MAY 2014 -- ELECTIONS; SEAVIEW TRAINING RUN; MOTHERS DAY LUNCH AT ST GEORGES CLUB; ALLY HOCKEY; NICKY VISITS; JOSHUA AND DANIEL RUGBY;



MAY 2014
WORKERS DAY
MOFFET 15KAY ON WORKERS DAY
REPAIR TO THE ROOF OF THE FLAT
BEACH WITH 6 GRANDCHILDREN
SATURDAY MORNING RUNS WITH MPRG
PARKRUN
SEAVIEW TRAINING RUN 20K
ELECTIONS DAY -- THIS IS THE FIFTH DEMOCRATIC ELECTIONS 1994 / 1999 / 2006 / 2010 AND 2014.
ALLY IS BACK INTO HOCKEY AFTER A BREAK FROM HURTING HER THUMB LAST MONTH
MOTHERS DAY AT THE PE ST GEORGES CLUB.
SUNDAY TRAINING RUN FOR MHG FUND
ALLY PLAYS HOCKEY AGAINST COLLEGIATE AND VP FOR PEARSON 2ND TEAM
AND PLAYS FOR OLD COLLEGIANS (WAS OLD GREY) IN THE EVENINGS
GREY RUBY AT GREY VS WYNBERG AND THE NEXT WEEKEND AGAINTS ST ANDREWS
BARBARA STARTS SWIMMING LESSONS
CATHY STARTS PAINTING
ALLY APPLIES FOR A PASSPORT AND THEN JACQUI BOOKS A TICKET TO FLY TO ISRAEL
JOSHUA AND DANIEL PLAY RUGBY FOR CLARENDON PARK

FIRST OF MAY IS A PUBLIC HOLIDAY AND WE TAKE ADVANTAGE WITH A MOFFET 15K WITH ADRIENNE; SVENJE; PETRONELLA; ADRIAN; ANNIE; LIESL; MARIE LOUISE; MARIA; KELLY;

SVENJE LEADS THE PACK

PETRONELLA HAS NOT BEEN IN THE GROUP FOR SOME TIME

LATER THIS MORNING WE REPAIR THE ROOF OF THE FLAT WITH A MEMBRANE AND A PAINT COVER;

THE ROOF DOES NOT HAVE BAD LEAKS BUT JUST ENOUGH TO NEED REPAIRS

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DARREN; DANIEL AND JOSHUA ARE THE REPAIR TEAM

EARLIER ON NICKY HAD TAKEN THE CHILDREN TO THE BEACH AND ROCKS,. THEY HAD COLLECTED A BOTTLE FULL OF CRABS SO I TOOK THEM BACK TO RETURN THEM TO THE SEA.

MIA; CHRISTIAN; DANIEL; AARON; JESSICA AND JOSHUA



LETS BUILD A CASTLE

May 1st -- Public Holiday. I start off with a Moffet Run- 15k with the MPRG. Then Darren and I climb up to the roof of the flat to have a look at the leaking parts. Darren asked for a quotation to have the roof repaired and he was given an amount of R11 000. This we cannot afford. so we decided to have a look for ourselves; Darren Harvey is our tennant staying in the outside flat. He has taken it upon himself to paint the exterior walls of the flat and it is looking quite good. I get up on the ladder and first off clear the gutters of all the muck that has accumulated. I also discover that the gutter is not sloped to the left where the down pipe is. This means that the rain water accumulates on the East side of the gutter pipe where there is nowhere for it to escape. And now if I dont change the configuration, the gutter will again become a muck gatherer.

We get up onto the roof. We found a number of holes which we rekoned we could probably repair. We drove to the Hardware shop and bought some sealing paint and membrane plus a paint brush at R160. We climbed back up and within an hour we had all the holes covered and had used a fraction of the paint and membrane. The paint is washable so the paint brush looked like new after a good washing.

We felt good about our efforts at handyman work. I took Joshua and Daniel up to the roof with me to show them what we were up to and each of them had a turn at the paint brush. I also cleaned out the gutter and discovered that the down pipe is not on the lowest end of the gutter so will have to move the down pipe to the other side to avoid a build up of water in the gutter.

Nicky took her children to the beach. Christian wanted to play in the rock pools. It was ideal with a low tide and they found a bunch of crabs. I then took them back to the beach to release the crabs and they had a great time swimming; building sand castles and generally being children; For a final little treat we all had a Mc Donalds ice cream with flake.

I bought the ingredients and made a bunch of Pizza's for supper.

