Weekend of 16th/17th August 2008

Now that Nicholas has been given the all clear health wise, we were keen to show Mom a bit of this lovely country and didn't need too much excuse to hit the South African shop in Newhaven on the south east coast of England near Eastbourne.

On the way down, I asked the children which of their hearts delights they would like to buy, and Megan quickly responded with Oros and Jelly, and after a moment, Phil came back with the answer "Dominic".....I must be honest I felt sad for a bit hearing this, it still amazes me what a strong friendship those two little boys shared and it is one of my very few regrets about moving country that they won't get to grow up together.

Standing in Susman's was a bit of a surreal experience for me, when confronted with so many "home comforts" like Ouma Rusks and Nik Naks, I didn't actually know where to begin - it was amazing to watch other South Africans and Zimbabweans literally going crazy over the products and one thing is for sure, the owner of that business is making an absolute fortune - Simon and I even had a fleeting thought of opening up one ourselves, but then I sat down and the feeling went away (lol)...far too much stress.

We shopped ourselves stupid and left the shop armed with 1 packet of traditional Nik Naks (my choice), 2 x fruit and chutney Nik Naks (Phillip and Simon's choice), 1 x fruit and chutney Simba chips (can you see we are deprived of decent chips here lol), biltong, dry wors, boerewors, 6 pack of Fanta orange, 6 pack of Fanta grape, 1 bottle Cross and Blackwell Tangy Mayonnaise (you have no idea how disgusting the mayo is), 2 boxes of Ouma rusks (for Phillip and me), a bottle of Oros, 3 packets of tennis biscuits, 1 x tin caramel treat and 2 peppermint crisps (no prizes for guessing what we are going to make with those ingredients); various chocolate bars, some fizpops (red for me, green for meg and blue for Philly), a box of Chocits and a tray of Koeksisters.

You don't even want to know what that little shop cost, but suffice to say I could have fed my family for over a week on the equivalent. Mom and Si decided that it might be nice to buy a bottle of Richlieu Brandy to share of an evening, but at over £22 (R330), decided that it was just a bit too excessive and no brandy in the world would be that good - they have settled for a nice bottle for French brandy at £12 for a 750ml bottle.

Having finished shopping we decided to carry on along the coast to a well known landmark called Beachyhead, the highest set of chalk cliffs in England, and have a picnic.....a good old fashioned South African picnic!!!! Well on our arrival, I will confess to being a being a little startled by the volume of cars, but having visited a couple of well known English tourist spots during the summer I resigned myself to once again sharing the experience with a 1000 strangers and started to unpack the car.....while doing this I overheard the man in the vehicle next to us comment to his wife that the Red Arrow display that afternoon should be really spectacular.

This didn't mean a lot to me (although it did explain the hundreds of cars), but knowing my mom and her passion for jets I knew that this would be the best news in the world for her and I was right, she sat on the slopes of the hill in absolute raptures as we watched the best jet aerobatics team in the world perform and ate all kinds of lovely treats from South Africa. Turned out we had happened upon the Eastbourne Airshow and while Simon and the children scampered around down the hill to explore, Mom, Nicholas and I enjoyed the summer afternoon and watching some great aerobatic feats performed absolutely free of charge.

Having finished our picnic, we decided that perhaps we should actually try and find the cliffs and famous lighthouse that had originally drawn us to the area...what a beautiful sight, although a little bit high for me and my nerves were absolutely shattered by Phillip's intense interest in the unprotected edge and throwing stones down into the ocean below.

Mom didn't enjoy the site as much, and I must admit I do agree with her in some respects....Beachyhead is one of the most popular suicide sites in England and the cliffs are dotted with crosses in respect of people who have lost their lives and there is a chaplain based there permanently to help these poor desperate people, Mom just found this too sad and her and Megan ended up sitting on a little bench enjoying the view in the opposite direction.

Sunday 17th started with a church service at the local Church of England and I must say I thoroughly enjoyed myself and found the minister to be exceptionally dynamic and really spoke to me, we will definitely be returning next weekend as Simon and the children were also in agreement.

After the service we took a slow wonder home through the village, and enjoyed the lovely morning and the fact that we are close enough to walk to church. The afternoon was filled with a stunning braai with Rob, Kerry and their children and we relished boerewors and chicken pieces on a real charcoal braai with potato salad made with Cross and Blackwell Mayonnaise and washed down with Fanta Grape....a day filled with lots and lots of laughter and good company, the perfect way to finish the weekend!!!!