Remind me again why we are doing this?

Oh dear, the gap between blogs seems to get bigger rather than smaller. I
think we just might be losing the will to live at the moment. Okay, so that
may be a bit dramatic but we have certainly wondered why we are doing this
several times over the last couple of weeks!

On the plus side we have collected all the bits and bobs that we had to over
the last two weeks. Three 450km plus trips later we are the proud owners of
a fridge, a sofa, two lounge chairs, a dining table, and 4 dining chairs. Oh
and a shower door. All went very smoothly. Sort of. Our first job before we
started the collections was to get Mufasa stripped down. Everything was
emptied out of the back (all in the house now!) and then with the help of a
couple of builders the roof tent and then the canopy were lifted off. Boy
the canopy is heavy. If it was made of steel instead of aluminium Mufasa
would have died long ago! Poor old Mufasa looks so naked and small with
nothing on him. The up side of shedding a lot of weight was both happy rear
leaf springs and also Porsche like performance. Okay, perhaps not Porsche
like but much nippier than he is fully loaded. Our normal crawl up several
of the hills around here in third is now beefed up into a fourth gear amble!

The first load of dining table, dining chairs, lounge chairs and shower door
all fitted into Mufasa nicely. Thankfully with our glut of straps used to
pack him when travelling it was easy enough securing everything down. The
drive back was nice and dry and we managed to get home just after 18h00 in
the dark to unload everything. The second load of the fridge was a bit more
fun. After eventually tracking down stock for us, utterly useless store and
I won't bore you with the details, we were able to collect one. A bit of
luck after a bit of a disaster tied in with the collection. A few days
earlier whilst having one of our under floor heating units fixed our
satellite PVR box managed to get knackered. The electrician was switching
the mains power on and off and I was too late to save the box by unplugging
it. On the good side it is under warranty, on the bad side we had to go all
the way to Umhlanga on the coast by Durban to get it replaced. As we were
collecting the fridge from the Pavilion shopping centre only a few km's away
it was not a major problem. Eventually we were strapping the fridge into the
back of Mufasa and hoping we had it nailed down for the long journey home.
The weather was not so good this time but the fridge was well wrapped in
plastic. Overcast, misty, drizzle, and very dark by the time we eventually
made it back home. The next fun job was getting it from Mufasa to the
kitchen. Heavy large fridge on back of very damp truck. It was not easy but
we managed it and were relieved when it was unpacked switched on and
working. The third and final collection of the sofa was a breeze. We made a
trip of it and stayed with Roy and Adele for a couple of nights and made the
pick up on the way home. Thankfully we only have a small house and thus a
small sofa that slotted nicely into Mufasa. A couple of days away also gave
us the chance to do some shopping!

With the lack of service we had from the shower door people from start to
finish we eventually managed to get our door into the shower rather than in
the hallway. We had bits missing and no installation instructions.
Thankfully we managed to get two of their fitters out who live locally in
Bulwer and were coincidentally back home this Saturday. When you know what
you are doing it is all very easy. I kind of worked it out but was not sure
100% and without instructions to guide us it was all a bit finger in the
air. With the proper guys 'unofficially' here it was in and sorted in the
blink of an eye. We made it worth their while, probably well paid over their
normal hourly rate!

Now, today as I write this our house is a hive of activity again. Trying to
get our list it outstanding items ticked off has been a slow process lately.
Not much has really happened until now. This week is the final push,
hopefully, although we have found a few things to add to the list! The door
people are here to replace all the scratched glass on the sliding and
folding sunroom doors at last and also some scratched frames on the
aluminium folding doors. Our flue is being fitted for the Rayburn, gulp.
Seems to be going well so far, just hope all is done and waterproof on the
roof before the rain comes later. Our wooden window sills are ready to be
cut and fitted perhaps today or tomorrow. Then finally all the paint touch
ups etc. to finish it all off. We shall see.

Hopefully with all the jobs done, and our collections at an end we can get
Mufasa re canopied and filled up with all his goodies making our life
indoors a bit easier and a lot tidier. Our schedule for April takes on a new
phase with guests at the house. Three different sets. From building site, to
storage, to B&B in one easy step!

