Week 27 - One Daily Positive

This summer is just stunning, long may it continue, I'm outdoors as much as possible, sitting by the river, having my lunch in the park and typing up thousand of children's names on a data base for receiving Christmas presents in and around Pretoria, South Africa this year. A project I've been involved with since 2011.

This week I'm grateful for my family and friends.

182 Sunday was a lazy day, spent online and flicking through magazines for wedding ideas, I wrote and sent some postcards, before Daughter in Law to be 2a, took me to the Belfast Airport. On arrival I was collected by my friend's son and stayed at their house for the night in Malvern.

183 Monday my friend drove me back to Monmouth, we stopped on route for coffee and cake in Ledbury. In the evening I unpacked, watched TV, saw mum and had an early night.

184 Tuesday and I did nothing, well I lie, I went out for coffee, did a food shop and paid the utility bills for the UK and Dubai. I've now booked my trip to Munich in just over 2 weeks and will be staying in a hotel in Manchester the day I arrive back, as there's no transport to get me home, till the morning.

185 Wednesday at mum's early for the kitchen fitter to sort out and repair some issues since mum moved into the new build. Afterwards we went to the crematorium to see my father's memorial vase and plague. In a weeks time, it will be a year since he died. We have been to the crematorium since he died but this is the first time we've seen the memorial. We had lunch on the way home. In the evening I went out with child 2 and 2a for my birthday dinner.

186 Thursday off to meet Chloe in nearby Abergavenny for a coffee and gossip. Having been awake most of the night with a migraine, I slept in the afternoon and chips in the garden for my tea.

187 Friday I took Mum food shopping, managed to throw boiling hot coffee over both of us, collected Mini Me from school in the afternoon and took her to Thing 1, 2 & 3, who all modelled their new socks I bought them from my trip last week.

188 Saturday my oldest twitter friend Chrissie came up to Monmouth for the weekend. This isn't a picture of Chrissie, I just love the way things grow in the UK, everywhere, not a single opportunity missed.

Peter arrives next week, we have another wedding, kids and family further a field to visit and hopefully plenty of sunshine and beer.

On the blog this week:

Letter writing and communicating the old fashioned way.
Did you know Monmouth has a castle?
Wild flowers and weeds in Wales. My summer in the UK.
Window cleaning in Dubai How they clean the windows on the world's tallest building.

This weeks letters home are all about Spring and Summer.

Spring officially started on the 1st September and I think summer must have started on the 2nd. Temperatures in the day have already hit 30 and by mid afternoon I’m sitting on the side of the pool, cooling my legs.

The garden is in full bloom and the trees now have so many leaves that my view of the Sunshine Tour, Telkom PGA Pro-am was restricted.

I’ve found a little cool spot in the garden and have put the sofa outside,it’s under cover and a few pot plants provide some shade. It won’t get wet when the rainy season starts but I’ve put a cover over it to stop it fading in the sun.

I’ve finally registered the family with a Doctor, he’s Scottish. The surgery is at Southdowns, a mall about a 2 minute drive away, however it takes a good 10 minutes to get out of the estate. It’s also where I’ve started to get my hair done at a new salon called Butterflies, very friendly and love to chat.
Registering at the Doctors was quite difficult and I was close to tears. I had a copy of Peter’s passport, the med aid card and mine and the children’s passport numbers. I explained I was from the UK and not sure how this all worked, that I was English speaking only and could they assist.
After filling in the forms, telling the receptionist again I didn’t understand Afrikaans, I was asked which Doctor I wanted to see. I don’t know I’VE NOT BEEN HERE BEFORE and with thanks to a nice woman in the queue she advised me which Doctor to see, explained how it all worked and showed me where to wait.
Honestly, the entire time I’ve been here, it’s always members of the public that help me out. If they understand what I’m asking and explain things to me, what is the point of employing the person I’ve just asked for help?
I’ve also decided each week to do ‘something nice’.
This week I went to Rietvlei Nature Reserve, its 10kms from home and on the school route. I took a picnic and the camping stove and spent an hour writing letters home and drinking tea. Finally the Hippo, which I’d heard, popped in for a brief appearance and I managed to get this picture.

I had no luck with the Rhinos on this trip, but saw 100s of different antelope, numerous Zebras and plenty of Ostrich.
Anyway, thanks for reading. You may not have been selected for a letter this week. I reply to all post received within 2-3 days and select people at random to write to.
I know you all love hearing my news, but it would be great to hear yours also.
Love Suzanne