giving me a hard time! Her thoughts on Helen Zille? “She is going to need to wear armour plated suits”
And Twinkleberry, with her news of her impending first attempt at the London Marathon. (Just have not had the time to research her performance on the net……) We will find out!
Just for fun, though I suppose this has done the rounds in SA……
Boere Computer Dictionary From South Africa
Monitor - Keeping an eye on the braai
Download - Get the firewood off the bakkie
Hard drive - Trip back home without any cold beer
Keyboard - Where you hang the bakkie and bike keys
Window - What you shut when it's cold
Screen - What you shut in the mosquito season
Byte - What mosquitoes do
Bit - What mosquitoes did
Mega Byte - What mosquitoes at the lake do
Chip – A bar snack
Micro Chip - What's left in the bag after you have eaten the chips
Modem - What you did to the lawns
Dot Matrix - Oom Jan Matrix's wife
Laptop - Where the cat sleeps
Software - Plastic knives and forks you get at KFC
Hardware - Real stainless steel knives and forks from Checkers
Mouse - What eats the grain in the shed
Mainframe - What holds the shed up
Web - What spiders make
Web Site - The shed (or under the verandah)
Cursor - The old bloke what swears a lot
Search Engine - What you do when the bakkie won't go
Yahoo - What you say when the bakkie does go
Upgrade - A steep hill
Server - The person at the pub what brings out the lunch
Mail Server - The bloke at the pub what brings out the lunch
User - The neighbour what keeps borrowing things
Network - When you have to repair your fishing net
Internet - Complicated fish net repair method
Netscape - When fish manoeuvres out of reach of net
Online - When you get the laundry hung out
Off Line - When the pegs don't hold the washing up
On the news front from here:
We have not done that much in the last week or so. The kids have been on holiday and I have been a little pre-occupied with work and the 5 projects on my plate, which are all in planning, so huge overhead and effort on the go to line everything up, get the estimates in and sorted, define the projects and get them approved. Once over this hump, life should ease out a little, though saying that, two more resignations this month, so a little work-load-sharing coming, I fear!
Des is full steam ahead with Home Comfort and her diary is filling up rather quickly. She has some 20 hours booked for the past week and has confirmed 30 odd this week already. The pay is handy and the rate per km for travel is generous. I suspect she will be able to buy her dream car cash, later this year if she just saves the travel portion of her weekly pay. That dream car has always been a Toyota Rav4 or similar. She drove a Suzuki Escudo the other day and was really impressed. I would prefer to se her opt for the Toyota, problem is all these cars really only accommodate 4 people. It would be a second car, so why not! My thinking is if she can get that, I might be able to twist her arm for a 2 seater, open top! (Dreamer, nothing but a dreamer…..) rather get the motorcycle first……
Met our neighbours from 3 doors down yesterday (public holiday – ANZAC Day).
They are from Zimbabwe, left 7 years ago, spent 3 years in Perth and have now been in Wellington for 4. They lived in Wellington until recently, when they bought the house in Kapiti in January. Nice couple and I expect we will spend some social time with them.
They made my day, informing where we could get our grubby mits on Ricoffy and Boerewors. Not so much that we miss the wors as that the stuff that parades as sausage here is pretty awful. So much so, we have stopped trying to find one we like and sausage is off the shopping list. That goes for the ground meat and processed versions. The coffee aint bad, I suppose, but you know how it is, If you like something, you measure all others by that!
Des was thrilled to hear that the store also keeps a few brands of Pap, so guess where we will be visiting this weekend. The prices will be interesting too.
(Carried on from yesterday)
Meghan went back to school yesterday, while the other two only restart on Monday. With Des having a full day planned with Home Comfort activities, Meghan was dropped at school but would be taking the bus home. She is the only one of the kids to have used the bus for schooling purposes to date, the clever girl, so we were not concerned about her making her way home.
On enquiring from her how her day had been and what they had learned, how many windows in her class room, how many in the building etc. Sherrie chipped in that Meghan had arrived home a little later than was expected.
Oh!? Megs, did you miss the bus?
No, not really.
(Now what does not really mean? You either caught the bus or you did not)
Megs?
Yes daddy?
What’s going on?
Well,………. I ran home!
Des, didn’t you give Megs money for the bus? Megs, did you loose your bus money? Why did you RUN home?!
