A bit of a holiday diary

3 July – Car trouble

We left early on Monday morning. Matthew slept most of the way. Near Harrismith (about 300km’s into our journey), our car broke down. After waiting for over an hour, we were towed to Harrismith. Matthew enjoyed riding in a big truck – perhaps the highlight of his holiday. It turned out that our outer-CV loosened and damaged the driveshaft. They didn’t have the right spares in Harrismith and managed to patch it up, just so that it could last to Pretoria. We returned home.

4 July

Our mechanic in Pretoria fixed our car and we were soon on our way. Traveled safely.

5 July – The fit hit the shan.

At about 9pm, sewage started coming through the drainage system, overflowing into our bath. The toilet almost overflowed. At our flat, the ground floor consists of garages, followed by two floors of flats. Ours is on the first level. On calling the plumber, we came to the conclusion that the blockage was on the garage level. The garage underneath our flat belongs to an old oomie who is known for being a pain in the backside. He was fast asleep by the time the plumber arrived, but we managed to get hold of his garage-keys as well as permission from his daughter to work on the pipe. Problem – his car was still in the garage and she couldn’t find the keys. This car was shining from top to bottom – evidently polished at least once a week. The tires were even spotless. We had no choice. We opened the pipe and about 80 liters of raw sewage poured out on this man’s car. After fixing the blockage, I spent the rest of the night washing Mr Foster’s car laughing and gagging uncontrollably. I managed to see the last 5 minutes of the World Cup semi-finals.

6 July

I went to tell Mr Foster about last night’s event. He took it very graciously, but I could see his eyes mist up when I came to the part about his car’s baptism.

7 July

Today we went to uShaka Seaworld – one of our favourite outings when we are here. This is without doubt the best aquarium and theme park in South Africa. Overseas visitors must experience this place. Absolutely brilliant!

8 July

Went to Crockworld. Matthew loved it! Had supper with Natalie’s cousin Sergio, Janessa and their three boys. Supper almost didn’t happen as Scottburgh was plunged into darkness for about an hour at about 6pm. Looks like whatever Cape Town has is contagious.
9 July

We spent a lazy day on the beach.

10 July

Another lazy day on the beach. Our friends, Eric and Sheryl, Lee-Ann and Jan (and little Ethan) arrived. Eric recently had a knee-replacement. He fainted on the beach and we had to bring him back to their flat.

11 July – 17 July

Can’t remember much. Was sick in bed for a day. Had a good chat to God about ministry, a chat that always comes up when I’m on leave or on furlough. We will continue this conversation at a later time


Overall reflection:

It is very difficult to get away. I feel so conditioned to always introspect that I stand the danger of not enjoying the moment. The moments that I treasure are having uninterrupted conversations with my wife, playing rugby on the beach with my son and hearing him say “Thank you Mamma and Pappa take Matthew to sea” each time we returned to the flat from the beach.