Hope you had an awesome day with family an friends as well.
So hubby surprised me this morning with a trip to the Harley shop in Sandton, Johannesburg.
Now for those of you who don’t know me very well, I have this secret fetish for Harleys. Some of my
other fetishes include Johnny Depp and Charlie Hunnam AKA Jax Teller from Sons of Anarchy (My favorite TV series). I dream of having my own Harley one day and would love to do the annual Sturgis Motocycle Rally or Route 66 on a Harley.
Anyway, we pulled up outside of the shop and there were all these Harley’s parked outside. I suddenly began to feel a little intimidated by it all and was not quite sure what to expect inside. Bear in mind I have never actually been on a Harley!
But once I got inside, I started drooling – I was in Lanthie Heaven! The shop was extremely busy – with rather hunky guys (Shhhh don’t tell hubby this) all hanging around chatting. There were Harleys of all colors, shapes and sizes – each one nicer than the other. Heaven it was!
Anyway, I found the swag and picked up a whole bunch of shirts and blouses and of course I found the leather jackets. Now I was truly drooling.
I tried a few on and found the perfect one. Looked at the price and nearly had a heart attack but in the end I thought sod it – you only live once! If I cant have a Harley, I can have a jacket.
My car went in for a service today, which left me without transport all day. As much as I hate not having my car, it was a blessing in disguise as I managed to switch off from everything else and deal with paperwork and emails.
I collected my car late this afternoon. I always find it strange when getting back into my car after it has been to the garage. It just somehow feels different and it smells different. And they somehow always manage to change all your settings.
So I had to go out this evening to take a young man to the airport. I drove out my driveway and suddenly realised that my lights were not on. Now I have been known to drive at night without noticing my lights are not on before. You know that strange moment when it suddenly dawns on you why everyone is flashing their lights at you! (Or maybe it’s just me that this happens to)
Anyway, so I started fiddling – pushing this knob and flicking that lever, only to realise I have no idea where to turn my lights on. I normally have my lights set on AUTO so my lights typically switch on themselves depending on the ambient light outside. (Don’t you just love modern technology)
This meant I had to pull over and switch the interior lights on to see what I was doing. It still took me another few minutes to finally figure it out.
Then I noticed there was a light on my dash which is not normally on – looks like a headlamp light of sorts. So there I sat for another few minutes trying to figure out where this light came from, or maybe it had always been on and I have just never noticed it before. (You know you’re getting old when your memory goes as well). Finally realised it was the headlamp dip light. So switched it off, made some adjustments to my seat and was finally able to get going again.
It’s moments like this when you feel like a right idiot, especially when you have a good looking young man sitting next to you.
Ciao for now
Lanthie
They have a special suite for mammograms at the hospital here – all decked out with comfy lounge suites and special change rooms, fully carpeted and obviously all designed by an interior designer. And they are ever so nice and polite.
The only uncomfortable part of the whole experience is the mammogram itself. The only way I can describe it to the opposite sex, is to get you to picture yourself naked in the middle of a twister game whilst putting your privates in a vice grip and tightening it. Not a pleasant experience at all.
Hopefully this sees the end of my annual tests and I am good for another year.
Saw this in Dubai and had to take a pic. Some poor old soul had nothing better to do with their time.
Ciao for now
Lanthie
So finally back home and will be nice to sleep in my own bed tonight.
Got to the airport early this morning. Spent the obligatory 3 hours roaming about duty free. Eventually gave up on browsing and sat at the boarding gate till our flight was called.
As they called our flight, I once again found myself in tears. I was leaving my son behind again. Don’t know why women are so emotional about this sort of stuff.
The plane was filled with Chinese tourists – made for an interesting flight as non of the stewardesses spoke Mandarin – they did however speak about 20 other languages. After my little emotional outburst, I pretty much sat down and closed my eyes and slept through most of the flight.