As a leaving thought from the local Clover cows in the farms around here
.... 'Eat green grass, make white milk, clever cows!'.

The last two weeks just gush past ... no really

Oh dear, two weeks since the last blog, been busy, and not enthused to get
on with tapping on the keyboard. There again perhaps I just wanted to blot
out the happenings of our 3rd week in the house and move swiftly onto the
fourth!!

We are nearly sorted in the house now, kind of. Just a few wee jobs to get
finished and we will finally have a build free environment for a while until
we decide to push on with the next build phase. Silly things are holding us
up at the moment, 3rd party suppliers, but this week coming should put a
tick against virtually all of our outstanding items. The big effort for us
personally is to get some collection of large bulky items done in Mufasa.
Fridge, lounge chairs, shower door, and dining table on the list this week.
Well assuming that our fridge is available. It was ordered back in Feb and
Sue has been fighting with the shop to get stock available for us to collect
down in Durban. Long story, but we are hoping that one is now there with our
name on, unless they sell it to someone else in the meantime, and a final
call tomorrow morning should confirm that, or not! The fun is going to be
fitting things in Mufasa's load bay. With the help of some of the builders
this week we will get the canopy off giving us the space we need, and then
it will be furniture removal African style. Watch this space!! Our Telkom
landline is on order. Well we think it is. Might get some action on that
this week too. Takes 2-3 weeks to process the order, and then some more time
to actually do anything about it. The question of availability of ADSL still
needs to be answered but is a no brainer I think as our neighbours have it,
but you never know. No ADSL and we will not bother with a landline. Simple!

As to the happenings of week 3. A fair disaster, but could have been many
times worse. We are still slowly getting the Rayburn installed. Water and
Flue on the 'To Do' list. The first objective, get the water tank etc. all
plumbed in. Took a day or so, but eventually with a few goes and the odd
change of plan it was 90% done come Thursday. The water tank for the Rayburn
was up and full. The links to the hot water system and Geyser in place, just
the flue to be done. Also that Wednesday and Thursday we had the wooden
skirting fitted and painted. Looks really nice despite the house being in a
mess with everything we have stacked in the middle of the lounge to give
access for the skirting to be done. Anyway, Thursday evening we sit down to
dinner, glass of wine, very stressful few days getting the job done. Dinner
finished, watching a bit of TV. BANG!. What the F***? Look around, water
gushing out of the Rayburn. OMG! Looking back I think we handled it quite
well, although the odd moment of 'what can I do to stop it' type panic was
thrown in to the mix every now and then. Mains water quickly turned off.
Attempts to drain the whole system externally failing as the Rayburn is the
lowest point. We spent the next hour or so frantically fighting a battle
with brooms diverting the water out of any door possible. The water ran from
the Rayburn in the middle of the house everywhere, end to end, damming up in
the bedroom. We ended up with not only the Rayburn hot water tank of 100+
litres gushing out but also via some strange back feed the 150 litres in the
Geyser too! Thankfully we had kept all the packing paper from our shipping
and we used many a sheet of that to stem and soak up the water. The under
floor heating had its first use trying to fight the damp and dry floors off.
We managed to migrate everything standing in water to the sunroom in between
frantic sweeping of water.

Apart from some very damp skirting, great timing getting that put in, and
the odd soggy box we escaped without any real damage. One advantage of not
having any sofa or chairs yet, they would have been a wet mess. As disasters
go it was a mere teardrop to the scale of Japan, but to us it was very real
and bloody annoying. We think the problem was the back water tank in the
Rayburn splitting. It was the original tank and we thought it was fine, told
it was fine, who knows. It had not been a good week for water consumption.
With all the plumbing of installing it and then the loss of the water in it
we must have blown several hundred litres of water. As to a plan going
forward. I think the heating of water via the Rayburn is off the agenda. We
could get the tank in the Rayburn replaced with a new one, but at a fair
cost. Anyway, we don't think we could sleep at night worrying about whether
it would blow again. I am just glad I did not go cycling with the club that
afternoon and evening otherwise poor Sue would have been on her own fighting
it!

