"THERE'S PROBABLY NO GOD"

I had to laugh when I saw this article on the BBC website: 'No God' slogans for city's buses. My amusement stems from three aspects of this 'advertising campaign'. Firstly, I love the use of the word 'probably'. One always needs to hedge one's bets just in case.

Farewell

Last night we officially left HCC. To a certain extent it was a mere formality and a box ticking exercise. It certainly wasn't an event we were keen to attend. Not because we'd done anything wrong but simply because we've moved on and are already seeing God at work in our lives and in Macassar and we're really excited about the future! To return to HCC and dredge up the past simply wasn't an exciting prospect.

Poverty - A Personal Rant

Poverty - Part of Blog Action Day

Whilst the Bono's of the world rant and rave about poverty -a subject they know little if anything about- the poor just keep on getting poorer. It's very easy when one lives in comfort to feel moved and send a fiver to whichever charity happens to spring to mind, but to actually get up and do something practical about addressing poverty, its underlying causes and its symptoms takes real commitment and dedication. You don't see many Bono type figures living and working amongst the poor! It's all too easy to sit in an ivory tower and pontificate.

Speeding Fine

Whoops!

I received a fixed penalty notice this morning for speeding. At first I was cross about having been caught, but then I looked a little closer at the notice and realised that the registration is for a car I've never owned. I also saw that the fine could be viewed online, so I went online for a look and nearly fell of my chair laughing. Clearly that's not me! and my wife is a whole bunch better looking than that!!

Holiday

We've been back almost a week and finally get around to posting some photos of our holiday. We had a great time staying on a really quiet farm called Ravenna Mountain Retreat which is about 30k's from Montagu on South Africa's famous Route 62. Apart from it being a bit too cold to use the pool right outside our cottage the place was perfect. The boys really enjoyed the jungle gym whilst mum & dad enjoyed the peace. On previous visits to this part of the Klein Karoo we've stuck around the Montagu area but this time spent more time in and around Barrydale.

"You Can't Bring That In Here!"

We're back from a wonderful 10 day break in the Klein Karoo on the local 'Route 62'.

I saw this set of signs at a supermarket whilst we were away and was amused at the thought that one is banned from taking one's porn collection into the shop.

I'll post something a little more edifying later.

National Braai Day

Yesterday was Heritage Day (alternatively known as National Braai Day) so was a public holiday. We joined our new church family in Macassar for a braai and an afternoon of fun. The gathering was fairly impromptu and very informal and must be one of the most relaxed church events we've ever been to.

It was such a pleasure to be with our new friends and to be so warmly welcomed. Our kids loved every minute of it and they get on really well with the other children. Joel enjoyed watching High School Musical on the big screen whilst Eli held his own on the cargo net hanging in the garden.

This Week

We've had a busy few days with trips into Chris Nissen, going to Joel's school and meeting with the lead elder of Grace church in Macassar.

Paula met up with Jenny today from the UK and spent the morning with her in Chris Nissen. Jenny has extensive medical experience from years as a nurse so she was a real blessing. It was great to have someone who could relate to the likes of Aunty Henna who regularly complains of her arthritis. Jenny could fully empathise and relate to Henna's daily struggle.

Spike

I got to take Joel to Shonny (our hairdresser) yesterday as Mummy was out. Whilst on our way Joel said he wanted a spikey haircut so I agreed as long as he told Shonny what he wanted. Joel was a bit coy at first but warmed up and told Shonny exactly what he wanted. The result is a cool looking boy. 

Thankfully Mummy also thought he looked great, so we got away with it! Eli came along too and said he also wanted a spikey hairdo. Sadly for him that's never likely to happen. This morning we had a lot of fun spiking up Joel's hair with some gel (neither of us have used the stuff in years) and he was delighted to be going to school with his new hairdo.

Wedding Anniversary

At seventeen years of marriage there is no traditional nomenclature for the anniversary, you have to wait for the 'china' of twenty years before you get into that again.

We've had a great day albeit a very different one to how we've celebrated previous anniversaries - no sloping off for a quiet weekend sans enfants!

We went to church as usual (for a Sunday) and then onto Cape Town with the boys where we visited the aquarium and then had fish & chips for lunch at Ocean Basket - the boys choice. Joel loved playing with the bones from Mummy's sardines and then scoffed a lot of Daddy's prawns. Joel even enjoys shelling them himself. Eli amazed us with his choice of dips for his chips, he chose raw garlic!!

Previous anniversaries can be seen here: 16th, 14th & 13th we seem to have neglected our 15th.

Family Stuff

As you're reading this I'll be out with a few friends enjoying an 80k road ride and hopefully Paula will just be having breakfast after a decent lay-in.

We're so proud of our boys at present as they're coping incredibly well in trying circumstances. Despite the difficulties they're both thriving in school & play-group which is great relief for us and they're really enjoying church which is a first in a long time for Joel. Sadly, they've both had quite nasty ear infections and it's looking like Joel may well have to have his grommets re-done. We'd appreciate your prayers for him as he can hardly hear a thing.

