Monday, November 24, 2008

Going overboard 2008

We finally did it! We've been planning this boat trip for two years, and this weekend the dream became a reality.

Eight very excited princesses met at the Table Bay Hotel on the morning of Friday 21 November to await boarding time. Wheat free crunchies and designer cappuccinos set the scene for the start of the bookless book club 2008 tour.

Shipmates in attendance were Randy, Inge, Jayni, Spice, Charming (Lionel), Gabbi, Jo (Dory) and Barbie.

Princess Inge had a bad moment when she realized that she had left her ID book at home. (She being the one who organised all of us and was responsible for reminding all of us as to what was required of us, yes, she was the one who forgot!) But her hubby was kind enough to drive all the way back out to Big Bay, in early morning traffic mind you, to fetch it.

The MSC Rhapsody was scheduled to leave the harbour at 13h00, but there was some trouble getting permission to leave apparently. This did not deter the happy travellers. Much to our delight we found that it is so much easier spending money when you don't actually see it leave your hands. Each person is given a card operating in dollars that is eventually taken off against your Rands cash. We quickly found the bar area and a lovely sunny spot on the deck and sat back to watch the entertainment.



Our entertainment director and his crew outdid themselves with dancing, singing and bright sparkly costumes, rivaled only by a group of gay (and I don't mean happy) men. These guys proved to be a constant source of entertainment, as they went out of their way to dress up and make the most of their holiday.
Of course the princesses themselves are extremely talented when it comes to entertainment, with Princess Jo being renamed Dory, due to her constant memory loss. We eventually lost count of the number of times we were accused of losing her keys, cruise card, huge orange bag and heaven knows what else.
We befreinded a lovely young man by the name of Toby (pronounced Tourbee), at which stage Princess Barbie thought he was speaking of a career opportunity ie Tour A and Tour B, prompting much laughter from everyone, while Toby merely sat looking bemused and a little alarmed.

One can't blame him.

We all had to partake in a compulsory emergency drill, where we got to wear our life jackets and were all supposed to congregate in the lounge area to learn how to stay alive should the ship sink. Thank goodness it didn't, because we would all be lying on the bottom of the ocean by now thanks to Inge, who had to have the longest toilet break in history. We missed the whole thing!

Princess Gabi managed to bring her own coffin along on the cruise. The cabins were tiny and as we were sharing 4 to a cabin, the coffin pretty much took up all available space. We seriously considered letting Princess Gorgeous sleep in there, as her bunk bed appeared to be in constant danger of collapsing. Not that anyone had much sleep, much to Princess Randy's disgust.
Her sleeping habits are inconsistant, to say the least. Add to that an anchor chain lodged just outside our porthole, banging against the side of the ship in the wind, three cell phones that either rang or chimed at all times of the night and morning, and cabin mates lurching in to go to bed as the sun rises, and you will have someone who has not slept in 48 hours and is beginning to resemble a murderous ghoul. I quote, "WTF!"

But we made do, famously I might add.

I suppose much of this is the "you had to be there" type of funny, but we found everything hysterical. Shipmate Spice had us all worried when her bag began vibrating whilst we all sat having a quiet (or not so quiet) drink in the lounge, only to discover that her electric toothbrush (took some time to convince us that's what it was) had switched itself on.

Jayni was almost renamed Shipmate Klepto due to her alarming tendency to make off with people's lighters. Rumour has it that she was recently given 14 lighters by a colleague and is still bumming lighters off everyone else. She has no idea where the 14 lighters went to.

There were a few green moments for some of us, but the parties more than made up for that.

Then there was Luigi! How do I explain Luigi adequately.
He was our maitre D for the weekend,
which meant he looked after our tables. The man is Italian and clearly takes his job very seriously. I became quite afraid of him early into the journey. You were made to eat all 46 courses really fast, so that the staff could get in and clean up. You were not allowed to make any changes to the menu either. Just ask Princess Honey aka Captain aka Charming! She had the audacity to request chocolate ice cream with chocolate sauce, when the menu clearly stated (OK, it wasn't that clear) Vanilla ice cream. Luigi turned a strange shade of purple and began ranting alarmingly in Italian. Luckily none of us understands Italian, so the whole thing was quite amusing. I asked him to pose for us shortly after the "misunderstanding", and as you can see he had everything back under control.

Breakfast was a different story altogether.

No-one told us that the dining room closed at nine am. And believe me, not a second later. We began trickling in at about 08h50, only to be shunted from table to table. We were not allowed to use a table that had already been used, and there were no others. There ensued a battle of wills, until an elderly gentlemen took pity on us (or perhaps he just wanted to shut us up) and he found us a table. Mind you there was no cutlery or condiments, and Jany had to fight (quite literally) for a piece of bacon. But we ate! After that we made sure we ate at the upstairs buffet where the staff are a little more friendly.

