Beginning of a life long dream or the start of an extended nightmare

19 Apr. 11


The myriad of tasks that have to be completed before taking a trip like this is humungous. First we had to complete the cupboards in the bedrooms of the house, then we still have to finish the plumbing and tiling in the bathroom. Next we applied for a pre-paid meter for the electricity which has taken five weeks already and we still have to wait another six to eight weeks before the meter arrives. In order to rent the house out we will have to have the pre-paid meter installed already. These are just the big tasks that have to be done and don’t include any of the business problems or getting rid of the last of our furniture. Luckily Lola has been relentless at getting rid of our personal belongings for some time already or we would definitely have run out of time.

We finally managed to sell one part of the business and moved our control room into the new owner’s premises yesterday. The other part we are going to sell to one of our existing employees. At the moment we are trying to sort out the accounts for the first part so that the transition can go as smooth as possible. Next week I have to start selling off the company vehicles. We also have to get to the bank sometime to make sure that our accounts remain open and active whilst we are away.

The kids passports are only valid for five years and we will have to apply before we leave for new ones for them as well as a new ID for me. Mine has been through the wash a few times and is all in tatters. I have been postponing getting a new one for some time now because I still have hair and am a lot younger in the old one.

We only have about a month left here before we plan to move down to Richards bay and the boat. Then the next phase can begin, getting the boat into ship shape for the trip. Hopefully the next phase isn’t as stress filled as the present phase.

24 Apr. 11

It is Sunday morning, in fact today is Easter Sunday and I woke up earlier than usual for a weekend. My mind was filled with thoughts as I had my first cup of coffee sitting in the garage waiting for the rest of the house to rise up and meet the day. I thought about the trip and wondered whether it was going to be the beginning of a life long dream or the start of an extended nightmare. So many different emotions are attached to a trip like this and not all are excitement, some are doubts. I am hoping that the decisions that I made along the way involving certain people, friends and family members, that I chose to ignore for what ever reasons doesn’t come back to haunt me on route and I suddenly find myself feeling as if I should have fixed things with these people before I left. On the other hand if I wasn’t going anywhere would I want to fall into the ever revolving trap of forgive and forget, then get screwed, then forgive and forget, by the same people over and over again.

Lola read her blog for the day to me and it is way more exciting than mine. Anyway as time goes by and we get closer and closer to leaving we decided to make our lives more and more inconvenient. A while ago we sold our fridge but after about two weeks of hell we borrowed a fridge from a friend making our decision that life cannot be lived without a fridge.

At the moment Lola is busy stamping our clothing in the bath since we sold our washing machine. The jury is still out on a washing machine and so far we have decided that we could live with hand washing for most things. Towels and bedding however, need a washing machine so we would probably make use of a Laundromat for these.

I never realised how much I would miss my lounge suite, since we sold ours we have been sitting, lying on the kids foam mattresses to watch TV. Not that we watch TV very often but the occasional afternoon nap on the sofa or just reading a book has gone. The boat has no real sofa type of seating so I will just have to miss my couch for the next few years.

This morning, being Easter hunt day, Kyle woke up all excited and came running through to the garage. Some years ago my kids stopped believing in the Easter bunny and I tried to convince them that in fact it was not an Easter bunny that came bounding around all cute and cuddly with chocolate eggs in his kangaroo type pouch but instead it was an Easter cockroach that vomited out the eggs. Hence the reason nobody ever sees the bunny. This morning I told Kyle that I seen the roach running around in the garage and stepped on him by accident so no eggs. He just looked at me for a moment then asked his mother where she had hidden his clues.