The rest of the day was spent feeling sorry for myself, and then in the evening we took Amy to the circus! She was SO amped, and actually stayed in her chair for the whole two hours! There were lions, tigers and even elephants, and the little girl was blown away I think. She had such a good weekend - she was taken to the beach twice and went to a circus. We've found there is a huge correlation to the amount of attention she gets and her level of boredness to how well she behaves. If we spent quality time with her and take her to do things, she's as good as gold and sleeps well - strikingly obvious. So it was a good weekend for all of us and fortunately she even let me sleep until my alarm went off this morning - I haven't heard the thing go off in weeks!

Oh, and our health MEC and Minister of Health are both still convinced HIV/Aids is a figment of our imagination, and anti-reterovirals are a corrupt plot by white people to make black people sick. Curse those colonialists. These two idiots are still punting literature that promotes the use of beetroot and garlic over the use of drugs that have been scientifically proven to work. Incredible. These two should be had up for genecide and negligence - if I was to adopt a similar approach to my work I'd be sacked within a week.

We managed to head up to Champagne Valley in the Berg for a week with my parents and my brother and Peta, which ended up being SUCH a good week. The place is absolutely beautiful, and our lounge window had a perfect view of Cathkin Peak. The weather was kak on the first 2 days then cleared up to perfection for the rest of the week. The resort was so perfect for Amy - huge lawns with a massive kiddies' play area. We ended up spending most of our time just parking off, although I did get a round of golf in with my ballie and Chris at Champagne Sports. I lost about 7 golf balls, but I think I got off lucky - the course is a bastard for someone who doesn't play golf.

It was good to spend some time with my brother and Peta too, who have since headed off to the UK, having had enough of the crime in SA. It was shit saying goodbye, but I think they're probably doing the right thing - they're not sure where they'll end up but it doesn't look like it's going to be here. Also, Peta is PREGNANT, yahoi! I'm gonna be an uncle - although it's such a bummer we won't be around for the birth.

Fee's belly is getting pretty big now, with only 4 months to go. #2 appears to be growing well, and we're going for the second scan next week. Amy is hitting the stage where she really needs company now, so I think the timing will be good, although it's going to be very tiring. 2 year olds are a lot of work!

Weddings and bulls parties - lots of them. We had Snoppy's bulls party which was an absolute jol - it was so cool to be with all the ous again on a massive drunken binge. We shot the shit out of Snoppy at paintball, had some quiet ones at Charlies, watched the ballet at Teasers, and then shuffled around 80s like the old bastards we are. Jimmy got into a fight and got his nose broken, although Dr. BOC managed to click is straight. All in a nights' work. I'd hate to see the other guys' face though, Jimmy panelled the arsehole. Jimmy still doesn't know what he did, and no-one else does either!

We've also had Tracy and Warren's wedding at Thala (such a good venue), and we've got a few more coming Sally, BOC, BT and Kels....BT and Kel managed to sneak off to Vegas and get hitched a couple weeks ago. HA HA HA - so classic, and so them. The chatted about it on Tuesday and were married by Friday, what class. They'll be having their reception back here in June and I didn't get to see BT much when he was here in April so I plan on going large with them.

The waves, typical of this time of year, have been going off. We've had swell after swell, with last week being the best of them all. Unfortunately Amy got quite sick which meant a couple of sleepless nights which was grim, but she got better quickly and I managed to get some bomb days. I had a massive standup barrel at North that I came out of, which was nothing short of sick. I've been riding my brothers' board too which I'm loving - I never realised a surfboard could turn like that!

Work continues to be super stressful, I'm kind of over it at the moment because this project just has no end in sight. Morale is not great and a number of people have resigned. The IT Systems manager resigned last month too - another person heading to Oz. His wife is also a big cheese at SA Home Loans, so that's 2 people gone. The exodus of skilled South Africans is quite frightening.

Our plans are still very much in the air. Fee's mom has been quite sick lately, so we aren't really planning on anything until the doctors can sort it out - numerous tests so far haven't had any definitive results so I don't think they know what the hell is wrong. Our landlord is leaving for Australia in July so we need to make a plan about where we're going to live. The option is there to buy, but I don't want to bring our pounds home so I'll only buy if it's affordable - at the moment none of us is too sure what it's worth!

This weekend we have NO plans for the first time in 2 months - yay, so I intend on spending some quality time with Amy and there are no waves to distract me either - it's a lake down there at the moment. Gotta love Durban in autumn.

Yesterday was Amy's birthday, I can't believe it's 2 years since that day in London. She's still the happiest kid in the world, although signs of the terrible twos are definitely there in the forms of mule-like behaviour and random tantrums. Pretty funny, really. Again the little precious was horribly spoilt - our house is becoming a frigging joke with a nice little corner for mom and dad, and a three bedroom house for Amy's toys.

Some photos of the munch in a new gallery folder.

