PETER GIDDY.: AUGUST 2014; PEARSON HOCKEY -- FIRST TEAM DO WELL. MORE TRAINING FOR 42K MARATHON

ALLY WAS CHOSEN FOR THE PREFECTS SHORT LIST OF 2015 AND HAS TO PRODUCE A BIT ABOUT HERSELF.

AUGUST 2014
ALLY IN FIRST TEAM PEARSON HOCKEY
ENA IS BACK HOME\
TRYING TO GET INTO THE NEW POSITION OF AREA MANAGER AT ELECTRIC EXPRESS
TRAINING FOR THE CAPE TOWN MARATHON NEXT MONTH -- I HAVE FOUR GOOD WEEKS OF RUNNING (40; 45; 65 AND 60K WEEKS)
ADRIENNE RUNS HER 50TH PARKRUN
BARBARA IS NOW NO LONGER RUNNING THE PLAYSCHOOL AS THE LAST OF THE CHILDREN HAS LEFT
DELENE AND MATTHEW SETTLE IN AT HEBRON
NICKY IS NOW IN THE CAPE TOWN FLAT. AND HAS ALSO SIGNED A LEASE FOR A COTTAGE NEARER TO STEFAN'S HOME
GREY BEATS GREY BLOEM AT HOCKEY AND RUGBY
CLARENDON -- DERBY DAY VS SUMMERWOOD.
CLARENDON -- GRANDPARENTS DAY

Amanda Pieterse at Woodridge trail run. We ran a 24k route which included some serious hills.

Christoff on the quad bike where we ran alongside the herd of Impala. This was just before on the only watering table at the top of the next hill.

Friday 1st August. This evening Ally and I watch Grey Hockey. Grey high win against the odds as many of the spectators consider Grey Bloem to be the stronger side.
Saturday 2nd .. this is one of my best runs as we meet up with some Bloemfontein Parents and I am able to take the two Mom;s Ilsa and Annalise, for the full Boardwalk run from flat rocks and back to Hobie beach. The municipality is busy tearing down the boardwalk as the cost of maintenance is too much. Later I spend the day at Grey watching the Grey Bloem Derby where Grey High are able to pull off a win.

Sunday is the Woodridge trail run. John. Liesl and I drive through and we have a great run this morning. This is a tough event but well worth the effort. I had entered late as I did not know if there would be Club Hockey or not. I ran most of the run with Amanda Pieterse who turns out to be the sister of Elize Knicklebein who used to work at Morkels around 20 years ago.

Monday 4th. I run just a few days this week. Ajay and I drive to Garden Route to do hand over and stock taking in these three shops. Thursday 7th is Ally;s Birthday 17 and Barbara and I are Married 38 years today. Ally makes us supper.

WHY I LOVE RUNNING AT THE BEACH

EVERY TIME I COME DOWN TO THE BEACH I AM TREATED TO SOMETHING SPECIAL. REMEMBER BEN'S WORDS: "every time you go out -- something amazing will happen"

Saturday 9th. I am able to do our full run and then back home. Barbara and I take Ally to Graaff Reinet for a hockey match. We have a relaxed drive there and back with a stop over at Kirkwood at Charles Wooley to buy some Seville Oranges for the marmalade that Ena likes to make.

Sunday 10th> Barbara and I drive to Plett with Edie Dore where we have lunch with Ena. She is being well taken care of by Violet but is looking very frail. She has her arm in a sling and has not gotten over the Pneumonia that she contracted last month. Ena is still coughing and is in discomfort with her arm.

ENA'S BLOCK OF FLATS

ENA AT PLETT

BELOW THE FLATS

Monday 11th to Friday: I am able to run Four days this week and do the full route each day.

Saturday we do our normal run but Margie and I have to cut short. Margie is doing a race and I am off to Humansdorp for a Hockey Match against Nico Malan.
Sunday I meet Margie and we run our Saturday route. I am delighted with the week of running as this takes me to just under 70k for the week. I now feel that my training for the Cape Town marathon is on track. I drive to Grahamstown with Ally and Lorraine and Jetsia who are in the same club team as Ally.

Monday 18th I am up early and leave for Oudtshoorn where I collect a TV for George branch. I off load in George and then spend the day in Mossel Bay. I stay over at Ena. Tuesday - Back to Mossel Bay and then stay at Ena again. Ena is very frail and has a day carer- Violet and the evening is Dolores. Violet makes good meals and is the manufacturer of Ena;s Marmalade.
Wednesday. I start the day with a visit to Giles and then to Margaret the banking lady. I then go back and forth to Ena and Margaret as she sets me up to do Ena';s banking on line. A last visit to Giles where I drop off Ena;s stuff.
I drive to PE where I park in front of a shop and have my car broken into and my Laptop and all contents stolen. After a long struggle with the police I finally go home where I cancel my cards and put in for a claim. I am so upset that I cannot think straight.

