I flew down to East London on the Sunday after the rugby, met up with family, and headed off to my cousins’ holiday house at the coastal resort of Haga Haga about an hour away on the Monday. My sister joined us for a few days as well, unfortunately she wasn’t feeling too good, recovering from flu.
The weather was fantastic. It’s been fifteen years since I experienced a South African winter and my recollection was of cold, rain and snow. Along the Eastern Cape coast it can be lovely. It’s probably been twenty five years since I spent a winter here. I’ve not worn a jersey in the daytime since I got here. It’s been shorts and t-shirts most days. In fact similar temperatures to Edinburgh summers.
I played golf with my brother every second day. I’d not played for a year so he gave me an extremely generous handicap. I thumped him, so for the second game he chopped several strokes off my notional handicap. The golf from both of us was poor, my short game needs practice. I probably didn’t break 100. He also claimed to be laid low with a dose of flu, fortunately not of the ‘Swine’ variety.
After a brilliant week at Haga Haga we returned to East London and I’ve been catching up with family and friends.
My brother arranged a job interview with his company for me, it went well and if I am offered a job, this may well affect the nature of my odyssey.
I’ve just spent a small fortune on getting my jabs for the South East Asia trip and I now have three new exotic diseases coursing through my veins. It would almost be a shame not to test them out in the wild.
I’m heading inland tomorrow to spend a week with my sister and brother in law on their farm near Cathcart. It’s going to be cold (it snows there) and I have hardly any winter gear with me. Brrr.
