Now it's official.
The weather is freezing!
Joel & Eli were delighted to see the snow, just a shame for them that it's right up in the mountains as there won't be any snowmen or snowball fights. Not that Mum & Dad are complaining.
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Dean and Paula in Blighty, autumn 2025 -
Dean and Paula pastor The Gathering -
Our beloved Palace - FA Cup winners 2025 -
The Gathering -
Baptising in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit -
Leaders preparing to serve at The Gathering's Soup Kitchen -
Soup Kitchen Xmas lunch
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Serving hands - the heart of The Gatheirng -
Thankful Thursdays -
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HOPE Home Based Care Team -
Gathering Ground -
The Helderberg - The prettiest of the mountains we face
The rain cleared this afternoon so we made the most of the opportunity and went to the Nature Reserve, amazingly the boys don't complain about how often we go there! We remembered to take their welly boots this time so they were delighted to be able to wade in the streams and dangle their feet in the duck pond.We're all well and seem to be missing the worst of the inter illnesses. Apparently Somerset West is South Africa's hotspot for swine flu, no crackling on the line here yet. Joel & Eli are thriving, as are we. Church life is good and we're really excited about what God is doing and how we're being used.
This blog has taken a bit of a back seat to Facebook, so to those of you not on Facebook we can only apologise and suggest you get yourselves over there for shorter but more regular updates.
We're in the midst of winter here and yet our weather seems to be as good as the British summer. Our mornings and evenings are very cold but during the day we're enjoying temperatures up in the high 20's. It all makes for some fantastic cycling weather so Dean has been doing his best to make the most of it. Today he squeezed in a lunchtime ride with his friend Rod (see the pic).
Winter has been a bit stop start so far this year but we're not complaining as it's not been as cold and wet as normal (although the dams are surprisingly full). Having said that the weather took a turn for the worse today and it's been raining quite a bit with a strong and cold northwesterly wind blowing.It's times like this we're really grateful for our woodburning stove!
Eli was my very able assistant and helped to show how the trail-a-bike works. The kids particularly like the flag at the back and guessed correctly as to its purpose. After discussing a bit of bike safety we went to the car park where I gave rides to those who had a helmet with them (thankfully only a few did so my legs were saved).
Our Bottlebrush tree is finally back in bloom again. Last year it was a major disappointment with hardly any blooms so it spent most of the year bare and looking scraggy.This tree isn't actually native to South Africa so we shouldn't celebrate it but we do because we like it. There's a big drive in SA to remove all plants known as 'alien invaders' as they have a detrimental impact upon the indigenous vegetation and the water table. Thankfully however the Bottlebrush tree doesn't have a big thirst so there's no need to get rid of it.
Here's some info from a horticultural website: Bottlebrush is a small but spectacular evergreen tree or shrub. Of the family Myrtaceae it is well known as Callistemon or Bottlebrush Tree. It is easy to grow and loves warmth, moisture and sun. Bottlebrush is native to Australia mostly growing in moist soil in open or woodland sites.
It seems like my boys haven't ridden their bikes for a while, partly because the weather hasn't been great but also because Eli's bike was broken and I only just got around to fixing it.
The weather was perfect this afternoon at 24°C (it was freezing this morning) so with their fixed bikes both boys were off charging up and down the drive on their bikes. I pity the neighbours as the boys don't tend to do things quietly especially when they're competing in their own bike races.
The weather has improved in the last 24 hours so we've been able to do some essential weatherproofing work on two of our church members houses.
Both were leaking really badly in the recent rains making life for their occupiers horrible. One of the families suffered so badly that one of the children is now in Hottentots hospital with a respiratory infection.
Michael was an absolute star and joined me yesterday and today to do the jobs. I couldn't have done any of it without him.
Many of the houses are soaked inside because the construction is so poor the water seeps in through the foundations. The top soil from the gardens and surrounding land is being washed away leaving brown rivers flowing down the roads. It's impossible to walk anywhere in the community without getting very wet feet!
One of the things I don't get here is that life virtually shuts down for so many folk. Certainly my cycling buddies think I'm mad as I'm willing to ride in all weathers. But as I often explain, in Blighty if you let the rain stop you from doing stuff you'd never get anything done.
The two leaks in our roof seem to have stopped, we're wondering whether they were exceptional leaks as the rain was coming horizontally on the wind at times. Time will tell.