The weather wasn't great, but we managed to get some sun bathing in, some more than others! Jo, those arms? The parties on the deck both evenings were fabulous. At one stage when the boat resembled the one that swings at a 09 degree angle at Ratanga Junction Randy asked why we can't just turn the boat around so that it doesn't rock as much. She says that there was logic in that, somewhere....

We also watched the Bokke annihilate England in the lounge , enduring Charming's questions like when she was told that the score was 3 all, and she wanted to know who had 3. We all just pretty much shake our heads in wonder. By this stage we had become most annoyed as some husbands had mentioned drugs being pumped through airducts and sexy cabin boys taking advantage of us. This never happened! I am definitely going to write and complain! We had however made contingency plans. The braver ones amongst us had smuggled alcohol in their bags. So there we sat pouring spirits into our cokes under the tables, from our hand bags. Very classy!

There was karaoke, there was Jo throwing her own drink in her face in an attempt to look gorgeous in front of all the party revellers. That one was clearly not well thought out at all.

There was "The Package" - who had Mel gulping and choking on her strawberry daiquiri with fright!

There was Jorge, our sweet waitron who made sure that we were never without drinks. As a token of their appreciation Mel and Inge decided to lock him in the toilets one evening. The poor boy has never been the same since. I hear he is considering a career change.
There was John, following us around like a puppy with a multitude of drinks in his hands. It was amazing to watch as he never spilled once. He said that we were so mysterious and wonderful, and I have to agree.

As Gabbi put it, "YAW, what a flippin awesome time was had...."





















































































Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Our youngest bookie princess turns 30!









We all joined Jax on Saturday to celebrate her 30th birthday at Breakfast Jam in Kenilworth. A fantastic afternoon, stunning weather, lovely food and of course much laughter.






Thanks girls, as usual the time spent with you was quality!

Thursday, October 9, 2008

The Gus Glassic 2008 - our golfing memoirs

This will be the third year that this function has taken place in memory of our dear friend Terry Hogg, who died on 30 August 2004. Funds are raised and donated to the charity of choice for the year.

Each year 600CT has sponsored the ladies four ball. Well, I suppose if we actually practiced at some stage during the year we would be in a position to call what we do "playing golf". However, what we actually do leaves a lot to be desired. As you can see from the pic we particularly enjoy the watering holes. this year Jax came in as our caddie - and swore that unless we practice before the next golf day, she refuses to ever caddie for us again. So much fun and laughter though.

This year we also commemorated our beloved Lisa Lamb, who passed away almost a year ago.

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

How do you spell Majongg???

The Princesses decided that as things are tough at the moment, financially speaking, we should hold our September book club function at home. Ke, aka Inga/Pam offered her lovely home to us for the evening and prepared a veritable feast.

We were blown away! The lounge had been transformed into a Majongg (sp??) haven, fire burning in the fireplace and a table set with candles and the works. We sat down to a stunning meal of pasta (and veg) and salad and of course spoke our way through the next few hours while gorging on delicious tagliatelle.

But it was all a ploy! She was softening us up for the kill. Kerry lured us all into what looked like an inviting game of Majongg, and turned into the teacher from hell. At one stage I recall being whacked over the head with the instruction manuel (yes, she had photocopied one for each of us) and I am sure the Joanita was close to tears at one stage.

I spent the evening being glared at by my two opponents, Jayni and Jo (due to the fact that I supported the whole thing in the first place.) Who knew that Ke had this side to her? During non-MJ time she is sweet, kind and supportive!

But we had fun anyway. Amid much laughter (as usual) we bumbled our way through, and we look forward to the next level where hopefully we have gained enough trust to be allowed to actually play for points.

Sands and Jax you missed a lovely evening. Mel, it's nice to have you back after your holiday. Charm, we all think the pills are a bad idea girl - come to gym with me instead!

Gilloweys, thank you so much for sharing your home with us for the evening. We ended the evening off with an amazing lemon meringue pie (thank you Mrs Paarman and Ke/Inge/Pam of course) and were surprised to find it was after midnight by the time we had finished. I am sure that some of the hubbies were a little disgruntled with the hour - but it was worth it!


Love you all - Princess Barbie.

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

It's spring time, or so they say

I can't believe that we have already had two bookclubs since I last wrote. July's event took place at the V&A Waterfront and the well known Quay Four restaurant. It is based right on the quays and has a lovely ambience. This is a good thing as the food leaves a lot to be desired.

