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Showing posts from June, 2013

Our Mykonos Holiday – a touch of Greece 2 hours from Cape Town

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At Mykonos All we did was go to Gumtree and punched in Mykonos holiday and up popped the West Coast Holidays advert, promising a   not-to-break-the –bank deals for a Mon-Fri stay at Mykonos during the first week of the school holidays. Well, in Superman style, Val   Hopley , our ‘travel agent’, promptly sorted out all the hiccups that we experienced in Levona's kaliva.. Then we were ready to soak up the pleasures of our own piece of Greece.   We are now on to day 3. Mykonos is the ideal getaway even for consummate homebodies Mykonos is your ideal winter getaway and caters for all kinds of holidaymakers – the seasoned ones and the ones who are terrified of going on holiday. Okay, I am exaggerating ,but goodness – the reasons we manufacture to justify why we can’t go on even a   ‘cheapie’! The reasons are often elaborate, pseudo-valid ones. There are some who would say “ No, we have to choose. Our children want a flatscreen TV or others would say “ I can’t bear to sleep in ano

Who should greet first - this is a family dilemma!

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Who greets first? At first glance this question may seem like a no-brainer... if there is an absence of strong opinions on the issue.  Greeting Ritual Contenders: Sasha and Brett enjoying time out at Muizenberg Putt-Putt course We have a Greeting Ritual crisis at home. There are two views and the supporter of each one is fanatic. On the one hand, we have Brett who believes that his sister, Sasha, should greet him first when he arrives home. Conversely, Sasha asserts that Brett should be the one to greet first because he should acknowledge her presence. The other family members just greet; there are no strings attached. But not so for the eldest and the youngest siblings in our household; they refuse to surrender unless under duress.   We need an umpire or a judge to rule Invariably I become the umpire, the mediator or negotiator to keep the peace when the mudslinging between the two parties borders on mayhem.   The other day when things threatened to explode, I donned

Tribute to Lolita, a colleague who made my world brighter

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I was shell-shocked for a few minutes and re-read the mail from our registry. There it was: the funeral arrangements of a colleague I had never met face to face, Lolita Macrill, yet someone who helped to ease my load. Goodness, I exclaim to Basil, when did all this happen? How? Did I miss a previous mail to inform us Lolita had passed on? All these questions raced through my head as I tried to process the death of a friend and colleague I had never ever seen. I search my mailbox and there I find the mail: Lolita suffered a heart attack. I had missed that mail - somehow I had... Immaculate service from Lolita I am talking about Lolita Mackrill, our CEMIS Head office contact person. Whenever we were stuck with some administrative or technical problem regarding our central education management system, I would phone Lolita. Whenever the schools I serve struggled, I happily directed them to Lolita to assist. All our queries were managed professionally and whenever we spoke, Lolita wo

Spending quality time with our children - sometimes on their terms

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Our children determine the quality time agenda at times When our children become teenagers, they slowly start shifting away from us. I am sure we are all too familiar with the signs: the irritation with all those supposed faux paus we make - laughing too loudly, not 'getting it', not cooking the right foods, not enjoying life - just about everything that was fine not too long ago.  Our own children are no different. And, when they wish to include us in their activities, I jump at these opportunities! Weekend nicknaks  This weekend was no different. Each of the Lewinsky trio had their own plans and somehow we were roped in at junctures which they determined. Brett and his lil' family had a movie day in front of the fireplace. All movie snacks and homemade burger rolls travelled to our bedroom at various intervals. Sasha was at Tyler's place where she and her friends worked on one of the items on their bucket list. They too had a movie night, watching some chick fli