Thursday, November 29, 2007

Babelas! (A party or two to remember!)

Went to a great party two weekends ago. It was Rene's sister Jules 40th birthday.
Jules had arranged for all her close friends to come and celebrate with her at a B&B outside Hermanus. It was a good location and no one had to drive after the party; we all stayed at the B&B. The food was good, great people and too much to drink! (If there is such a thing ;-) Perfect! The main thing that changes with parties when you get older is that the music do NOT change and your hangovers get worse. This hangover lasted a day and a half! Perhaps one reason is that you never have the luxury to sleep in to the afternoon as you did as a student. Thank you Jules; we had a great time!

And last weekend it was another birthday party. It was Fraser's turn to turn 40. (Just kidding Fraser, it is still a few years to go ;-) Any way... Some times you (I, that is) never learn! Too many drinks again! Or perhaps it is just lack of sleep (again)!? However we had a great time, South Africa won the rugby and the braai was excellent. Thank you for everything Nicole and Fraser! Also want to say thank you to Chandre and Clinton for letting us stay with them. The breakfast alone was worth the trip!

The game of golf the next day was everything but excellent!

I am now looking forward to the Scandinavian Golf tournament which is played on Atlantic Beach on Friday. I will need to improve quickly and stop mixing pars with triple bogeys to have any chance!!!
I will also need to drink less on the following braai to avoid headache the next day. Have I learnt my lesson?

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Blackout!

Last night everything electrical just went out!
The first thing I thought had happened was that the electricity had fused in the house.
But the whole street was out. And looking around we could see that the whole area was out.
It was Eskom that had decided that we collectedly needed to save some energy, so they switched the power off.
Could not find any information about this on their website (got a laptop with a working battery), but I got it confirmed today on the radio. Eskom had to do some maintenance and they just don't have any extra power to compensate for the loss while maintaining the equipment. This is understandable (?) but a bit of forward warning would not hurt!
We need to get some touches/flashlights to be prepared for the next time this is happening, because I am sure it will.
Thankfully we had some candles and lanterns so it was quite cosy at one point.

We got a new dishwasher: I am hoping that there will be electricity so I can try it out tonight. Yes, it got the "best" energy and water usage rating there is, so we will be as kind to the environment as we can.


Wednesday, October 24, 2007

On top of the world!

The Springboks are world champions after beating England in the final in Paris on Saturday.
The result was 15-6 and South Africa was the better team.
Everybody have gone a bit crazy here and we are enjoying the victory.

We also cut down a large poplar tree in our garden.
The tree had already ruined the water and sewage pipes once and caused blockages a number of times for the previous owner and once for us. It had to go! Joggie and a couple of workers from his farm came and helped us take the tree down. So, we had a "chainsaw rally" in our garden around 7.30 in the morning and probably waking up the whole neighborhood (except a few teenagers). Thankfully we (i.e. Rene ;-) went around to our neighbors and warned them the day before.
We now had a truckload with branches and rubble and other garden waste to get rid of. So we filled the farm truck that Joggie brought with him and went to the recycling station. But no luck: we were not allowed in to unload our stuff since we had a truck and that is a too big vehicle. After many phone calls, to managers etc, we were instead directed to another recycling station which would be able to help us. But no luck. Again. Still the same problem: the truck is too big and heavy and is not allowed in to recycling station. While we are arguing with the official working there when a truck, at least twice the size of ours, is entering the recycling station! Of cause this was the truck collecting the rubbish, not dumping it, but the size argument that we accepted as an excuse disappeared...
Last resort was to take the all the branches, leafs etc to the land fill site just outside Cape Town (i.e. the city dump). Luckily this was not too far away. All well and good, we arrive at the land fill site with lots of other trucks and lorries going in and out. Perfect! Now, all we have to do is to pay.
"OK, no problem; where do we pay?"
"Oh, you need a ticket."
"OK, let's buy one then!"
"But we don't sell tickets here and the ticket office is closed on Saturdays!"
"What!!! Can't I pay you?"
"We don't deal with money here! You can come back on Monday"
:-(
I finally got to speak to the manager whom I pleaded with and he did finally let us dump our rubbish!
We would like to thank the guys from the farm and Joggie and Barbara for all the help with our garden. It now looks much better and tidier!

Alex and Tom (my cousin) flew back to Sweden on Sunday after 4 weeks. We hope they enjoyed their stay!