This week just gone has been quiet. The house to ourselves for a while,
which has been nice, waiting for the final push to get the outstanding jobs
list all ticked off. We are hoping that this coming week should get us home
and dry on most things, we shall see. Getting the flue in for the Rayburn
should be an interesting trick, need to keep a good eye and control over
that one!!

Slow progress is the name of the game ...

Can you believe it, it is the end of our second week in the house already!
Time just seems to fly past whether we are busy or not. It is just a shame
that the speed of the work progressing to get our house 100% doesn't work on
the same scale. Things are definitely getting there, just slowly. A few
nagging issues are yet to be resolved but nothing that detracts from our
enjoyment of being here, it is just frustrating.

The real big problem we have is the weather. The mornings are beautiful and
sunny. The mountains look so stunning. However, once the afternoon comes,
and sometimes not much past 13h00, the clouds thicken and we get a huge
thunderstorm. Every day. At first I thought it might me my fault. I am
trying desperately to get cycling fit again but dragging myself out of bed
first thing is proving very difficult, so I don't usually get out until just
after lunch. Even if the storm is late, you can guarantee that once I am at
least 10km from home, the clouds appear and lightning and rain are not far
away. I think I have been chased home most afternoons this week with a light
show above my head. I just hope that the theory of being on a bike with
rubber tyres will prevent me from being lit up like a Christmas tree!! I had
to shelter for over 30 minutes on Wednesday out of both a brick wall of rain
and very heavy cracks of lightning all around. Certainly gets the heart
thumping I can tell you. The up side is that the earlier it comes in the
afternoon, the earlier it goes, and the late afternoon and early evening are
cool and dry. Doesn't help much with working in the garden either as that is
having to be an early start and finish too.

I think we are starting to get a plan together for the garden, but there is
just so much to do, as with everything else it will take time and a lot of
blood and sweat. Being out here as with most things we need is a problem
with the grass too. Grass seed is either not available or rubbish and the
nearest turf farm is probably 150km away. So the many areas that we need
'instant' grass can only be resolved with digging and moving existing turf
from areas that it will eventually get dug for building. A slow, hot and
sweaty process, but at least the instant results can be achieved, if it
lives! Just hope we have enough that we can use this way. We don't really
want any bare earth come winter as it gets so dry and dusty for several
months until the spring rains arrive.

The rain is also an issue for water seeping into the house under the doors.
We have spent quite a while improving on drainage to get water flowing where
we want it around the outside of the house. However the rain that hits the
doors and then comes under is more of an issue. We have a stack of unused
towels that are used to try and soak up any errant water, but when the wind
and rain comes from certain directions it is just not enough. Not a major
issue but I need to make a plan and get a good solution in this week. In the
long term the two side doors that are the issue will eventually be internal
doors for the garage and our master bedroom.

The kitchen is almost finished now. We have a new unit under the sink as the
old one looked like it had been fitted by someone with very bad eyesight,
and we hope to have doors on all the cupboards again next week as they have
been taken back for re-spraying as the finish was not up to standard. Got a
very open look to the kitchen at the moment, you know why you have doors
when you see how untidy the contents of the cupboards look without them.
With a bit of luck and a following wind the Rayburn will get connected up
this week, flue and water. Will be good to see if we have success with that
for not only free hot water, but cooking as well. I feel a tale yet to be
told on that one yet though!!

One of the long burning questions we have been chewing on is a name for our
house. Well I think we might have cracked that one. We had a visitor to the
house, in the house. He has been leaving his mark all around the garden, him
and his family probably, but on Wednesday he decided to take a short cut
through our sunroom, not that he had much chance of finding his way out, he
is blind you know. If you haven't guessed already, Mr Mole. We eventually
showed him to the front door and he dived into the bank outside the kitchen
under the turf we had just put down. Later on he must have decided that the
bank was too hard to dig in and he re-appeared and made a dash for safety to
the side of the garden. Now what has this got to do with the name for our
house? Well several people have called it the 'small house', for obvious
reasons. We did think about actually calling it that but decided against it.
Then it came to me, a wee play on words, 'The Smole House'! Are we mad,
probably, but hey who cares!

