I’ve been having all my nuts and bolts examined while I’m still on medical aid since time is running out before Theo resigns from his job. It’s the last chance to get moesies and poesies sorted so I even considered having a hysterectomy but the advice I got from friends ranged from “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” while another warned me my bladder could drop out and would spend the rest of its remaining days swinging from a hammock suspended below my voluptuous eggs. I didn’t fancy sporting a manly moustache which another warned me would manifest itself on my upper lip so I ended up having the screws removed from my funny knee instead. It sounded less risky and I looked forward to a few days of genuine sick leave without feeling guilty.
I had visions of blogging every day and sleeping late and I was off the hook from participating in my mother’s line dancing sessions. Unfortunately it also meant no more biking for awhile, although I was apprehensive about that dam kickstart.
I spent the first few days at home vegetating on the couch, staring at the TV and waiting for the next 6 hrs to pass so that I could pop another 2 painkillers. The 2nd part of my sick leave was spent eating all the Xmas fruit mince pies which my mom and I had made. I also had a bash at tanning my cellulite outside in the back garden. Trips to the physio were about as much exercise as I got and the few kg’s which I had previously lost, reappeared around my waistline. It was time to revert back to my mothers meals of grated carrot salad, steamed broccoli and a slice of skinless chicken and avoid double helpings of Theo’s potjiekos, or snacking on sticky chicken wings or sampling his yummy olive biscuits. Luckily I’d polished off all the tempting fruit mince pies.
I ended my sick leave with a good ol biker party and attended the Skeleton Crew 1st year birthday bash. I haven’t been to a bike get-together for ages so it was really great seeing old friends and since the drinks were buy one get one free, well, do the maths. The music was good and it wasn’t long before I found myself head banging and forgot all about my puffy knee. Unfortunately head banging requires you to be steady on both feet so I fell over but I broke my fall on my friends face, careful to keep my knee out of harms way.
She went home with a blue eye and I spent my last sick leave day back on the couch nursing my kidneys. And the lesson learnt – sun tanning with bandages will result in zebra stripes.
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Monday, December 1, 2008
My First Off Road Experience
We’ll I’ve had my bike a month already and only taken it for a quick spin – no offroading. Finally a free weekend rolled around so we packed the tent and sleeping bags and planned to follow the railway line along the service road and see where we ended up. We took the tar road until Joostenberg Vlakte and then onto gravel. My first impression was not great. The road was sandy and my bike seemed to have a mind of its own. This was supposed to be fun and I wasn’t having any. My mirrors had loosened themselves from all the vibrations and the one even fell off. The road changed after a couple of km’s and I started relaxing and then it was back on tar again before we turned onto the service road at Hermon. I was kak scared when the road became a grass track and you couldn’t see the condition of the so called road and at one stage the prickly tall weeds were flapping around me at waist height. I was really grateful for my brand new offroad boots, my birthday present from Theo, which scored him big brownie points.
My bike started easily enough the day I bought it but for some reason I sukkeled to kickstart it from there onwards. I wasn’t opening the throttle enough so it cut out every now and then on pullaways and poor Theo had to kickstart mine, then his and his leg was taking the punch. At some point he signaled for me to stop so he could take a photo of me riding through a difficult section. Yeah right. The only thoughts I had were to keep moving, stay upright, try not to say oh sh!t too loudly and convince myself I was having fun. We stopped under a tree for a rest and I pulled a weed out of my bum, rearranged body parts, had a stiff drink for my nerves and decided that this was fun, only just though. The scary factor was high up there. Theo suspected that there was a drift up ahead and warned me that I better not cut out in the water otherwise I’d have a problem. I followed his lead, gave power, crossed through successfully but came out too fast and my back tyre slipped and slid all over the place and I nearly lost it. Luckily the bike cut out 2 inches before I hit a fence and I started doubting the fun factor again. I entertained a cow while I huffed and puffed and tried to maneuver my bike backwards into a better position for me to climb on again and try and kick the thing into life. Theo rescued me and to my relief he soon turned off and we hit the tar again. Riding on tar roads soon got boring traveling at 100 km’s. We came over the Nuwekloof pass into Tulbagh and Theo decided to explore the original old tar road along the gorge. It was fun but unfortunately we came to a section with locked gates and had to turn around. We headed for the forests in Tulbagh (which sadly hardly exist anymore) and the gravel roads up in the mountains had my adrenalin rushing to the limits. We rode up and down hectic gravel roads and when we stopped for a break I was exhilarated yet kak bang and panting. It was hard work turning my bike around in the dirt, until I realized it’s possible to just ride over small bushes. I had to keep pushing my remaining left mirror away from my shoulder to get my clutch lever back into a clutchable position and not point skywards. There was lots of vibrating I tell you and not the kind I was used to.