Nicky and her family are with us for the whole week of school holidays. This means that Lene's children also sleep over. We have seven children sleeping in the lounge with stretchers and blankets everywhere. Feeding the gang can be quite a challenge.
Friday evening Barbara; Lene and Nicky go off to the movies while Ally and I do the baby sitting.

Saturday 3rd May. I am at the beach for an early start -- Gerald and Louise walk; Adrienne, Ronel, Svenje and Annie run but dont go all the way to the Airport. They do go to Admiralty which makes the run a little longer. I am with Cathy Biggs and her two nieces (Shanna and Michaela Wells -- twins in Matric at st Dominics Priory).
Cathy measures the airport route and down second ave to be 12k. I then carry on for my Parkrun. It is the Ladies 10 and 5k events at Pollock beach so we do our run to the Harbour Wall and back which is a little longer than the normal 5k parkrun and also a bit tougher with the soft sand.

CATHERINE HOBSON BIGGS (WHO WAS AT SCHOOL WITH NICKY) AND HER TWO NIECES SHANNA AND MICHAELA WELLS == MATRIC GIRLS AT PRIORY = USED TO TRAIN SWIMMING WITH ALLY.

THESE TWO YOUNG LADIES RAN EXCEPTI0NALLY WELL FOR 18YEAR OLDS.

Then it is our parkrun -- Difficult to get to the run as there is no parking at all. The ladies event means that parking is backed up all the way to Kings Beach with people walking from there to Pollock for the ladies 5k which must have started around 8am. We had 160 runners for the parkrun today and I was able to complete results by around 10am.

Nicky left for Cape Town early Saturday Morning so was not able to run with our group. And arrived back home late afternoon safely. Meanwhile Cathy and Saul went out for a romantic dinner in Cape Town.

CATHY AND SAUL OUT FOR A ROMANTIC EVENING

Add caption

SAUL LOOKING QUITE DAPPER AT THIS CLASSY RESTAURANT.

Sunday. Barbara and I relax at home. Do a bit of house work and Barbara gives me a haircut. Then Lene gives the boys a trim as well. Ally is hard at her studies for tests in the week ahead and for exams in June.

Wednesday 7th May 2014 -- ELECTION DAY IN RSA

It is a public holiday to allow everyone time to get to the polling stations. We have a run planned and a small group of us drive to Seaview where we meet the PE Club organisers. They are staging a training run along the coast line to the Maitlands / Beachview hill.

It is Marilyn Bull; Kathy Pearse; John Nelson and myself in the car. We also see Beth and Grant Hechter; Shane Brown; The Scheepers Family who are seconding; Helouise Erasmas; Letitia Straus; Suzanne Gendall; a couple of Achilleans; Elmarie Botha part of the organising team. 

We arrive just in time for the 6.30am start after leaving home at 6am. 

I run the first half with Kathy. She has been battling with an injury. We jog along the coast line road in the dark for the first 15minutes. It then becomes light enough to see the ocean and the views. There must be at least 50 runners taking part this morning. It is about 4k from the parking area to the start of the Maitlands hill where the Beachview resort is. We then grind up the hill and over the top where we meet up with Gerald, Pat and Ronel who are seconding.

GERALD; RONEL AND PAT -- HANDING OUT WATER AND COKE ON THE MAINTLANDS HILL.

 are seconding. We jog on down the Hill. John has gone on ahead. Past the Maitlands river mouth resort and dunes. And then we start the climb up to the T junction. This is quite a long section and is mainly uphill. After a while Kathy's injury is getting too much for her and she makes her way back with two other chaps who have turned.
I press on up and up and finally to the T junction where there is a second water table. Some of the runners turn right and carry on another 2.5k to make this a 25k training run. These are mainly runners who are training for Comrades. I make a U turn and run back on my own down the hill and back to the river mouth. This is the easiest part of the run. It is downhill. The view of the ocean ahead is spectacular and being on my own I can go entirely at my own pace. I entered Meiringspoort 21k yesterday and am mindful of the need to train more than a slow jog if I want to break the Two Hour barrier again this year.

RUNNING DOWN FROM THE T JUNCTION IS THE BEST PART OF THE TRAINING RUN THIS MORNING. 

I meet up with a number of runners going in the opposite direction but run the whole 10k back to the start on my own this morning. Up Maitlands hill with memories of the last bike ride I did here into the East wind. I again meet up with Gerald and his family at their seconding spot. I have some coke and chat for a while until it is time to get going again

Gerald; Ronel and Pat with the ocean behind them. From here you can see across to Jeffreys Bay. This morning it was overcast with an East Wind but not at all cold despite occasional rain.

