Share Your World 22 May 2017

Here are my answers to this weeks Cee’s Share Your World

What one thing have you not done that you really want to do? 

I’m 64 and I’m proud to say that I’ve done most things I wanted to do in my life.  I dreamed of a career in teaching, a happy marriage and children.  That is not much different to what most young girls of my generation wanted but when I look around I find that not everyone’s dreams lived up to their expectations. I have been lucky – or rather, I’ve worked hard at being lucky. I’ve had a fulfilling career, raised a family and helped raise two grandsons.  I look at my family now and think – wow – it actually happened.  Great husband, three daughters, four grandkids – I’m living the dream!
I also dreamed that I would travel and really wanted to work overseas too but I didn’t  get to do that before I married. However, travel with my hubby has happened quite frequently.   The Rand is weak so much of our travels are  within the borders of South Africa or to one or two countries to the North. Overseas trips have also been amazing.  As a child I dreamed of skiing in Switzerland and that came true when I was 40. It was awesome! I also wanted to go to the land of my ancestors.  Landing in Greece I kissed the ground and thoroughly enjoyed my visit to Ithaca and Kefalonia from where my grandparents hailed.  I’ve been to France and visited the battlefields, seen where my great uncle is buried and had an emotional trip back in time and had a glimpse of what it was like for those soldiers of World War One.

I have never had any great desire to scale the highest mountains or perform any heroic acts.  Bungee jumping is not on the list but I have done some white water rafting in Zambia.  I’ve sailed the Whitsundays, snorkeled in tropical waters and flown in a helicopter over the Great Barrier Reef.

The Barrier Reef taken when flying over in a helicopter

I’ve done a flip over the Namib desert in a light aircraft and climbed to the top of a red desert dune.

I didn’t want to do any rides at Euro Disney but once I was there I did the scariest roller-coaster ride and travelled into space to fight aliens which was super frightening but at the same time amazing fun.  So what more do I want to do?  Actually anything that presents itself I will probably try.  I think I am still living an interesting life and I do a lot of ecotourism which makes me happy.    Right now the thing on the top of my bucket list is a Mediterranean Cruise. And believe me, to want to go on a ship is huge, because as much as I love the sea – I don’t like boats!

How often do you get a haircut?

I have short hair so I get it cut quite often.  I form relationships with my hairdressers. Since leaving Cape Town I’ve tried one or two and not been totally happy. I end up returning to my home town just to get a good cut.  But my last cut was good and I think I’m about to form a new relationship with a lovely stylist in Bredasdorp,

In regards to puzzle what’s your choice: jigsaw, crossword, word search or numeric puzzles?

Jigsaws are out.  I have no spatial concept whatsoever.  I don’t know where I got my daughter from. She was a puzzle whiz before she turned two and to this day can put a thousand piece, all one colour jigsaw puzzle, together in no time at all!   My puzzle of choice was always the crossword – For many years I loved the cryptic crossword in the Cape Times and did it daily.  It annoyed my better half as I would ignore him till it was done.  Eventually I gave them up and only did the Fair Lady Mega Crosswords when away on weekends or holidays.  Then Sudoku hit and I got into that.  I love Sudoku but still do the odd crossword.

How many cities have you lived in? You can share the number of physical residences and/or the number of cities.

I was born in Cape Town and  lived in the beach suburb of Fish Hoek for most of my life. I spent a short time in Port Elizabeth as an infant.  Then there were three years in the great Metropolis of Johannesburg before returning to Cape Town at age 5.   I lived in four different houses in Fish Hoek. Then I went away to college and spent three years in Grahamstown.

That had a huge influence on my life.  When I married my first husband we lived in a neighbouring suburb, Kommetjie, which is just the most stunning place. After that we moved to Sun Valley which is also a neighbouring suburb of Fish Hoek and considered part of “The Valley”   After I left my first husband I lived in two flats in Fish Hoek and then met my second husband and lived back in Sun Valley with him for the next 34 years.   Now I live 200km away from Cape Town at the southern tip of Africa in a fishing village called Struisbaai and I love it!

Sunset – Struisbaai harbour

Optional Bonus question:  What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up? 

I am grateful for the stunning Autumn weather we are having, the peacefulness of the day and the warmth of the sunshine.  I am grateful for the fun we’ve had with friends and the fish that was caught on Thursday last week.

My hubby has mentored and taught many youngsters to fish including a young girl called Fiona.  She is now doing her honours in marine biology and is doing research on Stingrays.  I am looking forward to her coming to stay with us in Struisbaai this weekend. She is hoping to see our famous “Parrie”  who is often in the harbour looking for titbits from the homecoming fishing boats.