Jobs

Many a weekend in Perth, William would ask,

"What are we doing this weekend?"

Well, living in your hobby and being a couple of homebods at heart, the answer would often be,

 "Jobs" 

What followed would usually be a short period of silence, followed by a damning diatribe of disbelief that only a bored 6 or 7 year old could produce,

"What??????.......Jobs?  Jobs are just so boring.  Why do you guys always have so many jobs to do?"

Why indeed?  Life has certainly taken on a less busy tone since arriving in South Africa, primarily because we have NO jobs to do!  Aahhhh! Yes, there's something good to be said about halving the size of your house and having it owned by someone else.

Domestically Speaking

Despite having nothing like concreting the driveway, renovating the bathroom or retaining the back yard to do, there are still the occasional little things that need daily attention just to keep the home fires warm.

As chief cook and bottle washer, one of the biggest responsibilities of my day is finding food for the evening meal. The grocery shops here are numerous, each with their own version of fresh food, prepared food and stock items.  It's taken a few weeks for me to work out which shop has the stuff I want, and stocking the pantry is generally a 2 or 3 shop adventure.  If Pick'n'Pay doesn't have it, the Spar might, and if I want to spend comparatively lots of money, Woolworths is the go.

Woolworths over here is NOT the same as the "Fresh Food People" in Australia.  For those who know them, it's more South Africa's version of Herdies or Boatshed.  Plenty of pre-prepared and packaged gourmet type food which all looks delicious, with lots of stuff labelled organic.  As it happens, they also have a coffee shop attached to the store which does a mean cappucino and blueberry muffin, so I find it necessary to shop there on a fairly regular basis.

The Help

Not being previously inclined to outsource on the domestic front, the thought of employing a fulltime domestic whilst here has left me feeling a bit cold. I thought about it for all of 2 seconds, and decided that I just couldn't stand having someone in my house all day.  In short, I'd rather have a dirty house to myself than a clean one that I've got to share with a stranger.  As well as that, advice I've been given is to have domestic help recommended by someone you know and then triple referee checked. After that, they're still going to nick all your tea, coffee and sugar supplies, so make sure you buy extra...

In any case, there's not actually a whole lot to DO around the place. I've already alluded to my joy at Simon and William's respective uniforms, affording me 10 less shirts to iron per week. And not having a dog makes for 100% less fur balls floating around in hidden corners of the kitchen...

There is an argument that employing local people is good for the economy and good for the 36% unemployment rate.  My argument back is that I don't care, it's what works for me.

We thought about getting a new black dishwasher to match the bench tops,
but we decided to stick with the old white one that matches the fridge...

Gardening

Our back lawn is approximately the size of a large handkerchief, so there's not a whole lot to get excited about for any green thumbs out there. Simon picked up the secateurs to demonstrate how the previous tenant kept the lawns in check, but I doubt we'll see them in his hands again.

Here's our new lawnmower - don't think it will last as long as the old dishwasher though...

Shiny, Happy Vehicles

Having a clean car in South Africa is not optional. In fact, it's more a question of how many times a week you have your car cleaned than whether you do or not. Again, for those who know us well, the dirt on our cars is what actually holds them together. Cleaning them would be tantamount to the death knell for the vehicle. Besides, it's such a homely feeling to have not only your current dog's hair all over your clothes when you get out, but the previous dog too. Don't you think?

Anyway, in lieu of a clean house, we are at least adjusting to the idea of a clean vehicle, and getting someone to give the new Landy a spit and polish every week. The boys in the undercover carpark at Woolworths are fantastic, and for the bargain price of $5, I can get the duco polished to within an inch of its life while I get on with my coffee and muffin. I console myself with the fact that I am providing a job for someone, albeit a job that I don't really care gets done.

The petrol station attendants ensure that they are indispensable too. Although I'm not that old, I still remember the days when petrol stations in Australia actually employed people to fill your tank, check your oil and even clean your windows. Those days are alive and well here, and for the princely tip of 50 cents or so, attendants from left, right and centre will clean, sweep, fill and polish your vehicle. So efficient are they, I reckon given half the chance, they'd even find the dried apple cores under the front seat of the Jackaroo.

And so...
...we've just had our first weekend at home, job free.  It was actually quite lovely to sit back and relax, not thinking of all the things we had to do. We went to a party for one of Will's school friends, we cooked our first braai, we met half the street, we rode, we ran, we slept in, we played.  And at the end of the day, we went to bed, dirty house and all.