We had our first full night’s sleep after tangling with the residue of jet lag! Up at 7-ish, coffee, lounging, reading, fruit cut by my favorite wife. Mimi decides to drive to Gansbaai to workout at the gym we joined, X-Treme Fitness, and get a haircut, while Bo does his run to the same destination, 4 km or so. Up and down small hills is good for the heart, I’m sure. Noticed lots of creative little rock gardens and plantings in the neighborhoods between here and there. Simple, modest homes, but these Afrikaans are nothing, if not tidy.
The gym: Despite the “thump thump music?" we both complete a decent first weight workout for the first time in a year. Most of the machines and treadmills are what we were used to at Aramco, windows look out to the primary school. A little kid , about two yrs old, walks in on his own, goes straight to the boxing gloves on the floor near the punching bag, puts them on and starts throwing punches. Too cute.
We go over to Stanford this evening for the Rotary meeting. Huh? Well, Michael had invited us, so what the hell. It was held in his cafe, (he also owns this in addition to his chef job) The Deli, and some older guys with name tags greet us with hearty handshakes all round. The meeting comes to order and we learn that this is the initial startup meeting of the Stanford chapter. The guys from Hermanus, proceed to deliver poor power point presentations of the duties and responsibilities inherent in the various offices in RI (Rotary International), but we, the NR (Newly Retired) find the whole thing too structured for our liberated selves. While the goals and fund raising activities sound pretty cool, we just can’t commit, just yet, thanks.
The meeting ends at last, and the real “meeting” can begin. We chit chat with the others there and find them interesting and quirky. The young woman from London here for only 2 months. The divorced woman with more than her share of opinions. And Michelle, life counselor. As we talk, she asks us, “In Saudi, you didn’t, by any chance, know… (Here it comes, some outrageous hope that we knew someone) …the Hahn family?" Why, as a matter of fact, wed DID know Dr. Hahn! Taught both their children. She is the sister-in-law or some such. Amazing.
We go down to Emilio’s for dinner accompanied by Michael, The Deli's bartender, hefty Johann, and Chris , the seventy-something sot. A wonderful dinner and lots of wine and good conversation. Chris has had quite a life in the entrepreneurial world, hotels, this, that. He owns more businesses than the fourth bottle of cabernet sauvignon can afford his memory. He bought the very first Mercedes 280 SL in South Africa, he tells us slurring, and on that very first day, fresh from the dealer, he’d had a few too many, he hits a guy carrying a bike on his back walking along the dark road, which then tangled beneath his new ride, (the bike, not the guy) and cut the Mercedes' hydraulics. Without steering, he goes right off a cliff, unharmed. Mercedes Corp. replaced the totaled car the next day, but left the old one at the bottom of the ravine.
Our own auto tale continues as we drive to Strand to see the XTrail at Helderberg Nissan, and meet again with Peter. The car’s come down from JoBurg and they’ve found a little scratch on the front bumper that needs to be painted, no problem. Also had the “101 point Nissan checkup.” Oooh. Looks great, shiny and almost new. Let’s go for a spin. So, Peter takes the wheel, while Leon, the manager piles in for the heck of it and to assist Peter deliver the deal, no doubt. Tentatively, he backs it, turning to exit the showroom…and, “Peter!” Crunch! He proceeds to put the front door panel into the rear taillight of a showroom bakkie. Ooh shit! I can see Rodney Dangerfield in Caddyshack when his yacht's anchor drops through the Judge's new sloop. Oooh. A definite dent and a shattered taillight. So much for this car never having been in an accident, I say.
We all pile out and inspect as Peter breaks into an Auschwitz sweat. We all try to be reassuring, but Leon takes the helm, just the same. After he maneuvers us out of the showroom safely, Mimi takes the wheel and we tour around greater Strand. Good pickup, good brakes. Quiet enough ride for a 4x4. Bo takes it for a while, goosing it a bit. Seems solid. This vehicle falls a step below the rough-out macho of “off-road" into the classification known here as “soft-road."
Back at the dealership, we get him to take off 2000 rand and throw in the 2 yr warranty package. And, of course, to fix the dents, old and new. They offer us a loaner so that we can return the rental and save a few bucks. Fine. We deal with banking and finally after 2 hrs of forms and online manipulation have it cleared. We return the well-used Toyota to the airport Hertz and then head back to the Overberg in the loaner. The XTrail will be ready by Friday.
