Slip Slops, Robots and Shark Spotting!

Off road shark spotting

There is a reason why the UAE imports tomatoes from Holland. Returning from 4 days in South Africa, I found the last sad remains of an Aubergine stem. My cherry tomatoes, Carrots and Onions and Peas, all melted in the desert heat. I think my organic vegetable sandbox garden needs a hiatus until October.

Cape Town on the other hand was a canvas of fall colors, as their winter is setting in. My team mate Steve and I attended a conference last Friday and then spent all day Saturday with new found friends, Lara, gary, Alec and Annie (through work related projects) driving around the Cape peninsula, from Muizenberg to Frenschoek and along the coast. At one point we passed a shack high above the coast. Steve told me the community hires homeless people to spot for sharks, as this coast line has the greatest population of great whites and an equal large population of great surfers. The two cannot cohabitate easily - hence the need for shark spotters, who upon seeing a large shadow in the water (we're talking 5-6 meters) sound a horn and the surfers paddle and run out of the water. It begs to wonder if a spotter has ever neglected to sound the horn, just so a white guy can get eaten....or if ever the horn sounds for for fun, so one can witness a score of bum surfers run for their life ;-) Anyway, it seems to work - there are only rare instances of attacks and it keeps the economy going. Beats plane or train spotting!

After several hours of driving along the most beautiful and raw coast, we ended up at an underground winery, built by an eccentric Prussian count. The place was absolutely fantastic and some of the best wine I have tasted in a long time! The food, company and Pinot, made the day complete and I was slightly tipsy as I boarded my flight home(!!). This trip was very educational in so many ways. Who knew for example that in South Africa, traffic lights are called robots? And flips flops are slip slops....makes total sense!

Dubai World apparently owns a large chunk of the Cape Town water front, so I am working on having Aric arrange an account planning trip in September; we need more Pinot! Everyone agreed that we all must have another wine tour and that the respective spouses need to join!

Cinco De Mayo Celebration

Margaret swung the bat with fierce determination and brought down the beast in two swings! We are so pleased that Grandpa Tom has found such a strong, delightful and funny Canoodian girlfriend and in awe that she was able to take down our Parrot pinata so fast - it took two men to hang it back up, so other guests could swing at it. Later, it was in fact decapitated and we found the head in the top of a bush the next morning - the parrot had finally found it's nesting ground!

40, 5, 2, 16, 20, 56
Not your lucky Lotto numbers! 40 people showed up; 5 bottles of tequila emptied; 2 swings by Margaret to bring down the parrot; 16 enchiladas eaten among all the other main courses; 20 plastic margarita glasses used and re-used and re-used, and 56 coronas consumed (along with all the sangria, margaritas and Sol beer; 3 bottles of wine and 2 bottles of champagne) - I'd say the party was a success! Thank God Nicole brought another pinata (albeit a Zebra!!) - as there were a line of people waiting to give it a go.

Just before the guests arrived I had a wig crisis. While I was in the shower, Slim was attacking what he thought was a wild and dangerous rodent in my bedroom. Clearly thinking I was in danger from the "rodent", he broke its neck and gave it a good shake! What was a sleek and beautiful senorita wig, now looked like a cross between Michael Jackson's 1975 afro and Ozzy Osborne after a long concert night. I tried combing it out to no avail. Last resort was to gather the frizz with a large barret and let the front ends hang loose. I now looked less like roadkill and more like a Mexican prostitute. Well, it worked with the peasant dress I wore, so what can I say. My Senor hubby and his father sported a classic hombre look with their colorful sarapees and Margaret was my idential twin with a green peasant dress though no wig!

Aidan and Hunter made an appearance for a change - Aidan even made several batches of drinks for us (probably to impress his girlfriend Courtney who was there with her parents Andrew and Elona) - he made a killer Tequila Sunrise.

The last people left 4am, so I'd say it was a very successful fiesta! Elona says she will host the next party - theme: "Out of Africa" - so I'm already working on Aric's and my Tarzan and Jane outfits!

two for one - doesn't always work!

We get our cars washed twice a week. It sounds like we live a life in luxury but truly, it's a perk that is very inexpensive, keeps two people employed and pays them much more than they can get in their home country. We have a great couple (guy and girl) who team up, or come separately sometimes, to wash our cars of all the desert dust. In fact, they have just told us they are going back to Sri Lanka May 20th to get married - they are SO cute!
So, the evening we picked up Grandpa Tom and his woman of leisure, Margaret, we thought we'd just get a quick vaccuum and clean inside the cars at the gas station car wash. Driving into the waiting line, we told the guy we just wanted to have a quick inside detail. "OK, 40 dirhams" - but a full carwash and vaccuum is 40 dirhams...."yes but we cannot break it up; if you go through the AUTO machine you only pay 30 and we vaccuum". But I don't want to use the auto carwash (I made that mistake in UK and ruined the front side panel of our Lexus) - so we will just take the vaccuum pls. "No sir / madam let me explain, that is not possible, you must either go through the auto or pay 40 dirhams". Aric and I looked at eachother with a puzzled expression....I really tried to stay calm, but it was so hard. Let me get this straight! -- if we just want the vaccuum, we pay full price, 40 dirhams, otherwise we can use the auto car wash and pay 30 dirhams and get the vaccuum included. So, we will just go thru the auto car wash line without having the brush wash and then get in line for vaccuum, pay 30 dirhams and we're good? "No, no madam, that is not allowed - you cannot just drive through the machine". But I am saving you water!! "No, no, no madam, is no possible" - OK let me speak to your supervisor.

Waiting 10 minutes, another Indian came up to our car window. Must say, he looked very supervisory! Same story, we want vaccuum only - no aqua. "Oh no sir / madam, let me explain"....no really, I think you explained enough!! I'm saving you water by NOT taking the car wash in the auto carwash, so clearly you can vaccuum the car for 30 dirhams. I will just drive right through, OK?
"No because it's not procedure". Oh boy! Every reader knows me by now - I'm not the best at procedures. Aric told me to shut my pipe and he would do the talking. This somehow fell on deaf ears to me. Surely my face must have been red by now, but since it was dark, perhaps the guy did not see that. I put the car in gear and drove right into the auto carwash bay, drove right through the machine and past the side brushes, did a U-turn and placed my car behind a snazzy BMW being vaccuumed.
All the Indian washers stared as I got out of the car, told them to make sure to get the Slim snot off the inside of the windows and proceeded to get on a conference call while sitting in the waiting room. Cost me 30 Dirhams!
Thanks, 2 for 1 not doing it for me....just need 1 for 1.