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday Mamma!
It was my mom's birthday on Saturday.
I didn't forget, I have just been slow on updating the blog :-)

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Insurance policy

I discovered 2 errors on our insurance policy for one of our cars.
It stated that we didn't have an alarm and immobiliser fitted, but we do have both. It also said that the car is parked behind a locked gate at night, which it is not. One of these is "positive" and one is "negative" for the premium we pay, or so I thought.
It turns out that it is only the "negative" error, that the car is not behind a gate, that affects the premium and makes it more expensive! :-(
First I was surprised, but after thinking about it for abut 1.2 seconds I realised that it always works this way with all insurance companies and banks!


Friday, October 12, 2007

The BIG weekend!

It is now Tom and Alex last week in SA and they finish their work experience today Friday.
It is only the holiday part of their visit left.
So we are going on a road trip this weekend. About 1100km is going to be covered along the coast and the garden route. Tom and Alex are going to Bungee jump from the Bloukrans Bridge and we are going with them. Well we are driving with them, not jumping! The Bloukrans Bridge has the highest Bungee jump in the world.

We are also going to stop by at the Cango Caves outside Outshoorn on the way, should be fun.  

It is also semi-final weekend in the Rugby World Cup and South Africa's Springboks are favourites. Not only to win the semi-final against Argentina but to win the whole World Cup. BUT they have to play the semi-final first. Let's hope they don't forget that.

Another good thing with the weekend trip is that we will have the opportunity to meet up with our friends in Knysna again; Pete and Jan and hopefully Bridget and Dewald too. I might be also able to play around of golf.  

Friday, October 5, 2007

1 year! So far so good...

It is now 1 year since we moved to SA and arrived in Cape Town!
This year has passed extremely quickly and we have achieved so much...
We want to say "Thank you" to all our friends and family for your support!

Last but not least: A belated happy birthday wish to Pete and to Charl!

Friday, September 28, 2007

The weekend they arrived

Last weekend was great!
Nothing beats old friends company, good food and a glass of wine or two. I and a couple of others (no names mentioned ;-) probably also had too many glasses of wine, if there is such a thing. Things never got out of hand, and I felt fine on Saturday morning, until I moved!
Ouch!
But things slowly improved even if it was a very "quiet" group that did the wine tasting tour in and around Slanghoek outside Worcester.

[photo]

The golf, on Worcester GC, on Sunday was won by the Knysna boys (Dewald and Pete) who had practiced a lot before this event.

I think we should also keep the golf as well as the general get together as yearly tradition! I am already looking forward to next year, but without the headache.


My cousin Tom and his school-friend Alexander, arrived on Sunday. We picked them up on Monday after they had stayed a night at the Big Blue Backpackers in Cape Town. (Monday was a Public Holiday in SA)

Tom and Alex started their work practice at Scentpac (http://www.scentpac.co.za) on Tuesday. It will be interesting for them to work in a South African factory. The staff is almost 100%
female with only 2 guys working there. It is now 50% more men at the factory. I think Tom and Alex have already received a few proposals of marriage from women who wants to escape to Sweden! :-)

This weekend we are going to visit Table Mountain if the weather is
nice and also go to Onrus (http://www.fallingrain.com/world/SF/1/Onrus.html (it is outside Hermanus)) and I hope we will be able to spot some whales. It is whale season at the moment here in SA so the chance is big. http://cybercapetown.com/WhaleWatching/

Tom and Alex want to go shark diving but I don't know if there will be time for that this weekend... I will stay on land and have no desire to get up close with the sharks.

We will also try to squeeze in another braai or two!

Thursday, September 20, 2007

The BIG weekend starts here!

Holiday!
It is a public holiday in South Africa on Monday and I have taken Friday off!

We are going to the Worcester and are meeting up with the "South African London crowd": Sean and Lauren, Peter and Janet and Briget and Dewald plus all the children! (The children has arrived after the return to SA from London.) We will also miss all the guys who are still in the UK and who cant make it. FYI: We will concentrate our schedule on golf, braai, wine tasting/drinking and just being lazy together with our friends! Fantastic!

My cousin, Tom, is also arriving to Cape Town this weekend. He and his school friend Alexander is coming down to do their 3 week international work practice here. It will be an adventure for them but also for Rene and I since they are staying with us in our new house. Hope they will like it!

We also hope that the water will be back on soon! There was/is a water leak on our street so they have turned off the water for the whole block. You kind of start noticing the importance of water when you don't have any. Hope they will fix it today.

The big 30!

