I could not wait to pick my Dad up from the airport on Saturday,the flight was scheduled to arrive at 5.30,of course I was running late and left at 5.45 all the time convincing myself that it always takes a while to disembark,collect luggage and walk to the arrivals area. Thank God traffic was a breeze, I didn't expect anyone to be on the road on 22 December and around 6 pm. Got to the aiport and waited,my dad finally walked into the arrival area at about 7.30 am(by that point I was tired,had gotten tea for myself and a tea for him,which was getting cold). He was a bag short and not the least bit amused since he had to make arrangements to have bags delivered even though we were traveling to Swaziland the same day.   Thank God for my awesome neighbour,she's very kind and after a brief chat was happy to be on the look out and to have the bags dropped of at her place. Ad of we went.

It was a quiet drive,the boys (my brothers drove) I had barely slept the night before and was exhausted and my Dad had not slept for over 24 hours,so that made for very sleepy and tired people.  Ofcourse,with that kind of fatigue,I often find that I cannot sleep much so I end up looking like a Zombie with a speech impediment.  I often try and determine how bad it is through little mental checks and tests that involve the capcity to tell a funny joke,tell a story,ask intelligent questios,remember my names etc. If i'm trying to remember all my names,I know it's baaaad.

We were received at the door with huugs and hallos and cute little smiles and chuckles by my niece and I basically dont remember much of that night. The following day we set off to the nature reserve about 150kms away from the city,close to a lake,boy was it hot.  It took orever to get to our rented out chalet and when we did,we were all so excited,it is a stunning place,very well done with a wooden raised ramp(later I would learn that it was raised so as to keep away the slithery snakes and other wild animals)