A more pressing issue rather than a name is a street number as we do not
have yet one. One neighbour is No. 10, the next No. 12. Not much to work on
there as there are no even numbers I can think of that fit between the two
of them. I went to the municipal offices to enquire as to a solution, not
much help there really. We kind of agreed that calling us 12a would do and
the man said 'he would note it down'. Where, I don't know. Does it matter,
not really. It is just a problem of trying to give our address to services
like electric etc. We are trying to get a landline, but trying to convince
the lady on the other end of the phone that we really did exist despite not
having a street number was no easy job. Hopefully if we can tell people that
we are 12a Polo Way, even though officially that doesn't exist, it might
just get us where we want to be. It is a bit like being in Harry Potter and
platform 9 3/4 at King's Cross, just aim between No. 10 and No. 12 Polo Way
at speed and you will appear on our driveway!

It comes as no surprise as I write this that it is just after lunch and the
heavens have opened and the light and sound show is with us again, can't be
my fault as I went for a cycle this morning! It becomes a pain though
unplugging TV etc. every time a storm hits, but they are very big and nasty
affairs, not worth taking the risk. Our neighbours apparently got hit by
lightning a while back and lost TV and other electrical equipment, so it
does happen. Hopefully not to us!

'House finished' photos available

Latest photos of the 'finished' house available in 'Construction in
progress' under Photo Albums.

The adventure finally starts

Well it has been a long time coming but the day arrived that we finally made
the long drive to take up residence in the village. I think we must we must
have gone through all the emotions during the 8.5 hours on the road and
couldn't really decide if we were excited, apprehensive, scared, or just
wondering what the hell we were doing. The only thing we could agree on was
that as usual it was always great to leave the city behind and head out into
the wilderness beyond.

The house was like a busy ants nest on arrival. People rushing around trying
to finish things off. On initial inspection the house looked great but we
knew that there would be a few things to be finished off in the days and
possibly weeks to come. Even though we found quite a few things that we
weren't happy with or that needed fixing, we knew that it would get done to
our satisfaction in the end. It's a bit annoying and frustrating, but Rome
wasn't built in a day, and it would have taken a whole lot longer in Africa!
On the whole we are very pleased with our new home. It will take a while for
us to get settled in properly, especially as we still have the garage and
main bedroom to be built sometime. Living in a building site, what a
pleasure to look forward too! As is usual for us our first couple of nights
would be spent indoor camping. Airbed on the floor, Mufasa's fridge in the
corner, living out of boxes, nothing changes.

We arrived with Mufasa jammed full of stuff, the question was, where was it
going to go. The worrying thing was that we would be expecting delivery on
Tuesday of our goods that had been shipped from the UK, where would all that
go? We don't have much storage space yet as this will come in the bedroom
extension later on, and the garage. The kitchen is a fair size and storage
is no problem there, but clothes, books, garden tools, mountain bikes, and
general stuff would have to squeeze in somewhere or just stay in the boxes
and suitcases they came in. We had been given a delivery window of 5pm to
7pm on Tuesday for delivery of the shipping goods. They finally arrived at
just after 11pm! The poor guys in the truck looked knackered having been on
the go since 7am and with many a km under their belts that day. It was
exciting to see all our stuff again, and with all the boxes accounted for we
went to bed waiting for morning to come and have fun opening 29 early
Christmas presents. It was fun going through everything, but there was
always the thought in the back of the mind of 'would everything be in one
piece'. Thankfully, only the one casualty, a cracked wine glass, we will
live with that considering the long journey it has gone through. Anyway, the
idiots who had all our stuff in storage in the UK for 5 years manage to
damage a hell of a lot more!

