A brief update as to what's happening...

in my life at the moment...

We are as busy as all hell at the moment, both on the work and personal fronts.

On the work front...

I'm still battling to get back into the swing of Shit Towne and its surrounding stresses, but that's what going to Saudi Dryland does for me. Over there, you have a relaxing flight over, a couple of hours in a reasonable hotel to catch up on some sleep (all at Emirates' expense), a free meal thrown in to boot, some time in Dubai Duty Free (not worth buying anything on the way into Dryland cos the authorities are really strict about things coming in and will confiscate anything remotely suspicious) and then another relaxing flight into Riyadh.

The work environment with the client is quite relaxed too, unlike Shit Towne where it's cut-throat and everything has to be done last year, never mind last week. We had a few meetings, got the client to take on most of the preparation work for the DR test coming up in May (yes, I'll be going back again, but this should be THE last time), had a presentation to some of the team and flew out again.

I had a few hours in Dubai Duty Free to buy a couple of things (a 1L bottle of Laphroaig 10yr old single malt - my favourite, and at less than a 750ml bottle at home, and a 1L bottle of Bombay Gin - quite nice for gin). Other than that, I used the wireless network there (for free too, something other airports have to learn from) and sat on my email and Facebook for a while, then had an early flight out back to Shit Towne at 04h30.

Back in Joburg just fter 10h30, and home just after 11h00. I passed out on the couch, knackered, and woke up three hours later, slightly refreshed. Needless to say, as it was the start of the Easter weekend, I didn't power up my laptop to check if anyone needed to get hold of me. Fuckit, I thought, I bend over backwards for this company sometime and I wanted some small payback. Only on Tuesday, after the long weekend, did I put some fire under the laptop and check my email.

More than that, I'm still busy on the project in Pretoria and things are progressing slowly, mostly due to issues on the client side but also that the corporation has to get its pricing structure and transparency to the client sorted out. The bastards at the top of the corporation sold the client something that doesn't satisfy their needs and now expect me to stand, cap in hand, and beg for forgiveness. Well guess what, I don't work that way. I'm honest with my clients and if they want to fuck around with that sort of shit, guess what, they're on their own and I've told them as much.

On the personal front...

We grafted our backsides off this last weekend, trying to finish off little bits and pieces around the house for the show session on Sunday. We worked from 4pm until midnight on Friday and again form 8am to 1am on Saturday. Both of us were absolutely knackered on Sunday but I was up at 7am again loading some rubble (from the recent paving we had done) to drive it to the dump. Doing other bits and pieces, tidying up and so on, we were supposed to have the keys ready for the agent at 1pm. I only got into the shower at 1h15 and Steph about 20mins later. Luckily no potential buyers showed up during that time.

We handed the keys to the agent and headed off to Zoo Lake to have a braai with friends. On the way out of the driveway, I remarked to Stpeh that it would rain before 3pm...and how right I was. We got to the lake just after 2pm, three dogs on leashes and took a walk around the lake, when it started pissing down just after 2h30, just after G started the fire. We hadn't had a chance to prepare anything so we were relying on our friends for sustenance. Luckily, G had 4 beers of which he gave me 2, and they'd brought enough pork rashers and chicken breasts for all of us to enjoy. Now we owe them a meal at the house before we leave for Hermanus.

And speaking of which, Steph is in Cape Town from today until Friday evening, to take handover from a colleague who has resigned and from whom Steph will be taking over (for a while at least) on 1st May. Steph has finally reasoned that the move has to be done in stages and getting there is the first step. Me, on the other hand, have not yet heard from my damager, though I have a meeting with him at 5pm this afternoon for a tet-a-tet (face to face, for all you illiterates) to discuss what's going on (or not going on, as the case may be).

As I mentioned, we had the house on show this past Sunday and, though we haven't yet received an offer, it looks promising. There was a couple from Manchester who came through the house, had a long look around, liked what they saw, even sat outside under the lapa for a while, and said they think we have a lovely house which they really liked. The bloke apparently even pointed to the verandah and said "there's my new office", so it looks promising and we're hoping we get an offer soon. They were flying back to Manchester on Sunday evening, so if anything, it'll be a couple of days before we hear from them through the estate agent.

Wednesday night is Action Drinking night again with Fishman and the guys, so no doubt the rest of the week will be a blur. I think I'll get some sleep tonight to make up for what I'm going to lose over the next couple of days...

Take care...y'all...