Woke up about 3 hours before landing and picked a film to watch – watched Cool Runnings again. What a brilliant film. Have seen it so many times before and it is still funny and entertaining.
So felt much better by the time we landed. It is great to be back on home soil and my mojo is back.
Should be able to get back to blogging from my normal interface tomorrow and hopefully get to read all the recent posts of bloggers on my blog roll. Apologies for not commenting as much as I usually do but Internet connectivity whilst travelling is not ideal. I will catch up within the next few days.
Glad to be back home!
Ciao for now
Lanthie
So the time has come to say good-bye to my son. Thought I would be okay. Had all my feelings in order and accepted that he is here to stay in Dubai. Until I had to say good-bye. Found myself in tears no matter how hard I tried not to.
The last few days have been amazing. It has been so nice to see 3 of my 4 sons interacting and having fun. I am going home slightly bruised and battered from being caught in the cross fire of them play fighting, kicking, punching, and biting each other. (Boys will always be boys.)
The main topic of conversation over the last few days has been about boobs, or wanking, or jacking off or why their zippers can’t stay up due to the size of their you know whats. As a mother of 4 boys, I learnt to tolerate this kind of conversation a long time ago and now just smile.
It was great to be in Dubai again after leaving 4 and a half years ago. Nice to see that they survived the financial crisis and have managed to come out on top. This can only be a positive sign to the rest of the world. Dubai was one of the worst hit back then. It is definitely bigger and better and there is a lot more of a vibe here than there used to be.
Hubby keeps asking if we should move back. Hmmm – very difficult decision. I have become my own person over the last few years. I hate being told what to wear or how to act. I want to show my tits or shoulders off if I want to. Not to mention the number of blogs I have not been able to read over the last week due to them just being blocked. You would be surprised at how many sites are blocked here – and you have no recourse. It is not a democracy – you accept and do as you are told. Yes, everything works, you are in probably one of the safest countries in the world, you are looked after, everyone treats everyone else with respect. But is it worth it? Not so sure when you are a woman!
So I return to South Africa in the morning with a smile on my face. My heart is saddened about leaving my son behind, but I know he is in good hands. (Love you dearly my son!)
Ciao for now
Lanthie
We made a booking for 10am – assuming we would be one of the first ones there today. By the time we got there, there were hundreds of people already queuing. We already had our tickets so this helped a little but we still had to queue for about 30 minutes to get the elevator to the top.
We eventually got inside the elevator and it seamlessly went up and up and up and stopped at floor 124. We got out and joined all the other tourists wondering around and taking pictures.
It is just amazing to look out from the observation deck and overlook virtually the whole of Dubai. I took loads of pics and have added some of my favorites below.
Afterwards, we thought we would hang out at at Dubai Mall and see the sights in the mall. This included the fountain at the foot of Burj Khalifa and the Dubai Mall aquarium, which currently boasts the world’s largest acrylic panel (Dubai does nothing in small doses). We took the advice of a fellow blogger and viewed the fountains from the Coffee Shop inside the Book Shop at Dubai Mall. (thanks for the TIP!)
This was a great way to finish off my stay in Dubai and I will sadly be saying good-bye to my son tonight and heading back to South Africa first thing tomorrow morning.
Woke up with butterflies this morning. The day has finally arrived for me to go indoor skydiving.
I am not the most adventurous person and I really don’t like stepping outside of my comfort zone. However, I have opened myself up to trying new things this year and I have promised myself to at least try things. So indoor skydiving was on the list of things to try,
Got to the iFly centre this morning, paid and went upstairs. There were 2 chambers. I stood looking at them and my first impression was that this was going to be easy. The chambers are tiny and don’t look the least but scary – don’t know what I have been worried about. (Pic of a chamber below)
Watched their little instruction video, got changed into a flight suit, put in the earplugs and donned the helmet and goggles. Right – time to go into the chamber.
