From a very young age I was taught a valuable lesson by my father.
He told me that even the queen of England was always punctual, and if she could be, that meant it was the right thing for everyone to do. Never be late, was his mantra and I have tried to keep this legacy going.
The other tidbit he mentioned about the queen (who he obviously held in high regard), was that it didn’t matter how rich you were, even the queen of England can only use one toilet at a time…. Two interesting facts indeed!
However the first lesson about being on time is why I mentioned both tonight.
I woke up this morning at around 6 am, got my coffee and returned to bed to catch up on a few things. Around 8, I put on a load of washing, made my 2 slices of rye bread toast, mashed my boiled egg with salt, pepper, mayo and my latest craving which is pickled sushi ginger spread it on the toast, cut it into strips and returned to my bedroom with the intention of enjoying this delectable breakfast.
Something told me to check the time, as I knew that my appointment in Hillcrest was for 10.Well, it was exactly ten past nine and I still needed to clean up and make the 35 minute journey if I was going to be on time. The toasted egg sandwich was deposited in the microwave as I ran out the door.
The gods must have been in my favour
as I had absolutely no disruptions during the trip, the traffic flowed freely and I parked in the medical centre parking area with 3 minutes to spare! My father would have been proud of me.
The new orthotics are well made, they support my instep perfectly, and after a minor adjustment to the thickness of the heel section, they fit inside my running shoes nicely.
In the rooms I could not feel any pain walking the few steps backwards and forwards, but on leaving and walking towards the car, I was still very aware of the pain, which has become my constant companion. I sat a while feeling truly dejected by this, but hopefully with time, the realignment of the feet will help and things will improve.
At this stage it was raining fairly hard and, as I was in the Botha’s Hill area, I decided to pop in to see Brett and Amor. It was bitterly cold up on the hill, but the welcome was warm. I spent a good few hours there catching up on their news and after the sun came out again, I was given a tour of their garden.
Spring has not really arrived yet, but the two of them have been working so hard that new terraces were in place, each section of arable soil on the property is fully planted with every sort of vegetable imaginable and when the rains come, they will be able to supply beautiful, organic veg to all in the area.
They now have 3 sheep...
one beautiful reddy brown goat, 3 silkie chicken and plenty of other chickens in the hen house. I have been given permission to use a few of the photos tonight.
We had delicious meat, pap and salad bought from a little shop across the road from their home, as well as a good strong cup of coffee.
#Coffee …
They have a number of coffee trees on the property and this cup I had was from their own trees. It was fascinating to see the various stages the coffee bean goes through till it is roasted in a little pan, on their stove top. As the beans roast in the dry heat, they give off a fair amount of oil.
After roasted to perfection, they are put into an old fashioned hand mill and milled twice. The first time, the grains are still too large, but after the second round, they are smooth and the scent is amazing.
I also found out that the coffee blossom, when dried, makes a very interesting tea, called coffee blossom tea! This tea has no tannin smell to it, and according to Brett, is fairly sweet.
I left there after 14:00 loaded up with fresh vegetables, herbs, a couple of tree tomatoes and two warm, freshly laid eggs. What a super ending to a lovely visit.
My trip home was a lot slower than the trip into Hillcrest.
As I hit the South Coast turnoff I always say a silent prayer for getting me back into familiar territory and I just begin to relax. There is something so right about coming home!
