My last two weeks have been rather hectic. We had a small quiet Christmas however. As Lily and Trevor could not make it to Cape Town it was only Norman and Caitlin and I at home. 

Christmas Eve Norm and I went to a braai at my friend Retha’s. It was a lovely relaxed evening. 

But the wind was insane and it got rather chilly for midsummer. 

We went to a lovely performance by Ard Matthews at Suikerbossie here in Hout Bay on Dec 22nd.

Retha and Nic joined Norm and I.

The crazy wind was chilly so we found a spot inside. 

The event was poorly organized in regards to food and drink. You had to stand in a single queue for food or drink. So even a pint meant you queued. It took about 20-30 minutes. They had 2-3 bar staff and a lot of annoyed people fighting to get served. Then they gave you a food receipt and you queued up in a different queue to get very basic unhealthy food. It was so poorly managed. The food was average. I’ve eaten at several events put on by the restaurant and it is always average. Food was 1 Kitten Star. Service also a 1 Star. I gave a waitress a rather good tip hoping she would look after us, but I never saw her again.

But the music was good. Ard gets a 5 Star rating.

ForChristmas I received some lovely gifts. Norm also gave me spending money for shopping in the U.K. and 3 gorgeous summer dresses. I was so lucky!

On Christmas Day I loved cooking in my new kitchen. I cooked a tiny turkey and a small gammon as Norm and I would be leaving the following day. 

We still put on quite a spread.

Caitlin’s young chap Wesley joined us.

When we took the obligatory pic of Norm and I and I posted it, I noticed that my Facebook memory that came up from the previous year showed how much weight we have lost during our year of Banting and low carb living.

Left is us in December 2015, the right is December 2016. We have lost almost 50 kgs collectively. 

We had a stuffed, sleepy evening watching The Grinch. We were flying the following day but had most of the day to pack. 

We boarded a flight on Boxing Day to fly to London. It was a great flight as we had 3 seats to share so could stretch out a bit. Norm slept the whole flight but I watched an endless supply of films. We then rented a car when we got to Heathrow and Norm drove us to Wales. We were attending the wedding of Beth and Chris at The Cawdor in Llandielo. We arrived and had a sandwich and a lie down then joined some of the wedding party for drinks. 

It’s a gorgeous hotel and to be recommended to anyone wanting a weekend away in Wales. Our room was charming.

The next day we had a wander around the village in the brisk air. There are so many Cathedrals.

We stopped for a coffee in a charming little deli. The Ginhaus Deli does pizzas, sandwiches and pastries in house and has a gorgeous selection of titbits to take away. In summer it would be perfect for picnic fare. 

We only had a coffee as we had an amazing breakfast at The Cawdor. 

That evening we had the wedding to attend. Beth looked stunning. 

Norm spoke and he looked so sexy in his kilt. Grrrrrr. 5 Kitten Stars for you Mr Kitten. 😍❤️ The flap of my wrap around dress makes it look like I have a bizarre knee deformity.

The food was lovely. We both had the fishcakes and roast beef. Dessert was a divine trio of lemon meringue, chocolate tart and cheesecake. The wedding cake was stunning. 

We had a brilliant night dancing and having a laugh. We drank too much considering we had to be up so early to drive to Heathrow. We left at 6am and drove to London where we dropped the hire car, hopped on a bus and then boarded a plane to Belfast. We arrived there about 2pm and got a taxi to our hotel and we had a shower and freshened up and had a wander around town. 

We walked over to The Cloth Ear where we had told everyone we would be that evening should they wish to pop in. We managed to get a table and had loads of people stop to visit. It was a brilliant night. 

We had dinner there and the food was delicious. 

We got up late the next morning and went for breakfast at a local cafe. Then while Norm headed off to The Titanic Exhibit I met my friend Keith at City Hall and he and I hit the Town Centre for a bit of shopping. 

I very quickly found the items on my list, a new black trouser suit for work, a black leather biker jacket and piles of new knickers as mine no longer fit. Then we headed off to have a wee hair of the dog and a little nibble.  We went to The Apartment Bar which has a lovely view of City Hall.

We settled in with our drinks. We chatted away catching up as if we just saw each other last week.

My friend James had been away visiting family and he arrived in town at the same time that we got a table! Kismet. We 3 old friends spent all afternoon drinking, chatting and laughing. I lost count of how many drinks we had. We had some bread and dips and lettuce cups to share for nibbles.

Then Norm joined us and Keith had to head off but James came back to the hotel for us to change and we went to The Northern Whig where we again managed to find a group of seats right near the door so we got a bit of fresh air and we could spot our pals. Again there was a great turn out. It was so special that people made the effort to come and spend time with us.

We were starving when we left at 1am and I realized we had been on the booze for 12 hours. I love that you can walk a few doors down and find hot chips at 1am. We put James in a taxi and we headed to our hotel. The next day we had a flight to Edinburgh. We woke up, packed and went to the airport. We flew to Scotland and hired another car and drove to St Andrews where Norm’s sister lives. She has a charming guest house called Little Carron Cottage Guesthouse.

Norm’s brother, sister and their families were all there as well as our two gorgèous new grand-nieces. Is that the right term? our nieces baby? Anyway, Margot is six weeks old and Olivia is 11 months. They are too precious.

We were told that Linda and Jim are expecting a third grand baby from our nephew Jamie! It was lovely to see the family.

We had a dance or two and lots of laughs. 

The next day I felt a bit hungover but thought a walk in the fresh air would sort me. We set off through the park heading into St Andrews. 

We went for a coffee in the The West Port Pub in St Andrews.

Then we went for a drive round town and down to the beach. 

It was clear and bright but freezing cold with winds whipping in from the sea. We rushed into the car and back to the house. Norm and I both felt a bit under the weather and went for a lie down. We both fell asleep and awoke feeling dreadful. The family all went out and Norm and I stayed in and watched films, wrapped in warm blankets and feeling sorry for ourselves. The next day we still felt dreadful but my friends Trish and John had driven through from Glasgow. Luckily they are good enough friends that I could stay in my warm flannel pajamas. They hung out in the afternoon then went so we could nap a bit. We ordered in a curry takeaway and they picked it up en route. We all chatted and caught up and then Norm and I got off to bed as we flew home the following day.

We armed ourselves with sudafed to avoid bursting an ear drum and headed off to Edinburgh airport. We dropped off our hire car and got a plane to Heathrow where we then had to get a train to the terminal for our flight to Cape Town. The flight was chockablock. Not a single available seat. The seats felt extra small compared to our other flights. Thn Norm discovered his inflight entertainment did not work. It is an eleven hour flight so that is a nightmare. I don’t sleep and movies save my sanity.  Neither of our seats reclined properly but the one in front of me reclined so far that the boy in front almost had his head on my shoulder. The old geezer behind me kept digging his knees into my kidneys. Coupled with being full of flu it was the worst flight of my life.

We had such a wonderful holiday I just hate that we wasted even a day being ill. 

I now have only the weekend remaining before I return to work. I’m still ill but I have a lot of fun things organized.Sudafed and vitamins will have to get me through. I hope you had a lovely holiday.