From where they were stationed there was still a fair climb back up to the top of the Maitlands Hill. It appears to come to the top but this is a sham. There is always more to a hill.  

I then ran the final 5k back to the start at a reasonably brisk pace. for me that is.  

MARILYN; HELOUISE AND LETITIA -- GIRLS ON THE RUN

Back at the start area I meet up with Kathy again. They give us a coke and we wait for the rest of the group to come in. John is just a short bit behind me and then Suzanne comes in. Shortly after that we see Helouise and Letitia and finally Marilyn jogs in.

We socialise for a short while and then make our way back home. It is election day and all of us are determined to vote for a better RSA.

JOHN GETS CHANGED INTO DRY WARM CLOTHES. HE TAKES A WATER BOTTLE AND HAS HIS OWN SHOWER AFTER THESE RUNS

PE CLUB PUT THIS RUN TOGETHER AND IT WAS WELL SUPPORTED BY THEIR OWN AND OTHER RUNNING GROUPS

JOHN; KATHY AND GERALD DISCUSS IMPORTANT STUFF

MARILYN COMES IN AND IS A LITTLE CONCERNED AS SHE FELT QUITE WEARY WHEREAS SHE FEELS THAT SHE SHOULD BE FEELING GOOD WITH COMRADES IN JUST A FEW WEEKS.

Wednesday evening -- We drop Ally at Hockey practice -- she spent the day studying. I go to Cell Group with Barbara; go back to fetch Ally; go back to Cell group and then finally after this I go to vote.

THIS IS THE MAIN VOTING BALOT PAPER WITH THE 29 PARTIES LISTED

VF PLUS

WASP

ACDP

AIC

ANC

APC

AGANG SA

AL-JAMAL-AN

AZAPO

BRA

COPE

FINLA

FN

DA

EFF

FINLA

ICOS

ICOSA

IFP

KISS

KGM

MF

NFP

PAC

PAM

PA

PAL

UBUNTU

UCDP

UDM

 30 NAMES OF PARTIES LISTED ON THE BALLOT PAPERS

THIS IS THE PROVINCIAL BALOT PAPER

VF PLUS

ACDP

AIG

ANC

APC

ASANG SA

AZAPO

COPE

DA

EFF

IFP

KGM

NFP

PAC

PAMSA

UCDP

UNICO

UDM

18 NAMES OF PARTIES ON THE PROVINCIAL VOTING LIST

The results of the elections was that the ANC realised around 63%; the DA won about 22% and the newly formed Economic Freedom Front won about 6% of the electorate. The turnout for voting was exceptionally high at about 70% voting.

Friday 9th -- Rowena and I leave early for East London where she is chairing a hearing and I do a branch visit. 6 hours of driving and 6 hours of working = a 12 hour working day.

SATURDAY 10TH. Morning run starts at Hobie beach with Adrienne; Annie; Adrian; Erna and Peter. We run the route along the promenade to Walmer Boulevard and then left at the top. Along Strandfontein to Second Ave where Erna leaves us. We carry on to Admiralty and then back home along the Promenade. As we run we meet up with Lynette who takes a pic of the group.



PETER; ADRIENNE; ANNIE AND ADRIAN AS WE JOG ALONG THE PROMENADE

I run to Hobie beach with Lynette who took the pic and then turn around to do my Parkrun -- I am on my own now and have a great run to the beacon and then back along the beach front. There is a bit of a cool west wind and I am loving my morning out.



PARKRUN ON SATURDAY MORNING. THE BEACH LOOKS MAGNIFICENT.

After I finish my Parkrun I drive home, collect Ally and drop her at Pearson for Hockey. I drive to the Beacon where I am marshalling for the main parkrun group. Once the last of the runners has turned around I go to the Spar shop where I buy some water and cold drink for Ally. I then go the Pearson where I stay for her match against Alexandria High. Ally is now playing for the Pearson 2nd team.

Ally has been off Hockey for some time due to her sore thumb but has a reasonable game.

I then take Ally to Action Sports where we buy her the Old Collegians Uniform. And we have the top Screen printed with the name of the team, the sponsors and her number 45. We then stop off at Spar again to buy Ally some lunch. Back home, Ally gets herself ready for the Club Hockey match. Meanwhile Barbara has gone off to Grahamstown for the second day running for Josh and Daniel's rugby matches -- Clarendon vs St Andrews. I hear reports that they play good rugby and am sorry that I was not there.

I drop Ally at Gelvandale, Drive home, Pick Barbara up and go back to Gelvandale to watch Ally;s game against PEGS. Ally is now playing for Old Collegians (was Old Grey). They practice at Collegiate since Old Grey demolished their hocky Astro.