The lovely thing about our little group is that we are usually so happy to see each other (this made obvious by all the hugging and kissing that goes on at the start of the evening). We are then so totally absorbed in the discussions that follow, not much else matters. Sandy and I were very grateful to Jax, however, for having a supply of balsamic vinegar chips in her bag. We promptly stuck these in the Portuguese rolls on the table and chowed down. The girls dug deeper and actually found a bar of chocolate too, which they got stuck into on the way home. Although I believe one had to fight for a bite of that, for some reason? Honey?

August was a busy month for us. We have a number of birthdays and a double 40th that took place on the 30th. We all had a ball. Book club was held in Greenpoint at Buena Vista, a lovely bar/restuarant and this time there were no complaints about the food. This time Sandy and I had dessert too - yummy! To sum this particular evening up, Kerry (aka Pam/Inga) had the following to say;

"Thanks for a lovely evening (speak up I can't hear you). Salsa is far too repetative for my 40yr old brain (what ? Can't hear you!).
Sandy (alias Gonzales) thanks for driving and Jayni (the stiff) thanks for taking your car. Mel hope your eyes are better and that Liz sorts you out one time this morning - please be a hon and let Jayni know about the white plates (I also would like 100 for home use). Jack's keep your underwear in the bag and thanks for bailing me out for R50 - will sort you out on Sat night. Charm - no muffins for you - you are mad enough without any help from me - Nick is off sick today so won't be at Karate tonight. Sid you looked really chilled last night - stunning - we must get together and play Mahjong - we can set a date on Sat night okay!!!
Jo, you were so missed last night with all the noise you make but we had ordered and eaten by 8.30pm - can you believe it."

There are pics and if I can figure how, I will put them on the site.

Here's to our next meeting girls - not sure if there will be one this month as the Conradie's and Hoggs are off to Natal. xxxxx

Monday, July 21, 2008

Planning our wakes

This past Saturday we sat through a sad loss by the Bokke against the Aussies. To make up for it the princesses and I decided to improve things by cracking open the champagne and enjoy the sunshine. I suppose due to the frame of mind we were in the talk slowly got around to planning our wakes for one day when we are no longer here. Who better to confide your deepest wishes to than your best friends.

It was agreed that we would each choose our favourite song. As Mel pointed out some of us would require a CD cut for the occasion, but generally we all know what we want. The 3 absentee princesses will need to put forward their selections please. I thought I'd document our songs so that there is no confusion when the time comes:

Charmaine will be happy with either Akon, Lionel Richie or Angel by Robbie Williams - but she does not want a funeral, just a big party.
Jayni wants either (and here comes the CD) Louis Armstrong (A wonderful world), Justin Timberlake (Timberland), Enrique (Feels like losing someone) or James Blunt (You're beautiful)
Joanita is not sure of the artist - We had joy we had fun, it is not Joe Parker!
Mel likes Abba - Dancing Queen (so do I, and we like Neil Diamond - so there!)
I chose You've lost that loving feeling. No idea who sang it, just watch Top Gun.

So ladies, we all agreed to no buriels, just ashes and parties!

Love you all
BazL

Tuesday, July 1, 2008



Our last bookclub took place last Wednesday, the 25th of June at Chaplins. As usual once the tequilas started flowing things got out of hand. We had an honorary member join us for the evening, Lee, and a great time was had by all. Bar the fact that half of us were in tears (due to sad news) and the other half in tears of hysterical laughter, due to Charmaine's hamsters' antics. (Don't ask, but if you have seen Kung fu panda you will appreciate the imagery.)

Monday, June 30, 2008

Backdated - November 07 Bookclub trip to Sin City

H.O.T / PRINCESS TOUR 2007

DAY 1:

5 breakfast “crunchies” & 1 black label down.... (for some of the princesses), and it’s only 09h30...... The trip begins....

The Princesses were in good spirits at the start of their tour, so much so, that when asked by a curious on-looker if we had had a good trip.....she was very shocked to hear that we were only starting off! J Curious lady thought we were on our way home, so evident & infectious was the excitement from all the Princesses.

An enjoyable, yet bumpy plane ride later, & our presence, “crowns” and all, caused quite a stir at O R Tambo.

But nothing could come close to the commotion caused by our poor shuttle driver, Christiaan, who had been standing waiting patiently for an age (I think our luggage went via Zimbabwe!) with a sign looking for “HOT BEAVERS”!!! The poor guy!

One quick stop to the nearest bottle store, and we were on the road. It was a long drive, and many drinks later, the Princesses needed to make a roadside “pit-stop”. Nothing could prepare our driver for Princesses Jax & Jayni christening the side of the road like only royalty can – in style!

