Cape Town Day 2 - Saturday

The end of my second day in Cape Town - it is a very different experience to last year when I saw the whole of the area in 5 days - much calmer and quieter!  This morning there was a surprise lined up for Sue and I and Ray took us to a place over the in 'Gardens'Area without telling us what he had lined up.  Imagine my shock/horror to find it was a paintint workshop!  Anyone who knows me knows that my skill as an artist is very limited. However it was a fun morning creating a painting around a 'word' and it was certainly a different experience for me. It was a hot day and it was lovely to sit in the sun for a while this afternoon before the girls got back from Kegan's ( Ray and Sue's married son who lives round the corner). After a couple of slices of watermelon to cool off I took both girls and Kegan and Desi's 6 year old daughter Jaime to the beach. I was entrusted with the family car and I had 3 children to stop me getting lost!  I successfully managed to negotiate the traffic, the robots (traffic lights) and the level crossing and even more successfully managed to park for which i was very grateful. It gave Sue and Ray a bit of breathing space.  We had fun on the beach but i had forgotten that taking children to the beach did not involve lying in the sun with my book!  Looking after other people's children in a foreign country when the children know the area well and you don't is interesting. Anyway an ice cream kept them in one place for a few minutes and we had fun splashing around in the sea which was quite chilly.  I was worried at one point when i saw the black shark flag which i was pretty sure meant it's ok to swim. I checked with the children who were less than convincingly sure but i guessed that as there were a lot of other people in the water it was probably ok but i kept my eyes open in any case.  Having negotiated the Camry back home without getting lost we had an hour to get ready to go out to dinner. That meant i had time for an outdoor shower _ a real highlight of my trips to Fish Hoek.  How wonderful to shower in the open air with the sun burning down on you and lovely warm water coming underneath the trees surrounded by bourgonvillea!  The shower has been taken over by Dillon and Amelie as their own but after some discussion yesterday they gave me permission to use it. All was well until i slipped on a paving stone on the way back and sliced my foot!  It is painful and I am regretting my decision not to pack any antiseptic which i need to go and buy on Monday if gangrene has not set in!    Anyway we headed off at 6 to Constantia to some good friends of Ray and Sue's - Di and Stef Rigotti.  I had previously met Di last year and we had hit it off immediately and she was keen for us to get together and how glad i wam of her friendship. We had a fun filled evening with the most gorgeous braai (barbeque) of ribs, home made sausages and slices of steak. The 6 nations rugby was on their TV and it was great that Enland beat Scotland especially as the other guests in the evening were a Scottish couple who didnt arrive surprisingly, until the match was over and then Jim (a rugby player himsef
lf) was very quiet!   A good evening was had by all and we set off home at about 12.30 with 2 very tired little girls, one who slept on me all the way home. 
I sleptwell last night with Lineo above me in her bunk - i was surprised when i went to bed to find ziggy the dog sound asleep on my bed (Ziggy normally lives outdoors) and then in the morning i was awakened by Tusa the cat looking at me - it made me feel at home. Poor Lineo has a cough at the moment and in the night she was coughing badly. In 'mummy' mode and without really waking i got up to get her a drink - i had negotiated the dark kitchen and confusing taps before i really woke up , class in hand and not having a clue where i was!  it was a weird feeling.  I then woke up at 6.30 this morning thinking i had left the light on becuase the light was so bright in my room - of coruse it was the sun which we are just not used to in England.
No idea what tomorrow holds except i am going to go to Church with Sue and the girls first thing so i probably need to go to sleep it is long after 1 am here and everyone else is in bed although i can hear taht my room mate is not asleep yet!    From sunny Cape Town, good night and God bless. My internet is sporadic to say the least so if i have it tomorrow i will report again - meanwhile hope you are all having a good weekend.

lots of love
Jennyx