Thankfully the rain has abated for a few days although it is due back on Sunday/Monday for a few more days. We had hoped to miss the worst of the winter by being in the UK for June & July but this August has been so bad that we missed very little.

Sports Day

Joel had his Sports Day at school today and it looks like the kids had a lot of fun. The idea came about because SA only came home with 1 medal from the Olympics and the school thought it had better do its bit to train the future 2016 athletes!! Somehow, we don't think Joel will be in the squad, but he certainly had a lot of fun trying.

The little ones had their own half hour of fun and it was amazing to see how competitive the 5 and 6 year olds could become!

Back Online

After a very frustrating week with no phone line and 10 days without internet access we're finally back online. Telkom sent an engineer out on Sunday morning to sort it all out, which we thought was quite impressive, although it meant I was an hour late to church. But we've got our phone back so must not complain!

In some ways it's quite liberating being unable to access emails and the web as it gives you so much more time to do proper stuff. I hadn't realised what a waste of time the web and email can be until it was taken away!

We're all OK but we're fighting the dog-ends of various colds, ear infections etc. with Eli suffering the most. The weather has been truly appalling over the last week with torrential rains leaving the garden flooded and the boys unable to play out - frustrating for them and us.

Good Excuse For A Bottomless Hot Chocolate!

The plot thickens with our phone provider. Telkom are the local phone monopoly and generally their service is good although very expensive. Apparently, on the 26th of August someone -it now transpires that it was our ISP- requested that our DSL line be cancelled. Very helpful!

Then on Monday out landline went dead, yes the bill was paid on time. Following a few trips into the local Telkom office, several frustrating calls to our useless ISP we remain without phone line or internet connection. The explanations given for this debacle are complex, varied (in that they constantly change) and very very frustrating as no-one seems to want to take responsibility for it.

Curry Night In

On Friday night we enjoyed our long anticipated 'Curry Night In' as part of Paula's ongoing birthday celebrations. we had 22 of our good friends around for a sit down meal in the lounge and were catered for by a mum of one of Joel's school friends who happens to be Indian and a very fine cook!

The evening was a lot of fun with everyone mixing well and having a relaxed but superb meal.

Internet Down

If you've emailed us recently or tried to make contact then we must apologise as we currently have no internet. I'm sat in a local coffee shop (hard life) using their wireless network to post here.

Unfortunately on Wednesday last week Telkom (like BT) cut off our DSL line as apparently we requested the service be cancelled. Then on Monday they very helpfully cut off our landline. Brilliant! Yes the phone bill had been paid.

We're now trying to get it all back but things are rarely simple so all we can do is sit and wait.

Ho hum.

Planning Ahead

About two weeks before we were due to leave SA for Blighty, our line manager at church informed us that they were terminating our contract with them. This came as a bolt out of the blue and the timing wasn't great but that was the reality we had to deal with. Sadly over the next two weeks things were said and information was made public which never should have been and this lead to a lot of hurt on the part of our friends here who (like us) simply didn't understand the reasoning behind the decision. For our part we didn't agree with the decision and were very unhappy with the way in which the situation was managed. However what has been done can't be undone so we've tried to act as graciously as possible and attempted to ensure our words and actions remained honouring of the gospel. If we've failed we can only ask for forgiveness.

School Run

So here's the latest mode of transport for the school run. The boys are really excited about this new contraption (it's a Raleigh trail-a-bike), especially Joel as he'd outgrown the child seat a while ago.

I've been taking Eli to play-group on the child seat for a while now and Joel has been desperate to go on the bike again as I used to take him on it to school quite regularly.

Top Gear

We're alive and well but don't seem to get much time for blogging at the moment so you'll have to excuse the silence.

Just to prove we're still here, here's a photo of Joel playing 'Top Gear' (a well known TV program in the UK), he's re-enacting the episode in which the Hamster races a Bugatti Veyron against a Eurofighter Typhoon of the RAF.

Routines

We've been back for just over a week and it feels like we've hit the ground running in terms of following up on contacts, establishing new contacts and working out a plan of attack as to what we do, where we go and who we see over the next few months.

The boys have slotted back into their routines smoothly and they're both delighted to be back with their friends at school & playgroup.

Home Again

We arrived home safe & sound on Thursday morning after a great flight. Everything went very smoothly from the clear M25 to Heathrow to getting the luggage (all 120kg's) dropped off and getting something to eat in the airport. In fact, as we were eating our plane started boarding so we took a leisurely stroll to the departure gate. The plane took off on time and landed about 20 minutes early. Customs left us alone and Jo was waiting for us when we got through. We'd also arranged for Andy to help as we had a lot of luggage. The boys were great on the plane, Eli slept the whole time and Joel slept a bit and watched quite a lot of TV.

We're glad to be home and settling back into our routine. The boys are pleased to be back at school/play-group and we're glad to have some space again in the mornings. On Sunday we went to NewGen in Somerset West and enjoyed the service so we'll visit there again.

We're both back into our fitness regimes with Paula back into the gym 3/4 time a week and me back on my bikes. I've managed one MTB ride and one road ride so far which is great.

We'll post some photos of our time in Blighty and Spain in the next day or two.