Thursday and Friday I am in JHB for Electric Express head office meetings. I get back on Friday evening.
Saturday 23rd. I fetch Adrienne. We meet Annie and Mike at the beach and, despite the cold wind and rain we set off for our run. We run towards the Beacon and then up Admiralty, Right into Erasmus and then Mike and Annie turn down 2nd ave while Adrienne and I carry on to the Airport and back down Walmer Boulevard. Back at Hobie I meet up with Graham for a last 4k to make up to the full 20 that I had hoped for.
I am race director this morning. It is raining so we huddle under the eaves of the clubhouse. We have 120 athletes today. Back home I take the car to PG Glass to have the passenger window repaired. Then fix Barbara;s headlight. Then I do the results for Parkrun. Barbara goes out to Hebron and I drive to Pearson where the first team beats Westering by 8 tries to 2. I love watching schoolboy rugby.
This evening Ally goes to a friend for the evening. I was supposed to be at Summies but skip that.

Sunday 24th August. I had arranged to meet a couple of people for a run as I wanted to try to catch up on some missing kays due to the week of travel. I Jogged down to Grey where I waited in the cold and rain. Stuart and I ran the Moffet route at a reasonable pace. We are just so fortunate to be able to be up and about. 15k done.

Later we fetched Ally from her friend Kelsey and then drove out to Woodridge (Hebron) where we have tea and lunch with Delene; Matthew and Liz.

DELENE AND LIZ MAKING LUNCH FOR US AT HEBRON ON SUNDAY AFTERNOON

DELENE; MATTHEW AND BARBARA ACTIVE ON THE COUCH. IT HAS BEEN A COLD AND WET DAY AND SO A WARM INDOORS SEEMS LIKE THE PLACE TO BE. DELENE PRODUCED A WONDERFUL LUNCH OF CHICKEN; WILD BOAR AND VEGETABLES.

HEBRON. DELENE AND MATTHEW HAVE A SMALL SECTION ON THIS SIDE OF THE COMPLEX.

The last week of August 2014. \
I am in town this week. Manage to run the first four days of the week = 40k. And then on Thursday afternoon the weather turns around.. It had been predicted for a week that we would have wind and cold and rain for two days. And at almost exactly 2pm the rain came with the winds. There was snow on the Hogsback. And in the interior such as Cradock, Graaff Reinet. In PE we had hail but nothing more.

Friday morning. \It is still raining and hailing. Fortunately I don't have to run this morning.. Daniel is in Grade Three and the Grandparents day is this morning. Barbara and I sit on the balcony in the front row where I have found a place for the past number of years. Ally had three years with us as parents. Then it was Jessica for three years and now we are grandparents to Joshua and Daniel for the past Four years.
This show is one of the highlights of the calendar for the children and for us as Grandparents. As usual the show is entertaining with some of the anticipated songs and some new versions. Daniel is "an octopus leg" in his skit.

GRADES 1 TO 3 TAKE PART IN THE GRANDPARENTS DAY. 400 PLUS CHILDREN. WELL BEHAVED AND REHEARSED. CLARENDON IS IN GOOD HANDS.

IN THE TOWN WHERE I WAS BORN LIVED A MAN WHO SAILED THE SEAS. AND HE TOLD ME OF HIS LIFE IN A YELLOW SUBMARINE. WE ALL LIVE IN A YELLOW SUBMARINE.

DANIEL IS AN OCTOPUS LEG

Saturday Morning -- I meet up with Mike; Annie; Liesl; Viv and Neil. We run to the Beacon, Up Admiralty, Right into Kock and then along Strandfontein to the Airport and back along the beach front. This is a 16k loop. Then as it is Adrienne's 50th Parkrun I run the parkrun with her. It is only the second time that I am running the parkrun with the group. We ran the first one just over a year ago and then we have always run a |Helpers Run but not with the main group. Today I have run 21k and total to 60 for the week.

IT IS DUE TO THIS WONDERFULLY SUPPORTING GROUP THAT I WAS ABLE TO RUN THE FULL 15K THIS MORNING.

NEIL; VIV; LIESL AND ANNIE RUN ALL THE WAY AROUND THE AIRPORT WITH ME. THANKS FOR THE SUPPORT MY GOOD FRIENDS.

ADRIENE; SUSAN; MATTHEW AND BERND RUN THE PARKRUN TO SUPPORT ADRIENNE ON HER 50TH.