We stop by the Peregrine, the farmstall in the pass near Grabouw and Elgin (as in be-gin, “you drink gin, not Elgin”) for lunch and to meet Justin, Chris’ son who manages the place for dear old, sot dad. Sitting sharing the outside picnic table with a guy who reads my t-shirt and says, “Phoenix? Iwas just there in October. Nice country,”
Valentine’s Day, we went to Hermanus to meet with Nicolette, our architect. Cool little office in an old farmhouse. She and Leon, her assistant, give us a great presentation, all the new details, and we love it all. The changes she has made are cool improvements, and we like it all. A very nice discussion…and then it hits.
She pulls out the folder with the engineer’s cost estimates. The maximum of 2.5 million rand that we had set from the start has been exceeded slightly, like doubled, almost. The new cost breakdown comes to 3.8, not counting her fee. We are breathless, speechless and I develop a quick headache. We manage to make it through the meeting, saying that the cost was quite high and we’d have to discuss it. I need the trainer to rush out on the field with the bucket and sponge and try to get me breathing again.
We are sick as we make the 30 min drive home in the loaner.
Oh well, Went to a nice Valentine’s Dinner with Gerhard and Alet at Farango, Gansbaai’s lone “trendy” restaurant. 2 bottles of wine and some excellent food, and they picked up the tab! Nice people.
Peter phones the next day and the car is ready. He will meet us in Hermanus at the Traffic Dept to do the registration, etc. He is there and we go through the ordeal with little pain, hand over the keys and we are in our new car. Mimi phones around to get insurance and that continues through the day until we find one who is reasonable, 450/mo. We have to go BACK to Hermanus to get the car inspected, so ok. The neighbors must be wondering who ARE these Americans- four cars in two weeks!?
Next day we take a nice hike along the trail along the getypools (tidepools) and Stanford's Cove. Some reading time, and the discontinuous discussion of what to do about the house. To Build or Not To Build, that is truly the question.
Our thinking is torn. We love the plans, are in love with the dream of building a house here. But, are finding that SA is more unstable politically than expected and that the cost of building being so damn high would leave us stretched very, very thin for the next 4 years, with uncertainty about resale values amidst the background of recession, etc. The thought of being under the gun and close to the financial edge doesn’t make Bo too happy. Mimi is ever the optimist. What to do?
Invited Gerhard and Alet for drinks and snacks and to check out the house plans. Gerhard, a real estate agent who has roots in this town going back to his grandfather (Gogo) who built one of the original five cottages on the cliffs below us, puts a hypothetical price tag of 10 million rand on the house as planned and built on our lot, which we think is a bit optimistic, but hell, we’ll take it. His advice convinces us, at least temporarily, to go for it and build the house. Countless ciphering and figuring and gut wrenching trying to figure out the finances of the thing. The House Beast. It totally blows all the projections and planning I had done for the past 4 years. Welcome to the Real World.
The gym: Despite the “thump thump music?" we both complete a decent first weight workout for the first time in a year. Most of the machines and treadmills are what we were used to at Aramco, windows look out to the primary school. A little kid , about two yrs old, walks in on his own, goes straight to the boxing gloves on the floor near the punching bag, puts them on and starts throwing punches. Too cute.
We go over to Stanford this evening for the Rotary meeting. Huh? Well, Michael had invited us, so what the hell. It was held in his cafe, (he also owns this in addition to his chef job) The Deli, and some older guys with name tags greet us with hearty handshakes all round. The meeting comes to order and we learn that this is the initial startup meeting of the Stanford chapter. The guys from Hermanus, proceed to deliver poor power point presentations of the duties and responsibilities inherent in the various offices in RI (Rotary International), but we, the NR (Newly Retired) find the whole thing too structured for our liberated selves. While the goals and fund raising activities sound pretty cool, we just can’t commit, just yet, thanks.
The meeting ends at last, and the real “meeting” can begin. We chit chat with the others there and find them interesting and quirky. The young woman from London here for only 2 months. The divorced woman with more than her share of opinions. And Michelle, life counselor. As we talk, she asks us, “In Saudi, you didn’t, by any chance, know… (Here it comes, some outrageous hope that we knew someone) …the Hahn family?" Why, as a matter of fact, wed DID know Dr. Hahn! Taught both their children. She is the sister-in-law or some such. Amazing.
We go down to Emilio’s for dinner accompanied by Michael, The Deli's bartender, hefty Johann, and Chris , the seventy-something sot. A wonderful dinner and lots of wine and good conversation. Chris has had quite a life in the entrepreneurial world, hotels, this, that. He owns more businesses than the fourth bottle of cabernet sauvignon can afford his memory. He bought the very first Mercedes 280 SL in South Africa, he tells us slurring, and on that very first day, fresh from the dealer, he’d had a few too many, he hits a guy carrying a bike on his back walking along the dark road, which then tangled beneath his new ride, (the bike, not the guy) and cut the Mercedes' hydraulics. Without steering, he goes right off a cliff, unharmed. Mercedes Corp. replaced the totaled car the next day, but left the old one at the bottom of the ravine.