After a great morning in church we took the boys for a half-term treat to the Boswell Wilkie Circus Pirate experience just outside Cape Town. Wow, what a show! The boys were spell bound by it and were on the edge of their seats all the way through.
It was a real surprise for the boys and we smuggled along all their pirate dressing up clothes so they were able to get into role for the show.
Dean really appreciated the skill of the jugglers whilst we all marveled at the sheer athleticism of all the performers. If the circus is ever passing your way make it a priority to go and see!
We quite often have an owl sitting on our roof just after sunset so this evening I was able to quietly slip out, set the camera up and get a photo of it.
Unfortunately I wasn't able to focus 100% but still got an OK shot. The shutter was on 10secs at f5.6 and an ISO of 800. The shutter was so long that if you look carefully you can see how he moved his head.
This morning we celebrated Paula's birthday by going out for breakfast at Jenna Viva's a local coffee shop in Somerset West. We had a wonderful time and the food was excellent!Paula celebrated with a glass of bubbles whilst the boys had huge bacon and maple syrup flapjack stackers. Eli ordered seconds!
Daddy settled for a full English breakfast and wasn't disappointed. The grilled banana added a slightly unusual dimension to it.
We both loved the loose leaf Rooibos tea which also came with an hour glass timer to ensure the leaves didn't over infuse. The boys loved playing with the timer.
Church was great this morning and we had a visiting preacher from Mitchell's Plain. Graham has spoken at Grace before and we certainly enjoy him. We had a few visitors again today which is great as word seems to be getting out that Grace is a church of integrity. One of our biggest joys about church is that our boys love it. This is such a huge answer to prayer!
This is such a favourite trip out and we all really enjoy it. The weather was a bit better than it has been so far this week so we were able to walk about a bit.
Hope you enjoy the series.
June 21 is the shortest day of the year also known as the winter solstice and we're pleased that it has finally arrived as now the days can begin to draw out and we can head back towards summer. Winter here in the Western Cape is quite unpleasant as it is the only part of the African continent where it rains. Everywhere else it rains in summer or seasonally as in they have no real winter. Tanzania was one such place whereas in Zimbabwe the winter was quite cold with temperatures dropping as low as -2°C but with midday highs of 25°C. Here the temperature never gets as low as that but with the rain and the northwester howling the windchill factor comes into play. All this means we're longing for summer!
Project Fix It was an initiative we ran whilst with HCC in which we sought to bless our brothers & sisters in Chris Nissen Park by fixing their homes up for winter to ensure they all had leak fee roofs, proper windows etc etc.
Now, we're in Macassar and we're aiming to go further and higher by replacing existing dwellings/hokkies with wendy houses and actually building homes where possible.
It was good fun and everyone entered into the spirit of the event and had a good laugh. It was also good to meet some of the other dads, you begin to understand some of the kids a bit better!
Joel participated in a beanbag race but Eli couldn't be persuaded to do anything other than chase around after Daniel his best friend.
The study was done by the South African Medical Research Council so it's not easy to dismiss its findings.
The new football season begins in August with the full fixture list being published today. As ever no-one is allowed to publish any fixture list because of some outdated and immoral arrangement between the FA, Football League and a data company. Anyway, there are ways around the draconian arrangement such as visiting the BBC who have a license to publish them.
Our family felt incomplete without mummy and whilst we were nowhere near a 'Lord of the Flies' scenario, life just wasn't the same without her.
I used to give blood in the UK but after having malaria in Tanzania the blood service got all snobby on me and permanently struck me off their lists which is a shame as my blood group is Oneg. Thankfully the South African blood service have no such hang-ups and because their screening is amongst the best in the world (if not the best) they know my blood is safe.
Joel has really enjoyed his chats with mummy on the telephone and he seems so grown up as he chats away.
Unfortunately Joel's earache turned out to be an inflamed ear canal which seems to be getting worse. Our Dr was great and saw him just after church so he's now got some drops for his it. This afternoon he's had quite a high temperature so please continue to pray for him. Thankfully he's gone off to bed in fine fettle.
On Thursday Paula flew to Blighty for a very well earned and well deserved break on her own. Truth be told it was payback for the Cape Epic (in case you missed what that was all about, click here)Much subterfuge went into planning it especially as we wanted her trip to coincide with the birthday celebrations for Stephen's 50th and Susannah's 18th, so many thanks to Sal for helping with the scheming!
