Thursday, November 5, 2009
Food for Thought .......
Ostrich eggs may feed a family of 12 but they DO NO taste so good !! On the other hand shark actually is yummy yummy for your tummy !!!!!
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
The Story So Far
As all of our friends know, a few months ago we had the opportunity to buy a pub in South Africa. After just visiting SA for two weeks in May we decided to pack up and move there permanently.
Now most people might think this a rather rash decision, but being the fact that Riaan is from there and has many family and friends around it didn't seem like such a bad idea........and it also wouldn't be the first quick weird decision we have made together !
Everybody keeps asking me, "how can you leave home? and will you not miss your family...your home etc etc ? The fact is of course I will and am missing all of that, but we have been given an opportunity to have our own business in one of the most beautiful places in the world....an Irish pub no less, which is a bit of luck, being that I'm from Ireland, so we had to take the big step and do it.
We arrived in Cape Town on the 1 st of October and were due to take over The Michael Collins Irish Pub on the 2ND....yep I know great timing. It probably wouldn't have been too bad if we hadn't of partied every day for the last week before we left........ Riaan was literally sitting drinking with the gang in our sitting room until about twenty minutes before we left, resulting in him forgetting many things, including our laptop charger........
We arrived at the airport hungover, tired and hungry, and were put through two hours of hell checking in, which ended in us having to send 5 of our 8 suitcases through DHL as the airline wanted to charge us Euro 1000 to take them. Finally we made it through check in and security and were just about to settle down by the gate, when the sniffer dogs come and take an interest in Riaan. The were NT barking or going crazy just kept sniffing around him. The handlers suggested they might be smelling a lot of cash in his bag........now that was funny. We thought about it later and figured it must have been because it was the laptop bag and we used to carry the cash in there in our carny days !!
Eventually we made it on the airplane and endured 24 hours of air travel with a rather nice stopover in Abu Dhabi( now those people know how to do luxury) and a quick stop in Johannesburg and made it to Cape Town at about 8 in the morning of the 1st October. Now apparently this was the first ever flight from Abu Dhabi to Cape Town, so the Plane got a water canon salute from the fire trucks, + en when they opened the doors there was a red carpet and the captain and a few hundred people +++ news crew+++++band.........lovely after being on a plane for so long.
So we have a few hours that day to do all of our business in Cape Town, before setting off on the two hour journey to Struisbaai. We finally arrive in Struisbaai....my new j\home away from home at about 7 in the evening. We had a braai ( bbq ) at the neighbours which was very nice and get to go to bed, which after being up for about three days straight was really nice.
The 2nd of October dawns bright and windy ( a thing I have learned is it is almost always windy in Struisbaai, probably due to the fact that it is a few Kms from the most southern tip of Africa) We went to The Michael Collins Pub and started work......just like that :-)
Struisbaai is like most small towns anywhere in world. Everyone knows everyone and there's lots of gossip, so I am feeling right at home. It is a totally different kind of lifestyle then anywhere Iv been previously, and I am loving it 100%
I don't know if I will ever get used to someone clenaing my house and doing my laundry, and seeing so much poverty. Poverty in Ireland means you can only go to the pub three night s a week, Poverty in SA means you live in a shack that in Ireland it would be illegal to allow an animal to sleep in and you have no food or no means of getting food. That I will have to learn to deal with.
I have met all kinds of great people.......and some not so great people !!! One of our locals is a great man called Rudi. He is a fisherman, and regularly brings me fresh fish right of the boat. He even convinced me to try some shark, and to my utter surprise it was extremely tasty.
We have added some Irish food to the menu......who knew that people would pay for my shepherds pie and lasagne...... Riaans cocktails are going down a treat.
The funny thing about it is we work crazy long hours, but it doesnt feel like hard work. Its is such a pleasure meeting so many new people and hearing exciting stories. For instance the fisherman mentioned above used to work on Robbin Island when Nelson Mandela was there.
Lets see if after our busy December/ summer season I will be so enthusastic !!! ......at least its summer here now......
Now most people might think this a rather rash decision, but being the fact that Riaan is from there and has many family and friends around it didn't seem like such a bad idea........and it also wouldn't be the first quick weird decision we have made together !
Everybody keeps asking me, "how can you leave home? and will you not miss your family...your home etc etc ? The fact is of course I will and am missing all of that, but we have been given an opportunity to have our own business in one of the most beautiful places in the world....an Irish pub no less, which is a bit of luck, being that I'm from Ireland, so we had to take the big step and do it.
We arrived in Cape Town on the 1 st of October and were due to take over The Michael Collins Irish Pub on the 2ND....yep I know great timing. It probably wouldn't have been too bad if we hadn't of partied every day for the last week before we left........ Riaan was literally sitting drinking with the gang in our sitting room until about twenty minutes before we left, resulting in him forgetting many things, including our laptop charger........
We arrived at the airport hungover, tired and hungry, and were put through two hours of hell checking in, which ended in us having to send 5 of our 8 suitcases through DHL as the airline wanted to charge us Euro 1000 to take them. Finally we made it through check in and security and were just about to settle down by the gate, when the sniffer dogs come and take an interest in Riaan. The were NT barking or going crazy just kept sniffing around him. The handlers suggested they might be smelling a lot of cash in his bag........now that was funny. We thought about it later and figured it must have been because it was the laptop bag and we used to carry the cash in there in our carny days !!
Eventually we made it on the airplane and endured 24 hours of air travel with a rather nice stopover in Abu Dhabi( now those people know how to do luxury) and a quick stop in Johannesburg and made it to Cape Town at about 8 in the morning of the 1st October. Now apparently this was the first ever flight from Abu Dhabi to Cape Town, so the Plane got a water canon salute from the fire trucks, + en when they opened the doors there was a red carpet and the captain and a few hundred people +++ news crew+++++band.........lovely after being on a plane for so long.
So we have a few hours that day to do all of our business in Cape Town, before setting off on the two hour journey to Struisbaai. We finally arrive in Struisbaai....my new j\home away from home at about 7 in the evening. We had a braai ( bbq ) at the neighbours which was very nice and get to go to bed, which after being up for about three days straight was really nice.
The 2nd of October dawns bright and windy ( a thing I have learned is it is almost always windy in Struisbaai, probably due to the fact that it is a few Kms from the most southern tip of Africa) We went to The Michael Collins Pub and started work......just like that :-)
Struisbaai is like most small towns anywhere in world. Everyone knows everyone and there's lots of gossip, so I am feeling right at home. It is a totally different kind of lifestyle then anywhere Iv been previously, and I am loving it 100%
I don't know if I will ever get used to someone clenaing my house and doing my laundry, and seeing so much poverty. Poverty in Ireland means you can only go to the pub three night s a week, Poverty in SA means you live in a shack that in Ireland it would be illegal to allow an animal to sleep in and you have no food or no means of getting food. That I will have to learn to deal with.
I have met all kinds of great people.......and some not so great people !!! One of our locals is a great man called Rudi. He is a fisherman, and regularly brings me fresh fish right of the boat. He even convinced me to try some shark, and to my utter surprise it was extremely tasty.
We have added some Irish food to the menu......who knew that people would pay for my shepherds pie and lasagne...... Riaans cocktails are going down a treat.
The funny thing about it is we work crazy long hours, but it doesnt feel like hard work. Its is such a pleasure meeting so many new people and hearing exciting stories. For instance the fisherman mentioned above used to work on Robbin Island when Nelson Mandela was there.
Lets see if after our busy December/ summer season I will be so enthusastic !!! ......at least its summer here now......
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