In a recent blog I mentioned the two old farts who sit near me at my current client who were reminiscing over ‘the good old days’ and now I am starting to be aware of all of their ridiculous conversations. It doesn’t help that Old Fart #1 has a voice identical to Kermit the Frog.

Yes, he is that annoying.

This week’s Old Fart Convo was them both moaning about the client using external vendors to do the analysis and testing on a project. The funny thing is that I AM the external vendor who is doing the analysis and testing. Silly feckers. I have mostly finished the analysis and mapping and the gaps I have remaining are all dependent on the client providing info to me. This last week has been so frustrating as I am being bounced from person to person in my quest for this info. The system owner referred me to another team and that team (after ignoring my request for 6 weeks) finally referred me back to the system owner. I felt like I was playing some sadistic game of ping pong.

I had a funny moment this week when I was trying to use the microwave at the client and could not figure out how to turn it on. (I am very visually challenged and could not see the labels on the buttons). A very nice older man came around to help me and a cheeky young fellow looked at us both flailing blindly about and says “soooo….you guys are both in IT?” with a raised eyebrow. We laughed and he told us about another employee who raised a help desk call because she had inadvertently “deleted the internet”. He calmed her by telling her that is not actually possible. Turns out she had deleted the internet explorer icon.

Bless. Even I am not that daft.

This week flew by as all weeks seem to when you are old AF. I have not been sleeping well all week and I have been very tired. Luckily I’ve had a lazy weekend of rest if not an excess of sleep.

Norm was at the dentist this week and finally got the implant done for the two teeth he had extracted and so he has had to stick to soft food all week. Our low carb path has been diverted badly as a result. Of course my path diverted last weekend when I was away. We had takeaways most nights this week so that Norm could have pasta or other things he could manage with his tender mouth.

Friday night I had my usual sushi from K1 but the last few weeks it has not been as good as it used to be before they changed the chef and most of their staff.

Next week I will try a new venue we heard about to compare. I love my sushi.

It’s been a week of much chaos in South Africa.

One of the largest government clinics in Cape Town was burnt to the ground. Arson is suspected.

There has been a spate of lorries being set alight across SA. One of these was petrol bombed while a driver was resting in the lorry and he sustained serious injuries.

There were two train fires back-to-back in Cape Town this week and another fire occurred today, making three train fires in one week.

I’m not sure where the new rail security teams were while the trains were being torched, but I did read that some of the security guards were terminated. Like most areas in SA there is probably corruption there as well.

Speaking of corruption, President Cyril has appointed his cabinet.

The biggest surprise for many was the appointment of former mayor from Cape Town, ‘Aunty Pat’ as Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure. But as they say, shit rises to the surface. (Do they say that? Scum rises? Bloated dead bodies thrown into a lake rise? Whatever the metaphor for revolting things which rise, you get the drift.) Fox and Henhouse come to mind. As much as I want to see more women in politics I detest this evil wench.

When driving into work this week I passed a man near the police station dancing in the street and waving around a rifle. No one else reported seeing him so I’m not sure what was going on there!

There has also been an unprecedented large number of CEOs resigning recently.

It makes me a bit uneasy when there is so much turmoil. But to be fair, it doesn’t take much to trigger my unease!

I mentioned that I had lost my drivers license recently and I finally printed off the forms to go apply for another. The form said I needed a case reference number from the police. Norm and I had already gone to get an affidavit signed at the cop shop, but then when the form indicated I needed a case number we had to go back to the police station on Thursday evening to get it. We waited for ages and eventually a rather surly overweight cop shuffled over and asked what we needed. When I told him he asked rather abruptly ‘was it stolen?’ and I said ‘I have no idea what happened it is just gone, I assume I lost it’ and fat boy then said ‘where did you lose it’. I had to bite a large hole in my tongue to not say what came into my head but I was unable to stop myself saying ‘if I knew where I lost it I would go find it’ to which he said ‘I am trying to help you’ while simultaneously not helping me at all. He refused to give me a case number as I wasn’t sure it was stolen. What a waste of time.

I left work early on Friday to go to the dreaded licensing department. Since I was last there they have implemented a ticketing system. At first the ticket giver refused to give me a ticket as I did not have proof of address with me. I told her that I had only gotten my license a few months ago and so I am in the system. She said if I wasn’t I would have to come back. I told her I was willing to take that risk (just give me my bloody ticket was resounding in my head).

I had to go through the entire process again, vision test, thumb prints, photographs and payment. I can’t understand why they can’t just reprint it with a fee. I had to pay just under R200 for the new license and an additional R50 for the photographs at a chemist which they don’t even use. What is the point?

It was all so annoying. At least it only took just over an hour as opposed to the last visit which took almost three hours.