FRIENDS HAVING FUN

BERND SHOWS THE WAY

ADRIENNE AND MARK AND ELMA COLSON RUNNING THEIR 50TH PARKRUN. TODAY PARKRUN HOBIE BEACH IS 55 RUNS OLD.

Nicky has had a rough month and is now not feeling well and so will probably not run the 42k at the end of September. I feel, for the first time in Years, ready for a 42 again.

Saturday after the Parkrun (55th event); we meet up with Lene at Clarendon and watch first Daniel and then Joshua play rugby. Josh is in the Clarries U11A team and playing full back, Danny plays left wing. Both of them have good games even though they lost to Summerwood.
I collect my replacement card and then buy a new pair of Aisics running shoes from Brian Bands at R1000. Shocking the price of sporting goods but this pair will last me over a year and so at R100 per month, taking into account the number of times I will wear these shoes, this is not too bad when compared to some other sports.

PEARSON PLAY ALEXANDER ROAD HIGH ON SATURDAY AFTERNOON

FOR ME A REAL TREAT TO BE ABLE TO BE ON THE SIDE OF THE FIELD THIS AFTERNOON

LOTS OF RUNNING RUGBY WITH SOME HARD TACKLES\

STEVE PEDERSON WITH HIS TEAM OF U11A AT CLARENDON

DANIEL AND HIS RUGBY TEAM

EMILY; TOM AND ANNABELLE

RUGBY AT THE NELSON MANDELA STADIUM IN PORT ELIZABETH. SPRINGBOKS VS ENGLAND. THERE IS NO BETTER WAY TO SPEND AN EVENING.

LENE;; PETER AND BARARA AT RUGBY. WHAT A TREAT.

LENE AND BARBARA WEARING THEIR SUPPORT T SHIRTS.

PEARSON GRADE 11

PARKRUN ON THE BEACH

JOSHUA LINES UP AGAINST SUMMERWOOD

DANIEL PLAYED LEFT WING

DANIELS RUGBY TEAM AT CLARENDON

YESTERDAY DANIEL WAS AN OCTOPUS AND TODAY HE IS A RUGBY PLAYER

ALLY FOOLING AROUND WITH A BIT OF FANCY DRESS

GOOD TIMES FOR NICKY AND HER FAMILY

THERE MAY BE WAR IN ISRAEL BUT EMILY LOOKS SAFE

TOM TUCKS HER SISTER INTO BED

HAPPY CHILDREN

JAQUI;S DRAWINGS

JAX IS QUITE THE ARTIST RECENTLY

LENE MADE THIS BEAUTIFUL CAKE

BLAKE HAVING FUN IN THE GARDEN

NICKY ON A ROAD TRIP WITH HER FRIENDS WHO PLAY MUSIC FOR VARIOUS VENUES.\

SUPPER TIME FOR NICKY IN THE NEW FLAT

SO PROUD OF THEIR NEW CAR.

THE CAR IS WELL APPOINTED IN THE COCKPIT

LENE AND RIA HAVE BOUGHT A NEW CAR. CHEVY SPARK

BLAKE MAKES FRIENDS ON THE BEACH

SAUL IN THE SUNSHINE ON THE BEACH

NICKY;S FLAT IS SO COSY

JACQUI AND TWO HAPPY SOULS

MEDITERRANEAN SEA. BEACHES AND SWIMMING IN ISRAEL.

BLAKE: MOM, WILL YOU JOIN ME FOR A BEER?

MORNING SUNRISE WITH NICKY

COTTAGE ON THE ROAD TRIP WITH WERNER AND JOHN THE MUSICIANS

NICKY'S ROAD TRIP TAKES HER TO THE MOUNTAINS. AND LOVELY VENUES.

FASCINATING STUFF IN THE GARDEN

BLAKE GROWING AT SUCH A RATE AND WE CANNOT BE PART OF IT.

CATHY HAS CUT HER HAIR AND NOW LOOKS SO PROFESSIONAL. BUT HAS DECIDED TO TAKE A BREAK FROM WORK. SHE HAS RESIGNED FROM GO TO AFRICA. TIME WILL TELL WHAT HAPPENS NEXT.

CASUAL CATHY

MEAL TIME TOM

MICHAEL AND ANNABELLE

TREE CLIMBING IS SUCH FUN FOR NICKY'S CHILDREN

AARON AND CHRIS -- BRAIN FREEZE

JACQUI OFF TO GYM

FUN IN THE PARK

A VERY FRAIL ENA IN BED AFTER A FALL OVER A MONTH AGO. SHE HAD TO HAVE HER ARM IN A CAST WHICH DID NOT HEAL AND SO IT WAS RESET AGAIN. NOW SHE IS IN BED AND INCAPACITATED FOR MOST OF HER DAYS.