I go home while Barbara and Ally stay to watch the next game.

Ally in action against PEGS

AFTER THE GAME ALLY RECEIVED A GOOD COMMENT FROM ONE OF THE PEGS SENIOR PLAYERS

ALLY HAD A STRONG GAME THIS AFTERNOON -- ON THE FIELD FOR THE WHOLE GAME.

Sunday is Mothers Day. We all go out to the old PE St Georges Club which is now part of the lawyers offices and have lunch with Lene; Daniel; Joshua And Jessica.

LENE; JESSICA CHECKING HER PHONE OUT; JOSHUA; ALLY; BARBARA AT THE CLUB LUNCH

LUNCH ON MOTHERS DAY



DANIEL; LENE AND JESSICA -- STILL ON HER PHONE

Monday 12th Morning -- I run the full 6th Ave Newton Park (Bottle Store Route) as I know that I will be out of town the rest of the week. Manage to miss most of the rain. Cell Group this evening. At church we have a 6 weeks of Esther bible reading.
I spend the rest of the week in East London where I stay with Ben. We try for a run on one morning but Ben is still injured from a Bike fall.
Saturday 17th. Beach front run in the rain. We do Walmer Boulevard, Strandfontein and second ave and then I do the 5k parkrun. Then fetch the family to go to Collegiate for Jessica's Hockey. Jess scores two of the three goals. She positions herself to catch the cross goal shot and skilfully knocks the ball in for a goal. Pearson 3 - Collegiate 1.
Then we are home for Breakfast and then off to watch Ally's game at Collegiate. Ally playing for Pearson second team draw 0-0.
We stay to watch the first Girls team and they win 2-1.
Then we are off to NMMU for a Club game where Ally's team also draw 3-3 against the University team. Ally and Jessica have a School Dance later and I finally do the last of the fetching at 11pm.
Nicky and Anneke are in Cape Town where they, on the spur of the moment decide to run a 21k in Brakenfel. Both of them do a personal best. Nicky just under 2hr and Anneke a little after her.



KEEP THE STICK IN READY FOR DEFENCE AGAINST COLLEGIATE. THE RESULT WAS A THREE GOAL DRAW

ALLY IN ACTION FOR PEARSON AGAINST COLLEGIATE

ALLY RACES TO SAVE A GOAL

JACQUI'S PAINTING IMPROVES DAILY

WELL DONE ANNEKE AND NICKY

ANNEKE AND NICKY AT THE END OF THE BRAKENFEL 21K WHERE THEY BOTH DO A PERSONAL BEST WITH NICKY JUST UNDER 2HR AND ANNEKE A FEW MINUTES AFTER THAT


Sunday 18th: Michael's school friends have a fund raiser Training Run from the Italian club. I take part in the 20k running with Letitia. Up to Boundary road, Old Seaview road, down to new Seaview road and up Heartbreak Hill. Back to Boundary road and down to Sardinia Bay road to the Schoenies road and then back via Glendore rd. A stunning run on this beautiful warm Sunday morning. Ally has a clean up party at School and Barbara and I go out to Matthews farm where we drop off a sewing machine. ---

NATASHA AND CAROLINE ON THE SEAVIEW ROAD

A VERY HAPPY LOOKING NATASHA PAXTON

NATASHA AND CAROLINE LEFT US SHORTLY AFTER THIS AND THEN IT WAS LETITA AND PETER FOR THE FINAL TEN KAY

NEW SEAVIEW ROAD -- HEARTBREAK HILL

CAROLINE AND LETITIA

SARDINIA BAY ROAD. BY NOW IT HAD BECOME QUITE HOT AND I FELT IS WAS OKAY TO TAKE OFF MY SHIRT.

This was a most successful event with so many people there to support the fund and the run.


Ally has hockey practice a little later and then Church at 6pm.

Monday I am up early and run the Moffet 15 with Letitia; Helouise and Marilyn. Now I have done over 50k training this last three days.
This afternoon I fly to Durban for a meeting. This is the first time I land at King Shaka airport. We stay in a good Lodge but with terrible food.

Tuesday fly home with an upset tummy.

Ally is active in Hockey playing two games on Friday -- First againts VP and then playing for Collegians against the Hearts Team which is based at Gelvandale and was started by Harvest Church.

ALLY HAS A STRONG GAME AGAINTS HEARTS

Saturday morning -- our group goes running starting off with a Parkrun and then up Walmer boulevard and down second avenue. On the run we meet up with the rest of the MPRG

MARILYN BULL.... Final training run before the 2014 Comrades

Our group this morning - Adrian Smith; Adrienne Wilson; Elmarie Botha; Annie Du Rand; Marilyn Bull.