We took the back dirt road through to Wolsely and back along the tar. We arrived at the Tulbagh caravan park, pitched our tent and I flopped down grinning and exhausted. I didn’t care that my hair was stuck to my dusty face. There was no mistaking the fun factor anymore. A few drinks later, still buzzing, I praised myself and relived each and every scary bit.
The next day we chilled around our campsite and took a slow ride back home alternating between boring tar and straight easy gravel roads. Our bodies were sore and I was glad I didn’t have to deal with any serious stuff other than kickstarting my bike. I’d been managing occasionally to start it and felt sorry for Theo’s right bum each time he limped over to get mine going.
I’m sure I’ll miss my road bike and the buzz of racing along, pushing yourself to the limit through a sweep but my introduction to offroading scored a big adrenalin rush and I can’t wait for more.
My bike started easily enough the day I bought it but for some reason I sukkeled to kickstart it from there onwards. I wasn’t opening the throttle enough so it cut out every now and then on pullaways and poor Theo had to kickstart mine, then his and his leg was taking the punch. At some point he signaled for me to stop so he could take a photo of me riding through a difficult section. Yeah right. The only thoughts I had were to keep moving, stay upright, try not to say oh sh!t too loudly and convince myself I was having fun. We stopped under a tree for a rest and I pulled a weed out of my bum, rearranged body parts, had a stiff drink for my nerves and decided that this was fun, only just though. The scary factor was high up there. Theo suspected that there was a drift up ahead and warned me that I better not cut out in the water otherwise I’d have a problem. I followed his lead, gave power, crossed through successfully but came out too fast and my back tyre slipped and slid all over the place and I nearly lost it. Luckily the bike cut out 2 inches before I hit a fence and I started doubting the fun factor again. I entertained a cow while I huffed and puffed and tried to maneuver my bike backwards into a better position for me to climb on again and try and kick the thing into life. Theo rescued me and to my relief he soon turned off and we hit the tar again. Riding on tar roads soon got boring traveling at 100 km’s. We came over the Nuwekloof pass into Tulbagh and Theo decided to explore the original old tar road along the gorge. It was fun but unfortunately we came to a section with locked gates and had to turn around. We headed for the forests in Tulbagh (which sadly hardly exist anymore) and the gravel roads up in the mountains had my adrenalin rushing to the limits. We rode up and down hectic gravel roads and when we stopped for a break I was exhilarated yet kak bang and panting. It was hard work turning my bike around in the dirt, until I realized it’s possible to just ride over small bushes. I had to keep pushing my remaining left mirror away from my shoulder to get my clutch lever back into a clutchable position and not point skywards. There was lots of vibrating I tell you and not the kind I was used to.
We took the back dirt road through to Wolsely and back along the tar. We arrived at the Tulbagh caravan park, pitched our tent and I flopped down grinning and exhausted. I didn’t care that my hair was stuck to my dusty face. There was no mistaking the fun factor anymore. A few drinks later, still buzzing, I praised myself and relived each and every scary bit.
The next day we chilled around our campsite and took a slow ride back home alternating between boring tar and straight easy gravel roads. Our bodies were sore and I was glad I didn’t have to deal with any serious stuff other than kickstarting my bike. I’d been managing occasionally to start it and felt sorry for Theo’s right bum each time he limped over to get mine going.
I’m sure I’ll miss my road bike and the buzz of racing along, pushing yourself to the limit through a sweep but my introduction to offroading scored a big adrenalin rush and I can’t wait for more.
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Arranging the Deranged
Living with my mother is turning me into a organized, dull, respectable, middle aged auntie. I’m learning to line dance, I try not to drip all over the bathroom floor, I wipe the stove before going to bed and I can’t remember when last I’ve woken up with a hangover. Theo is accustomed to a bit of on chaos so I’m sure he is feeling like a fish out of water as well.
It’s great coming home from work and the supper is cooked and my washing is done and folded and everything is in its place but hell, last weeks excitement was the fact that I accidently left the front door wide open which my mother only discovered when she woke up at 9 o clock by which time she could have been murdered in her bed.