Went to Martin's 30th party last weekend! (Happy birthday Martin!!!)
We had a great time and my hangover was non existent the next day! Brilliant!
Martin's Birthday Party

Poor Rene had to be up early, early (like 5ish in the morning) the next day to help at the Cape Town marathon. NO running involved!

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Very moving!

It is done!
We have now moved in to our new house. The move went well with help from some farm-workers from Joggies farm that we hired for a couple of hours. Having access to a big truck (also from the farm) also helped. We started early and by 10.30 everything was in our new house! There are still things to do and unpack and it is more obvious now in the house, than in the flat, that we almost don't have any furniture. We do need to get some sofas and also a TV. Perhaps a TV like this one? With no IKEA around the corner we have to wait about 6 weeks for a sofa.
We have also done some DIY (do-it-yourself) and mostly painting. I started by pouring paint all over my self, before I even had painted anything! [photo]
However, things are looking better now and the nice thing with painting is that it is very rewarding. It is only two bead rooms that needs to be done now, the rest can wait. Having a house also makes it allowed to by power tools! ;-)

I also want to say "Happy Birthday" to my lovely wife Rene!
We went out for dinner on Saturday (her birthday) and I managed to surprise her by inviting Rene's family too. Instead of just being the two of us we were 8. We went to the restaurant SALT in Cape Town. Nice venue with good food. The only "blip" on the menu was probably the pickled herring starter. It was far to strong (acidic) and overpowering. Everything else was good or very good. I can recommend a visit.

We are now looking forward to a 30th party on Saturday! More about that later...




Thursday, August 23, 2007

Relaxing Zanzibar

Relaxing, reading and just being lazy was what we were doing in Zanzibar. We had a great time with warm sunshine, white sandy beaches, blue skies and turquoise water. I can't believe that we have soon been back for 2 weeks!
I took lots of photos and you can check a few of them out here:
Zanzibar

We also went swimming with Dolphins and it was a great experience. We went out with a boat early one morning so we managed to beat the crowds. We snorkeled and came with in touching distance from them. You just swim around and they come and check you out!


We are otherwise busy with our move* and have started to pack our things in to boxes (again). We will hopefully not have to do that again for a while after this move. We have also started to get back in to our running again...

My cousin Tom and one of his friends is coming down to Cape Town for a month in September-October to gain some international work experience. It is part of their training program at secondary school/collage/high school. I hope they will enjoy it and that we are able to take care of them ;-) I guess we will be speaking more Swedish at home that usual.

*We have also been busy watching too many episodes of 24! "Jack", we want our lives back! ;-)

Saturday, August 4, 2007

Sunday, July 29, 2007

Sneak peak!

We went to take some photos of our new house last weekend... It still gives us a great feel and we can't wait to move in now. Check out the photos below. The TV and furniture is not ours; do I have to point that out?! :-)
New house - Madison


It has been a hectic but good week: Had my yellow fever vaccination done on Monday so that I will be let back in to the country after our holiday to Zanzibar.
I played squash for the first time in 2-3 years (sore? oh, yes!) and we had our new neighbours over for dinner on Tuesday. Very nice and too much wine.
Wednesday night is now wine tasting night - it use to be hill running night - guess which is more fun? ;-)
Thursday we went running with Pinelands AC as usual.
Friday we relaxed with a movie, A Very Long Engagement.
Up 5:30 Saturday morning to do a 15km run in Ravensmead. Last night our friends Martin and Kelly had a great engagement party! I have a hangover but it is better now! Great party! I had some sushi and and vodka, so it is not only at Swedish parties you mix raw fish and vodka, but there was no singing when drinking! ;-)
We have also started to watch season 4 of 24 on DVD. This is not good since it is very addictive and you can't just watch one episode at the time and nothing else gets done!
Rene have also been working this weekend, with typing reports, to clear her desk before our holiday.

One more week, then Zanzibar!

Oh, I almost forgot: Congratulations to Monette and Tom who got engaged this weekend!

Congratulations!

Pappa,
Ett STORT GRATTIS på 60årsdagen!

It is my dads 60th birthday today and we are thinking about you!
We wish we could be in Sweden and celebrate with you.
Everyone here in SA sends their love.

Sunday, July 22, 2007

Booked!

