PETER GIDDY.: JULY 2014. Ally in Israel with Jacqui. Knysna 21. Delene and Matthew move house.

JULY 2014
ALLY IS IN ISAEL ON HOLIDAY WITH JACQUI' FAMILY
DELENE AND MATTHEW HAVE TO MOVE FROM THEIR FARM.
TRAINING FOR KNYSNA 21k
RUGBY AT THE STADIUM
KNYSNA 21K WITH NICKY AND STUART
CHANGE IN MY JOB SHOCKS ME.... NO MOTIVATION FOR WORK OR FOR RUNNING
RON AND LYN COME FOR SUPPER
STOP AT KOMGHA FOR A DRIVERS LICENCE WHEN I LOSE MINE.
ALLY IS BACK INTO FIRST TEAM HOCKEY FOR PEARSON.
HOCKEY TOURNAMENT IN CAPE TOWN
NICKY MOVES INTO MONTREAUX.
ARON BIRTHDAY ON 27th July.

July 2014
I am doing a lot of work travel around the Eastern Cape.
Our Neighbour, Marshall, invites Barbara, Lene and I to watch SA vs Scotland at the stadium.
Lene and three children get tickets for us to watch EP vs Sharks
We win both games convincingly
I try to fit in as much training for Knysna 21 as I am able between travel.

Saturday, 5th. Stuart, Graham, Margie, Brian, Neil and I run into a strong Westerly all the way up to the airport, from there we have the wind behind us as we take a bit of a longer route after dropping Graham off. Parkrun sees only a few runners braving the wind. Barbara is helping Delene move.

THIS SMALL GROUP HAD AN AWESOME RUN FROM WALMER; AIRPORT; 2ND AVE; PROMENADE AND BACK UP TO WALMER

MANDY; CANDICE; KELLY AND ANDREA.

Sunday 6th. I meet up with Andrea, Mandy, Candice and Kelly and we run airport, 2nd ave, beachfront, and up back to Walmer on this cold but magnificent morning. Later we drive out to the farm to help Delene with their move to Hebron farm.

MATTHEW AND DELENE MOVE TO HEBRON FOR A YEAR WHILE BUILDING THEIR HOME ON THE HILL

HEBRON CHRISTIAN RETREAT

PILES OF BOXES AND STUFF FROM THEIR PREVIOUS BIG HOME TO THIS SMALL HOME.

Monday 7th. King and El for work. Stay with Ben.

I stay for just two nights and then on Thursday morning meet up with Corrie for some local branch visits.
Friday afternoon -- Drop Corrie at the airport, Collect Stuart and we leave for Knysna. Nicky is getting a lift from Cape Town with Stuart's brother (Craig) and we meet up with them at the registration tent where Nicky has meet with Suzanne; Pat and Ronel. Suzanne and Ronel go on to do 4.30 and 4.50 42k marathon. The rest of us run the 21k with Nicky at 2;02 and Stuart and I at 2;09. We have a great run starting off with Andrea; Kelly; Brett; Kelsey; Candice and Mandy. There are so many runners from PE. This should be a regular calendar event every year. Stuart and I went back to Plett where we collected our stuff and left Nicky and Julia to have a party back at Knysna that evening. Craig collected Nicky and they drove back to CT on Sunday.

Ally arrives back from Israel on Friday afternoon after a delayed flight put her under time stress; she seems to have handled it quite well.

Monday I leave for Mthatha where I am starting a new FSAM after Julia has left for KZN. I stop off at Komgha to get a Drivers licence as I lost mine during the week. I have to have an affidavit; a couple of photo's and the Eye Test which all goes well. I leave an hour later with the Temp Licence R350 poorer and will have to collect the Drivers Licence in a month.
When I arrive in Mthatha I receive a call from Corrie to ask me to fly to JHB. The structure of FS is collapsing and I am no longer an FSGM. I dont fly as it really is too much logistics but I leave Mthatha a day early as I am no directionless. The rest of the week is much the same. I dont run and hardly do any work at all.
Saturday morning I am supposed to run; but when it is raining again I have little motivation. I go down later for the Parkrun which Werner and Tamaryn are now also part of. I do the 5k parkrun, Meet with Steve and Izaan for the second half into the west and rain.

Saturday afternoon we collect Ally from Jeffreys Bay and take her to Hockey at Pearson. She is now back playing for the first team but does not have a great game. The score is 1;nil; -- one all; Two; Nil -- Two all and finally Pearson beat the EP ladies masters team 3;2.

This evening Ron and Lynne join us for supper and drinks. It is good to catch up with our good friends again.

FINISHING THE KNYSNA 21K.

TRAINING FOR KNYSNA HALF MARATHON WITH KELLY; ANDREA; CANDICE AND MANDY

RUGBY AT THE STADIUM EP VS SHARKS WITH LENE; JOSHUA AND DANIEL. JESSICA IS MISSING WITH HER FRIEND.

START OF KNYSNA HALF WITH NICKY; KELSEY; ANDREA AND KELLY.

ALLY IN ACTION FOR PEARSON FIRST TEAM

PLAYING AT PEARSON VS EP MASTERS

ALLY FLICKS THE BALL -- ALWAYS TO ANOTHER PLAYER. SELDOM DOES ALLY HAVE A WILD, NO AIM CLEARANCE.

ACROSS TO ANOTHER PLAYER ON THE WING.

