When Norm and I lived in Europe we made a real effort to take the kids to a new city every year. As I was the one who did the bookings and it was summer, we always stayed somewhere near a beach with a pool. Now that we live in Cape Town we have those things year round. We live a 5 minute drive to several stunning beaches and we have our own pool. Hence when my annual break comes we tend to just stay in Cape Town. After all, we would just be paying to go away somewhere else to experience what I am so blessed to have at home. 

Most businesses in SA shut down for at least a part of the holiday. It makes sense for an employer if staff take their holiday then so I tend to take 3 weeks off. This year I took just over 2 as I want to save some time off for my Mom’s planned visit in October next year. 

The first week is always Christmas preparation, shopping and various other things. But this year was relaxing as I was organized. 

In my last blog I talked about how serene it was on Christmas Day and Norm pointed out that this was the first year the kids all pitched in voluntarily. Normally they help if asked but this year it was volunteered. Such a difference it makes to share the load. 

I decided that this week I would do nothing other than ‘be on holiday’. So I’ve spent my mornings out back chilling on the patio and my afternoons right by the pool.

  
Norm has been productive and hung my new Buddha on the front porch.

  
The butterfly that was there before is now on my crazy blue shed.

  
And my new dragonfly is now hanging on the wall out back.

  
I had such a lovely Christmas. The family outdid themselves with some fab gifts and my home looks so cozy.

After everyone left on Boxing Day we relaxed for a bit then went to Woodcutters Arms pub.

My handsome hubby rocking his Xmas clothes.    
  We had driven down to the beach but the wind was howling so we moved into town. We thought Woodcutters appropriate as we took Mom there last year on Boxing Day. 

That night Hout Bay has had another horrendous fire in Imizamo Yethu the informal settlement predominately made up of shacks. On Boxing Day, the 26th, a day symbolic of giving, so many instead experienced devastating loss. Many of the shack owners were away for the holidays and may not even know their homes are gone. 

   
We had just given away so many clothes as Thula Thula had no space. Norm managed to find several boxes of decent condition men’s clothes and some sleeping bags. He did a wee shop for food donations too.

Every bit helps.

Last night we decided we were so over turkey and stuffing and went out for dinner. I fancied prawns and Norm a steak so we went to Pescarne.

We often dine at Pescarne & have done so since they opened, however last night was like being in an episode of Fawlty Towers. It was a long list of issues, the staff appeared to all be in training. Norm had to get up and find the waiter himself on multiple occasions due to lack of service and his steak arrived blue, or almost raw instead of medium rare.

  
We sent the steak back. When it arrived it was dropped off with no cutlery. He had to ask twice for a fork while his steak got cold. The second steak tasted great as did mine. I ordered the Pescarne Special at R185.

  
It was faultless, perfectly cooked, the prawns were fresh and the sauce was light and slightly lemony.

We ordered a round of drinks which we chased up three times as they took forever to arrive. We also had to finally get up to find a waiter to chase up the bottle of water we ordered and once it finally was dropped off we were given no water glasses. It literally took 20 minutes to complete the process of ordering water. 

Despite multiple complaints to our waiter and then later to another waiter when ours disappeared yet again and we wanted to pay, the owner could not be bothered to come and apologise or have a word with us. Even after our waiter went to speak to him about our complaints. You cannot treat locals so poorly and expect them to support you in the winter. Simply shocking service. 

In their defense, when I complained on their Faceboook page their representative contacted me immediately to offer a free return visit. So will try again. The issue isn’t the food it’s the service. The waiter treated me as if I was invisible. The owner did too so that is the precedent he sets. 

Today my friend Retha came round for a chat. I then spent the afternoon by the pool relaxing. I’m having a fab holiday!