We have now finally booked our holiday in August. We are going to Zanzibar! Should be fantastic! Can't wait. Moving to SA has been an adventure and exiting BUT it has not been a holiday. Looking for jobs, a places to stay, a house, cars etc IS stressfully and you don't think that you can relax. So before our next BIG move we are flying away for a few days of sunshine and relaxation. Can't motivate a holiday like this if you got a new house but since we are doing it before we move...
The trip is booked with a company called African Encounters. It was a proper "African Encounter". It took 3 weeks to achieve but it is now confirmed! Well I am not 100% sure until I see the tickets! Wouldn't recommend them to book anything in the future, but since we were so close to time of our holiday we felt "forced" to use them. 15 emails and 10 phone calls... Done! I need a holiday! ;-)

It was Wayne Birds birthday yesterday, but we are celebrating him today!
Happy birthday, Wayne!

Thursday, July 19, 2007

Knysna run and more...

I did it! I ran my first half marathon in Knysna last weekend! 21km!
It was OK and my least problem was the distance. (I am not trying to boast, or perhaps just a little bit ;-) But let me explain; on the plus side is that the run starts in the forest and is situated quite high up so you have a fantastic view when you come out of the forest, after about 10 - 11km. The race is also well organized with transport and a big tent at the start which serves fruit, muesli-bars, coffee, hot chocolate, tea etc. You don't need to eat breakfast beforehand! There are also gas heaters at the start since it normally quite chilly in the morning. The atmosphere is also good.
On the negative side is that you have to be there a long time in advance, 2 hours according to the organizers. I would try to arrive later... It is not chilly; it is freezing cold, -1C someone said. -1 for 2 hours, standing still, not being properly dressed, i.e. not wearing a polar Gore-Tex and fleece suit, is no fun. Running stuff and a tracksuit doesn't cut it. The gas heaters are a good idea, but there are thousands of runners and about 10 heaters... So, you are lekker stiff when it is time to start running! Thankfully all walkers had gathered at the starting line so you couldn't run anyway until after 1km. Worst was that I had to do 2 "pit stops" during the run. This is best to avoid. Luckily most of the run is done in the forest, if you get my drift! (Were do you go if you have to stop in central Göteborg?) I don't know how to blame the organizers for this... wait perhaps the long wait at the start... ;-) Seriously; it is a very good run and I did enjoy it (except for the cold). It was also Rene's 3rd and fastest half marathon so far.
That local beer Mitchells after the run was also GREAT!

The BIG reward after the run was that we had a braai to look forward to. (Note: braai is SA talk for barbecue)
So later, at Janet and Pete's place we had a food and drinks. Bridget and Dewalt who also lives in Knysna was there. It was great to see every one!

I also played golf at Simola. Had a lie in, with a tee off time at 7.50. It is an absolutely stunning golf course. And it is a very playable course for the normal golfer, but it not easy.

Thank you Janet and Pete for letting us stay with you!
Check out the photos from Knysna. It is Jan and Pete's little daughter Erin, 6 months, who is on most of them.
Weekend in Knysna

Thursday, July 12, 2007

Running shoes and golf clubs

Running shoes and golf clubs needs to be packed in.
We are going to Knysna this weekend to run the Knysna half marathon and I am going to squeeze in some golf at Simola too!
This is my first half marathon so it is a bit exiting. I hope I will make it. No time pressure, just make it! That is my goal.
We are taking the BIG car to fit everything in (i.e. golf clubs and wine bottles... BIG car = the Silver WV Polo classic got a boot :-)
What I am really looking forward to is seeing our friends from London who also have "moved back" to South Africa; Jan & Pete and Bee & Dee + all the new babies! (I am sying "moved back" even if I have moved here for the first time being from Sweden!)
The biggest challenge will be to not pop any of the wine bottles on Friday night when we arrive, since that might have an effect on my ability to finish my run.
So I hope to stay off the wine to Saturday. Sleep is not on the schedule but golf is so I will have to get up early (again) on Sunday. It is not every day you get to play a course like Simola so it should not be a problem.

And there is an Oyster festival on in Knysna too so I might try an Oyster or two too.

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Where time stood still

McGregor is a quiet, quiet place. The town's website even has a subtitle that says: "where time stood still".

However it is perfect if you just want to go away and relax, which suited us fine. You can go for walks and do wine tasting in the area and visit one of the local cafés or the gallery. That is about it. We decided on the wine tasting and just made it to McGregor Winery before they closed. I think the Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve and the new (2005) Shiraz was the top picks. Luckily they were also having a sale on some of their other wines, to make room for the new harvest. R14.50 per bottle for a 2003 Pinotage! That's about a £1. So we splashed out on a box of 6! The Pinotage might not be a 5 or 4 star in the Platter Wine guide but it is OK!