The big problem we have initially and it will take some weeks to be resolved
is the things we don't have and have either ordered or still need to decide
on. Kind of essential things like, sofa, chairs, and dining table.
Thankfully we have two beds from the UK, one to sleep on now and another
waiting for its room to be built. Living out in the sticks also makes
delivery of large items a bit of a problem. Either it cannot be done, or it
costs a fortune. So Mufasa will have to do a few trips to collect things,
African style! We just hope that the weather plays ball at the relevant
times, it didn't on Thursday. We had to do a 250km round trip to collect a
washing machine. Lovely day. Sun all the way there. On the way back a
different story. It looked a bit grim towards the mountains. Little did we
know. We hit some pretty heavy rain about 20km away from home, but things
had been much worse in the village. We arrived back after 17h30 and the rain
was just easing off. A huge storm had just dumped about 100mm in under an
hour. We were lucky and had a small amount that ran under one of the side
doors the full length of our lounge. Some people had been flooded out, and
the side wall to the Springside Estate just a few hundred meters away along
Polo Way had all been downed by the gushing torrent that hit it. Well to be
honest I think an asthmatic 90-year one-legged old lady could have pushed
the wall over considering the tiny footings the huge wall seems to have been
built on. Drainage will be an issue for us ahead especially when the garage
is built as out plot has quite a slope on it, need to think about it
sometime.

Our time seems to be a precious commodity at the moment. There are so many
things we want to get on with in the garden, and also getting out and about
cycling etc. I got on my bike for the 1st time only Saturday morning. God my
butt was sore 16km later, not to mention a lack of puff. It has been over 3
years since all the biking I did in Europe and it will take some time to get
fit again. The Drak MTB Xperience happened on Sunday starting at the Country
Club just next door, if it had been next weekend or perhaps the one after
then I may have convinced my body to take part. It looked like a good event
but even the 20km would have pushed me at the moment. At least I could
console myself with watching the epic cricket against South Africa. Boy what
a game, England are certainly doing it the hard way.

Our 2nd weeks starts, builders still here, might be mostly finished today.
Well that is until the kitchen man comes to redo things that are wrong. All
good fun. Oh and just to prove we are in the deepest darkest place in Africa
a quote from the leaflet that came with the toaster in the 'Before First
Use' section ...

... 'Wipe the exterior with a damp Sloth'.

Latest photos on Picasa ....

A few of the latest photos are now on the web album
http://picasaweb.google.com/mattsgoode/PoloWayConstruction#

Nearly the final countdown

If I said that we were chomping at the bit to get into our house, that would
be a slight understatement. Things are progressing but time seems to be
dragging in epic proportions.

This will be our final visit to our soon to be home before we get the keys
at the end of February, hopefully. Leaving Jo'burg early and heading south
to Underberg is as always a breath of fresh air. Yes it is a long 8 hour
trek, at Mufasa's flank speed, but with the prospect of disappearance into
the empty spaces of the Berg the journey ticks by nicely. We seem to have
done the journey so many times now that we have a plan of where to stop,
where to feed Mufasa, and what time we will arrive in the village. With 4
nights camping at Cobham up in the mountains and then a week at Castleburn
resort, at least we had a roof over our heads and a base to work from.
Camping was great, place to ourselves, leaking tent cover. Yep our tent
cover is ready for the tip, hope to pick up a new one tomorrow. The tent was
a wee bit soggy inside on opening but thankfully at that point the sun was
shining and all was well again soon enough. It has been a bit soggy
recently. Thankfully this week we weren't camping, been chucking it down for
3 days!

Our aim to blend into village society took a step further this trip. Mufasa
is now officially a local and not a damned tourist. After several visits to
the extremely busy vehicle registration office, total in queue 2 including
us, we had the paperwork done and a new registration for Mufasa. It took
several trips not because of any real problems, but either 'the system is
down' or 'we have no electricity and the system is down' was the only order
of business the first 3 visits. On the 4th we were in business, well except
for the lady behind the desk refusing to do the work based on Sue's SA
passport as opposed to a SA ID Document. Sue has an ID number, as per her
passport, but no actual ID Document at the mo. After several confusing
conversations on the basis of 'if it can't be done then how is it already
registered', we got the paperwork done. Sigh of relief. He still sports his
old tags at the moment but the new NUD ...... plate will be on as soon as we
lay our hands on a new tax disc holder to put the expensive little disc of
paper on the windscreen. The new plates were obtained at the village tyre
place, ordered one day, ready the next. Been carrying them around for a
week!

