I thought that once school began and the house was empty of guests, the daughter back at work and the teens at school I would miss my old routine and go rushing back to help as a ‘room parent’ or classroom assistant.  But – no – that hasn’t happened!  I am afraid it has been the last thought in my head!   I am not bored and I don’t know where the time goes!  My colleagues I miss, and I do think of those little lambs I once taught but they have all moved on and so must I!

The thing is that life happens.  Now there is time to enjoy it and cruise through the day at a leisurely pace.  All my adult life I have had no trouble waking up at the rudest of hours.   But now 7 o’clock seems terribly early!   The only dutiful thing that I do is make my grandson’s lunch.   So that gets me up briefly and then I get back into bed, check my emails/Facebook while my perfect husband makes breakfast. Life couldn’t be better!

This week has flown.   On Sunday last week we dropped in at False Bay Ecology Park to see how the feathered friends were doing – this is alway a pleasure.

In my last post I related the drama of organising finance for our vehicle.  That all went through finally on Wednesday!   We now have the caravan safely in our driveway but the Land Rover will only be ready on Tuesday.

We have had so much fun shopping for accessories and now have a kettle that goes on the gas burner, petrol and diesel jerry cans, gas bottles, batteries and various electrical attachments, a blow-up mattress for when we take the kids with us and various other odds and ends.  I won’t bore you with the details!  But how amazing it has been to be able to shop at a whim and not have to wait for the weekend!  Sometimes breakfast or lunch out is included!

Having late nights is not such an issue anymore either.  I had a bird club committee meeting that went on forever on Monday night, book club on Tuesday night and went to a friend’s birthday celebration on Thursday night – without a worry in the world about coping the next day at school!   My bird club colleagues seemed somewhat surprised when I told them that I would not be living in Cape Town anymore.  I had told them this but they thought I’d come home at least once a month.  No so I’m afraid. I will continue with my three portfolios but I won’t be at committee meetings, chaps!   I reluctantly resigned from Book Club too – but they kindly invited me to come as a guest when I was in town!  Yes – life is changing in a big way!

My friend Priscilla and her twin sister Hilary had their birthday celebration at Cape Point Vineyards on Thursday evening.  What an idyllic place!   We sat out on the lawns looking over the valley and The Atlantic Ocean and ate food we got from their weekly food market and watched the sun setting gloriously into the sea.

On Friday Earl had a fishing charter and spent a beautiful day at sea.  He came home with some Hottentot which we served deep fried to our guests that evening.  My friend, Niru from Durban , was also visiting her parents to celebrate her 40th birthday and they popped in to see me on their way to a sushi dinner.

On Saturday night the Cape Boat and Ski-boat club had their annual prizegiving.  Earl mentors the youth at this club and we were so proud to see them getting prizes.   He also participates himself and skippers his boat in competitions although he is not as active as in the past.

And those are the highlights of our week!   We will continue to get the caravan organised with everything it needs next week and we are in the processing of planning a big trip in March!  Watch this space!