We stayed and had dinner at the Old Mill Lodge, which is now run by John from Liverpool.
We had a very good stay!

I also decided to get the camera out and take some photos in and around McGregor


McGregor - Weekend away

Tuesday, July 3, 2007

Happy Birthday to you!

Happy birthday to you, Happy birthday to me!?

It was my birthday last weekend and I had a great time going out for dinner with a few friends: Rene, Fraser, Nicole, Clinton, Chandre, Kelly and Martin. We went to the Fat Cactus in Mowbray, Cape Town. It is a Tex-Mex place and we had a few Margaritas and Tequilas too, as one should.

[Photos]

Thank you guys!

And thank you to everyone who phoned and sent sms/text messages!


It was also my uncle Dan's birthday last week: Happy birthday to you!!

And it was my granny's birthday on Monday: Happy birthday mormor!!!

It is Barbara's (Rene's mom) birthday today: Happy birthday ma!!!!

It is our good friend Janet's birthday tomorrow: Happy birthday!!!!!

Anyone else?

Oh, I almost forgot: A BIG congratulations to Martin and Kelly who got engaged on my birthday! We wish you all the best in the future and with the planning of your wedding!

Saturday, June 23, 2007

Glad Midsommar!

Happy midsummer!
Midsummer is a big thing to celebrate in Sweden. We are meeting some fellow swedes today to drink "glögg" (mulled wine) since it is more like midwinter here in South Africa.
We have had two beautiful days yesterday and the day before - sunny and warm (25C) - but the weather is now changing back to winter mode.
Brrrr!

Thursday, June 21, 2007

A new boy in town!

Our old friends in the UK, Kelly and Wayne had a baby boy yesterday!
Congratulations!!!

Time to run!

Thursday again and it is time for the weekly time trail with the running club in Pinelands.
I managed to finish in to the top 10 for the first time last week! It must be the result of all my training that is showing... or it could be that it was heavy rainfall and cold; we were only 15 runners in total. I think it was a combination.
Strengthen by this, Rene and I decided together with Rene's sister Julie to participate in a trail run last Saturday, between Hout bay and Fishhook. It was organised by Pinelands running club and it is "only" 20km and a beautiful run we were told. It is true; it is beautiful...
Hout bay to Fishhook trail run

My aches and pains are almost gone now. Going over the mountain was hard but fun. (I didn't think it was fun at the time ;-)
I am also wishing Craig and Lil good luck in the official race, on the same trail, this weekend!
Today will be a slow jog!

Monday, June 11, 2007

Under Siege!

Perhaps "Under Siege" is an exaggeration but there was a hostage drama taking place in central Cape Town during the weekend and the police sealed off a street or two. We are almost never in central Cape Town during weekends so we only read about this in the paper. The best part of the story is that the people who happened to have parked on the street (that was sealed off) got parking tickets! Someone must have seen a good opportunity to fill their monthly quota of issued parking tickets! :-)
On a more serious note: The police ended up shooting the man who had taken the hostage. Thankfully no one else died.

We have seen the "White Zulu", Johnny Clegg in concert this weekend. It was great and much better than I thought it would be. The atmosphere and music was fantastic! A great live performance with interesting talk between the songs!

15km. That was how far I ran on Saturday. This is all in preparation for the Knysna half marathon Rene and I are going to run on 14th July. I have not been training regularly lately since I have had a bit of a cold and a sore throat... So we decided to get a "long" run in. I have to thank Rene for dragging me around all the way through this practice run. I think I had had it after 12-13km. My blood sugar levels were very low and I was longing for Winegums and a Coke. I survived and today I ran another 10km! Crazy!

Wednesday, June 6, 2007

Sveriges Nationaldag (Sweden's National Day)

June 6 is Sweden's National Day and we have been calibrating with SWEA in Cape Town. We were about 10-15 people in total and perhaps the same amount of children. It was nothing to serious just a glass of champaign and a chance to speak some Swedish... We actually arrived a bit late just after they had sung the national anthem. Oops! ;-)
We ended up having dinner with another couple, their new born baby and the Vice Chairwoman of SWEA.
It is always nice to meet new people!

