Getting Older

I celebrated my 3rd birthday on the 18th of March. A friend told me that he never gets older than 9. As soon as he is suppose to turn 10 he starts all over again. So I am 3.

A small group of us went for a meal on the 17th. There were several reasons for a celebration. Sue, from the Israel trip and the lady who took Neale and Ilse's wedding photos, (see 2nd blog) was in London for work. Neale got older. I think he is about 9 now. It was also the first time some of the Israel people saw Neale and Ilse after the wedding. What better reasons do you need to get together? I am not going to say much about this meal. I will allow the photos to tell you the story.


From front left: Sally, Andrew, Minnaar, Marlene, Me, Jubilie, Liesl, Ilse and Neale.



From front left: Ruth, Sally, Andrew, Anita, Minnaar, Henk vdM and Jubilie.



From front left: Ruth, Sally, Andrew, Anita, Minnaar, Henk vdM , Henk B, Me, Marlene, Jubilie, Liesl and Byron.


Refreshment.

Anita, Minnaar and Henk vdM. Minnaar is the 4th person in our house.

My actual birthday was a day of fun and relaxation. I've spent it with the best company you can ask for. (If I did not spent it with you, it was because you were too far away.)

My day started at 06:00. I woke up and realised my dad would phone anytime soon. I could not go back to sleep, so I got up and made myself some coffee. I was suppose to phone my housemates to ask for coffee, but I thought it was a bit too early to wake them up. At 07:00 my dad and brother phoned. They did phone me "late in the day", because they did not want to wake me up too early. At was 09:00 in South Africa.

By 08:00 my housemates woke up and ordered me to sit. They prepared a lovely fried breakfast. Once again they ordered me out of the kitchen and started baking.




Jubilie and Liesl. The 2 housemates that did all the cooking and baking.

I went to church and was greeted with more : "Happy Birthdays". After church we were suppose to go out, but winter is back in the UK. It turned cold again over the weekend and they did actually forecast snow for some parts of England. A disaster as most trees are already in bloom. (see previous blog) We went back to Henk vdM's house for the most delicious left overs and helped him to finish of the tiling in his kitchen. After that no one had the courage to go out in the cold and rain anymore. We decided to invest some money. OK, it was only a game of Monopoly, but it did feel real. I won of course. I owned some hotels in some dodgy areas of London, (we played a London version) but some people frequently visited my hotels. Of course it lead to bankruptcy. What do you expect if you spent your money in areas like that. That is except if you invest your money wisely in hotels.





The beginning of the end. Rudolf, who started playing Monopoly with us, retired to his room to phone his "mum". He handed his properties over to Marlene to control it for him.





Henk happy that some bad luck came my way.






Look at all the money in front of me. Marlene is getting nervous.




Henk declared himself bankrupt and Marlene had to follow. Robert is looking to see what his wife can cook for him.

We had waffles and ice cream for dinner, before I returned home for the cake that was baked in the morning. After an episode of Grey's Anatomy and CSI New York the day was over and we all went to bed tired but happy.


Henk and Rudolf preparing waffle dough.

It was a lovely day and I want to thank everyone who made it special for me. Thank you for all the phone calls and text messages.

Love
Jaco

PS. Contact me if you need any advice on how to invest your money. (Monopoly money only)

February to March 2007

How time flies, and I'm not even sure I'm always having fun.

Not much has happened since the last blog. It snowed and it became summer. All in about a weeks time.

It snowed twice in London this year. I woke up one morning and realised that something was different. It was light in my room and it was only 05:30. It is usually very dark that time of day during a British winter. What a surprise when I looked outside to see a winter wonderland. It was totally unexpected. Total chaos broke out in our house. We had guests from South Africa. Some of them has never seen snow before. The rest of us just acted as if we never saw snow before. It was shortly after I came back from South Africa. From sweltering heat to icy snow. The snow did not last very long, but luckily it snowed again about a 2 weeks later. This time they did forecast the snow, but once again the British train system came to a standstill. Maybe it was the wrong kind of snow again. I started traveling to work at 07:00 that morning and arrived there just before 10:00. A journey that usually takes about 45 minutes. I am suppose to start work at 09:00 on a normal day.

This photos are taken from the balcony of my house. On the photo below you can see the river just behind the trees.

We had a mild winter this year. Except for a few days, it was never very cold this winter. Spring arrived about a month earlier than usual. All the daffodils are in bloom and I even saw a few tulips flowering. Very unusual for this time of year.

A walk in Regent's Park. Just look at the beautiful clouds.

We celebrated the Chinese New year on the 18th of February. It is the year of the Pig. Friends came to visit from Hong Kong and we went for a meal in China Town.

Does this look like London to you? Friends in China Town, London.

Work: Work is OK. Not much is happening. We are very busy and before you know it another day is gone. We had a visit from Tony Blair (the Prime Minister) and Patricia Hewitt.
http://www.kingspath.co.uk/news.php It was quite an interesting visit. All the preparations that was done for a 30 minute visit!!!!! At least they tried to fix some of the problems we struggled with since we moved to this laboratory. We moved to this lab at the end of last year. Our new lab is one of the biggest automated labs in the country. We have a tract that is a total of 36 meters long. 16 Analysers are connected to the tract with robotic arms that load and unload the samples from the tract and different divert gates that will divert the samples to the different analysers. I must say that it is very impressive to watch.

It was also a very sad time. Close friends of my family were attacked on their farm. The man was killed and his wife was wounded and needed surgery. http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/News/0,9294,2-7-1442_2082780,00.html
It is just so senseless and shocking when something like this happens. They are such kind and loving people that always did their best to help other people.

As a house in London we also had some bad news. A friend and his wife was involved in a helicopter crash in Hawaii. She died.
http://www.dieburger.com/Stories/News/14.0.2369608573.aspx
http://www.24.com/news/?p=saa&i=448800
You can keep up to date on Neels' condition at the following blog. It is in Afrikaans.
http://www.lean.iblog.co.za/

I would like to ask if you can keep these two families in your prayers, as they start rebuilding there life's. May God comfort them and give them the strengh they need to carry on.

That's about it. Keep in touch.

Love
Jaco