Our own auto tale continues as we drive to Strand to see the XTrail at Helderberg Nissan, and meet again with Peter. The car’s come down from JoBurg and they’ve found a little scratch on the front bumper that needs to be painted, no problem. Also had the “101 point Nissan checkup.” Oooh. Looks great, shiny and almost new. Let’s go for a spin. So, Peter takes the wheel, while Leon, the manager piles in for the heck of it and to assist Peter deliver the deal, no doubt. Tentatively, he backs it, turning to exit the showroom…and, “Peter!” Crunch! He proceeds to put the front door panel into the rear taillight of a showroom bakkie. Ooh shit! I can see Rodney Dangerfield in Caddyshack when his yacht's anchor drops through the Judge's new sloop. Oooh. A definite dent and a shattered taillight. So much for this car never having been in an accident, I say.
We all pile out and inspect as Peter breaks into an Auschwitz sweat. We all try to be reassuring, but Leon takes the helm, just the same. After he maneuvers us out of the showroom safely, Mimi takes the wheel and we tour around greater Strand. Good pickup, good brakes. Quiet enough ride for a 4x4. Bo takes it for a while, goosing it a bit. Seems solid. This vehicle falls a step below the rough-out macho of “off-road" into the classification known here as “soft-road."
Back at the dealership, we get him to take off 2000 rand and throw in the 2 yr warranty package. And, of course, to fix the dents, old and new. They offer us a loaner so that we can return the rental and save a few bucks. Fine. We deal with banking and finally after 2 hrs of forms and online manipulation have it cleared. We return the well-used Toyota to the airport Hertz and then head back to the Overberg in the loaner. The XTrail will be ready by Friday.
We stop by the Peregrine, the farmstall in the pass near Grabouw and Elgin (as in be-gin, “you drink gin, not Elgin”) for lunch and to meet Justin, Chris’ son who manages the place for dear old, sot dad. Sitting sharing the outside picnic table with a guy who reads my t-shirt and says, “Phoenix? Iwas just there in October. Nice country,”
Valentine’s Day, we went to Hermanus to meet with Nicolette, our architect. Cool little office in an old farmhouse. She and Leon, her assistant, give us a great presentation, all the new details, and we love it all. The changes she has made are cool improvements, and we like it all. A very nice discussion…and then it hits.
She pulls out the folder with the engineer’s cost estimates. The maximum of 2.5 million rand that we had set from the start has been exceeded slightly, like doubled, almost. The new cost breakdown comes to 3.8, not counting her fee. We are breathless, speechless and I develop a quick headache. We manage to make it through the meeting, saying that the cost was quite high and we’d have to discuss it. I need the trainer to rush out on the field with the bucket and sponge and try to get me breathing again.
We are sick as we make the 30 min drive home in the loaner.
Oh well, Went to a nice Valentine’s Dinner with Gerhard and Alet at Farango, Gansbaai’s lone “trendy” restaurant. 2 bottles of wine and some excellent food, and they picked up the tab! Nice people.
Peter phones the next day and the car is ready. He will meet us in Hermanus at the Traffic Dept to do the registration, etc. He is there and we go through the ordeal with little pain, hand over the keys and we are in our new car. Mimi phones around to get insurance and that continues through the day until we find one who is reasonable, 450/mo. We have to go BACK to Hermanus to get the car inspected, so ok. The neighbors must be wondering who ARE these Americans- four cars in two weeks!?
Next day we take a nice hike along the trail along the getypools (tidepools) and Stanford's Cove. Some reading time, and the discontinuous discussion of what to do about the house. To Build or Not To Build, that is truly the question.
Our thinking is torn. We love the plans, are in love with the dream of building a house here. But, are finding that SA is more unstable politically than expected and that the cost of building being so damn high would leave us stretched very, very thin for the next 4 years, with uncertainty about resale values amidst the background of recession, etc. The thought of being under the gun and close to the financial edge doesn’t make Bo too happy. Mimi is ever the optimist. What to do?
Invited Gerhard and Alet for drinks and snacks and to check out the house plans. Gerhard, a real estate agent who has roots in this town going back to his grandfather (Gogo) who built one of the original five cottages on the cliffs below us, puts a hypothetical price tag of 10 million rand on the house as planned and built on our lot, which we think is a bit optimistic, but hell, we’ll take it. His advice convinces us, at least temporarily, to go for it and build the house. Countless ciphering and figuring and gut wrenching trying to figure out the finances of the thing. The House Beast. It totally blows all the projections and planning I had done for the past 4 years. Welcome to the Real World.
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