Finally.....SIN CITY!!!!

Long story short,............ after a total mix up with our booking at the Cabanas, the Princesses were elevated to Royalty status, like no other, and UPGRADED to..... THE PALACE!!

Well, what could we say??? “If you must.......”

We managed to keep our composure until getting on the shuttle to, THE PALACE, after which much shrieking of joy could be heard across the resort.

We were styling!!!

Dinner: Leonardo’s for yummy pizza & pasta.

DAY 2:

Breakfast – No words can describe this breakfast.... Some idea of what was on offer to the Princesses:

Endless supply of Graham Beck Brut, oysters, sushi, Chinese crispy duck, gammon, salmon, English breakfast, Continental breakfast, fruit, pastries, PANCAKES, and so on, and so on.....


On to the Palace pool for a day of basking in the sun, playing Asshole, reading, swimming & relaxing.

Then, off to the Valley of the Waves where some of the Princesses conquered the “Temple of Courage” death-defying water slide. We have photos to prove it!

Cascades next after chilling on the beach for the arvie.....

And did we have fun on the water slide at the “heated” pool at the Cascades! The lifeguard told us we were behaving like children....and we felt like kids again too!! What fun!

18h00 – pool closed & back to the PALACE after a trip to the swing bridge, and encounters with baboons & Vervet monkeys.

Back at The PALACE, we headed up to King’s Tower for some panoramic views of the resort, while the storm clouds & lightning closed in.

After a heavenly shower, and the Princess Jax Hair Salon had closed for the evening, we tarted up for a trip to the Shebeen (which was closed for a private function)
So, off we headed to find some action......

The action started out with a VERY LATE supper at....wait for it.... the WIMPY!! (This was after every option had been exhausted trying to find a restaurant that was still open at 23h00ish)

Off to Traders for a drinkie or two..... then Silhouette for some dancing til dawn!

An excellent time was had by all, and a few of the Princesses who decided that it was way past the sleeping hour, just stayed awake.... in between trying to wake the sleeping beauty Princesses!

Ok, so by now, the Princesses have been re-named. We are now Princesses: Inga/Fart-a-lot, Fluff-a-lot, Burp-a-lot, Marge/Barbie, Pepper-lot, Bonita/Slapper, Gorgeous & Princess G2......

DAY 3:

RATHER LATE START..... tanning at Cascades, then we headed off to the Valley again but made a detour when we saw the hordes of people surfing our waves!

Back to the PALACE for some more Asshole & sunning our buns by the pool and a well needed nap for some.

Our late lunch by the pool turned into an adventure as we got caught in the mother of all thunder, lightning & torrential rain storms!

After hiding out under the pagoda until the storm had abated, we headed back to our palatial rooms for a heavenly nap....

Dinner: The RAJ

A wonderful dinner was had by all the gorgeous Princesses.... and then some of the die-hards headed for some more partying, while others had had enough of the excessive fun by then J

DAY 4:

Another sumptuous, excessive, absolutely decadent breakfast.....

Princesses headed off to do some last minute tanning, swimming and shopping before heading off into the sunset back to reality....

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Backdated - November 07 Bookclub trip to Sin City

This is a trip I will remember always, taken with my special friends of the Book Club. Our club has nothing whatsoever to do with reading, unless you count reading menus and winelists. It is an excuse for us to get out once a month and just be ourselves with our very best friends.

We are 8 ladies, mostly with husbands and 1 or two small children. We have not forgotten who we are or how to have fun and once a year we go away together. In 2006 we went to the Caledon Spar and in 2007 we went to Sun City. Sadly we lost one of us to cancer just before the trip, but she was with us in spirit the whole time. So much so that our booking into the Cabanas was bumped up to the entire stay at the Palace, at no extra charge. We ate too much, drank too much and danced too much, and that was just at night. We were like kids. We tried out every single swimming pool of the entire resort and that included the slippery slides. We made new friends and did not stop laughing.

I love my friends dearly and look forward to our trip this year - a 3-day cruise.

Introduction

I have two sisters who show amazing talent with their writing skills. I myself am more of a reader than a writer, but I thought I'd try my hand at it and take it from there.

I live in Cape Town with my husband and two children, aged 5 and 8. Life is never dull, I love this city and am fortunate enough to have an amazing and interesting group of friends.

So, when I have a few minutes I will update my blog, something to look back on one day, seeing as I do not have a diary.

My daughter recently celebrated her 5th birthday and we invited "Barbie" to attend and entertain the little girls. It turns out that Barbie had the flu and sent her grandma instead, a tad disapointing for the various daddies who had for some reason elected to attend the party. Next time I'll play it safe and do the Spur I think.