Being organized and making to-do lists does have its plus points. Every morning I go straight to the key rack to find my keys hanging there. I never have to drink black coffee cos there’s always milk in the fridge. I’ve been wearing matching socks, not just the same colour range, I mean a proper actual pair. Awesome. But I miss the chaos. Can this be true? I’m used to functioning in a slight bit of unorganization so it’s hard work competing with my alter ego. I mean, sometimes things tend to fall into place without all this effort anyway. Doing my makeup at work in the reflection of my stapler really doesn’t bother me when I’m late. Come to think of it, nothing bothers me.
Theo is coping well in the new environment. He hasn’t left his under pants wedged between the couch cushions or dumped his spanners in the drying up rack in the kitchen. My mother is fascinated by the jar of pickled eggs he made last week and couldn’t believe it when he whipped up a mushroom quiche on Sunday night at 8 o clock just because he felt like it. She went to bed before he had finished pickling the other 26 packets of mushrooms which we’d bought at a really good price. Luckily we have 2 fridges, one for my moms endless supply of tupperware containers range from big to small, smaller, smallest and leftovers get moved accordingly. The other fridge is full of Theo’s home made lemon pickled atchar, olive tapenade, cured bacon and liquors.
So bottom line, things are working out great living with my mom but I’ll just have to make sure I don’t change from being slightly deranged to very arranged. I’ve lost my clitoris before, but not my personality.
It’s great coming home from work and the supper is cooked and my washing is done and folded and everything is in its place but hell, last weeks excitement was the fact that I accidently left the front door wide open which my mother only discovered when she woke up at 9 o clock by which time she could have been murdered in her bed.
Being organized and making to-do lists does have its plus points. Every morning I go straight to the key rack to find my keys hanging there. I never have to drink black coffee cos there’s always milk in the fridge. I’ve been wearing matching socks, not just the same colour range, I mean a proper actual pair. Awesome. But I miss the chaos. Can this be true? I’m used to functioning in a slight bit of unorganization so it’s hard work competing with my alter ego. I mean, sometimes things tend to fall into place without all this effort anyway. Doing my makeup at work in the reflection of my stapler really doesn’t bother me when I’m late. Come to think of it, nothing bothers me.
Theo is coping well in the new environment. He hasn’t left his under pants wedged between the couch cushions or dumped his spanners in the drying up rack in the kitchen. My mother is fascinated by the jar of pickled eggs he made last week and couldn’t believe it when he whipped up a mushroom quiche on Sunday night at 8 o clock just because he felt like it. She went to bed before he had finished pickling the other 26 packets of mushrooms which we’d bought at a really good price. Luckily we have 2 fridges, one for my moms endless supply of tupperware containers range from big to small, smaller, smallest and leftovers get moved accordingly. The other fridge is full of Theo’s home made lemon pickled atchar, olive tapenade, cured bacon and liquors.
So bottom line, things are working out great living with my mom but I’ll just have to make sure I don’t change from being slightly deranged to very arranged. I’ve lost my clitoris before, but not my personality.
Window Shopping
We’ve moved into my old bedroom, which seemed more spacious during my budding teenage years. Squeezing 2 very full grown adults and meters of computer cabling into the same area is a tight fit. There’s not even space for my vibrator.
After trying over and over to kickstart Theo’s XT which didn’t happen since I didn’t have the “knack” and after viewing a few other bikes, I finally settled on a Suzuki DR 200. It’s a kickstart but you don’t need thunder thighs to get it going. (Bugger the knee, I’ll wear a knee brace or something.) I took it for a spin and it sure is different to my old bike. It’s old and it rattles and shakes and I have to just about sit on top of the tank and there’s no cockpit effort in the front which my old bike had. Theo told me to sit up and lift myself off the seat but I’m too poep scared to stand up on the footpegs. I’m sure I’ll get it after a few more tries.
Theo’s roadbike is also sold now so we have the deposit for a bus. We’ve looked at a few, even viewed a camper but haven’t found the perfect bus yet. It seems a 62 seater bus is the right size or else we’re gonna have to store the Webber (for smoking meat) and Theo’s sausage maker in the shower and his Still and boxes of bottles will have to be stored in the loo. Sounds a bit cramped. Or we could go true African style and load up on the roof. Going under bridges would pose a problem and anyway not our style.
Oh well, the right one will eventually come along, it’s just a matter of time. I’ll breathe a sigh of relief when we do find one and in the meantime there’s enough other things to keep us busy.