Sunday, June 3, 2007

Approved

We submitted an application for a mortgage/bond last weekend so that we can buy the house we have found. So we have been waiting for the broker to come back to us this week. Late on Friday they phoned and said that we have been approved by one bank. I guess I was not as excited by the news as the person on the other end of the phone would have hoped, because I asked if they had heard anything from any other bank; I wanted to compare interest rates! Anyway, we got one approval and the interest rate is -1.8% below "prime" here in SA. This is not a fantastic rate but it's not a bad one either.
And I am glad that we have a broker dealing with the banks for us. I don't like dealing with banks in general and especially here in SA. My problems normally starts at the door since I am not (yet) a permanent resident and I don't have a green ID book. You need your ID book for everything in SA and you only realize this when you don't have one. They are more fond of their IDs than we are in Sweden! I didn't think that was possible! I have however managed to get a bank account, thanks to some friendly bank staff. Someone must have realized that they can make money out of me too since they charge you for everything and anything. I really like one change that our bank has introduced for our overdraft facility. They charged you if you used it (the overdraft), but they have now decided to charge you even if you don't use it, but the charge is lower! Hey presto! This is good for me! They lowered the charge! But wait a minute... I didn't use this overdraft facility! Hmmm... I guess it sounded to good to be true. But you can get rid of the charge if you sign up for a special account that they charge you even more for. Brilliant!



I played golf at De Zalze in Stellenbosch on Saturday. I was supposed to play 2 weeks ago but it rained away (so we went looking for houses instead ;-) Beautiful course with fast and difficult greens. I really need to play and practice more; it is no fun to be cr@p at golf. The highlight was to birdie the number 13 par 4 (268m/295y) with a tee shot over water. You can be brave and try to drive the green but it is all over water! My final score? I rather forget about it! ;-)

Rene ran another race and broke her personal best for 10km! I better start running too!

We finished the weekend with a nice and relaxing lunch at Seidelberg wine estate. Absolutely beautiful, stunning views from there. We also tried some cheese at Fairview next door...

Saturday, May 26, 2007

Number 13

Here are the first photos of our house! (Lets hope that we get the bond/mortgage! ;-)
House

Accepted

We are going to be house owners! We came to an agreement yesterday about the house we saw last weekend. We are signing the papers today...

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Rejected

Our offer on the house we wanted to buy was rejected.
Not what we hoped, but we are not too upset about it.
The seller was not happy to come down almost anything in price and left no room for negotiation. They offered -2%. Our offer was 8.5% below asking price. It is funny when you know that they are making about 400% profit on the property anyway since they were lucky to buy at the right point in time. The house has just come on the market so I guess they also want to see if they can get any other (better?) offers and not just take the first one. I don't blame them!
And I wish we also bought 7 years ago!

I have also really caught a cold: coughing, sniffing sneezing and a dull head ache. Not much fun at all!

Monday, May 21, 2007

Rain, cold and an offer!

Winter is here and the weekend rained away in the Western Cape.
The golf I had planned was canceled and course was closed, so I didn't get to play.
We were still very lucky if you compare with all the homeless people in Cape Town who do suffer when it is wet and cold... (Snow, ice, hail hit hard)

I "sniff" have "sniff" a cold. Started with a very sore throat and "sniff" now the nose is running to "cough cough". I think I feel the cold even more here than in England and it is never this cold in Sweden, at least not indoors! What central heating?! We are lucky that we did buy two radiators!

We decided to go house hunting again since it was raining and we did find something interesting again. To make a long story short: we have now put an offer in. For real! So we just have to wait and see! Very exiting! The seller have 48 hours to decide if the offer is "good enough"!

Thursday, May 17, 2007

17 May, Norway's national day!

Tonight I will be celebrating Norway's national day together with the Norwegian Society in Cape Town.
There are also quite a few swedes going to all the activities and meetings so I wont be the only non Norwegian person there.
The Norwegian Society is much more active than the Swedish which seems to have stopped all activity and seized to exist...
"Skål!" (Cheers!) for Norway!

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Golf and Mothers day

I like golf but I have not played as much as I would have liked since I arrived in South Africa, despite the good weather. I even played more in the UK were I was a member at Surrey National GC.
However, I have played and I did so on Saturday at Mowbray GC with Martin and Fraser. The golf was very, very slow but it was enjoyable since we had fantastic weather; not too hot and sunshine. The golf itself was the opposite to the weather: bad! But we are not giving up and are playing again this weekend at De Zalze which is supposedly in beautiful shape.
I also played at Atlantic Beach 6 weeks ago and enjoyed some stunning views. Check out the photos from Atlantic Beach and Mowbray

Golf in SA


It was mothers day on Sunday and we celebrated Barbara (Rene's mom) with tea and scones together with Rene's family at her sister Julie's house, which is only a stone throw away from us. (All other mothers was also celebrated!)
We later went house hunting again together with Joggie & Barbara. We saw quite a few houses but nothing that was worth putting in an offer on. We finished off with an early dinner at The Ocean basket! Yummy prawns and calamari!