They would not let son no 2 participate as he has broken his clavicle in the past. Apparently he can go skydiving but the indoor version is a lot more pressure and he could injure himself. So it was hubby and I and son 3 and 4 in the chamber along with the instructor.
Then the doors vacuum lock behind you and the fans start up……. Now you understand what the earplugs are for! The pressure in the whole chamber is building up and the instructor looks at us all to say who is first?
Son no 3 kindly volunteered (thank goodness). So in he goes and all of a sudden it does not look that easy. Every movement you make influences how the wind reacts and how high or low you go or if you go smashing into the sides of the chamber.
He comes out after about 2 or 3 minutes and hubby goes in. Same thing – and it looks like hard work. Then it is a toss up between son no 4 and me. GULP! Should I chicken out now? Luckily son no 4 gets up and goes in. He is like me – also not very adventurous. So if he can do it, I can do it. So once he finishes, I get up and take the first step towards the fan. Point of no return……
I fold my arms in and lean forward into the wind and I am “flying”. It is an amazing feeling. The instructor is guiding me and pulling me and telling me what to do with my arms and legs. It is noisy, there is a lot of pressure and all of a sudden I feel claustrophobic and I can’t breathe! After a minute or so I give the thumbs down. The instructor guides me out. It is definitely quite daunting and very overwhelming. All your senses are on high alert.
Hubby and son no 3 have another go. Son no 4 doesn’t want to go in again. That leaves me! Am I going to give it another try? I swallow hard and reason that I survived the first session so it can’t be any worse that that. I ask to go in for a short time only and once again fold my arms in and lean into the wind.
Finally my turn is up. (Thank goodness). After the second time, I had had enough and did not want to go in again. Definitely a once in a life time experience and I am so glad I did it. I have proved to myself once again that it can be exciting to try new things – even if they are scary.
Afterwards we went 10 pin bowling and had a load of fun. Walked through the mall and had fast food for lunch. Then we went back to the hotel.
This afternoon was spent at the pool again just being lazy and we went out for dinner this evening.
So we had a thoroughly enjoyable day.
We are going up the Burj Khalifa tomorrow morning – the tallest building in the world. Hope to get some good photo’s from up there and hope the cloud cover isn’t too thick.
Ciao for now
Lanthie
Another day in Paradise!
Woke up to a beautiful day – sun was shining and no wind.
We went to the Madinat Souk after breakfast. I was hoping to find a belly dance costume for my debut performance later this year. Spent ages browsing. Managed to find some nice coin belts so I can now make some noise when I jiggle. Eventually found some costumes but they were made for anorexic dancers – I tried one on and lets say that if I wore it, I would have to perform in a strip club – you would definitely get your monies worth! It was good for a laugh anyway. Will now endeavor to find a costume back home.
Went to lunch with family at the hotel which was very pleasant. Always nice to see family you have not seen for ages.
Then went back up to the room to put our swimsuits on and spend the afternoon at the pool. I put a sundress on over my swimsuit (have to watch what you wear here….). While going down in the elevator, I suddenly discovered I had my dress on inside out. Hubby and kids would not let me take it off and put it back on the right way in the elevator. They insisted that no one would notice. So for all those who saw some weird lady walking around the resort today with her dress on inside out – you were not suppose to notice! Managed to slink down to the pool and took it off very quickly. Felt like a right idiot!
Lounged at the pool for a few hours and then went for dinner to a local mall we used to frequent when we lived here. Not really a tourist joint so was nice to be away from the millions of tourists walking around aimlessly.
It is earth hour here tonight so it is almost time to switch off all the lights (or keep your curtains closed). Will be an early night as well for me I think.
Going to iFly tomorrow morning to do some simulated sky diving. I can’t wait. This is something I would not have tried 6 months ago so just goes to show how much I have come out of my shell and challenged myself to try new things. And having the time of my life!
Will let you know how it goes tomorrow.
Ciao for now
Lanthie