After trying over and over to kickstart Theo’s XT which didn’t happen since I didn’t have the “knack” and after viewing a few other bikes, I finally settled on a Suzuki DR 200. It’s a kickstart but you don’t need thunder thighs to get it going. (Bugger the knee, I’ll wear a knee brace or something.) I took it for a spin and it sure is different to my old bike. It’s old and it rattles and shakes and I have to just about sit on top of the tank and there’s no cockpit effort in the front which my old bike had. Theo told me to sit up and lift myself off the seat but I’m too poep scared to stand up on the footpegs. I’m sure I’ll get it after a few more tries.
Theo’s roadbike is also sold now so we have the deposit for a bus. We’ve looked at a few, even viewed a camper but haven’t found the perfect bus yet. It seems a 62 seater bus is the right size or else we’re gonna have to store the Webber (for smoking meat) and Theo’s sausage maker in the shower and his Still and boxes of bottles will have to be stored in the loo. Sounds a bit cramped. Or we could go true African style and load up on the roof. Going under bridges would pose a problem and anyway not our style.
Oh well, the right one will eventually come along, it’s just a matter of time. I’ll breathe a sigh of relief when we do find one and in the meantime there’s enough other things to keep us busy.
Monday, November 10, 2008
Well we move out of our house in 2 weeks. There are boxes stacked everywhere and it might appear as though we are living in chaos, but actually I’m quite organized. Everything’s labeled.
I’ve found a suitable house for Kyro and his college buddies to share. That was a mission. People just aren’t interested in renting their house to 3 young male students. I wonder why. Theo and I are moving in with my mom. By choice. That’s gonna be interesting. My mom is very easy to get along with although she has a totally different cooking style to Theo. He does most of the cooking at home and loves spicy food as well as unusual dishes. He makes his own olives, chorizo sausage, smoked bacon, pancetta, pestos and pickles. My mom on the other hand thinks any cheese other than Gouda is exotic and thinks if she adds a teaspoon of tumeric to her pot she has curry.
Her house reminds me of a show house. Ours is not messy but compared to hers it sure is. Keen to see how that’s gonna play out. I’ll probably join the line dancing class she gives on Monday evenings. Woopee. Oh well, I’ll enjoy the bonding.
I’ve found a suitable house for Kyro and his college buddies to share. That was a mission. People just aren’t interested in renting their house to 3 young male students. I wonder why. Theo and I are moving in with my mom. By choice. That’s gonna be interesting. My mom is very easy to get along with although she has a totally different cooking style to Theo. He does most of the cooking at home and loves spicy food as well as unusual dishes. He makes his own olives, chorizo sausage, smoked bacon, pancetta, pestos and pickles. My mom on the other hand thinks any cheese other than Gouda is exotic and thinks if she adds a teaspoon of tumeric to her pot she has curry.
Her house reminds me of a show house. Ours is not messy but compared to hers it sure is. Keen to see how that’s gonna play out. I’ll probably join the line dancing class she gives on Monday evenings. Woopee. Oh well, I’ll enjoy the bonding.
Hill Billy Style
Theo’s booze concoction has been bubbling away in the spare room for what seems like ages now. He intends making his own triple distilled Vodka (us locals call it Witblitz) and soaking fruit in it or making liqueurs to “trade” with it. In the past he’s made really good rose petal wine and some apple cider of note. Anyway the stuff in the bucket did the ama-glug-glug as it fermented. He tried a shortcut and stuck the bucket on the back seat of our car in the driveway to catch a bit of the winter sun. Well, as things happen, he popped down to the shops later that day. The bucket tipped over, a little drizzled out of the funny curly pipe thing on top and left a hectic klunk in the car. I left the windows and doors of the car open that night in the garage to air it but the snails took it as an invite and had a party on the back seat so now I’ve got a klunk and snail trails to get rid of before we can sell the car. Anyway, back to the booze making.
Eventually it was time to try out the still. Theo built it from instructions on the internet and got someone to do the braising. He bought a hydrometer to measure the sugar content and spent the evening in the backyard watching the temperature of the stuff as it dripped through the still. The first cupful got dumped since apparently it’s lethal and the last bit gets recycled. We ended up with a jarful of kickarse proof booze. Theo made the most divine, creamed liqueurs which didn’t take long to polish off. The Death by Chocolate one was definitely a killer if you’re watching your figure.
The next trial run Theo plans to get walnuts to make Frangelica but it takes a whole month for the nuts and booze to blend to the right taste so ho hum, I’ll have to patiently wait for the next guinea pig session. Dam, life’s a bitch.