Well, I didn’t really run all the way home, I ran to McDonalds then I walked home. (That is so typical Meghan, she will now start to split hairs)
(McDonalds is halfway home, on the bus route, located at the main shopping centre. It is also the place where she changes busses)
Meghan, what did you buy at McDonalds? I enquire
Quarter pounder, she mumbles from behind her hand.
Huh?
Quar-ter Poun-der, she enunciates, as if to imply we are either deaf or ignorant of the Mac menu.
Turns out she decided that since school ends at 3PM and her bus does not leave till just after 3.30 (it waits for the College kids), she would walk the 2odd kilometres up to McDonalds, get herself a burger, then hop on the bus from there for the 2.5 or 3 odd kilometres home. By the time she had scoffed her Mac burger, it was still too early for the bus, so she decided to walk instead of wait.
So Des and I have had to lay some ground rules. Walking to the shopping mall is fine, there are heaps of children who walk that way so she is not alone, but from the mall home on her own is out of the question.
I suspect her $30 pocket money every second week will find some of its way into Ronald MacDonald’s rather deep, yellow and red pockets.
That child!!!!!! But you just cannot get angry with her. She has also taken a fancy to using the dishwasher. Des added dishwasher detergents and cleaners and anti-streak, and quick dry and washer cleaner and anti-alkaline build-up and washer machine degreaser and some other bottles and tablets and stuff to her shopping list with a view to making use of the dishwasher, now that she is starting to work fuller days. The machine comes with the house and simply stands there, so Megs has become the owner of pressing the buttons. To be honest, I looked at the user manual put it down after checking the maintenance page. She is getting the dishes out clean and that’s all that matters for now.
Des is starting to come home with some interesting stories from her Home Comfort, comforting! I am encouraging her to write them down, so expect some updates about the “old folk”, “lazy folk”, “lonely folk” and “senile folk” in due course. I just laugh when she tells me these stories. Poor Des!
Still searching, so I resort to a generic sort of post, pass on the news and maybe stumble onto something while I a about it.
There must have been a clattering of keyboards back in South Africa towards the end of last week and over the weekend, coz I opened my mailbox on Monday morning to a host of news and responses to the last blog update. WONDERFUL!
News from:
Joanne on Ivan’s starring role and Erinn, Chaye and Amber’ progress.
Sean and the system upgrade. (could not resist teasing Sean on the price of new cars here, sorry Cuz)
Updates from the folk (2x, thanks) – Seems Pa is the designated spokesperson now and is tackling this role with heaps of enthusiasm. Keep ‘em rolling in!
Val, my dear friend, with all the EDS SA news (and gossip – that is sooooo cool) and the progress on her “retirement home” Not that kind! Her house outside Hermanus she is retiring to, one day! (tee hee)
Jax, my uvver friend, who delights in giving me a hard time! Her thoughts on Helen Zille? “She is going to need to wear armour plated suits”
And Twinkleberry, with her news of her impending first attempt at the London Marathon. (Just have not had the time to research her performance on the net……) We will find out!
Just for fun, though I suppose this has done the rounds in SA……
Boere Computer Dictionary From South Africa
Monitor - Keeping an eye on the braai
Download - Get the firewood off the bakkie
Hard drive - Trip back home without any cold beer
Keyboard - Where you hang the bakkie and bike keys
Window - What you shut when it's cold
Screen - What you shut in the mosquito season
Byte - What mosquitoes do
Bit - What mosquitoes did
Mega Byte - What mosquitoes at the lake do
Chip – A bar snack
Micro Chip - What's left in the bag after you have eaten the chips
Modem - What you did to the lawns
Dot Matrix - Oom Jan Matrix's wife
Laptop - Where the cat sleeps
Software - Plastic knives and forks you get at KFC
Hardware - Real stainless steel knives and forks from Checkers
Mouse - What eats the grain in the shed
Mainframe - What holds the shed up
Web - What spiders make
Web Site - The shed (or under the verandah)
Cursor - The old bloke what swears a lot
Search Engine - What you do when the bakkie won't go
Yahoo - What you say when the bakkie does go
Upgrade - A steep hill
Server - The person at the pub what brings out the lunch
Mail Server - The bloke at the pub what brings out the lunch
User - The neighbour what keeps borrowing things
Network - When you have to repair your fishing net
Internet - Complicated fish net repair method
Netscape - When fish manoeuvres out of reach of net
Online - When you get the laundry hung out
Off Line - When the pegs don't hold the washing up
On the news front from here:
We have not done that much in the last week or so. The kids have been on holiday and I have been a little pre-occupied with work and the 5 projects on my plate, which are all in planning, so huge overhead and effort on the go to line everything up, get the estimates in and sorted, define the projects and get them approved. Once over this hump, life should ease out a little, though saying that, two more resignations this month, so a little work-load-sharing coming, I fear!