Our real aim this trip, apart from seeing what is going on and sorting out a
few issues, was to reclaim the jungle back to some recognisable garden.
After several months of summer rain and sunshine the grass was at least knee
high in places and the weeds nearly shoulder high. Honest. Armed with our
new shiny lawn mower, fork, spade, trowel, and bush cutter, we set about it.
To say that we have sweated blood and tears over the last 2 weeks doesn't do
it justice. We couldn't bring ourselves to spend a large wedge on a petrol
strimmer so me my gloves and the swish of the bush cutter was the exercise
routine of choice. I look a bit like tennis' Nadal with my right arm twice
the size of the my left! Sue has been mighty busy with weeding and stealing
plants from next door. The guy who bought the 3rd part of the subdivision
has been clearing the site so Sue had a chance to relocate a shed load of
plants. It's a start for us and hopefully they will not die like our poor
relocated roses. She is well pleased with the acquired greenery. We will
leave with some good work done but the garden is by no means a show piece
for Chelsea yet. Oh, and when we get back in March it will be time to start
again.

Now, the house, as this is what it is all about. Getting there, as BR used
to claim. I guess we will now miss the real progress of the finishing off.
Paint, tiles, kitchen, bathroom etc. The build is just coming to the end of
the heavy work phase. Our few problems with windows and other things have
been corrected and all is on course. The guys have been digging the holes
for the septic tank and the drainage tanks for gutter water. You kind of get
an idea of how the pyramids were built when you see a couple of chaps dig an
almost perfectly round 7ft deep whole for the septic tank with a spade and
pic. The down side of all the digging for sewage pipes etc. has left the
place a tad muddy with the daily downpours. Dries out quickly but gets muddy
very quickly too. We chose paints before we came down and with samples
applied and approved painting started. Looks good in and out. The
electricians have started to wire up and hopefully by the end of next week
tiling will have started, final glazing will be done, and doors and kitchen
fitted. I guess the problem now comes as everything is in the finish and
with not being on site we can't control it. Oliver (Mr Builder) knows how we
want it and if it isn't done properly then it will have to be redone. A
pain, but unless we camp for the next 5 weeks that is the way it will be. We
might descend on the house again with a week or so to go to get to grips
with it.

As soon as possible some photos will get posted.

Roll on March!!

Merry Christmas ... is the house wrapped and ready?

So the year slowly comes to a close, but is the house coming any nearer to
completion. Progress made, but slow going with some very wet weather.

We had hoped that the house would be a sealed unit before the builders down
tools for the festive season. Sadly things have been going a bit slow after
some very wet weather earlier in the month. Outside and inside has been
plastered now, the windows and sliding doors are all in, so good news there.
The kitchen was meant to have been fitted in December but as the house is
not 100% sealed due to lack of doors this has not yet been done. It is
looking good though and with the builders due to re commence work a week
earlier than scheduled in January things might just get back on track as
they get on with some painting, doors fitted, and kitchen in.

We have got some slight concerns with a couple of things we have noticed
from the pictures we have been sent, but hopefully we can resolve those when
we head down there in the new year. Our collection of bits purchased has
increased with a basin mixer and shower mixer (many thanks to Michael!) to
go with the kitchen sink and mixer we had already acquired. Must remember to
pack it all in Mufasa when we head down!!

I have put up some of the latest pictures (see the link on the right) and
will add more as soon as possible in January. Other than checking on the
build progress we need to get the grass cut before we have our very own
safari park!!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 2011!!!

Getting plastered ... big style!

Well, a lot has been done to the house since we were last down in the village, well we assume it has. Money seems to be pouring from our account all too often, but as far as we can tell things have been happening, and the odd photo we get from Oliver (the builder) seems to concur.