Eventually it was time to try out the still. Theo built it from instructions on the internet and got someone to do the braising. He bought a hydrometer to measure the sugar content and spent the evening in the backyard watching the temperature of the stuff as it dripped through the still. The first cupful got dumped since apparently it’s lethal and the last bit gets recycled. We ended up with a jarful of kickarse proof booze. Theo made the most divine, creamed liqueurs which didn’t take long to polish off. The Death by Chocolate one was definitely a killer if you’re watching your figure.
The next trial run Theo plans to get walnuts to make Frangelica but it takes a whole month for the nuts and booze to blend to the right taste so ho hum, I’ll have to patiently wait for the next guinea pig session. Dam, life’s a bitch.
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Pacing Myself
Well things are happening. Sporadically. Some days I feel as though we are on top of things and other times a whole week goes by and I don’t see any progress.
Theo has been going in circles with the dam wind generator. He’s built a sample one to scale from instructions on the internet. He has cut the blades out of PVC piping, attached them to a disk which is attached to the end of a pole and there’s a motor stuck on as well. It spins like mad in the wind but it pumps out 1 amp so it’s back to the drawing board. Unfortunately his knowledge of electricity doesn’t cut it but he’s made a few trips to the helpful people at Outdoor Warehouse and he scans the internet about volts and watts and amps. It’s become clear that I won’t be able to use my hairdryer on the bus since it uses 2000W. No biggie - I’ll miss the coffee peculator much more and I’m looking forward to lots of braai’s and outdoor cooking.
I seem to be doing the paperwork and phone call side of things which I can do at work while Theo does the more hands on type of stuff.
My priority is to find a house for Kyro, our son, and his college buddies. I spend my time on the phone to estate agents and to people who are interested in buying our unwanted stuff. Evenings are filled with packing stuff which is sorted and labeled “bus” or “mom’s house” or “Kyro’s house”. No time for partying. I still haven’t found a bike for myself yet and Theo’s bike still isn’t sold.
Oh well, one day at a time.
Theo has been going in circles with the dam wind generator. He’s built a sample one to scale from instructions on the internet. He has cut the blades out of PVC piping, attached them to a disk which is attached to the end of a pole and there’s a motor stuck on as well. It spins like mad in the wind but it pumps out 1 amp so it’s back to the drawing board. Unfortunately his knowledge of electricity doesn’t cut it but he’s made a few trips to the helpful people at Outdoor Warehouse and he scans the internet about volts and watts and amps. It’s become clear that I won’t be able to use my hairdryer on the bus since it uses 2000W. No biggie - I’ll miss the coffee peculator much more and I’m looking forward to lots of braai’s and outdoor cooking.
I seem to be doing the paperwork and phone call side of things which I can do at work while Theo does the more hands on type of stuff.
My priority is to find a house for Kyro, our son, and his college buddies. I spend my time on the phone to estate agents and to people who are interested in buying our unwanted stuff. Evenings are filled with packing stuff which is sorted and labeled “bus” or “mom’s house” or “Kyro’s house”. No time for partying. I still haven’t found a bike for myself yet and Theo’s bike still isn’t sold.
Oh well, one day at a time.
Friday, October 31, 2008
Trading Wheels
Well there’s no turning back now. I’ve sold my bike and after looking at a few old on/off road bikes we’ve bought an old Yamaha XT 550 thumper. This bike will definitely be for Theo since I don’t think my right knee cap, which is a metal jigsaw puzzle, will cope with kick starting the thing into life. Visions of me flying over the handlebars and developing a limp doesn’t do it for me. Theo says I’ll definitely have to get something with an electric start but that makes it more difficult to keep within our budget. We either have to get something more recent and bigger i.e. a 650 but that costs way more, or consider something smaller like a 250 but then I’m worried I’m gonna poer poer along at 80km/hr. mmmm – not into that. I’m definitely not getting one of those Chinese imports either. I’ve heard too many stories about things falling off and anyway there are far too many almost brand new ones up sale – warning lights.
I had a flicker of doubt when I realized I’m exchanging my nice shiny bike to buy something that looks like an old scrappy piece of junk. Oh well the up side is I won’t have to worry about polishing again. I suppose I’ll trade polish time for scraping mud off the engine and tightening nuts and bolts. I’m also aware of the fact that speed will no longer be a part of the equation. I know it’s going to be a different ride but what about counter steering and leaning in the corners? Many people have asked us if we’re getting old, what with trading our super bikes for dual bikes, while others have warned that offroading is scary and quite an adrenalin rush. I suppose I’ll find out for myself soon enough. Just gotta find a suitable bike.