Des is full steam ahead with Home Comfort and her diary is filling up rather quickly. She has some 20 hours booked for the past week and has confirmed 30 odd this week already. The pay is handy and the rate per km for travel is generous. I suspect she will be able to buy her dream car cash, later this year if she just saves the travel portion of her weekly pay. That dream car has always been a Toyota Rav4 or similar. She drove a Suzuki Escudo the other day and was really impressed. I would prefer to se her opt for the Toyota, problem is all these cars really only accommodate 4 people. It would be a second car, so why not! My thinking is if she can get that, I might be able to twist her arm for a 2 seater, open top! (Dreamer, nothing but a dreamer…..) rather get the motorcycle first……
Met our neighbours from 3 doors down yesterday (public holiday – ANZAC Day).
They are from Zimbabwe, left 7 years ago, spent 3 years in Perth and have now been in Wellington for 4. They lived in Wellington until recently, when they bought the house in Kapiti in January. Nice couple and I expect we will spend some social time with them.
They made my day, informing where we could get our grubby mits on Ricoffy and Boerewors. Not so much that we miss the wors as that the stuff that parades as sausage here is pretty awful. So much so, we have stopped trying to find one we like and sausage is off the shopping list. That goes for the ground meat and processed versions. The coffee aint bad, I suppose, but you know how it is, If you like something, you measure all others by that!
Des was thrilled to hear that the store also keeps a few brands of Pap, so guess where we will be visiting this weekend. The prices will be interesting too.
(Carried on from yesterday)
Meghan went back to school yesterday, while the other two only restart on Monday. With Des having a full day planned with Home Comfort activities, Meghan was dropped at school but would be taking the bus home. She is the only one of the kids to have used the bus for schooling purposes to date, the clever girl, so we were not concerned about her making her way home.
On enquiring from her how her day had been and what they had learned, how many windows in her class room, how many in the building etc. Sherrie chipped in that Meghan had arrived home a little later than was expected.
Oh!? Megs, did you miss the bus?
No, not really.
(Now what does not really mean? You either caught the bus or you did not)
Megs?
Yes daddy?
What’s going on?
Well,………. I ran home!
Des, didn’t you give Megs money for the bus? Megs, did you loose your bus money? Why did you RUN home?!
Well, I didn’t really run all the way home, I ran to McDonalds then I walked home. (That is so typical Meghan, she will now start to split hairs)
(McDonalds is halfway home, on the bus route, located at the main shopping centre. It is also the place where she changes busses)
Meghan, what did you buy at McDonalds? I enquire
Quarter pounder, she mumbles from behind her hand.
Huh?
Quar-ter Poun-der, she enunciates, as if to imply we are either deaf or ignorant of the Mac menu.
Turns out she decided that since school ends at 3PM and her bus does not leave till just after 3.30 (it waits for the College kids), she would walk the 2odd kilometres up to McDonalds, get herself a burger, then hop on the bus from there for the 2.5 or 3 odd kilometres home. By the time she had scoffed her Mac burger, it was still too early for the bus, so she decided to walk instead of wait.
So Des and I have had to lay some ground rules. Walking to the shopping mall is fine, there are heaps of children who walk that way so she is not alone, but from the mall home on her own is out of the question.
I suspect her $30 pocket money every second week will find some of its way into Ronald MacDonald’s rather deep, yellow and red pockets.
That child!!!!!! But you just cannot get angry with her. She has also taken a fancy to using the dishwasher. Des added dishwasher detergents and cleaners and anti-streak, and quick dry and washer cleaner and anti-alkaline build-up and washer machine degreaser and some other bottles and tablets and stuff to her shopping list with a view to making use of the dishwasher, now that she is starting to work fuller days. The machine comes with the house and simply stands there, so Megs has become the owner of pressing the buttons. To be honest, I looked at the user manual put it down after checking the maintenance page. She is getting the dishes out clean and that’s all that matters for now.
Des is starting to come home with some interesting stories from her Home Comfort, comforting! I am encouraging her to write them down, so expect some updates about the “old folk”, “lazy folk”, “lonely folk” and “senile folk” in due course. I just laugh when she tells me these stories. Poor Des!