Off to Cape Town.

Tuesday 3 May.

 

The alarm woke us up at 5:00 am and I was up straight away to make the breakfast. The first thing I needed to do after putting the kettle on was to check the newspaper for the result of last night's football match between Chelsea and Spurs. It was a 2-2 draw so Leicester were champions, Spurs had needed to win. This was good as I wouldn't be able to see the last few games while on the cruise.

 

After breakfast while I tidied up and Moira phoned our neighbour Kubus who was giving us a lift to bus that goes to the airport to make sure he was awake. He was up and getting ready to come and collect us. He arrived as planned at 6:00 am and after loading our case and rucksacks into his boot we were on our way. It was only 5 minutes drive to the Caltex garage on the main road where the bus stops and we had still about 15 minutes to wait. Kubus stayed with us until it arrived, I think if it hadn't turned up he would have run us all the way to the airport himself, he is very helpful. It did turn up and wasn't a bus but a 12 seater mini-bus with a trailer for the luggage. It took 2.5 hours to get to King Shaka airport, it went through the centre of Durban first, where the traffic was jam-packed, to drop some people at the bus station. Once at the airport we checked in our bags, got the boarding passes and it was easy for a change getting through security. We had an hour or so to wait until our flight was called and we boarded.

 

Table Mountain from the plane.

Cape Town with the Mountains behind.

 

 

It was a pleasant enough flight though there was a bit of air turbulence at times. It was British Airways, not a budget airline, so there was a sandwich and a drink included, that did for our lunch. When we reached Cape Town Carol and Ray were waiting for us and it was good to see them again. Ray hasn't been keeping too good, he was booked to have a hernia operation but had to cancel when he came down with gastro enteritis. The op has now been rescheduled for next Tuesday, in the UK he would have to wait 6 months for another appointment. Carol is still keeping fine, she plays bowls but not as much as when they were in 'Tweni, they find a lot more to do here and have developed many other interests.

 

The marina from Ray & Carol's house

 

 

Their house was in Muizenburg a little bit down the peninsula from the centre of Cape Town. I had run this way a number of times when doing the Two Oceans Marathon. They had an absolutely beautiful house on the Vasco da Gama marina. The canal or estuary water ran beside the deck at the back of their house. The

 

house itself was huge, about the same size as the one they had in 'Tweni. After dumping our bags in our room Carol made a cup of tea and we sat down for a chat and reminisced about old times. Carol later had to feed a friend's cat who was off on holiday. We walked there with her and her dogs. It was a pleasant stroll along a tree lined footpath that crossed a bridge over a side stream from the marina channel. The friend's house was another beautifully situated mansion on another part of the marina with access to the water outside the back door.

 

Other houses on the marina waterfront.

When we got back we chatted over a beer while Carol prepared the dinner. After dinner it was more reminiscing mainly about people we knew from bowling, a lot unfortunately who had since died. It was a very pleasant evening in good company, instead of watching, TV for a change.

 

We got to bed at our usual time of 10:00 pm, Ray and Carol don't stay up late either. We had a lovely room upstairs, en suite, so there was no struggling around during the night to find the loo.

 

 

 

 

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