My running practice have been going well and I have not had much problems with my calves as I have had previously. I have also been thinking about running my first half marathon, but it is not going to happen this coming weekend since I pulled a muscle in the back of my thigh! :-( Not very nice at all! So I have to play golf instead. Poor me! ;-) The race I am practicing for is not until 14th July in Knysna, so I got time to heal.
My friend's Peter & Jennie ran their first half marathon last weekend in Gothenburg; the Göteborgsvarvet! And they did finish with very impressive times; 1.43 and 1.57!

Friday, May 11, 2007

Happy Birthday Susanna!

Congratulations on your birthday!
(Grattis på födelsedagen!)
It is my sisters birthday today the 11 May.

Tuesday, May 8, 2007

To buy or not to buy... (And Fulham beat Liverpool :-)

Cape Town was beautiful last weekend with sunshine and +30C. I almost forgot that we heading towards winter in the southern hemisphere...

We have also been looking at more houses and have seen one that we think is (or was) worth buying. This house is located in Edgemead a suburb outside Cape Town. However the estate agent thought that our offer was too low for the seller to accept… Our offer was about 8% below the asking price. The thing is that you can now check on the internet what the seller bought the house for and what other houses in that street was sold for. It is a quite neat service called Sold Price Index or Property SPI. So we do know that our offer is not unreasonable even if we could increase it a little bit. But I guess it is easy to get carried away when you are about to sell and the estate agent have told you what your property is worth. I don't think even our final bid will reach what the seller wants... Another estate agent told us "You can always take off 5% on a correctly priced house" and we are sticking to that in this case since we would need to do some minor alterations anyway, if we did buy the hose.

The state of the SA housing market is otherwise a bit crazy and the prices has sky-rocketed the last couple of years. For example: The house we are looking at right now, has increased by 75% in less then 3 years, if the seller gets the asking price. Another thing is that the interest rates are about 10-12.5% which is about 3 times more than in the UK and Sweden :-(
(To be continued ...)

Fulham FC won the important home game against Liverpool on Sunday with 1-0. Let's hope that "the Whites" can pull their socks up and stay up in the Premiership this year too. Fulham has otherwise applied a strategy which is to sell all players that are performing well and then blame the coach if team is not winning any games!


Wednesday, May 2, 2007

30 Seconds in Worcester

We spent the last weekend in Worcester with some good friends; Clinton, Chandre, Fraser and Nicole. The weather was terrible on Thursday evening when driving to Worcester and it rained on and off, on the Friday but it was beautiful again on Saturday morning. You could also feel that it is autumn and that we are moving towards winter... The leaves on the wines are also changing and there are already snow on the mountain tops!
Worcester in autumn

We did a bit of wine tasting during the day and we braaied (BBQ-ed), played pool and played the game 30 Seconds in the evening!
30 Seconds is always fun especially after a few drinks. We witnessed again how someone (no names!) went from being unable to answer any question to being "Einstein" getting all questions right and then go back to having some "struggles"! And I know the frustration after answering the the clue "Surname of Fred and Barney" with "Stone"?! (Yes, that is wrong and should be "Flintstones".) The conclusion must be that you should only drink alcohol in moderation, if at all, if you are going to play 30 Seconds. I also find find questions were the answer is " Alan Donald" or "Polokwane" extremely difficult, but I have only been living in SA for about 6 months! But then someone else (still no names) didn't know "Björn Borg"! ;-)

Saw a film on TV, while recovering, that made me miss England a bit: Goal. It's a quite predictable story and it isn't that good but you get to see a bit of London, Fulham FC, pubs, football, rain, mud, gray skies and much of Newcastle where James and Jill now are living. (Geordies do have a cool accent ;-)

The house we saw last week has already been sold so we are still looking...

And Rene has run another half-marathon! Very impressive!

Friday, April 27, 2007

Hunting!

