Off we go!

Cape Town, South Africa

It’s 10 o’clock and we’re all packed and due to meet Karen and Geoff at 10.30 to drive down to Heathrow. We don’t fly until seven tonight but as its a Friday we thought we’d leave plenty of time to get there. The others are meeting us at the airport as Phil and Jenny have been to see Sophie, Richard and Jake, so are driving in from Banbury and Richard and Martha have been staying with Richard’s brother and are getting the train in. I’m just fiddling with the lock on my case – I can’t get it to lock even though I know the combination. After a couple of abortive attempts I start to attempt to reset it but to no avail until suddenly it is locked. However my code doesn’t now work, and I don’t know the combination that got it to lock in the first place! So, there I am with 15 minutes until we set off, Googling how to unlock a Sansomite case when you can’t remember the code! The company website isn’t particularly helpful – please take the case to your nearest Sansomite repair centre (which turns out to be in Maidenhead!) YouTube is a bit better though, so there I am in my wardrobe in the dark (that’s what it said!) with my torch and the case upside down turning the wheels slowly so that I can see the ‘notch’. I then have to add or subtract 5 from the resultant number to give me the correct code. Doesn’t work for me the first time, so I try again, and great news – it worked! I can open my case now. I quickly record the new number in my phone for future reference, and we leave on time. I had visions of having to jemmy the bloody thing and then wrap it up in gaffer tape. The journey is pretty uneventful although the traffic’s a bit busy which you expect for a Friday afternoon. We get held up a bit on the M25 for an accident but rock up at the agreed time to drop the car off with Purple parking. Check in is a breeze, I guess because we’re so early. No queue and we manage to check ourselves right through to Cape Town which should make it a bit easier at Jo’burg. Rob has come all the way across London to see us, so the five of us go and get coffees at Pret so we can catch up with him. We have a lovely hour’s natter and then say our reluctant goodbyes and pass through security and into departures. After a quick meal we stroll to the gate, and at the agreed time, onto the plane. I have to say I wasn’t really looking forward to the flight. A combination of Virgin, whom Ros had so much trouble with, and Economy seats was making me fear for the worst. However I was very pleasantly surprised. Boarding was very civilised with none of the usual pushing and shoving, and the cabin itself, with seats in threes was very modern and with comfortable, if compact, seats. I was told dinner was pretty good too, although I was asleep before they brought it round. I won’t bore you with a lot of the details, but suffice to say that Karol and I both did OK on the sleep front while the rest of the gang didn’t! We landed on time at Jo’burg and other than a bit of a queue at passport control, got through without any real dramas. Jenny and Phil were booked on a later connecting flight with BA so we split with them, and got our SAA connection to Cape Town. Another uneventful journey and we land at Cape Town airport on time. As its a domestic flight we don’t have to clear immigration again, so whilst Karol and the others go to get the bags I trot off to see if I can get a SIM card for my modem so we can be connected. I soon find out that my preferred supplier CellC doesn’t have an outlet at the airport, so I go straight to the hire car registration desk. Unfortunately there’s a huge queue at the one we’ve chosen, which is Avis/Budget. All the others are like ghost towns, whilst ours looks like they’ve just struck gold and everyone wants a piece of it! I attempt to use my Avis Priority Customer card but unfortunately as my booking is with Budget the lady can’t help me, so it’s off to the queue, which I recon is going to be about an hour long. I phone Karol and suggest that the others join me as soon as they can as otherwise I can see us all spending the afternoon at the airport. However, Phil and Jenny have arrived now, so at least we’re all here and as luck would have it when I get to the front of the queue the guy agrees to see to us all as a group booking! Even then it’s about 45 minutes before we’re ready for the off, and then the convoy sets off following me to Hout Bay. We lose Phil somewhere along the way, but he has a copy of the directions, so isn’t far behind us. The house when we get there is fine, and so we unpack, shop, get cleaned up and then decide to pop to the Woodcutter’s Arms for an early tea where we’ve arranged to meet Lawrence and Amanda. It’s packed when we get there, as the rugby match between England and South Africa is just drawing to a close. And surprise, surprise, England, who haven’t beaten SA for 15 years are the winners! The place clears pretty quickly after that, but there’s a few stragglers taking up the bigger spaces so Karen sets to clearing them out to allow us all to sit down (the two guys were very nice about it as they said they were leaving shortly anyway!) We get a couple of bottles of wine, and then Lawrence and Amanda rock up, so we get a couple more, and then some food. It’s a really great evening, lots of laughs with really good wine and surprisingly good tucker as well. With a big tip it works out at about £25 a couple which is amazing for what we’d just had. We say our goodbyes to L and A and make the short walk home up the hill to the house, and all fall into bed for a well earned and sound sleep. Can’t wait for tomorrow now!