Freight

Hooray! The UPS man found me at home today so we finally got the paperwork for our freight, which means we're much clearer about where the freight is right now and when we're likely to receive it.

Presently it's wending its merry way South aboard the MSC Sophie somewhere off the coast of Portugal.

Frustrating Day

The day started so well with taking Michael to the hospital followed by a good trip to Aunty Florrie's in Macassar. She has a lovely house but is desperate for a few simple jobs to be done and as is so often the case she can't afford to pay much and she's very likely to be ripped off by some cowboy. So I came away with a small list of jobs which I'll do for her in the coming days.

Documentation

Just had a call from UPS to say the documentation for our freight has arrived so they'll deliver it tomorrow. It should give us a clearer idea of when the consignment should arrive.

Brilliant!

Apology

Sorry seems to be the easiest word these days with politicians declaring themselves 'sorry' for this, that and the other, so why shouldn't I?

A while back I got into Facebook. It took three goes but on the third try I was hooked. Initially I had planned to use FB as a means of directing more friends to this blog and it worked. I quickly realised that a lot of our friends on FB were reluctant to venture much deeper into the web and some actually admitted that they didn't know what blogs were and were a bit intimidated by them. So my plan was to use the RSS feed from the blog to post onto Facebook so that friends there could follow the blog from the comfort of FB.

Pirate Michael

This morning I was up unusually early to pick Michael up before the traffic got too bad and take him to the hospital for his cataract operation. Amazingly he was only in for about an hour when he rang to say he was ready. I've got to take him back tomorrow for something else to do with his eye and apparently the Dr will put a new lens in in about 12 months.

There's much that's wrong with the State healthcare system here but praise God that this op' has finally happened.

Joel thinks Michael looks cool as a pirate!

Dirt Is Good For You

Here's something every parent who uses common sense has known forever, but for some reason it required a team of scientists with funding to make 'official': Children should be allowed to get dirty, as being too clean can impair the skin's ability to heal.

Apparently the study confirms the "hygiene hypothesis" which holds that exposure to germs during early childhood primes the body against allergies. Well hooray for science!

Weekends

Last weekend we went to see our friends Sam & Cindy in Noordhoek just outside Cape Town. They've got a smallholding and are showcasing sustainable farming and living. Check out these two great websites for a better explanation: My Farm Online & Start Living green. It was great to see what they're up to and to get some ideas for our new house when we move next month. I was particularly keen to see the worm farm in action whilst the boys loved the animals and took the seed planting with Sam very seriously. They still check each day to see how the seedlings are doing.

Prayer Request - Update

Apologies for the delay. We had a useful meeting with the Principal, thankfully we get on quite well with her. She explained how the school is having to get in line with the International Baccalaureate system and as such the school have had to revisit the whole strategy of who goes where in the primary school. The upshot of this is that Joel will be going to P2 next year. This is more akin to Year 2 in the UK as the school needs to fit with a more international standard. This is generally a good thing as at the moment the school system is a bit stuffed by the South African families who expect it to fit with their understanding of the school system. In SA children start a year later than in Blighty consequently Joel has some 8 year olds in his class! Anyway, Joel will be moving up which we're pleased about although the reasons for him moving up aren't necessarily right. Please hold him up in prayer as he does have his struggles with school.

Tiny Bubbles Christmas Party

Today marked the eagerly awaited day for the Tiny Bubble creche in Chris Nissen. The boys' school have had a partnership with the créche for 3 years now, providing weekly sandwiches mainly, but also coming up trumps from time to time with school supplies, clothing and the odd cooker or two! Each year, we do a special party for all the children and "our children" have been generously buying presents for the individual kids and making and buying yummy party food for them!

Prayer Request

We've got an important meeting with the Principal at Joel's school at 10am to discuss which class he'll be in next year. School are keen to hold him back to repeat Year 1 but having solicited the views of many teacher friends who know Joel well we're keen for him to progress into Year 2.

Please pray that whatever the outcome Joel's needs and interests are put before ours or the schools.

Gross Weather

Being quiet on the blog is probably linked to the extremely gross weather we've been enduring for the last week. It has been raining here pretty much non-stop for the last five days which dampens the spirit never mind the ground and makes things very miserable. Apparently things aren't going to improve this side of the weekend. Great!

Dean preached on Sunday and once again really enjoyed doing so. He spoke about Faith with two main points being Simplicity of Faith & Strength of Faith. It seems to have been well received. Particularly later on Sunday evening after most of the church had been to Love & Grace in Mitchell's Plain for a celebration meeting. Dean received some very positive comments afterwards about how the sermon there had been a bit of a follow on from his in the morning. High praise indeed as the preacher was one of Dean's favourite local preachers.