I took a phone call from one of the home based carers last night asking me to come in to Chris Nissen today because the mother of one of our patients who died last year had just been taken into hospital. I went in to find a very classic situation of hopelessness! It seems that Aunty M has classic first signs of Alzheimer's disease. She is not recognizing family members, getting very confused and upset and is generally causing anxiety to everyone around her. The worrying thing is that she spends every day supposedly caring for her 3 year old great granddaughter.
We're also looking at how we can practically assist some of our other members especially one young couple who have three kids and no home of their own. Hopefully we can tell you more soon.
This morning I had the privilege of attending the special Miles For Smiles assembly at Joel & Eli's school.The total raised this year was R40,375 (£3100)which is an amazing amount of money for such a small school. Last year as a school we raised enough to pay for four cleft palate operations so this year we should be able to pay for seven and a bit which is fantastic!
We planted Basil, Parsley and Rocket for starters and we plan to move onto Coriander next. Amazingly, despite our best efforts the plants are thriving and we've used a little bit already.
We just need to convince Eli not to play with his diggers in the pot which is no small undertaking!
We're very pleased to present our new bakkie which we were able to purchase with the very generous support of St.Andrew's Oxshott, Queens Road Wimbledon and some friends in Cheadle.
This afternoon I had an experience which would probably scare the life out of most South Africans but somehow it seemed quite normal to me.
I was out and about with Michael and whilst he was in someone's house a guy called Dirk waved to me and then came over and got into my bakkie. Thankfully I've known Dirk for a few years and trust him. Anyway, he started to tell me that today was the day that he finally got confirmation that God is alive and well and he wants everybody to know this.
I was out and about with Michael and whilst he was in someone's house a guy called Dirk waved to me and then came over and got into my bakkie. Thankfully I've known Dirk for a few years and trust him. Anyway, he started to tell me that today was the day that he finally got confirmation that God is alive and well and he wants everybody to know this.
As you can imagine, Joel and Eli were delighted when a friend of ours recently returned from the UK with 2 pairs of matching Ben 10 pyjamas for them! Joel couldn't believe his eyes and questioned mum for ages as to where they had come from - knowing he hadn't seen them in the shops here!!!
This morning was a big one for the boys as they proudly donned their Miles for Smiles T shirts and set off to complete as many laps as they could in 2 hours to raise money for operations for children with cleft palates. The event was once again organised by their school and the boys had been looking forward to it all week!Eli got off to a flying start (literally!) and took the little ones race by storm whizzing round the coned off track. The only trouble was that he didn't know how to turn corners, so we had to do a bit of quick coaching!
For the last few days Joel has been lethargic and complaining of not feeling too well. Today he broke out in spots and the Dr confirmed the obvious... Joel has Chickenpox. He's actually quite proud of it, especially as it means he gets to stay at home tomorrow instead of going to church and will probably miss most of next week from school. Joel decided he likes the smell of the calamine ointment but doesn't enjoy the application as it's "too cold".
This is a pandemic that really should have the world seriously concerned! We've seen many ridiculous media events and stories over the years but the speed with which this Media Stupidity Pandemic took hold has truly broken any previous record!
Winter has arrived with a vengeance. Gone are the clear blue skies and nice sunny days only to be replaced by angry looking dark clouds, strong northwesterly winds and lots of rain. Such will be our lot for the next 5 months. Thankfully we got our winter firewood a while ago so we'll be getting the wood-burner going soon.Joel has been very excited over the last few days as one of his teeth became very wobbly and eventually fell out on Tuesday evening just in time for the tooth fairy to come. Thankfully Joel had been prepared by Charlie & Lola so he knew what to expect.
Was this a foregone conclusion or not? It was argued that for the first time in South Africa's democratic history there was finally a solid opposition to the ruling ANC. Sadly such optimism was unfounded as COPE slumped to a miserable 7.42% of the national vote whilst the DA were confirmed as the main opposition party with 16.66%.
As the govt in the UK unveil another budget, the people of South Africa have even bigger issues to decide as they go to the polls in the presidential elections.This election has been billed as the biggest and most important since the end of apartheid and not without reason. Firstly, there is now a credible national opposition party* in the form of the COPE (congress of the people) which is made up of disaffected ANC party members.
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