An opinion poll and the weeks drama...

Well this was quite a busy week – mostly busy with birthday parties for Freddy! Happy birthday Freddy and thanks for all the festivities I had a great time, sorry I couldn’t make the third and final? one that happened today…At the first party we had cocktails and fantastic Greek food at the restaurant next to Kitchen Bar in the Design Quarter followed by more mocktails (no alcohol cocktails that all oddly tend to have roses worked into them) at said Kitchen Bar. All very nice… and then last night more partying at the Grill Shop at Rock Cottage where the food was great, as was the company, but the service not exactly what we’ve come to expect from them and they basically booted us out fairly early. Under no circumstances have a cocktail there called an Indian Summer! It’s nasty and smells a bit like Acetone. However…if you do order it by accident because it looks yummy on the menu then just take three looooong sips and it starts tasting a lot better. ;-) Freddy I hope you had a good time – I know I did! And I had a good giggle at Freddy’s friend Angus who was entertaining us with tales of a group of people who have moved into tree overlooking his garden and how he plans to get them evicted or even the tree felled because they infringe on his privacy and cause a fire hazard when they make fires up there.

Okay, you must be wondering what poll I’m referring to? Well this week I joined my brother and his friends at the Barnyard Theatre for a fund raiser show and on our way there I saw this: (A police trailer with its wheel clamped)

So this is what I want to know…do you think there wheel is clamped because:

a) The police – the enforcers of law and order – parked in the wrong spot? Or...

b) The police – super crime fighters – are afraid that someone will steal there trailer if they don’t disable it?

Unfortunately I have not the faintest idea how to make a poll that you can vote on with the click of your mouse – so I’d really appreciate it if you could include your vote in your comment. Thanks! (You are of course also welcome to come up with other suggestions about why this happened).

Other than that there are major developments at our house since my parents are having a swimming pool installed at the moment. The whole place is full of earth and at the moment we have to keep the dogs at the back so that they don’t either disturb or attempt to assist the contractors digging. The contractors have of course also come with their own share of drama but in general they’re getting on with it. We had a slight hiccup on Monday because my dad asked me to open up for them when they come and to make sure that the gate stays open so that they can move the soil out to the sidewalk. So I did as instructed – however: They were due there at 8:30 and only rocked up at about 9:15, at which time they informed me that they needed to go and collect their tools first (who?! I ask you goes to a site without their tools?) And they would be back in 10 minutes. They said they were leaving one guy to guard the gate so I left it open and continued with my normal day-to-day activities. At 11:00 my brother came home and asked me if I was aware that there was no workers there and that the security gate was wide open. I told him that there should be at least one guy but we looked and couldn’t find him anywhere. The workers and their tools arrived back at about 13:15 at which time my brother gave them a lecture that I doubt they will ever be able to forget and subsequently found out that their car broke down and the guy who was left guarding the gate was interrogated by the police about what he was doing there and decided to make a run for it. Mmmm…you have to wonder about that?

In the meantime Nala had a very eventful week as well. She was taken for a shave because it’s soooo hot here at the moment. Poor baby! She looks a bit ridiculous but at least she’s cooler…here is a before and after shot for your entertainment.

We also had to take her to the vet because she’s been having problems with her one back leg and she picked a fight with Diablo which earned her a bite that needed stitching up. We’ve noticed that she doesn’t lift her back legs properly when she runs so she’s always bashing a foot against the steps and we just wanted it checked out. Once she was shaven however it became clear that there was something very wrong with her one leg since she never puts any weight on it. So it came about that our pooch had to stay at the vet’s for two nights and had some knee surgery this week to correct a birth defect which caused her knee to dislocate. The patient is already looking a lot better and steadier on her feet – but she has to stay indoors until the stitches come out in 10 days time which is causing Diablo a lot of heartache and Tigger a lot of frustration. Nala and Diablo are sweet at night though because they call to each other almost continuously. My brother slept on the floor next to her the first night to keep her company and last night she flatly refused to be go into the room we prepared for her and instead roamed around in the house, politely waking my mom up every time she felt like going outside.

Other than that I can just say that this has been an extremely hot week and talking with some friends we all agree that this is one of the hottest summers we’ve seen in Johannesburg. During the day it’s often up to 25 degrees INSIDE the house and at midnight you could easily have that exact same temperature outside. It’s a wind still and stifling kind of heat. I live under my ceiling fan or rushing from shade to shade. Wish we could have a nice big and serious thunder storm to cool everything down a bit. Funny to think that on the other side of the world John and Vera both played in the snow this week!

Good luck with the week ahead…sympathy to all the singles for Wednesday when no one can switch on the radio or the TV or go out in public without being bombarded by Valentine’s Day propaganda. And of course in the same breath – I wish all the couples Valentine’s day filled with love and laughter and a happy ever-after. I hope that will find inventive ways of showing the people that you care about exactly how much you appreciate them – I’ve been busy doing something special for John too but I can’t say too much now since it’s a big surprise and I don’t want to give it away!

Hope that this will be a great week for everyone!