Hope In Despair

I've been going into Chris Nissen Park for five years now and I love the place and the folk that live there. I've seen it in all its splendour and grottiness but today it was the bleakest and most depressing I have ever seen it.

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!

Whoops!

The driver of this car got into an unfortunate pickle yesterday while it was chucking it down.

Apparently the access road was so flooded it was not visible so the driver had to take a chance as to where the road might be. Sadly he made the wrong choice, much to the amusement of the garage staff.

Rain Rain Go Away!

Whilst the rain is seasonal and desperately needed I fail to share the average South African's view that it's a good thing. I guess my Britishness has taught me to loathe the rain from the first drop to the last. However, the dams are very low so we need a lot of rain over the next couple of months to prepare for summer.

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.

Pirate Experience

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!

Cape Eagle Owl

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.

5th Blogoversary

We've been running this blog for exactly five years today at 3:11pm, see us at Blogoversary. When we started blogging we were aiming specifically at family and friends but beyond that we can't really remember what we were hoping for the blog or what it would end up looking like, but five years on we're quite pleased with what the blog has achieved and how it looks today.

Thicko - Not!

Just did this for a bit of fun:


Free-IQTest.net - IQ Test

Go on, give it a go.

Paula's Birthday

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.

We're Back

Our few days away in Greyton were fantastic for a number of reasons. Firstly, we're really jealous of our family time and guard it carefully. Secondly, we all relaxed very quickly and enjoyed just chillin' together, we really enjoy just being with each other. Finally, Greyton is a gem of a village with friendly locals and some of the best cafes and restaurants to be found anywhere in SA. The two highlights of our time eating there were Vanilla Cafe and Peccadillos Bistro both of which provide sublime food at very reasonable prices. Vanilla have hit it just right in how they cater for families and the more sophisticated clientele. The garlic soup at Peccadillos was amazing.

We're Off

We're just off for three lovely nights in Greyton, one of the overnight stops on the Cape Epic. Man we're all in desperate need of this break!

No more posts until we get back.

US Pastor Opens Church To Guns

I realise that it is often difficult to understand cultural differences and how the gospel fits within certain cultures. For example, working out the gospel in an animistic culture throws up a whole set of difficulties which aren't immediately easy to address. As such I may have completely misunderstood this article on the BBC news website, but I'd love for someone to explain just how carrying a gun for personal protection fits with the gospel and teachings of Jesus.

Weekend

Dean is finally feeling better so we had a lovely afternoon walk in the Nature Reserve after church. Thanks for your prayers for him.

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!

Runaround

Whilst Paula was visiting in Chris Nissen with the HOPE home based care team I took the boys for a runaround in the Nature Reserve. We ended up there for almost four hours and Paula joined us for lunch after she had finished in CNP.

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.

A Moment In Time

Over on our photoblog Finnie's In Focus we've been running a series entitled: A Moment In Time and at present we're up to Part 17 with several more still to come.

Hope you enjoy the series.

Flu Is A Real Swine!

Spare a thought or a prayer for Dean as he's got himself a bout of real flu not the pseudo man-flu blokes normally seem to contract. He's on a hefty dose of antibiotics and is generally feeling pretty rubbish.

Hopefully normal service will resume shortly.

Winter Solstice

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 - Goes Large

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.

Father's Day

Joel's school celebrated Father's day this morning by inviting the dads to come and do some silly races followed by bacon & egg rolls.

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.

Do Not Adjust Your Set..

The last two weeks have been odd and just a bit frustrating as I've not been able to get on and do things I wanted and needed to do. This was compounded by the boys having a five day weekend with Friday, Monday and Tuesday off school. As such I was unable to do any visiting and couldn't get involved in the stuff I normally do. Thankfully Paula is now home and life is back to normal, at least for just over a week until the school holidays. I've felt like I needed to adjust the proverbial TV set but as the continuity announcer always says; "Do not adjust your set, normal service will resume shortly." Thankfully normal service is resumed.

Rape - A Way Of Life?

Here's a shocker from the BBC News website: South African rape survey shock. According to the survey one quarter of South African men have raped a woman or child. That is truly horrific!

The study was done by the South African Medical Research Council so it's not easy to dismiss its findings.

Palace Fixtures 09/10 Season

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.