14th Dec 2011
To my shame and horror, my last blog was dated 17th July, and titled “Almost like being Home!”. Since then , we have in fact hauled the boat on to the hard at Spice Island Marina, repainted, varnished and generally put her to bed for the hurricane season…. stripped of all sails, canvas work, and strapped down to concreteblocks,between welded frames…. and hoped for the best!
We then headed for home, via Gatwick and Dubai to Cape Town, arriving exhausted and ailing from the usual long distance flight incubated flu, coughs and splutters. So this is more a bunch of excuses for not keeping up to speed with my blogs!!
The home visit was a whirlwind of medical and dental overhauls, financial reviews, political updates, Visa applications, leaving far too little time to spend with friends and family. We stayed with Kate in her beautifully renovated home in Tamboerskloof, and were lucky enough to be loaned a car by Maryandrew (as in Maryanne and Andrew), whose wedding we attended on our last visit home! We tried our best, and did a hell of a lot, but still fell short of meeting some of our friends on the “must see” list. Two months was just too short! Our apologies to all offended parties!
We did however, get a medical “all clear”, and were able to resolve a number of health problems that had threatened our cruising lifestyle. We also spent time with Steve and Kim, who have moved back to Cape Town after years in the Mozambican bush and islands. We even managed to get get Steve to to cook us all prawns on the braai for HIS birthday!
We spent time with Trevor and Shirl, both in Cape Town, and up the West coast in their new holiday home. We confirmed that the West coast area will be our probable landfall area, when we finally swallow the anchor, and give up cruising!
My Mom, Pam, had passed away shortly after our last visit, and she had made it quite clear to both Deb( my sister) and I that I should not rush home for a funeral, should she pass on. It meant however that Debs was custodian of her ashes for nearly two years, and so she arranged a small ceremony at Christ Church, because this was one occasion where we, as a family, were all together in the same country for a few weeks. Richard and Tina, the other family wedding we were lucky to share on our last home visit) with their new baby Maximillian, were also back in town for a visit from London. So with Mary and I, Steve and Kim, Richard and Tina, all in Cape Town for once, this was the ideal opportunity to do so.
Mom’s ashes were thus laid to rest besides my Dads, in a relaxed ceremony conducted by a former colleague of his, Rev Keith Griffiths, who changed callings, and is now the Rector of Christ Church. Deb mentioned that she felt a little awkward about having stored her ashes in the hall cupboard until such time as we were all together. Rev Keith put her mind at rest by telling her that he had kept his Mom’s ashes in the garden shed for five years, waiting for his brother and family to come over from Canada for the same reason. He said it was absolutely fine and very common in today’s world! He then went on to tell us that when Steve & Kim looked like being a little late, due to the traffic, he started having a panic attack, because he knew the automatic sprinkler system turned on at 5.20pm, and he did not know how to reprogram the system, or turn it off, and he imagined us all getting soaked as we tried to sprinkle Moms ashes! Thankfully Kim & Steve arrived on the dot of 5pm, and we were done by 5.15pm!
We retired to Deb and Graeme’s home for a family dinner , and were able to share family news and
get to know Ingi, Nicks fiancé.
On the other side of the family, Andrew and Maryanne had also been doing what newly-weds do, and Mary attended Maryanne’s baby shower, for little Jessica, who made her appearance shortly after our return to the Caribbean.
In the blink of an eye, so it seemed, the two months were over, and we were on our way back to Sheer Tenacity, all safe and sound at Spice Island Marina, Grenada, having survived the Hurricane season without us!
To my shame and horror, my last blog was dated 17th July, and titled “Almost like being Home!”. Since then , we have in fact hauled the boat on to the hard at Spice Island Marina, repainted, varnished and generally put her to bed for the hurricane season…. stripped of all sails, canvas work, and strapped down to concreteblocks,between welded frames…. and hoped for the best!
We then headed for home, via Gatwick and Dubai to Cape Town, arriving exhausted and ailing from the usual long distance flight incubated flu, coughs and splutters. So this is more a bunch of excuses for not keeping up to speed with my blogs!!
The home visit was a whirlwind of medical and dental overhauls, financial reviews, political updates, Visa applications, leaving far too little time to spend with friends and family. We stayed with Kate in her beautifully renovated home in Tamboerskloof, and were lucky enough to be loaned a car by Maryandrew (as in Maryanne and Andrew), whose wedding we attended on our last visit home! We tried our best, and did a hell of a lot, but still fell short of meeting some of our friends on the “must see” list. Two months was just too short! Our apologies to all offended parties!
We did however, get a medical “all clear”, and were able to resolve a number of health problems that had threatened our cruising lifestyle. We also spent time with Steve and Kim, who have moved back to Cape Town after years in the Mozambican bush and islands. We even managed to get get Steve to to cook us all prawns on the braai for HIS birthday!
We spent time with Trevor and Shirl, both in Cape Town, and up the West coast in their new holiday home. We confirmed that the West coast area will be our probable landfall area, when we finally swallow the anchor, and give up cruising!
My Mom, Pam, had passed away shortly after our last visit, and she had made it quite clear to both Deb( my sister) and I that I should not rush home for a funeral, should she pass on. It meant however that Debs was custodian of her ashes for nearly two years, and so she arranged a small ceremony at Christ Church, because this was one occasion where we, as a family, were all together in the same country for a few weeks. Richard and Tina, the other family wedding we were lucky to share on our last home visit) with their new baby Maximillian, were also back in town for a visit from London. So with Mary and I, Steve and Kim, Richard and Tina, all in Cape Town for once, this was the ideal opportunity to do so.
Mom’s ashes were thus laid to rest besides my Dads, in a relaxed ceremony conducted by a former colleague of his, Rev Keith Griffiths, who changed callings, and is now the Rector of Christ Church. Deb mentioned that she felt a little awkward about having stored her ashes in the hall cupboard until such time as we were all together. Rev Keith put her mind at rest by telling her that he had kept his Mom’s ashes in the garden shed for five years, waiting for his brother and family to come over from Canada for the same reason. He said it was absolutely fine and very common in today’s world! He then went on to tell us that when Steve & Kim looked like being a little late, due to the traffic, he started having a panic attack, because he knew the automatic sprinkler system turned on at 5.20pm, and he did not know how to reprogram the system, or turn it off, and he imagined us all getting soaked as we tried to sprinkle Moms ashes! Thankfully Kim & Steve arrived on the dot of 5pm, and we were done by 5.15pm!
We retired to Deb and Graeme’s home for a family dinner , and were able to share family news and
get to know Ingi, Nicks fiancé.On the other side of the family, Andrew and Maryanne had also been doing what newly-weds do, and Mary attended Maryanne’s baby shower, for little Jessica, who made her appearance shortly after our return to the Caribbean.
In the blink of an eye, so it seemed, the two months were over, and we were on our way back to Sheer Tenacity, all safe and sound at Spice Island Marina, Grenada, having survived the Hurricane season without us!
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