We have started house hunting or at least looking around for something to buy.
It's not that we are not happy were we are living now, but we feel that we rather pay towards a bond/mortgage ("lån" in Swedish ;-) than paying rent.
We are really not in a hurry since we signed our rental lease on the flat in Pinelands, a suburb to Cape Town, in February. So in which areas in Cape Town should one look for houses? Well, most of the nice areas that tourists goes to, like Camps Bay are just ridiculously expensive, so we wont look there... We honestly would love to buy in Pinelands, where we are renting now, but the house prices are a bit too high for us, so we have looked for other areas and have found one which we like: Edgemead; the second garden city in Cape Town. (Pinelands counts as the first.) The main concern with Edgemead is the distance to the city center where I am working. I think it is about 12km BUT it can take up to 1 hour to drive!!!
And what happens if we find a house we like when we are "just looking"?
Can we break our rental contract?
I looked at the contract and the answer was "no" :-(
But I phoned the landlord and asked "what if" we would move out early? "No problem" he said, but there are some conditions (I will spare you the details :-) However it is possible to break out from the contract!
We did see a house that we liked and thought "this is it", but we asked Joggie and Barbara to come and have a look too; Joggie found some problems with it... do I need to say that we are not going for that house.
However, we have now seen another house we like and it has passed the "Joggie and Barbara Test"! It is above our budget so we have to sit down and check our finances again!

It is another public holiday here on Friday and we don't have to work!
Super it is!
We are going to go to the farm (Bergvliet) in Worcester with Clinton and Chandre (the newly married) and Fraser and Nicole! Rene and I are really looking forward to it!
There has been quite a debate here on the radio (567 Cape Talk) about the number of public holidays in this country. I personally think is justified since people in general have a lot less holiday than you do in both UK and Sweden. So thumbs up for long weekends! However, I would prefer to have no public holidays and be able to choose when to have time off my self.

Sunday, April 22, 2007

I caught a shark!

We went to the Beach House in Onrus, outside Hermanus this weekend.
We had a nice time and Barbara, Rene, Julie and Lil went to the Arabella spa for treatments. This was Barbara's birthday gift from last year. They all liked it and say that they can recommend it. I would personally like to try the beautiful golf course again!

I went crayfishing with Joggie and his friends on Saturday morning when the girls went to the spa. The weather was beautiful and calm but I still got a bit "sea sick"... Well I didn't get sick but I didn't feel that great. Perhaps the red wine and Cognac from dinner the night before was part of the problem?! However, I did feel better after a while and "pulled" some nets and i happened to catch a Pyjama shark! It was quite small (45-50cm) stripy and still alive and we did put it back in to the water. That was much more fun than catching the crayfish, if you ask me!

We also did some house hunting on the way home to Cape Town, but more about that later!

Thursday, April 19, 2007

Car crash!

René had an accident with the car! The most important thing is that René is fine... It wasn't very serious at all; just a small crash between our car and a cement pillar next to where the car is parked!
It will cost a couple of thousand rands but "that is why you have insurance" as someone pointed out.
In all fairness this type of thing could happen to anyone. Or? It is statistically proven that women are better drivers then men and that is why their insurance premiums are lower. However I did find this this article (in Swedish) claiming the opposite! The reason should be that men "drives" their car and women just use it as a means of transportation. I.e. men might take (stupid/calculated) risks but women are more likely to think about other things but driving the car! Perhaps it is dangerous to generalize in this way since the opposite behavior exist on both sides.
It is surprising how "few" accidents happens in the Cape Town traffic, if you think about how people drive; tailgating, speeding, overtaking on the inside, tailgating and speeding and overtaking on the inside all at the same time. And it is NOT only the taxis that does this... I think I need to investigate the train option more for getting to and from work.

Sunday, April 15, 2007

Cape Town is Freezing!

I have noticed that it has become colder in Cape Town recently and specially this last week.
It was obvious when I saw people wrapped up warmly in hats and scarfs, jerseys and jackets walking to and from work.
I decided to have look at BBC weather to see what the outlook was like; and it was going to be between a min of 10C and max of 20C and sunshine! A minimum of 10 degrees Celsius in Sweden or the UK would normally make you consider wearing shorts! I guess I have become used to the climate and weather here.

Wednesday, April 11, 2007

Happy Birthday Johnty!

Happy birthday Johnathan!
Jonathan is Rene's godson and it is his 6th birthday today (11 April)!

START -> The first post!

I have finally got around to creating and setting up this space and will try to use it instead of sending loooong emails to everyone on an irregular basis...

I might try to move the blog to our website http://www.nilsson.co.za but I will let you know if that happens!