We had a lazy day on Saturday and I stayed in bed playing games on my iPad until lunch time. Norm and I made a yummy brunch of an onion and cheese omelette with bacon and avocado and I topped mine with some spicy salsa.

Norm was working all afternoon and so I binged on RuPaul’s Drag Race and lazed about.

Late afternoon Norm took the dogs out for their walk and a short while later came rushing back in a bit of a state. He and the dogs had been attacked by a Doberman whose owner left the gate open. The dobie raced at our dogs and Navajo was ready to take him on but Norm managed to maneuver the dogs away from the dobie but he kicked out at the dog and the dog bit Norm on the foot. The owners heard the shouting and the wife ran out but the dog got away from her grasp and he would not stop attacking. Finally the husband came out and managed to get hold of the collar but the dog bit him and when he let go came back again to attack. Eventually they managed to get him in the gate. We have never seen anyone walk this dog so I’m not surprised he is not socialised and is full of aggression. When Norm got home he took off his shoe and saw that the bite did not break the skin but he suspects he will be badly bruised. The dogs were not fazed by the drama, once home Pixie barked indignantly that Norm had not given them their post walk treat.

Norm and I had booked last night to go see a guy called Frankie who lives in our neighborhood and is the lead singer for a band called The Rockerfellas.

We had no idea what to expect and I was worried it might be a bit too noisy for us old codgers.

But we wanted to see them so we booked to see them perform at Cafe Roux in the CBD. It was a sold out show and so we could not get our usual brilliant seats. Our alternative seats were behind a large column and we could only see a portion of the stage. Luckily they extended the stage a bit and at least we could see the performance if it was at the front.

We arrived about 7:30 and settled in.

I do love this venue and the owner and staff are fabulous. I love that they try to ensure respect to the performers and keep the audience quiet.

We ordered dinner when we arrived. I ordered a pizza with Parma ham, rocket, tomato and fresh Parmesan. Their crusts are thin, just the way I like them.

Norm ordered the butternut ravioli with fresh Parmesan, burnt butter and sage.

The food was delicious and I give it 5 Kitten Stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The band came on and quickly got the place pumping! They were wearing ridiculous 70’s rock star type clothes and one was even wearing a wig.

They had a variety of props such as flaming helmets and guitars.

Frankie is a really good singer and performer and we had such fun.

They did a few Queen numbers and Frankie changed into his Freddy wannabe get up.

We were singing and clapping and really getting into the vibe. I am now officially a fan and will go watch them whenever they play nearby. They get 5 Kitten Stars as well. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Today I have alternated between being lazy and being productive. Now that we no longer have a housekeeper I had a pile of clean laundry to sort out as well as I badly needed to tidy my closets. My boots and shoes were all over the bedroom. I cleaned out my shoe cupboard and put aside some leather boots for the girls as well as some for charity. It made me feel virtuous and organized.

We then showered and went into the village to run errands and shop. We went to Culture Cafe and Grill for a late breakfast. They have very nice smooth coffee with no hint of bitterness. We both ordered a coffee while we checked out their new menu as they have recently rebranded. The inside looks nice.

Norm ordered the low carb breakfast of eggs, bacon, fried tomatoes, local South African sausage and mushrooms.

I wasn’t as virtuous and I think what I ordered was called the Republic breakfast. It came with boerewors, eggs, bacon, mushrooms, fried tomato, toast and a hashbrown. As I am not a sausage fan I asked if I could have extra bacon instead of the sausage and they accommodated me. I asked for my eggs soft, over easy.

The eggs were rock hard and the owner very kindly cooked more to replace them. I wasn’t a fan of the hashbrown which was a generic frozen version and contained peas and other bits. Not what we yanks consider a hashbrown. But it tasted OK, I just wasn’t expecting the peas.

Norm ordered a side of sweet potato fries and they were the best I have ever had. When we usually order sweet potato fries they are frozen and tasteless but these were hand cut and really nice.

After we finished our lunch we went to the shops and bank and then to fill up my car with petrol for the week.

Norm has been working since we got home as he has so many projects going at the moment. I’ve been chilling with the animals and writing (when Pixie allows me to stop petting her).

Or when she gave me a break from insisting I throw her ball.

We just got a roast chicken and salads for dinner tonight as it has been a warm day. Our weather has been all over the last few weeks, dropping to 11*C some mornings and getting up to the high 20s some days.

That is part of life in SA, you often never know what to expect. It certainly keeps you on your toes.

Tomorrow Vanessa is coming to give me a pedicure and on Thursday Lily and Josh are coming down as Lily has to renew her passport.

It is my boy Trevor’s birthday this week as well, I wish I was closer and could bake him a cake and make a special meal for him. No matter how big they get your children are always Mommy’s babies.

I hope you have all had a good weekend and I wish you well for the coming week.

Until next time Kisses from the Kitten xoxoxo