Yes, I know I have been slack with updates, but ... been busy. Since we spent our two weeks in our new house (indoor camping) back in September our time has been eaten up with both scraping together the funds to keep Oliver happy and also finding and deciding on fittings, i.e. sanitary ware, taps, tiles, kitchens, blah. Ok, there might have been a bit of feet up time in between chores. Hopefully we have nailed all the bits and bobs now, we even bought a kitchen tap and sink, not that it is going to do much sitting in
Bob's garage 600km from the building site!

All the hard graft on the house is nearly completed, i.e. walls and roof, and the plastering and windows will also soon be done so that the place is a sealed unit. The builders break up for Christmas on the 22nd December, just a few weeks away, but if all goes well the place will have a kitchen (no doors), sewerage, internal plastering, plumbing and basic electrical. Of course this will induce another scrape of funds from us as an early Christmas pressie for Oliver! He did mention sommit about Barbados for the festive season?!

Anyway, our aim is to get down to Underberg in early January to check it all out for ourselves. Sadly it seems like end of February will be the earliest we can actually move in, sigh, long wait still. Good news though, our goods we shipped from the UK have arrived. Funny thing is though, they should still be in the UK as we told Anglo Pacific not to ship until December 1st at the earliest. They apparently 'overlooked' this wee detail. Several emails and interesting telephone conversation later we got a decent apology.
Oh, and they even buggered up the invoicing for it. So now our stuff will have to sit in storage in SA, assuming it is all there, for a couple of months until we can receive it in the house.

I shall post some pictures now (see album link to the right) and hopefully some more later in the month,
assuming we have some new ones.

Our first week in the village

It seems like we have been here for much longer. Only a week? So much has happened, well it feels like it.

The long drive down from Joburg is starting to feel a bit shorter. Still took 8 hours with stops, at Mufasa speed! Thankfully we know all the truck stops now so we can feed Mufasa at a good price, he gets very hungry. By the time we reached Underberg our thoughts of 'what are we doing' and 'have we made a huge mistake' had gone and we were glad to be home. With the keys in hand we went to explore. Nothing had changed since our last visit. No rain, dry garden, and dead roses that we had planted a few weeks ago.

First on the to do list was sort the electric and water. Easy, no? Before all that we needed an address, post box at the post office. No keys for three weeks though. Water we could turn on at the top of the drive, electric we needed a man with a key to switch our feed on. Eventually two days later with huge help from Faye, our estate agent and new friend, we had power. Boy the cold showers were not fun without it. The water people have our details now, the electric, well still waiting for them to phone us back!

Our next must do was submit the plans for the changes to the house. Easily done and should have them processed by 29th of September, approved hopefully! Following that was meet the builder to get quotes. Done, waiting for the figures, gulp. Just wish the exchange rate would improve. Last job, get someone to take a look at our inherited stove. A No.3 Rayburn. We would love to get it restored and keep it, but depends on how much it will cost and if we can find somewhere to put it. The people in the know are coming tomorrow so fingers crossed.

Other than the above we have been hard at work in the garden. So much to do and only two weeks here to get a start on it. Digging, raking, cutting, sweating! It has been extremely hot during the days. At night the temp drops. Had ice on Mufasa's bonnet Sunday morning! We spent the first few nights in the tent but have now moved in doors with our tent bed on the floor, indoor camping! It has however warmed up at night now though, well for the moment.

The people in the village seem very friendly, but that brings about our biggest nightmare, remembering names. We have started a list! Our aim is not to be hidden away in our house but to get involved in the goings on in the village. We had dinner last Thursday with Faye, her husband James, and her father Roy. Half price pizza at The Grind, and walking distance. Today we joined the Underberg Garden Club and went to our first meeting. Get to meet people, oh and nice coffee and cake! It does seem though that we are the ones not in the know, as the village telegraph has delivered around the news of our arrival. At the excellent plant nursery just out of town, they had heard of us!

Oh well, back to the to do list. Ok, perhaps tomorrow, its evening now, time for dinner and a glass of wine.