Hope you look this happy going down Fields Hill Marilyn

Here come the fast group with John; Margie; Benita; Duncan; Lyn; Lizette

Lizette distinct with her head band and stripey top

What you see does nothing to describe the pace these girls run at

Saturday 24th.
It is a year since Michael died. We are all feeling a bit down but life goes on and there is little time for reflection.  This morning we start with a good 15k run and then move on to the Parkrun where we have over 400 runners. Somehow the timing became mixed up but no real harm done. I do the results and am completed before 11am. Barbara is at swimming classes with Georgie at the Humewood Gym. Later she describes how she was able to swim for hours on end and not be completely shattered. I amble off to Rugby. Grey is playing Wynberg and win all the games that I watch. I sit with Billy Scheepers; John and Di Nelson; Julia and Liesl DeLange and Christine. Grey boys have a new format of the GREY jackets on / off. Julia is off to Turhey for a couple of weeks to present a paper at a tourism conference for NMMU. After Rugby Ally goes to a party in Seaview. Fortunately other moms do the fetching and carrying and we only have to drive as far as Walmer.
Sunday 25th. Fortunately today Barbara has little time to contemplate as she has to be back in the swimming pool at 8am.

CATHY HAS RECENTLY STARTED PAINTING.

JACQUI; TOM AND EMILY IN ISRAEL

EMILY; ANNABELLE AND TOM

TOM

RACHEL SPENT SOME TIME WITH JACQUI AND HER FAMILY IN ISRAEL THIS MONTH.

CATHY PAINTING IN CAPE TOWN

MORE OF CATHY'S PAINTINGS -- I KIND OF WONDER WHERE SHE STORES THEM ALL.

AND MY FAMILY IS SO ARTISTIC FROM OLD TO YOUNG. THIS WAS PRODUCED BY CHRISTIAN

RON HAS RECENTLY BECOME ACTIVE ON SOCIAL MEDIA AND SENT ME THIS PIC OF SUNRISE FROM HOBIE BEACH.

Monday 26th. Run the "Bottle Store" route this morning. Stuart Brown is back running with us after a long break. He was in charge of the Bridge Construction at the Sundays River. There used to be a single bridge crossing the river on this major throughfare. A bridge was built along side the old bridge and then, when that was complete, the old bridge had to be restored. What Stuart had to supervise was the bridge being "Jacked up" to the same level as the new bridge. Quite a feat of engineering and very interesting. This month both the new and the old bridge were opened for full operational use and the flow of traffic is now quite smooth.

Tuesday I drive to Mthatha. This is a five and a half to six hour drive of 500km. Depending on the road construction on the PE side of King Williams Town as well as the level of mist between Grahamstown and Peddie. This morning the drive went smoothly with only one stop in King for coffee and a sandwich. As I am driving I recieve a phone call from Nicky in Cape Town. She has decided to run the Cape Town Marathon 42k in September and asks me to run with her. It is a long time since I last ran a 42 and I have basically given up running marathons. But I am suckered into entering and so am now committed to this event. I have arranged to stay over with the FSAM of this area (Julia and Francois Brecht). They treat me like an uncle and we have a relaxed evening of supper and childrens homework.

Friday 30th. Back home to PE. At last. A long week of work in the Transkei. Friday evening Ally and I watch Grey vs St Andrews Hockey.
Saturday 31st. Early Morning 15k. My second run this week = 25k for the week. I have not been feeling my strongest these last few days. Run with Stuart Brown; Pat Scheepers; Adrienne Wilson; Andrea Dyer; Jessica; Kelly Holmes; Annie Du Rant; Andrew Barton and Margie Saunders. A really fun morning up Walmer Boulevard; Strandfontein Road; Second ave back via 7th Ave. We then run the Parkrun before setting up for the parkrunners who congregate every Saturday Morning. Today we have 400 runners again at the event.
After the parkrun I rush over to Clarendon to watch both Daniel and Josh play rugby against Kingswood. Clarendon win both matches. Daniel is playing Center for his team while Josh plays at at Full Back. Although he tends to get stuck into the thick of things. Josh scores the opening Try for his team.

DRIVING TO MTHATHA THIS WEEK IN THE MIST DOWN TO THE FISH RIVER.

JOSHUA IS THIRD FROM THE LEFT. U11B TEAM.

After Clarendon I rush to Grey to watch Bradley Nelson playing for the U16A team as Scrumhalf. His team wins comprehensively against St Andrews.
After a shower I spend the rest of the afternoon watching rugby with John and Diane.