Import-ant.......!!

Rob and I went shopping last Tuesday morning. I love going shopping with him because we go early and pop into the Mall to have breakfast! Our local pizza parlour has breakfast specials, either a breakfast pizza which doesn't really appeal, or the good old fashioned bacon, eggs, tomato and toast with a cup of coffee! And no hassle with 'previously lit' problems as they specially advertise the fact that they have a generator to keep the lights (and stoves) working! A perfect way to start the day, and no washing up afterwards!

So, after our leisurely breakfast, we meandered off to Checkers, our local supermarket. We always look for the cheapest items, being poor pensioners, and found some lovely pure orange juice that was a couple of rand cheaper than any other brand.

So, it came home with us and into the fridge.

The next morning at breakfast Rob was reading the blurb on the side of the box.
'This is by appointment to the Queen', he said.
'Really?' I answered. 'Wow, a South African product by appointment to the Queen!' I was impressed!

See the crown above the flying 'e'?

Until we looked at where it was produced. England! Now, England doesn't grow oranges. We do.
We also produce orange juice. But so does England by obviously importing either the whole oranges, or the pulp which they then re-construct. And then they sell it to us! And it is cheaper to buy than our own juice that is grown, squeezed and packaged here.

Home grown, South African oranges!!

Water Water Everywhere!

'Water Water everywhere 
And all the boards did shrink
Water, water everywhere
Except the bath and sink.'

(Apologies to Samuel Taylor Coleridge and 'The Rime of The Ancient Mariner')

We have had RAIN!! Last week we had a humdinger of a storm with lightning and thunder, our roads ran like rivers, ducks were swimming in the puddles, and the wind blew the rain sideways, so much so, it was knocking on the front door! It also managed to find a gap in the chimney and splashed onto the top of our little stove! It didn't do much to clean the windows though, but it did wash a lot of bird poopies off the walls and the roof..................and it filled our two rain tanks!

The smaller of the two tanks.

I have mentioned our tanks before I think, we have one of 2500 litres and one of 5000 litres and these catch the rain off the roof. A week ago they were almost empty, so you can work out the volume of water that fell in one go! We had 15 mm in about 10 minutes and the tanks were actually overflowing.
Just as well as it turned out.

Poachers Ahoy!

What comes to mind when you read the word 'poacher'?

I think of men with high powered rifles, and knives to hack off rhino horn, creeping and dodging through the bush in a game park, evading capture. Some, luckily, are shot, and those that are captured deserve to be stripped naked and sent to play with the lions for a while.

But, I digress (those words again!)

I seldom think of poaching taking place under our noses, literally! So, when Rob and I stood on our upstairs veranda a couple of days ago, looking at the sea and idly watching a little boat bobbing up and down in the mouth of the bay, the last thing we thought of was illegal fishing, or poaching!

Especially in broad daylight in full view of everybody!

No, we thought that the men on board, dressed in black wet-suits and wearing flippers, were doing some fishing and because the water is very cold, they were being sensible! We watched them through the binoculars but we just could not make out the name of the boat, Rob thought it was 'Miss' something. And then we went inside thinking that they were perhaps a little daft to be out on a cold day!

Postcards From The Edge!

Yes, this is a day late, but yesterday ran away with me! It was such a lovely day that I decided to do a spot of gardening and had every intention of blogging after lunch, and did in fact start one. But, then Andrew whatsapped to ask me if I was watching the tennis final, and I abandoned my computer to cheer for Djokovic. But, not loudly enough obviously, as he sadly didn't win.

So, here I am!

Saturday was Catherine's birthday, so I phoned her and Rob and I sang to her and we had a chat and then her mobile phone was ringing, so we left her to it. As it turned out, she had put a photo on her Facebook page and had over a hundred comments by the evening! Plus she had texts, emails, whatsapps, and probably a tweet or so, all safely and electronically delivered. Instantly!

Isn't technology wonderful?

But, I don't think that she had one actual card. Where the sender chooses a card, writes a touching or humorous message, addresses it, sticks a stamp on, and physically finds a post box or post office and sends it on its way! And then hopes that it will get to its destination without being opened, stolen, lost or destroyed!

How many of you have posted a card to someone in the last year? (Not many here in SA I bet, as the Post Office has been crippled with strikes where the post piles up, and people lose confidence in sending something that may never arrive!)