I had a flicker of doubt when I realized I’m exchanging my nice shiny bike to buy something that looks like an old scrappy piece of junk. Oh well the up side is I won’t have to worry about polishing again. I suppose I’ll trade polish time for scraping mud off the engine and tightening nuts and bolts. I’m also aware of the fact that speed will no longer be a part of the equation. I know it’s going to be a different ride but what about counter steering and leaning in the corners? Many people have asked us if we’re getting old, what with trading our super bikes for dual bikes, while others have warned that offroading is scary and quite an adrenalin rush. I suppose I’ll find out for myself soon enough. Just gotta find a suitable bike.
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Every Which Way But Loose
Well the upside of living in South Africa is you probably will get burgled somewhere along the line. Make sure you’ve got insurance, as we did, and you’ll be ok. Luckily we don’t have a mansion of a house full of stuff which other people want.
In the meantime I’m keeping my eyes peeled for a hot looking bergie in leather pants, the ones I’d only just been able to fit into again after eating vegetable soup for 3 weeks. The 10 stolen bottles of aftershave had sentimental value. They were years and years of unimaginative Xmas presents I’d given my dad since the age of 12 and which my mom had recently given to me after he died last year. Nothing else will be missed.
Anyway our insurance sent us off to a shop in Cape Town to choose replacement things. Theo made a b-line for a Garmin. Very sensible choice considering my direction skills are non existent. In fact the other day I realized, as I lay in bed with aching toes, that even the blood traveling around in my body was getting lost these days. It zooms down my left side and forgets to make a detour down to my toes before rushing up my right side.
Getting back to the point, we took the Garmin for a test drive. I’m impressed. The thing even talks to you telling you when to make a turn. It’s got a calculator so we can work out how far we can travel before the next fish and chip shop. You can see what the time is in Japan in case you’re wondering if anyone there is watching the same awesome sunset as you, and you can see which way the North Pole lies. Finding places is gonna be easy now so long as you know the exact address, spelt correctly, to punch in. I wonder if I’ll be able to punch in “bar – Kosi Bay – Beach front.
I’m just dying to find out.
In the meantime I’m keeping my eyes peeled for a hot looking bergie in leather pants, the ones I’d only just been able to fit into again after eating vegetable soup for 3 weeks. The 10 stolen bottles of aftershave had sentimental value. They were years and years of unimaginative Xmas presents I’d given my dad since the age of 12 and which my mom had recently given to me after he died last year. Nothing else will be missed.
Anyway our insurance sent us off to a shop in Cape Town to choose replacement things. Theo made a b-line for a Garmin. Very sensible choice considering my direction skills are non existent. In fact the other day I realized, as I lay in bed with aching toes, that even the blood traveling around in my body was getting lost these days. It zooms down my left side and forgets to make a detour down to my toes before rushing up my right side.
Getting back to the point, we took the Garmin for a test drive. I’m impressed. The thing even talks to you telling you when to make a turn. It’s got a calculator so we can work out how far we can travel before the next fish and chip shop. You can see what the time is in Japan in case you’re wondering if anyone there is watching the same awesome sunset as you, and you can see which way the North Pole lies. Finding places is gonna be easy now so long as you know the exact address, spelt correctly, to punch in. I wonder if I’ll be able to punch in “bar – Kosi Bay – Beach front.
I’m just dying to find out.
Monday, October 27, 2008
I Felt The Earth Move Under My Feet....
...literally I swear. It happened a few mornings ago when I woke up reeeaaally early. Ok admittedly we’d partied the night before when we had our friends around and told them about our plans. I didn’t wake up with a babalas at all, in fact I was extremely clear headed (some of my friends think I’m too clear headed but I digress). I didn’t wake up with a bang either - barely time to schedule that in these days.
It was just before dawn. Just before that time of the morning when the birds wake up. I hardly hear them since during the week its rush to work and who wants to wake up that early over weekends. Well anyway it was abut 10 minutes before the sun actually came up and I lay in bed buzzing on adrenalin. I could feel the energy oozing out of my body and merging with the earth’s energy around me. Ok, heavy philosophical I know but I just had to share that really weird yet wonderful feeling. It lasted abut 10 minutes and then the spell was broken by a single Hadida flying by. My mind returned to earth and I wondered where the bird was off to. It was either returning from a late night expedition or it was taking the phrase The early bird catches the worm a bit too literally. Minutes later the sun came up. It was Sunday and I needed to face my own day which was breakfast with the outlaws so we could fill them in about our plans. Oh horrors, how would they react? We’d find out soon enough.