ALLY PLAYS DEFENCE AND FEW BALLS EVER GET PAST HER.

Sunday 20th. Barbara and I laze until Lene comes to clear up the old school. I dump a whole lot of stuff and then we load the stuff that must go back with Lene. A good productive clean up morning.

ON OUR WAY TO CAPE TOWN WE STOPPED OFF AT THE OFFICES OF THE TSITSIKAMMA HIKING TRAIL WHERE WE WILL BE HIKING IN A FEW MONTHS.

Monday 21st.... Trip to Jhb to hear that I am now a regional manager for Electric Express Garden Route including Mossel Bay and George.
Run a hard 10k on Tuesday. Drop Ally at school at 3am for her trip to CT for a hockey tournament.
Wednesday evening is Cell at Perks'
Have another good run on Thursday morning
Thursday afternoon we leave for CT. Stop in Plett to see Ena in hospital. She is 98 and has a bit of pneumonia and had a fall. Very frail but hopefully she will be home soon.
Ally won two and drew one of her games so far.
We arrive in CT late at night after a hard drive through the rain.
Friday morning 25th July. We wake up at Nicky's house.. She and Stefan are separating.
Nicky is fixing up the flat in Montreaux with some of her friends. She will move in there.
Ally has her 4th match at WP Cricket ground.

We load up my car, drop Nicky at Montreaux, she meets her friends to work on the flat. We meet Patrick and walk from his house to the Western Province Cricket Ground where Ally's match is being played. So far in this International tournament Pearson have won three games and drawn one. Today they must win or draw to go to the Semi Finals on Sunday. We meet Andre, Clarice, Luzannes mother and the hockey squad at the field. It has been raining heavily in CT and rains for much of the match this morning.

FIXING UP NICKY'S FLAT WITH JOHN AND WERNER

JOHN DOES THE PAINTING WITH NICKY AND WERNER

FROM NICKY'S LOUNGE YOU LOOK OUT TO THE WEST AND THE ROAD THAT LEADS UP TO THE CABLE CAR AND THE MOUNTAIN DRIVE

THE FLAT LOOKED QUITE DISGUSTING WITH BLACK AND GREEN MOULD ON THE WEST SIDE OF THE FLAT. THE DAMP HAS SETTLED INTO THE CONCRETE AND BRICKS SO THE WALLS AND THE WHOLE FLAT WILL NEED AIRING WITH AN EXTRACTOR FAN.'

VIEW OUTSIDE OF NICKY'S WINDOW

VIEW TO THE WEST FROM THE LOUNGE

THE FLAT NEEDED A HUGE CLEAN UP AFTER THE PAINTING HAD BEEN COMPLETED BUT AT LEAST IT IS NOW LIVABLE.

The first half there is no score. Both teams are trying very hard (Pearson vs Bloemhof), but the defense is strong. Patrick, Barbara and I sit huddled together under a blanket. In the second half Ally has a strong game and nothing gets past. But Simone takes the ball down the left line and into the D and scores. And then in the final minutes we are awarded a penalty and Luzanne scores. This means we have won four and drawn one game. And will play in the Semi Finals on Sunday. As we walk home to Patricks house the rain pours down and it begins to hail as well.

ALLY PLAYED HOCKEY IN POURING RAIN AND HAIL.

IN THE PRELIMINARY GAMES PEARSON WON ALL BUT ONE GAME.

ALLY IN DEFENCE

ALLY STRETCHING ONE HANDED.

Back to Montreaux. Nicky, Werner and John are painting and cleaning. We off load Nicky's stuff.
Back home I buy some stuff for supper. Reinhard and Lisa, Christian, Caitlin and Zac also join us for supper. We have 8 children and four adults to feed so I try to make supper go as far as possible. Later Nicky phones to say that there will be 3 more for supper so I quickly add to the coleslaw and spread the Cottage Pie out with a bit more Grated cheese and some slices of bread.
In the end, with some Ice Cream and custard, no one is without a substantial supper.

Saturday morning in Cape Town; it is still pouring with rain and we decide to cancel our planned 21k at Riebeek (near to Wellington, Paarl area.
Instead we pack some of Nicky's stuff up and move to her new flat in town. This evening we spend at the home where Nicky has been staying with Werner and John.

HARTELYVALE HOCKEY STANDS ARE REALLY QUITE STUNNING

THE STANDS WERE FULL FOR THE FINALS

NICKY'S FLAT STARTING TO TAKE SHAPE

ALLY'S TEAM WALKS ONTO THE FIELD FOR THE FINAL MATCH PLAY OFF WHICH THEY WIN AND SO END UP THIRD OVERALL FOR A BRONZE MEDAL.

Sunday 27th July; Ally has a match for the Semi Final Position. Pearson lose to a team from the UK and they are now playing for 3rd and 4th Place. Barbara and I watch all the games until our girls have to play and they draw the match. 0-0. Then there is a Golden Goal play of ten minutes a side. first one to score a goal wins the game. Our team score and we are now placed third overall in the tournament. Pearson girls win a Bronze medal. The parent and coaching staff are all "blown away". We never expected this from our girls. So we walk away a very proud team and support group.

Sunday evening we stay over with Patrick and Marianne. Then Monday morning we drive home to PE. Stop over in Plett to see Ena in Hospital.

The rest of the week I am busy doing stock taking in my new position of Area Manager for Electric Express.