This week marks 14 years since I moved back to South Africa from the UK. Norm only joined me in December that same year but I arrived on the 7th and started my new job on the 9th of August. It is easy to remember because that date is Women’s Day. As well as the stress of having immigrated and starting a new job, I also had to try and find my way around Cape Town to the Mount Nelson Hotel.
The Mount Nelson is a historic hotel in Cape Town and is a massive pink gorgeous building so you would think it would be easy to find but the roads in the city centre are often small and winding and there are a lot of one way streets but I found it and arrived on time.
As frustrating as living with the corruption in SA can be, the time I have spent with my kids has been worth it. I had several years where both girls lived with me. Trevor had been living in Cape Town while he was at Uni but he moved back to George afterwards so he was not living here by the time I moved back which was unfortunate.
This week was also Panda pup’s 11th birthday. He is so small that he still seems like a puppy. He is so inquisitive and curious about everything. He is almost always happy and smiling. Norm bought him some peanut flavour treats for dogs for his birthday celebration. Pixie was of course very interested in them so we had to give her one too. She chomped hers up no problem but little Panda struggled with his lack of teeth. He chews with his back teeth and could not get the big bone into his mouth properly to chomp it but eventually he managed. Bless him.
On Tuesday Pixie started spinning around on her bottom, squealing and trying to nip at her lady bits so Norm took her to the vet. The vet found something inside her vajajay and kept her to sedate her and do a biopsy. They sent her home with a cone and she was not impressed with that situation.
She kept running frantically around the room and bashing into things. Since her back is damaged from being fractured years ago and the resulting arthritis, she cannot even reach her bottom so we took off the cone. She was wound up all night, running around frantically and then just flopping on the ground. I suspect she is trying to outrun whatever she thinks is nipping her on the bottom or else it is just itchy. The vet said the biopsy results will take about a week so I dread having to watch her suffer for a week. She is a very unhappy and grumpy girl. She just darts up to us and barks ferociously like ‘make it stop’. I am praying that whatever is wrong can be treated with medication and she does not need surgery or worse. Please hold her in your prayers too.
On Wednesday Michele, the Swiss Shepherd breeder we have been speaking to about puppies, told me that her female is definitely pregnant. I have been praying to my Creator to send us the pup meant for us. The female is named Sparrow and the male is Robin, so the bird connections are a sign. The dogs bred on mine and Norm’s anniversary and there is a chance the pups may be born on my birthday as they are due very near that date. These signs all tell me that this pup is meant to be ours. I have now paid a deposit for the pup. We are all very excited about getting a new Swiss pup. I have asked for a male but obviously we have to see what emerges.
We are starting to sort out our upstairs bedrooms and landing. We have given away a lot of things which we had been holding onto for no reason and have cleared out so much clutter. We have given a lot of useful things to our friend, donated loads to charity and have some to give to Lily to renovate for her business venture.
Norm went to collect two new bedside cupboards for the front bedroom this week. I bought them from Biggie Best in Cavendish.
I also ordered a new desk for Norman to work from in his new ‘office’ space on the landing. ‘All Office‘ delivered it the following day and there was no delivery charge. I was very impressed with the service. I think it looks great, not too overwhelming for the space. It is already covered with Norman-ness.
I also had a Takealot delivery of randomness. Norm wanted a new key holder for the garage and I chose this cute little quirky one of a Pomeranian. I am sure he wishes he had specified clearer requirements, but I think it is rather adorable and it makes me smile.
The builders came back to do a few bits and pieces on Thursday and then the guy who does the etching to stop the tiles being slippery came on Friday so we are getting closer to all being done. Our shower roses arrived and are now in place. We are waiting for a few more tweaks to sort the bath and the glass wall for the shower and we are pretty much done. We are also waiting on the air conditioning unit to arrive, the wiring has all been done so it will minimal fuss to install.
I mentioned recently that I had won a competition from Lancewood on the Crush magazine website and this week my goodies were delivered. There is a nice cooler bag with several reusable ice blocks, 2 sticks of butter, a caramel and a plain cheesecake mix, 2 packs of tennis biscuits, the tin for baking them in, a nice spatula, a box for storing cheese in, and an apron. Basically everything one needs to make a cheesecake (or 2). The card was addressed to ‘Patricia’ so I hope poor Pat is not waiting for something that will never come.
Now for the weekly stats on COVID for my 3 ‘home’ countries. Firstly, on the count of vaccines, SA has administered 8,546,428 vaccinations. In the USA 193,764,457 people have received at least one injection and 165,918,256 people are fully vaccinated. The UK has administered 46,961,830 first doses and 39,047,529 second doses.
The global ranking this week is that the US has remained in 1st place with 36,447,123 total cases, SA is still 17th with 2,511,178 cases, and the UK is still 6th with 6,014,023 cases.
For the rather sad statistics of numbers of deaths, there has been no shift in rankings since last week and SA is still 17th for total deaths on a global scale with 74,352 lives lost. The UK is 7th with 130,178 deaths and the USA is 1st with 632,641 lives lost to COVID and related illnesses.
For the more evenly rated ranking of deaths per 1 million of the population there has been no shift for the UK which is 20th with 1,907 nor for the USA which is following very closely at 21st with 1,899 out of 1 million on average passing from COVID. However SA has moved up another spot to 44th with 1,237 out of a million dying from the virus.
I am counting down until I go for my second shot in just over a week.
Today starts a 3 day weekend in South Africa as Monday is Women’s Day and it is a public holiday. The day commemorates the 1956 march of approximately 20,000 women to the Union Buildings in Pretoria to petition against the country’s pass laws that required South Africans defined as “black” under The Population Registration Act to carry an internal passport, known as a pass, that served to maintain population segregation, control urbanisation, and manage migrant labour during the apartheid era. For many women in SA very little has changed in their day to day lives, many are still struggling financially and many are still repressed both by their partners and by society.
Norm and I are going to visit Caitlin and Wes later this afternoon and then over the weekend we plan to continue our tidy up of the house and do some painting. I hope that you enjoy your weekends. Remember to check in on your friends and loved ones especially those who may be isolated on their own.
Until next time, Kisses from the Kitten xoxoxoxoxox
Kitten in the City 
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