Oct

Summer Heat

Hi all,

Tonight’s blog is a little shorter than usual, reason being that I’m at the coast! Yes, that’s right, we’re on a holiday in Umhlanga – we drove down today and I’m pretty tired from the drive. Despite Dad driving I had to help with navigation, handing him rations for sustenance and keeping an eye on traffic. I’m thrilled to be at the coast again, as I really love it here. As this October is a special October, i.e. it has 5 Fridays, 5 Saturdays and 5 Sundays, we thought it necessary to maximise the use of the extra weekend, as this only happens every 823 years!

A quick rundown of my week reveals that not too much took place. The weather continued to be very hot, which I’m enjoying, but we do need rain now. A few drops fell for a couple of minutes on Thursday, but nowhere near enough.

Opa was back in hospital on Tuesday for three days for an angiogram and some more tests. Although Dad admitted Opa into hospital, I was put into Granny’s care for the day so that Mommy could stay with Opa for the day. Daddy had to be at work, so he couldn’t be there. These tests revealed that he’s heart is now only functioning at 30% of its full capacity and that the aortic valves are ‘worn out’. The prognosis is that he’ll need a triple bypass and a valve replacement. I’ve not seen him this past week, as I’ve had a nasty cold, but I’ve been thinking of him lots and sending him lots of virtual hugs and blowing him kisses.

Mom and Dad opted to schedule a follow-up MRI for me on Thursday, as I’ve been doing a lot of head rubbing, which in the past has been a sign that something is up with my AVM. Unfortunately we had to cancel the scan, as my cold and runny nose reached its peak on Wednesday, and it’s not worth taking the risk of sedating me while me respiratory system is compromised. I have enough medical issues to last me a lifetime, so why add more?

Something that upset me quite a bit this week was that Delta Park was closed on Friday and Saturday, and probably today too, but we were on the road, so I can’t confirm that. On Friday, once Dad was home from work, a little earlier than usual, we all hopped in the car and headed to Delta Park. When we arrived there we discovered that the First Rand Group had cordoned off the entire play area with 2m high fences for their Family Day. I was devastated and really upset. I couldn’t understand why they didn’t just setup about 300m further east and not enclose the Simba Playground, so that at least us littley’s could still use the facilities.

As an alternative to Delta Park we headed to Europa on First Ave where there is a jungle gym for me to play on. I spent much of Friday afternoon and Saturday moaning about the fact that I couldn’t go to my ‘Haahoo Park’, as I call Delta Park. Reason is that all the trees remind me of Cbeebies’ In The Night Garden; the Haahoo’s always appear from the trees.

The good news is that Dad collected his super-duper camera on Saturday after it had been in for repairs for almost 3 weeks. As a family we agreed to try take better care of the camera, and not bash it about as much as we normally do. Despite it having a heavy duty metal casing (one of the reasons why Dad chose the camera in the first place), it doesn’t enjoy being dropped, bumped, kicked, etc. too much!

Today’s drive to the coast was uneventful and pleasant. For the first part of the journey we chatted, with Granny sitting beside me on the back seat playing and drawing with me. Halfway to the coast we stopped for breakfast; it was then that Dad announced that the time and date had just been 10/10/10 10:10:10! For once it didn’t matter what date notation you used, it would be the same everywhere across the world. Dad went to example that in binary format (base of 2) this date translated into 42. Don’t Panic (and grab a towel) there’s no conspiracy here, other than that 42, according to the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is from whence all meaning can be derived. We all pondered these interesting facts over breakfast. Shortly after being back on the road again I drifted off to sleep.

Just after noon we arrived at the coast, and once we were settled in an unpacked, we took a stroll on promenade and then familiarised ourselves with our resort. We discovered the pool is heated, which is an absolute bonus – I can’t wait to give it a try tomorrow.

Beach smiles,

Jarrod