"let your boat of life be light, packed with only
what you need - a homely home and simple pleasures, someone to love and someone to love you,
enough to eat and enough to wear
and a little more than enough to drink:
for thirst is a dangerous thing"

Friday 20 April 2012

this is the life

Today has been a truly lovely day.   Every Friday should be like this one.  It started with a really early start and my alarm going off at 5.30 am.  I was being collected at 6.30 by Fay to be at the 12 Apostles at 7.00 for 7.30 for breakfast with Jeffrey Archer for the launch of his new book.  It was still pitch dark when Fay arrived and I had that feeling that I used to get when I was a kid and we were going away on holiday.  We always left in the dark and my sister and I would lie on the backseat with our blankets and pretend to be asleep (only for the shortest of time) before "waking up" and asking how much longer till we get there.
12 Apostles

It did not take us long to get there and it is amazing to see just how many people are up and about and heading to work at that early hour.  The sun had just come up and the sea was like a lake.  It was going to be a perfect autumn day.  The breakfast was served - lovely muesli with honey and yogurt, fruit and then a superb breakfast buffet with the whole works.  Jeffrey Archer ("Lord not Sir" as he later corrected a fan in the queue to get his book autographed) is a brilliant speaker.  No notes (I should know I was sitting right next to him) and wonderful stories ranging from his love of cricket, his home in Spain, plenty statistics and very humorous stories of his first television appearances in the USA.  He turned 71 last Sunday and is pretty damn good for his age.  He answered questions and held a very entertaining lucky draw competition before signing his book.
Sorry, not very clear and taken with my Blackberry.  I was a bit nervous to
haul out my camera.
A very entertaining morning. Then home to change (I was a tad too warmly dressed for the very warm day), collect my car and to work (for an hour and half).  I had been invited to Lynne's birthday lunch at the Gardener's Cottage at Montebello in Newlands.  A lovely lunch with good company and wine (whoever would have thought it was a working day?)

I forget what a great spot this is for a lunch under the trees.  The food never disappoints and I had the "Sushi Stack".
Very, very yumm
Unfortunately it was then back to work (but only for 2 hours).  The bosses were out to lunch or playing golf so there was much fun and merriment in the office (especially when I brought out my doggie bag of a three quarter full bottle of Pierre Jourdaan Tranquille - served to the remaining staff (four of us) on ice and in a tea cup).

I am a bad influence in the office but it was a good way to end my very busy day.  Now the weekend has truly begun. I have a bit of this and a bit of that planned which includes watching Nic play rugby at UCT tomorrow afternoon, then off to the Taste of Cape Town to watch Anusha from our office in a cook-off competition to win a trip to the UK.  She entered this competition on the DSTV website and was one of three selected.  She is being put up in the Garden Court hotel for the weekend, is getting vouchers and goodie bags, having a lesson from a top chef to prepare her meal for the presentation in front of a live audience.  Scary stuff but I am sure that she will do really well.

I also was given some homework by Lord Jeffrey Archer.  At the start of his talk he asked how many people wanted to or had written a book.  I was debating whether to put up my hand or not and because I was sitting right underneath his nose, I certainly did not want to have any questions directed at me.  I received a friendly poke in my back from Fay and I gingerly put up my hand.  "Put your hand up high, Woman" he joked to me and waited until I had my arm waving up high.  The task that he gave us (me) was to write a short story of exactly100 words.  It has to have a beginning, a middle and an end.  This was a test that Readers Digest had given to him many years ago.  You have to sit down and write your short story in an hour.  He read his story to us and announced that the aspiring authors that had put up their hands could collect a signed copy of his story after the launch.

So I have a signed copy of the Lord's short story and in the morning I am going to sit down and write mine.  I will share them both with you tomorrow.  I'm off to watch Graham Norton and then to bed.

Great day thanks Fay and Lynne.





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