Franschhoek 20 Years!!!

Well what a weekend

We attended Ed's 20 year reunion in Franshhoek this past weekend.

We decided to make a weekend of it and stay over from Friday night. Mark and Odelè arranged a place for us all to stay, yes they came with us. We also decided to go in their bakkie, which was great for us, but the kids moaned non stop, we were so squashed up etc etc. The drive was very interesting, we firstly had to drive to Paarl to buy some electricity. When we got there we called the owner of the house to obtain the number of the meter, only to be told that his wife had the card, but we must not worry there is about 1 bar left, if you know "pay as you go" electricity, 1 bar could mean 1 unit and that would not be enough to even switch the lights on forget about a whole weekend. Hoping for the best, we were on our way. We arrived at the gate of Hollandsche Mollen, Mark asked for directions and handed the map which he was given to the lady at the gate. Mark was sure that he knew exactly where to go and which house we were using. Well we drove around for about 15 minutes looking for SOMETHING, but not knowing the number or the name of the road or even which direction, as the map was still at the gate. We eventually drove back to the gate to ask for clearer directions and also our map back, but when we got there none of us could speak as we were now laughing so much. We eventually managed to ask and was taken inside to see the big map and finally everything made sense. We found a place according to the directions as well were still not sure, but only the key would tell . But by now it is so dark that we can not see anything. With the lights of the car Mark was now trying to open the thousand locks which were on the gate and the door. After about 35 minutes of arriving at the camp, we finally could unload the car and start with our food. We had to meet Ed's past classmates at 09:00 in town and with 8 people having to shower, because we forgot to put the geyser on when we arrived, no-one could bath or shower the previous night. Everyone had to get ready and eat etc. We had planned to leave the house at 08:30, Mark was going to drop us off and the Gradidge family was going to go for breakfast and look around while we were busy on our tour. Well not everyone could shower as after 1 bath and 1 hair wash, there was no hot water. Ed was wide awake after his shower, so it was agreed that Mark would drop us and fetch and the rest of the family would wait for him. At 08:30 Gareth walked out and said that he can not find his shoes, well the search began, we turned the place upside down, with Ed adamant that he had removed the shoes from the car the previous evening. The more I am asking him whether he had removed it from our car at home, the more he is saying no it was here. After about 15 minutes, we realised that it is now or never, so Odelè offered her takkies to Gareth, he wears a size 2 and she wears a size 5, so you can imagine how he looked. We finally left at about 08:50, stressing that the bus would have departed already when we get there and that would be a major embarrassment for us. We got to town with one car waiting and the OLD school bus waiting there, not sure what was happening, we drove around, to make sure that this was not the bus for us. We were paying R50 per head, we were expecting a nice luxury bus, but no we were mistaken, this OLD bus was for us. But let me explain, remember this is Ed's 20 year reunion, and this bus was the SAME bus that took Ed on his rugby tours etc. So you can imagine our faces and fears. They did not get enough people to take the tour, so the luxury bus was out and we had to use the school bus, all the money paid was then donated to the school. We went to the school and and the "koshuis" the principle met us at the school and opened some classes for them to see. He also opened a store room, with old photo's, rugby jerseys etc. These people really enjoyed that, they spent about 20 minutes scratching through the everything and reminiscing the past and having a good laugh. It was actually nice to watch them. After that we went to the Fraschhoek words on the pass. The bus could only drive about 20km/h so it was a LONG drive. A few brave souls climbed up to get to the words and we waited for them. The big question for all of us was how was this bus going to turn around to get back down. We drove further up the pass, and turned around. Now we were worried about going down the pass with this Old bus. We all prayed hard and we made it down. We visited the Monument, but the gates in front were closed and as per normal no-one read the signs and everyone jumped over the wall and had a look and took photo's etc. On our way out, we walked past the entrance and discovered that we were supposed to have paid an entrance fee. We all kept quite and walked past. The bus departed and we stayed behind, we were not joining them for the lunch.

In the meantime, Odelè went to Pep Stores to buy Gareth some shoes for the evening function.

When we got back to the house we discovered that something happened to the TV and we lost the DSTV channel, which was a disaster as the PROVINCE game was coming on in 1 hours time. We managed to get the TV sorted with about 10 minutes to spare. What a relief, otherwise we would have to sit with a miserable family, as we especially that we brought our smart card with especially for the rugby. Well we still had a miserable family as Province did not produce the result that was wanted.

We went for dinner at Dieu Donne Wine Farm, the place is absolutely beautiful. There were a few more past classmates there and a couple of teachers, as well as the pricipal, Mr van der Spuy. It was a great evening, although I must admit, it was a bit boring for the kids and it would have been better if we had left them somewhere, but hey we learn from our mistakes.

Sunday was such a lovely day, the weather was typical of Paarl, Franschhoek, the kids swam and played cricket and of course touch rugby, where would my kids (incl. Ed) not play touch rugby. We also braaied and enjoyed the sun a bit, before making our way home.

It was a lovely weekend, but so nice to be back in my own bed. That bed there was like a cement block!!! Ed was so glad that he went, he was hesitant in the beginning, but he really had a lot of fun, seeing how some people turned out. We look forward to the 30 year reunion.