IT SEEMS THAT THIS IS THE TIME FOR TYING THE KNOT

First were Andrew and Yolanda who got married in Montague on the 31st of October and spent the following week at Dolphin B&B+S/C. They’re with SAPD and, as you can imagine, their recreational time is hard earned. During their time here they sassed out each and every dorp and if they can swing the transfer thing, aim to settle in Vredenburg. I wish them luck.

HERE'S HOPING ...

Adrian and Joslin returned to their home bases on the west coast to tie the knot on Saturday September 19th and appropriately it was the town of Hopefield that hosted their wedding and where they celebrated the occasion with family and close friends.

The Veotte’s spent part of their honeymoon with me at Dolphin B&B but chose the self-catering option where they could try out their culinary skills in preparation for their married life together back in Potchefstroom.

LOBTAILING TAKES ON A WHOLE NEW MEANING

Julie Murphy from Florida USA took the opportunity of ideal weather conditions to limber up before breakfast on her and Malcolm’s last morning at Dolphin B&B+S/C. Undeterred at not having seen dolphins or whales during their weekend here, Julie easily adopted a yoga position aptly called ‘dolphin’ and you can see why.
The birdlife kept them busy and they ably ID’d many of the 200 species that can be ticked off in front of my house and a sandveld lizard had them fascinated as they watched it kill a scorpion, its favourite food.

CRITICAL PATH ANALYSIS

... or can be read as "We're coming to check up on you!"

Six frontline staff from Cape Town Tourism visited Dolphin B&B+S/C today to experience the product I offered and generally to chew the cud over mutual matters.

On their departure I handed each of them a carrier (sporting cavorting dolphins, of course!) containing items indicative of the unique area I operate in: a candle from Waxit, a sample sachet of Khoisan salt, stroop en beskuit van Susan se Kombuis and promotional literature. But they have to work for their visit! Included is an A5 booklet that I have put together, which covers the west coast and all it offers the traveller. They have promised to send me their comments – indeed criticism – for inclusion in the final version. Thanks, Gretchen, Charlene, Mduduzi, Tarryn, Henry and Phillip – I will appreciate that.

HOOK, LINE AND NEARLY SUNK BY SARS

I was referred to Postal Tax Services – as it was then called – nearly 20 years ago when Riaan Odendaal got me off the SARS hook that I’d ignorantly and innocently attached myself to and since then he and his staff at First Coast Business Centre have served me admirably.
Have a decko at his website http://www.linkedin.com/in/riaanodendaal to see the range of tax and accounting services he offers.

Giving him and Aneleh a well deserved break was simply my way of saying thank you for his loyal service and friendship and, to boot, at last I got to meet the rest of the family whom I only knew through the annual Christmas cards I received. Luzaan (19) is studying to become an educationist and Riaan (17) who aspires to life in the bush though how he’s going to cope with no surf, heaven only knows. Talking of which, he discovered the two surfing spots in Britannia Bay: heaven (where the waves break over craggy rocks) and hell (where body-surfing is the nature of the game), but conceded that sea temperatures of 13°C are hard to handle.

Ek hoop dis nie so lank voor ons mekaar weer sien nie en dat julle darem heerlik in die Agterbaai gekuier het.

TICK TOCK

Time ran out for the other aspirant entrants who either didn’t know the answer or missed the cut-off gong. Not Clever Dick – or, in my case, Lucille – whose name was drawn to win a copy of writer Margie Orford’s reprinted book Like Clockwork, which features ‘sassy, smart, sensual Dr Clare Hart’ who, to answer the question, lives in a beachfront flat on the Sea Point promenade.

Those of you who thrive on crime fiction should check out http://crimebeat.book.co.za/blog/ Watch out for the forthcoming competition which will win some lucky person a reprint copy of Deon Meyer’s Blood Safari or Mike Nicol’s Payback. This website gives the all on South African crime (or as they would have it, krimi) writers, a regular blogger on which is long-time friend, said Mike Nicol who is featured in this delightful pic with partner-in-crime and editor de luxe Jill Gallimore.

LOGGED ON

The table on the patio developed a serious hairline crack and I could just imagine it landing in some guest’s lap, leaving me to face a lawsuit. So it was dispatched to the big Scrapyard for Cementworks in the Sky, which left me with the angst of replacing it.

Synthetic wood was a viable option but, because the furniture is produced by mould method, it was too narrow. So back to the drawing-board which in turn led me to Oubaas Ferreira, a local contractor whose opinion I value highly who, on one of his morning cycling trips, had spotted a huge pile of timber in the process of being sawn into planks in Paternoster.

Back in August last year the cargo ship MV Lola off Robbeneiland lost its cargo of giant logs (Aucoumea klaineana -Angouma, Gaboon or Okoumé, of the family Burseraceae) of which 27 were washed up on the west coast. Yes, this was the very same timber that André Kleynhans had salvaged under tender process and was busy cutting down to size.

I was fortunate enough to be allowed (yes, André’s quite possessive of his haul – a slightly different catch to that which he usually pulls out of the sea) to buy in an amount necessary for local master craftsman Owen Osborne to create the table that now adorns my deck and on which guests get to enjoy their breakfasts.