It was just before dawn. Just before that time of the morning when the birds wake up. I hardly hear them since during the week its rush to work and who wants to wake up that early over weekends. Well anyway it was abut 10 minutes before the sun actually came up and I lay in bed buzzing on adrenalin. I could feel the energy oozing out of my body and merging with the earth’s energy around me. Ok, heavy philosophical I know but I just had to share that really weird yet wonderful feeling. It lasted abut 10 minutes and then the spell was broken by a single Hadida flying by. My mind returned to earth and I wondered where the bird was off to. It was either returning from a late night expedition or it was taking the phrase The early bird catches the worm a bit too literally. Minutes later the sun came up. It was Sunday and I needed to face my own day which was breakfast with the outlaws so we could fill them in about our plans. Oh horrors, how would they react? We’d find out soon enough.
Exposing The Truth
Once we’d made the decision to exchange our rat race lives for the unknown, we started planning things and everything just snowballed. Every waking (and sleeping) moment was about wind generators and batteries and showers and toilet dumps and water systems and battery charges and inverters and and and. We had a basic schedule/ dateline but then our landlord put a spanner in the works by giving us notice and we needed to move earlier than planned. Suddenly we were selling furniture and I made an effort to keep my cellphone charged and handy, something I was not renowned for doing.
Besides selling excess furniture and other junk, we needed to sort out accommodation for our 19 year old son at college, sell our 2 road bikes and our car and buy 2 on/off road bikes and a bus which we needed to refurbish. My brain went into overdrive. This was all supposed to be fun and exciting. Yeah right. We borrowed a huge drawing board from our friend and plotted things out with marker pens to maintain our sanity. Some days we were excited and ready to move mountains but sometimes panic set it when I realized I didn’t have a clue about alternators and I’d stress about silly things like how to pack glasses in the bus so that they don’t break when we were on the move.
Meanwhile our friends were wondering why we weren’t interested in joining them on breakfast runs or doing bike rallies anymore. It was time to break the news. My mother rolled her eyes at our plans but was quite happy to have us move in with her for a few months. Our son was exited about moving in with his college buddies and scoring our furniture. He thought our idea was cool. Our friends wanted to know what we’d been smoking, but were intrigued, especially the part about running the bus on vegetable oil.
Our secret was out and we were ecstatic.
Yeehaa.
Besides selling excess furniture and other junk, we needed to sort out accommodation for our 19 year old son at college, sell our 2 road bikes and our car and buy 2 on/off road bikes and a bus which we needed to refurbish. My brain went into overdrive. This was all supposed to be fun and exciting. Yeah right. We borrowed a huge drawing board from our friend and plotted things out with marker pens to maintain our sanity. Some days we were excited and ready to move mountains but sometimes panic set it when I realized I didn’t have a clue about alternators and I’d stress about silly things like how to pack glasses in the bus so that they don’t break when we were on the move.
Meanwhile our friends were wondering why we weren’t interested in joining them on breakfast runs or doing bike rallies anymore. It was time to break the news. My mother rolled her eyes at our plans but was quite happy to have us move in with her for a few months. Our son was exited about moving in with his college buddies and scoring our furniture. He thought our idea was cool. Our friends wanted to know what we’d been smoking, but were intrigued, especially the part about running the bus on vegetable oil.
Our secret was out and we were ecstatic.
Yeehaa.
Friday, October 24, 2008
Journey Into The Unknown
I’m finally ready. Mentally that is. Theo and I have wanted to change our lifestyles for some time now and that’s how we ended up deciding to sell everything, and buy an old diesel bus, hook up 2 on/off road bikes and travel South Africa. Indefinitely that is. Wow - scary and exciting. It’s taken me a while to get my mind, which I almost lost in the process, around the idea but that’s pretty par for course since I’m prone to getting lost. I mean you don’t just wake up one morning and say “gee let’s buy a bus and disappear into the sunset”. Mind you Theo did and at first I thought it was just another one of his schemes. Eventually my earthy side won the battle going on in my head and I thought what the heck, lets go for it.
We’ll be selling our car and our 2 road bikes in exchange for the bus and 2 old, cheapo on/off road bikes. We don’t have property to sell and we haven’t won the lotto and anyway if we did we’d still definitely go ahead with our idea. Our small work pensions will be our backup for new tyres or gear boxes etc so we plan to work at different things as we go along.
