5674 miles for a tweet up

Many years a go I met Suzi, @cantbarsed2, aged 14. We were friends for 2 years only, till she left our home town and moved to London.

I visited her in London many times and we last saw each other, aged 20 in 1992, after I stayed at her flat for the night prior to flying to Barcelona to the Olympic games. I had a baby by then and our lives went in different directions.

3 years ago we rediscovered one another on friends reunited, a few chats, added one another on facebook, tea bags were sent...PG Tips of course.

I reconnected we Suzi via twitter June/July 2011 and I invited her out to visit, work got in the way for her, but we became friends again.

I went back to the UK in December 2011 and we met for a couple of hours over lunch at our old local pub and we got on wonderfully. The visit was too short.

10 days ago I collected Suzi from OR Tambo airport, our first proper time together for 20 years. Her plane landed early and I was just pulling up in the carpark, she must've thought it was a big wind up when she walked through arrivals and I wasn't there to meet her.

We have spent the 10 days, gossiping, catching up on 20yrs with no real knowledge of one anothers lives, sharing both the good and the bad times.

We all got on really well, the kids responded to her, hubby got on with her really well, she even unloaded the dishwasher and swept the floor...without being asked or having it suggested...lol

We went to see Rhinos

We went to Pilanesburg to see the Elephants

We went to Krugersdorp to see the Lions

Sandton City shopping

Soweto

A day lazing in the garden, with our newly adopted cat (it adopted us)

Walking with giraffes and zebras at Groenkloof

Lesedi Cultural village and Cheetah reserve

Centurion Mall

Suzi left South Africa this evening. I am sad to see her go, she will hopefully be back in June, if work gets in the way I'll see her in the UK in August.

It won't be 20 years before we meet up again.

Does anyone else have a friend like this?

How to spot an expat?

We are the ones in Pick and Pay that yell 'kids they sell hula hoops' that stockpile the Dr Pepper from the Spar.

We get family and friends to post over home comforts and we tweet in despair when we run out of tea.

All gifts sent home are souvenirs. Parents houses are full of 'local' tea towels.

We exclaim 'how much?' at all the cadbury chocolate and verge on becoming alcoholics at the low price of spirits and wines.

How to make a perfect cup of tea

First of all....REMOVE MOTHER IN LAW FROM THE KITCHEN....

Today my Mother in Law asked if I wanted a cup of tea...I replied 'oh yes' but as long as you're not masking it.

Brave? Foolish?

Neither, I can't make coffee, she can't make tea, the bag is squeezed within an inch of it's life, then lots of milk is added to dilute the strength, leaving me with a cold cup of tea.

So we had a tutorial. If you ever make me a cup of tea, this is how I like it.

1. Hold Tea bag upright in cup and add milk till the tea (not the bag) is covered)


2. Add boiling hot water to cup


3. Gently stir tea to desired colour has been reached

4. One squeeze of the tea bag as it is removed

5. Add one level spoon of sugar (if my Mother is reading this please note, teaspoon and not desert spoon)

6. Stir (important note for hubby)


7. Sit back and enjoy

Is there anything you want?

PG Tips and Pork sausages

I'll let you know when I need more Tea..at the moment I have 2 parcels in transit with thanks to facebook friends Suzi and Becks....and I've instructed my parents to bring some with them when they come out in June....please don't send sausages though.....

Just post, that's all, drop me a line and let me know how you're doing..it's my lifeline and I can't get enough of it...please excuse the delay in replying..it takes about 2 weeks for your letter to get here and aanother two weeks to recieve a reply

Top Gear - you let me down

It started as a bit of a laugh with my 16 yo son getting fed up of my constant complaining about the quality of tea here and suggested I contact Top Gear to see if they'd bring some PG Tips over for me when they came to Kyalami on the weekend.

http://chickenruby.blogspot.com/2011/02/help-neededsend-tea-bags.html

I emailed, I tweeted, I had numerous retweets but no response from @BBCTop_Gear.

On Sunday we went to see Top Gear, we had a brilliant day, the weather held off till just as we got on the bus to go home. We watched them bungey jumping with cars, we saw Stirling Moss, The Stig. May in a Twingo and Sabrine in a Megan race David Coultard in a Formula 1 car, and finally we saw Clarkson...

what was he doing?....nothing, he walked down the steps on the opposite side of the track, stood there, and took a swig from his mug of tea before wandering off...do you think he knew I was there and tealess? Could've made me one.