Freight

I heard from our freight company today that our shipping consignment has been packed on to two pallets, weighs 800Kgs & measures a little under 3.8 M³. 

It has been shrink wrapped in plastic prior to shipping from Southampton on the 9th of this month, and the estimated arrival date in Cape Town is the 30th so hopefully we'll have it by the end of the first week of December.

New Smoking Laws

South Africa is very progressive in many areas and its anti-smoking policies have been at the fore of the action much to our delight, so we were pleased to learn that as of the 1st of October the anti-smoking laws took a new tougher stance.

Here's a summary of the New Smoking law which came into force on 1 October 2009

It is now illegal for adults to smoke in a car where there is a child under 12 years of age.

Fines up to a maximum of R50,000 will be handed to owners of a restaurant, pub, bar or workplace who breach the smoking laws and R500 for the individual smoker.

A Different Sunday

This morning was a bit of an odd one as we couldn't get the municipal hall in Macassar so most of the church joined with HCC.

I was really disappointed not to be with my family at Grace, so we decided to invest in some quality family time and went to Cape Town for some fun. The boys chose to go to the aquarium which remains a firm favourite of ours.

Back Home

We arrived home bang on time after a great flight with SAA. I'm still annoyed it wasn't with Virgin as there was no entertainment on the flight and Virgin promise loads of the stuff. Just to add insult to injury, a Virgin jet landed at Cape Town from London 8 minutes after us. Never mind.

Whilst dropping the bags off in Heathrow, I asked the lady at the check-in desk if we could move from the very back of the plane to the middle and she very kindly gave us a row of four seats to ourselves. This was great as it meant Joel could really stretch out and have a good sleep. In fact Joel was a star the whole way and even the flight staff commented on how good he was and I was amazed when he ate the chicken curry for dinner.

Boys Will Be Boys

For the first time since arriving in Blighty I managed some time on my own with Joel this afternoon (I've missed not having much time with him) and we had a lot of fun. After the inevitable trip to Barbara's shop for some sweets we went to the swings where Joel got bored because there were "too many girls" there. So we went for a walk and I was able to introduce Joel to the wonderful British pastime of Blackberry picking. Initially he was a bit skeptical about picking a berry from a bush and eating it but after watching daddy do it he gave it a go and was an instant convert to the delights of blackberries. Joel then decided that each time a car came past we would have to freeze on the spot and pretend to be trees. We even ended up with leaves in our hands to give it some authenticity. I'm not sure who had the most fun being so silly.

Farewell Freight!

Much to my relief our freight was collected at 10.30 this morning by a very cheerful chap from the shipping company. I had estimated that the freight was 4 cubic metres at most and he seemed to agree which is a bit of a relief as it all fitted into his van very easily. I think he was grateful for the extra help in loading up too.

I was up 'til 2am putting the finishing touches on the boxes, packing a couple of pictures and then making sure the boxes were all clearly labelled. Then this morning I finally got the packing lists done. In fact the last sheet was printing just as the van rocked up.

When I started this job I really wasn't sure I would get it done in time but now that it's gone I feel it was a worthwhile exercise.

A Big Day Out - For Joel

Joel has had another fun packed day with Grandad, Lesley & Jo. They all went to Bodiam Castle where they had a picnic lunch before taking a steam train ride on the Kent & East Sussex Railway.

Joel had a lot of fun and was exhausted by the end of the day.

Big thanks to Grandad, Lesley & Jo for looking after my boy!

I managed to get a lot done and have now completed the packing and labeling of the 48 boxes and crates. I estimate it to be about 4 cubic metres in total so I'm interested to see what the actual figure is.

Cracking On

The 'to do' pile has shrunk massively today so I'm feeling very encouraged by the progress I've made. Thankfull Joel was looked after by Lesley & Grandad today and it sounds like they had a lot of fun which included going to see Jo (Paula's little sister) at Burrswood.

That meant I was able to crack on with the task in hand and am quite pleased with the results.

The question now is; do I crack on and finish tonight or have a rest and finish it off in the morning? I guess it'll depend on how many ales are to be found in the fridge!

Bro

I don't get to see much of my brother even when I'm in Blighty so it was great to see him last night and this morning as we celebrated his birthday.

We had a great time in the village pub followed by a couple of real ales back home. All in all a very pleasant time!

Joel also really enjoyed some time with Andrew and was thrilled with the Ben 10 toy he was given.

Packing Nightmare

A sense of foreboding and panic is sweeping over me as I begin to fully comprehend the size of the task facing me and the little amount of time left to complete it. I'm about ¼ of the way through the final packing (see below) but as you can see from the pile of boxes that's not really very far.