The coming weekend...

is going to be quite interesting, I believe.

Steph is flying down to Cape Town on Thursday morning and I'll be joining her on Friday, partly for business but mainly for us to look for a place to stay when we move down there at the end of October.

The trip is partly business as our executive agreed that he would fork out the cost of the trip as a business trip if we held a meeting or two, either internally or with clients. It was good of him to do so as it saves us a few grand in flights, hotel and car hire costs.

Friends of ours, who decided after we did to move, are also moving down there and they've already been down to look for houses even thouh they have not sold their place in Shit Towne yet. They reckon there are some really nice places, not too expensive, in Somerset West and mentioned they saw one on sale for R1.2m which included a lovely four-bedroomed house on a 1,000sqm stand. Up to now, we have only seen stands of around 600sqm and we will need the space for Steph's three "children" (she has children, I have dogs). So, no doubt we'll be heading out that way for a look-see and it'll be nice and close to the ocean which is one of my requirements.

In the meantime, I have to arrange a meeting at the Cape Town office, but might already have one lined up to talk about a large retail chain who want some assistance with their business continuity.

I've been looking around on the web, on the property rental sites, for places to rent and there are some reasonable looking places, even if their stands are not quite as big as I would like. The property market is affecting everyone, but I cannot understand how someone who cannot afford their bond in the first place should be allowed to rent their place out including an agent's fee. These people should be obliged to put their homes on the market so that someone who can afford that house, can buy it instead of paying an inflated price to rent it.

Needless to say, as it's only a weekend visit, I will not be allowed to take down my fishing gear. That's fair enough, cos when we move down I'll be sitting on the shoreline quite regularly...

I think I'll take Steph on the Spirit of Victoria on Friday evening for a sundowner cruise. We've been on it before and it's quite pleasant as you cruise right out to Robben Island (home for 27 years to the world's most famous prisoner) and then down to the Camps Bay area. I just hope the weather plays along.

On Saturday we'll pop into an estate agent who "specialises" in letting houses and see what he/she has to offer and hopefully there will be some in the right area (ie, next to the beach). I have no doubt we'll find something, it's just a case of getting down there and looking around.

We fly back to Shit Towne on Sunday afternoon so will also have time to look around on Sunday if we don't find anything on the previous days. In fact, hopefully, we'll find something on Friday and have the weekend to chill out in Cape Town and maybe go and see some whales in Hermanus...