Toooown

Hola everybody. Today has felt soooo busy. But I guess town days always do. I could have just curled up and died this morning when my alarm went off at 5am. After my long weekend I have been neglecting my running and cycling and had to get back to it. No amount of pretty sunrises was enough to get me in a good mood for the cycle this morning let me tell you. This was made worse by the fact that we all woke up to no electricity, so coffee was a no go. They say these things are sent to test you....

But the bike ride was nice as always, even if I did do it half asleep! The kids arrived this morning full of excitement. Chris and patience rushed up to me to show me two parts of a doll. I thought it was rubbish at first until Chris said “Madam, madam, this doll, inside the cake for patience”. She proudly lifted it up and displayed it for me, and I realised that this doll was her birthday present for her fourth birthday last week that had been hidden in her cake. My heart almost melted when I realised. I hate to sound like one of those travellers who preaches about how you should appreciate what you have, but man, when you see a little girl who is absolutely chuffed to bits with a broken doll, which is now her prized possession, you cant help but think about how selfish some kids can be when they dont have the latest Xbox or mountain bike, and throw a tantrum. Kind of reminds me of that quote from the Count of Monte Cristo where Mercedes says to Fernon “remember when we were little kids, and Edmund got that whistle for his birthday, and you got a pony? Well you were so mad that he was happier with his whistle than you were with your pony”

Speaking of ponies, the kids got their own pony rides today on Mandla and Booboo. It was so cute. They all want to trot and when you go faster they just exploded with laughter. It was really cute to see them so happy. Although I think my legs were gonna give way after my cycle and no coffee, then jogging in the sun haha. Grace got to do a bareback ride down to the field when we were done. I really need to start going bareback. If Grace can do it, I should be able to. I just have this absolute fear of just slowly falling off the horse. Without stirrups I am useless! But, if I want to go swimming with the horses in the dam this Summer I am gonna have to like it or lump it, coz we cant go swimming with saddles..... I must be brave, I must be brave......

Strong man percy

 The doll patience got for her birthday <3

Thankfully by break time the electricity had come on and could gorge on sweet precious caffeine, and I particularly perked up by then! In the afternoon we played with dolls and the farm animals. I had particular fun playing with a toy snake which the kids were suddenly very interested in and I pretended to make the snake bite them, and oh how they laughed. Such a simple thing and they were laughing like mad for ages.

After the kids went home we headed straight into town. Donna had a KFC and I was pretty much right next to her smelling it. Why oh why did I have a banana sandwich before we left when I could have had Southern Fried Chicken! So I made do with a diet coke. Oddly enough, the guy who served us in KFC asked where we were from and when I said Newcastle, he asked if I supported Newcastle United or Sunderland or Liverpool. I was like “what!”. I always think this is a completely different world, completely separate to the one back home, and it was so weird to hear him talk about regional football like he knew it like the back of his hand. Which he probably did. He seemed very disappoint when I said I did not like football at all, and when he asked me what sport I did enjoy, I said “Show jumping”, he then looked confused and Donna said “Horses”. At this point he looked disgusted and turned away. He is clearly not a fan......

 Surrounded

HALLOWEEN DOES EXIST IN SOUTH AFRICA!

pick and pay grocery shopping was as usual a top notch speed affair. I get so excited about town it is ridiculous. I dont know if it is because I cant go to shops now like I used to, but quite sadly, making the weeks shopping list is one of my highlights, along with knitting.....I just want to say, that writing a blog when you have a white Alsatian call am going to take this as a sign that I need to stop writing now. I am off. Night night xxxx