Blow in for a cuppa

This morning the boys and I left here at about 9.30 to go to town, to get a few things before meeting Elza and Maureen at the coffee shop at 10.30. We went firstly to the Emporium for the dreadful ghost masks, which the boys thought were super, then to a few places to look for plain white t-shirts or vests for the boys to wear under the ghost outfits. No luck at two places I tried, but we made our way down to the police station and library. I needed to renew our drivers’ licences, wanting to get it done before we go away, so as to be super-organized. It was only when I was actually at the police station and the lady in charge was already writing out a receipt, that I realized our licences expire a month later than I had thought, since we were late in renewing them in January this year. Felt very silly. We will have plenty of time to get them sorted out next year then when we get back. Also had to get a vetting certificate from the police station, to say that I have no criminal convictions and am okay to work with children at the school. This is sort of a legal requirement for the school, although they haven’t really been pestering me for it – it’s just something that should be done. I can collect the certificate tomorrow, for a price of ₤2.50. Then we went to the library to return books and get a new batch. The boys spent their time looking at Beano comics, while I chose the books. We got to the coffee shop at 10.30, and sat shivering under the umbrella with the wind howling around us. It definitely isn’t spring weather here – I’d say our announcement that spring had sprung was a false alarm! I went ahead and ordered our things, since Maureen and Elza weren’t there yet. The lady brought my café latte and almost got it to the table before the wind whipped the froth off the top and deposited it all over the table and me. I instructed the boys to eat their carrot cake very quickly before it got blown away! Fortunately it wasn’t raining as such, just drizzling a bit, but the boys had warm hooded jackets and I had a beanie. Elza blew in at 10.45, asking why I was so early, and I asked why she was so late! She said the arrangement was actually for 11, so I had got my times wrong. Doh. Maureen arrived shortly thereafter, and then Cindy happened to be walking along that way, having done some shopping, so she joined us too. It was a good time together, with always plenty to talk about. The boys and I left the coffee shop at 11.30, since we still had things to do – we went from shop to shop looking for t-shirts, which we eventually found. Not exactly like popping in to Pick’n’Pay to buy R15 cheapies!

I had my craft class at 2.00, but got there early enough to get some more paintbrushes from the store room, and then set up. We were painting the models today. It was a really good hour, which I was pleased about – I was expecting a bit of trouble and mess with the paint, but they all did theirs really well and no one painted anyone else’s clothes.