So you probably think our idea sounds a bit far fetched, ha, well picture this. We plan to convert the diesel bus to run on used fish ‘n chip oil. That got your attention I bet. It’s the latest rage overseas you know. The plan is, as we pass through towns, we’ll collect the old oil from fish and chip shops and the occasional restaurant. The oil gets strained and stored in a container under the bus but needs to be heated before it can run through the engine. If you don’t see us coming you might smell us.
We plan to buy a wind generator kit which we’ll attach to the roof of the bus as and when we need to generate more power. The electricity will be stored in a bunch of batteries and we should be able to run our laptop, a fridge, a sound system and 1 or 2 smaller items. Who needs more? Our TV will not be missed! I hope.
Besides a bed, a kitchen area and packing space, we plan to install a caravan type toilet, water tanks for running water which we could heat with gas. Luckily I’m not a finicky person and don’t have a problem peeing behind a bush. We will also be stopping at caravan parks occasionally, and not forgetting all the one stops so look out for us next time you all meet at one for a breakfast run. I suspect we’ll be very visible. Mind you I’ll probably be catching a shower while Theo sorts out the dump.
We plan to explore some out of the way places on our on/off road bikes. In fact I think that’s how the plan materialized. We got gatvol of riding the same roads around Cape Town and missed out on the dirt roads cos as you know road bikes don’t do well on gravel. We were ready to exchange the speed thing for getting back into nature. Well it was that combined with the fact that Theo was gatvol of his job and I was starting to feel like part of the furniture at mine. I got a fright when I realized I was getting sucked into the system shared with work colleges who thought it was a great achievement to retire after giving 40 years of service to the same company. My 20 year old son doesn’t need me around anymore to wipe his nose and I think his youthful ideas about quantum physics and thinking out the box has inspired me.
Every now and then my stomach churns when the scary thoughts enter my spacious mind but then I remind myself that it is what I want to do and it is possible. Getting off the grid is gonna be a challenge but it sure is gonna be an adventure and I can’t wait.
We’ll be selling our car and our 2 road bikes in exchange for the bus and 2 old, cheapo on/off road bikes. We don’t have property to sell and we haven’t won the lotto and anyway if we did we’d still definitely go ahead with our idea. Our small work pensions will be our backup for new tyres or gear boxes etc so we plan to work at different things as we go along.
So you probably think our idea sounds a bit far fetched, ha, well picture this. We plan to convert the diesel bus to run on used fish ‘n chip oil. That got your attention I bet. It’s the latest rage overseas you know. The plan is, as we pass through towns, we’ll collect the old oil from fish and chip shops and the occasional restaurant. The oil gets strained and stored in a container under the bus but needs to be heated before it can run through the engine. If you don’t see us coming you might smell us.
We plan to buy a wind generator kit which we’ll attach to the roof of the bus as and when we need to generate more power. The electricity will be stored in a bunch of batteries and we should be able to run our laptop, a fridge, a sound system and 1 or 2 smaller items. Who needs more? Our TV will not be missed! I hope.
Besides a bed, a kitchen area and packing space, we plan to install a caravan type toilet, water tanks for running water which we could heat with gas. Luckily I’m not a finicky person and don’t have a problem peeing behind a bush. We will also be stopping at caravan parks occasionally, and not forgetting all the one stops so look out for us next time you all meet at one for a breakfast run. I suspect we’ll be very visible. Mind you I’ll probably be catching a shower while Theo sorts out the dump.
We plan to explore some out of the way places on our on/off road bikes. In fact I think that’s how the plan materialized. We got gatvol of riding the same roads around Cape Town and missed out on the dirt roads cos as you know road bikes don’t do well on gravel. We were ready to exchange the speed thing for getting back into nature. Well it was that combined with the fact that Theo was gatvol of his job and I was starting to feel like part of the furniture at mine. I got a fright when I realized I was getting sucked into the system shared with work colleges who thought it was a great achievement to retire after giving 40 years of service to the same company. My 20 year old son doesn’t need me around anymore to wipe his nose and I think his youthful ideas about quantum physics and thinking out the box has inspired me.
Every now and then my stomach churns when the scary thoughts enter my spacious mind but then I remind myself that it is what I want to do and it is possible. Getting off the grid is gonna be a challenge but it sure is gonna be an adventure and I can’t wait.
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