WPC: Good Morning – Cockadoodle doo

When we lived in Johannesburg, I did not have such good mornings. After a few years of really enjoying living in our home, the house next door to ours was sold. Our new neighbour kept Silkie cockerels in her front garden, right on the other side of the fence from our main bedroom. This was in a suburb with half-acre stands, so as you can imagine, when those roosters started crowing at the crack of dawn and more often than not, even earlier, it was impossible to stay asleep. There was hardly a moment during the day, when one or other of them wasn’t crowing, and it used to drive me nuts, especially as I’d been woken up at some ungodly hour. Their owner gleefully told us that she had been brought up on a farm, and absolutely loved the sound. She even gave a home to their friends’ Silkies whilst they were away on holiday. Now, whilst I love birds, I came to not love roosters one little bit, so when I was in London, and saw this sculpture of a giant blue rooster, by Katharina Fritsch, which had been erected on the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square, it brought back rather unpleasant morning memories.

We decided to sell our house and move down to the coast. Our neighbour saw us as we were driving away for the last time, and said somewhat sardonically, “Goodbye. I do hope that there are no roosters where you’re moving to.” Thankfully, the only sound as we awoke in our new home, was the soothing sound of the Indian Ocean. We have very good morning walks along the beach, as the fishermen silently wait for the fish to bite.

Our good morning breakfast is often eaten at a restaurant overlooking the ocean.

The service might be a little slow, but no-one is in a hurry there.

It’s always definitely worth waiting for. Yes, the mornings are very good there, and even though life here in Florida is wonderful, I have to say that I’m rather looking forward to getting back to those good beach mornings.

I do hope I haven’t upset any rooster lovers. The neighbour across the road was much more considerate. He had a big Koi pond, and as you probably know, fish don’t crow at all. 🙂

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Cee’s FFC: Walks, Indoors or Outdoors

I thought I’d keep the photos for Cee’s new challenge, local. We went for a walk yesterday afternoon along the beachfront past the lighthouse,

a few fishermen,

the luxury ‘Edge of the Sea’ holiday apartments,

and up the hill to the town.

The indoor shopping centre wasn’t at all busy, unlike the pubs and restaurants along the main street.

After making a couple of purchases, we walked home along the top road and down the steep hill past the church. I thought this would make a good shadow photo. 🙂

This morning it was time to exercise once again, so it was off to the gym. The approach from the car park and the drab grey paintwork, isn’t very cheerful or inspiring, 😦

but the front entrance looks just a tad more inviting.

There are a dozen workmen replacing the rusty roof sheeting, and it’s taking them forever to do this. Every time we go, there’s some area of equipment cordoned off, with a sign, “Workmen overhead!” Well if they were really ‘work’men, they’d have finished the job weeks ago.

I just walked into my bedroom to start packing for our trip up to Johannesburg tomorrow to see our daughter and family. There are a lot of ships parked outside our house; just sitting there doing nothing. They’ve been there for days. Our port workers are also very slow. 🙂

To join in Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge, just follow this link.

My weekend in pics.

Today it’s raining, and the sea and sky are almost the same shade of drab grey. I thought I’d tell you this, as I don’t want you imagining that I spend all my days swinging in a hammock under blue skies. 🙂

You’ll be glad to know that I survived Cruel Niel’s shape class with only a few aches and pains and wobbly knees. I’d almost forgotten what a tyrant this athletic little devil in a red T-shirt can be. The music is of the kind which makes me turn tail outside such stores as ‘Hollister’ and ‘Abercrombie & Fitch’, even though I’m just longing to go in and try on a pair of their skinny jeans. Their choice of music should tell me that the clothes inside the store are meant for youngsters, rather than  this mature woman with sensitive ears. As we hapless victims bent, stretched, reached for the sky, touched toes, did countless push ups, tummy crunches, and weights, I could hear someone screaming out “Can you feel it, feel it, feel it, baby?” Of course I could feel it! 😯 Neil’s strident voice kept telling us to ‘Keep going, keep going. One more set…….five, four, three, two, one, relax.” Only for a split second though, and then we were on to the next tortuous exercise. This went on for a whole hour, and I kept looking at the clock, thinking. “WHAT am I doing here? Let me rather die NOW. ”  The last five minutes were spent rolling and stretching on the floor, whilst the tape played, “Voulez vous couchez avec moi ce soir?” I was ready to agree to anything, just to make the agony come to an end. 😉 The inevitable balancing stork-like on one leg and then the other, ended the class, and as I left, I remarked to Neil, “I’d forgotten just how cruel you can be,” and his retort was, “I was extra cruel today, just so that you’d remember faster.”  I’m a glutton for punishment though, and I guess I’ll be there again next Friday.

My piano playing went really well, and people smiled and waved at me, and an elderly couple had a bit of a dance to show their appreciation. One rather distinguished looking man came over and patted me on the back, which I thought was a bit of a liberty, but he obviously thought I was up for it. 🙂

Yesterday afternoon we went for a walk around our neighbourhood. I noticed that these security cameras have popped up at regular intervals along our road, and we have one inside our complex. In Florida, we have no need of high walls and electric fencing. Our gardens are just open to the street. It’s hardly surprising that we prefer living there, is it?

We saw these playful monkeys having fun on someone’s roof.

The daddy was standing guard and giving us the ‘hairy eyeball’, but uncooperatively closed his eyes for the photo.

The beach was almost deserted, which was surprising for a weekend. You can just see the Umhlanga lighthouse way in the distance.

Along the path We came upon this old dead tree trunk, and I immediately saw many weird and wonderful faces in it. Can you also see them, or is it just me? I can see at least ten, and one has whiskers, but I do see faces in almost everything.

This monstrosity of a house has been under construction for the last two years, and nothing seems to have changed whilst we were away.

Here is my favourite local seaside mansion, and I’d swap our townhouse for it in a heartbeat, although maybe not, as there’d be so much more housework to do. 😕

I’ve finished my spring clean downstairs today. I’m quite the fiend with the vacuum cleaner, and so many dead ants, spiders and dust bunnies have been sucked into oblivion. Tomorrow I’ll tackle the upstairs, but I’ve earned a rest, so let me have a nice cup of tea, and catch up with some of your blogs. 🙂