Day 9

Ok I'm bullshitting just a little here, I had 2 beers with my dinner on Saturday evening but I'm not counting that as failure and restarting the daily count because it was well earned beer after a long tough hot day starting with an 8km run and a lot more walking all over Hermanus on a stinking hot day. It wasn't a pissup and I had no desire for any more so the count continues, this being day 9 since I last got drunk.

The dreaded weekend was actually very nice. Yes stressful because I was unable to contribute too much to the cost of it all, which I'm sure was quite a lot that The Wife covered, which didn't go unappreciated! There was no awkwardness and we had a great weekend away as a family in a town we would quite happily move to live in. Being there made us realise how unpleasant and stressful life is living in the city and dealing with the traffic and commute, crappy thankless jobs, crime and overcrowding, etc, let alone the expense. And people in the city are just generally shit. Hermanus is still a bustling town but it's a world away from life in the city! Much less stressful, and it's quieter, cleaner, people are friendlier, much less crime, it's safer to be outside of our residential fortresses (Tammy was riding her bicycle out in the actual street!) We were highly envious of the people living out there, they generally seemed happy. So we are going to look at ways to someday move out to a place like Hermanus and still earn a sustainable living. Certainly more of a practical option than moving to Australia!

All that being said we had a fantastic weekend. We stayed in the Mountain View Manor guest house. Our hosts Charlise and Geoff were fantastic, they made us feel totally at home and they made the best breakfasts I've tasted in years! The room was big and comfortable, and the location was great, it was centrally enough located to access wherever we wanted to go yet still in a quiet neighbourhood so as to be away from the hustle and bustle. It was close to the Sandbaai coastline, I went for two nice long runs along the coast. And we went into town to the country market which was lovely, only proper authentic crafts and organic foods, etc. No imported kuk. We walked around town and went for a drink (I had a grapetiser) down at Bientangs Cave in the old harbour, dinner at a little Portuguese restaurant near the beach close to the guest house, where I had my 2 beers. Sunday on the way home we took the day to stop at a few wine estates where The Wife did plenty of wine tasting. I had plenty of coffee, and ended up not being able to sleep last night until about midnight.

The weekend was a much needed stress release for all 3 of us. Tammy had an absolute ball all the way! This week I HAVE to up the effort with my running and get back into the gym again, starting tonight!

I've hit a nice break with my sauces - a friend from another life (we grew up in the same town, last saw each other about 30 years ago) has a printing business, he has printed off hundreds of labels for my first two sauces at no cost. It really is a big help because as soon as they arrive in Cape Town I can launch and start selling my stuff and generating an income. It's all I need to get going is labels! It really is a God-send which I'm most grateful for!

Have a nice day folks! (creek creek...)