A few months ago, our oldest daughter, Lisa, suggested we join her and her bestie on a Mediterranean Cruise as part of The Earl’s eightieth birthday celebration. She would have liked all our family to join us but it was just not possible. So our party will consist of Lisa and her friend, Dominika, Laurie, our youngest, her friend, Sasha and The Earl and me.

In the past, I have been the main organiser of such events. What a pleasure then, to have my two daughters deal with all the details and just simply agree to go along with it all. We both feel lucky to have kids who actually want us to go on holiday with them. And having them take care of everything takes a lot of stress off us.

Lisa and her bestie will go to Poland for two weeks while Laurie, The Earl and I will be spending two weeks in London. We will then meet up in Istanbul and cruise the Med together.

Because we would be travelling on Election Day, we all applied for Special Votes. On Monday the Earl and I cast our vote at The Dutch Reformed Church hall in Struisbaai. We were second in the queue and were done by 9:30 am. Lisa voted in Cape Town on Monday but Laurie went just before leaving for the airport yesterday and luckily did not have a long wait in a queue.

Tuesday, 28 May 2024

This morning, I was wide awake before the alarm went off. Our bags were packed and just the last-minute stuff had to go in. I was in a high state of excitement and by 8:30 we were both dressed and ready to leave. But our transfer would only arrive at 10:30 so we took Marlene, our lodger, to Shipwreck for breakfast and said our farewells to our friend, Rachel who owns it.

Steyn was dead on time at 10:30 and on this most glorious Autumn day with a high of 26 degrees C, we set off with in high spirits. We were delighted to find that Steyn showed an interest in the birds as we drove through the Overberg and we taught him the correct English and Afrikaans names. It was as if the birds were all coming out especially to bid us farewell. Our list included black-winged kite, rock kestrel, jackal buzzard, black sparrowhawk, spur-winged goose, Egyptian Goose, Grey heron and Blue Crane,

Lisa brought Laurie to the airport and they arrived a few minutes before we got there. Lisa and Dominica will only be flying out tomorrow while Laurie will join us for two weeks in London. After checking in we all went to have coffee at Wimpy which overlooks the runway. It is always exciting to watch the planes take off and land especially when the weather is so clear.

After Lisa left we went through passport control and it wasn’t long before our flight was called. TK45 left Cape Town International at 16:30 S.A. time and landed in Istanbul at 06:30 the following moring. It was a long night! Laurie did not have a seat near us but was on the aisle a little further back. Earl had a window seat and I was in the middle next to a lovely German girl en route home after a year of extra study at Stellenbosch Univierstiy. The Turkish crew were lovely and we were served two meals on the flight. Dinner at around 6:30 pm and breakfast at 2 am! The food was tasty – but hey aeroplane food is never wonderful!

Wednesday, 29 May 2024

Earl had assisted travel which was great as Istanbul Airport is huge and the distances you have to walk to get to your connecting flight are vast. Lollz and I got to go on the buggy with him and it was so much fun. The driver was a maniac and yelled to everyone to please make way. We went through the baggage check before everybody else but then had to make our way to the boarding gate on our own while Earl waited for a wheelchair to bring him. In the end he insisted on walking as the distance was not too far. But there was drama – the carer had lost his boarding pass! It turned out not to be a big problem. The check-in guy told us it often happened! He promised to get us a new one printed but while we waited for the flight to be called he came over with the original – “They found it – it was given to the wrong passenger!”

On the second flight, TK1979, I was so exhausted that I actually managed a power nap and so did Lollz. We were served a second breakfast at the more reasonable hour of 9:00 am.

We arrived at London Heathrow at quarter to ten GMT. Lollz and I were not able to get a buggy ride this time as it was full but we still made it to passport control at the same time as Earl. We did, however, get to go through passport control ahead of the crowds!

After collecting our bags Lollz and I parked Earl on a chair and went off to find a phone shop. We each bought a “Three” sim card loaded with data that gives us airtime and data in both England and Europe for a month. Lollz then organized an Uber on her App and by 12:30 we were delivered to our door at Battersea Pad! Thanks to my brother, Michael, for allowing us to stay there while we’re in London.

After unpacking and settling in, Lollz and I tried to order in some supplies but there is no 60/60 here! The soonest we could get a grocery delivery was Friday so we decided to go shopping ourselves. Lollz’ friend, Katya and her 6-year-old son, Daniel arrived just before we left and walked with us to the Tesco Express. It was such fun shopping like a Londoner! You can use self-service check out but we were afraid we would do it all wrong so went to the till instead. “Sorry,” I apologised to the cashier, “we’re from Africa – we don’t have such things in our supermarkets yet!” He looked at me as if I we crazy!

Katya and Lollz are old college friends and she now lives in Greenwich. It was lovely seeing her again and getting to know little Daniel. They stayed for an early supper and Daniel was absolutely intrigued by the river and the helicopters coming and going! Of course, the Earl just loved entertaining him while the girls chatted and caught up after not seeing each other since 2018.

We grilled crumbed chicken portions in the oven and served them with baby potatoes, creamed spinach and salad. Katya had bought Magnum Ice Creams for our dessert!

It was a lovely start to our fortnight in London. It’s early to bed for us tonight. We are exhausted!