Hi all. I hope all our students, graduates, and business people had a great Christmas and are now looking forward to 2020 with anticipation, bristling with positive New Year resolutions.
Back to the farm. Its amazing! We actually had great weather for the Christmas week and although our work commitments took us right up to two days before Christmas day, I actually managed to have a swim in the sea at Jeffreys Bay. What a great place!
Although having been addicted to surfing in the 60s and early 70s, and not having surfed since then I decided to try my hand at surfing again. What a disaster! ( “just like riding a bicycle,” they said). Being much heavier and much less fit, I couldn’t even stay on the board, lying down; never mind standing up or turning! My New Year resolution is definitely; (despite being 73 – Horrors!) – to get a lot fitter. I also have to get a hip relacement operation out of the way before I can even think about getting onto a board again.
Maybe I’ll just go Boogy Boarding instead. That I know I can do – without making a complete idiot of myself!
Back to the farm; our cabin on the farm, although blessed with amazing views, is like living in a sieve because there are small cracks all over the thin timbered walls through which the wind whistles; no insulation whatsoever in the walls or under the corrugated iron roof – so, freezing cold in winter and like an oven in summer!
The bathroom arrangements are extremely primitive. I won’t go into detail about that, but suffice it to say that; if you are planning to live in a cabin like this – you need to know your partner very well!! I believe that they have cabins like this in the #Kruger Park. Well maybe so, but take it from me – 3 days is okay, but certainly no longer. The romance will fly out the window and divorce will definitely be on the cards if you stay there for a week or longer!
We have had to deal with spiders as big as your fist, howling winds that threaten to blow the washing off the washline and disappear into the cow pastures, finicky plumbing, having to open and close 3 gates before we get to our cabin and worst of all living on a permanent 30 degree slope. If you like the sound of all this, then go for it! farming life is for you!
Brenda and I have decided that we are not cut out for farm life. So we are going back to our beloved Napier in the Overberg where everything works. It is a charming little village full of lots of great restaurants and pubs, where the architecture reflects its 100 plus years history and yet you can still hear the cows mooing when you wake up. The sea is to minutes away in Struisbaai , where we will be living in a charming cottage that used to be a cow byre, the shops are very close; so it’s the best of both worlds.
Happy New Year to all!
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