As one chapter closes, another one opens: Brett and Katie Lingley got married last week in Thala. Brett's bulls party was a drunken mess in Teasers, with Brett wearing stereotypical gay crotchless and arseless leather pants - he had people cringing everywhere. All the poor bastard had to cover his pride was a tiny leather patch which didn't leave too much to the imagination, so I'm not sure if I enjoyed myself or not. Heh heh. The wedding at Thala was awesome - the weather was shit but everyone was in the mood and it went down well.

Feef is finally starting to feel a little better after 6 or so weeks of feeling like hell. There have been days where she literally couldn't get off the couch, so I've been thanking my lucky stars that I'm a guy. We went and had the 12 weeks scan a couple days ago and everything is perfectly normal, so that's great. As a guy that first scan is so nice, because seeing the little thing and the beating heart you finally feel that the whole thing is real, instead of just having to deal with a sick and grumpy wife. The due date is 26 September this year.

And lastly, the waves have been goin boogaboogabooga. Last week was insane - the swell peaked on Thursday with up to 8 - 10 foot sets. I surfed every day except the Friday (thanks to Brett's bulls party the night before), and managed to crease two of my boards. One was in a solid 8 foot barrel so it was worth it. Monday morning had dropped a little but was by way the best - I surfed before work and it's probably one of the best surfs I've ever had - long consistent waves at New Pier, yaaay.

It's Easter and Amy's 2nd birthday this weekend - four days away from work which I must say, I'm more than happy about. Work is too hectic at the moment, so we're heading up to Craigieburn dam to get away from everything. We should have a Hobie up there so we'll sail and just park off, good times!

The bottom line is they've done too good a job and are catching the riders of the gravy train, so they've got to go. If I was a bloodsucking, corrupt scumbag raping this country of it's desparately needed cash, I'd probably get rid of them too. Bah.

Ryan and Nikki: Ryan and Nix came and stayed with us for 10 days in December on their way to Aus. It was so awesome to have them, they're the best roomies ever! It was over way too quick though, and they're gone, one more of my close mates who will not live in Durban. The only downside was Amy played up - weird how kids do NOT like change to the standard routine. She was a real little moany terror while they were here, and as soon as they left she was fine again. Strange, coz she really liked having them here and kept asking for Nikki for days after she was gone.

Christmas: I was off for 18 days over the Christmas period and loved every second of it. I spent a lot of time in pools with Amy (see below), and basically just chilled out with my little family. Amy went absolutely baboon on Christmas Day - she's old enough now to grasp the concept of presents, and was jumping around the room for days in advance before the big day. She was ridiculously spoilt by her grandparents and our house now has more toys then furniture. Fun!

Sthoreen Smith: That's the name of Fee's gran who passed away on the 9th of January, 2008. She was a classic old lady, full of life and energy until her last few months when her body just gave up on her, even though her mind was still there. In the end, I was relieved for her, she had been in so much pain it was hard to even have a conversation with her. Death is a pretty grim thing, and I think she went with dignity and grace - I hope I'm able to do the same when my time comes.

Electricity: My God, Eskom have cocked up with a capital C. Not just them though, the whole freaking government too. We've had load shedding regularly lately - averaging around 10 hours a week without power at home and 5 hours a week without power at work. Typical of the Salmon luck, we've been without power during the day when Amy sleeps, so Fee can't do anything, and of course between 6 and 8 at night when we're trying to cook and get Amy clean and in bed. VERY VERY frustrating. Carte Blanche did an expose on what has actually happened, and it was the most depressing program I've ever seen. In summary, it's a monumental cockup. The government refused warnings from Eskom to invest more money in power. Eskom has been totally mismanaged and has let their coal supplies dwindle, granting 57 million rands in bonuses to their directors whilst allowing us to eat in and work in the dark. And affirmative action has resulted in a massive skills shortage which doesn't appear to have any end - Eskom have made a blanket policy that no white males can be hired in 2008, yet whine about having 3,500 positions that are empty. Unbelievable. Which brings me onto:

Emigration: Yep, it's on everyone's minds right now. My brother, after enduring four years of shit money, witnessing a stabbing, having his car broken into seven times and having his wife be the victim of a smash and grab, has decided to head back to the UK with plans of going somewhere else in a couple of years. Things are gloomy here in Durban right now, and emigration is on everyone's lips. What a bastard. We're not sure what we're doing now, but realistically I think we need to head to Aus/NZ for Amy's sake.

Work: My new position is incredibly challenging, and of course I've inherited a lot of problems which are not proving easy to solve, especially in the light of the fact we have a deadline for the end of MArch with a new system. We're plugging away, but it's worrying, so I'm a bit stressed out at the moment. It's going to be a lot of 10 hour days, and I'll probably work the next 6/7 Saturdays, booooo!

Amy: Damn I love this kid. She's just SO amped all the time. She's swimming really well now and every Saturday and Sunday I wake up to a little girl shouting "pool" or "beach"! It's classic. She's far from safe alone in the water at her age, but she's still doing amazingly well for her age - she's able to swim around 2 - 3 meters to the side of a pool or to the steps by herself. She dives by herself head first into pools, when most kids her age aren't even keen to get their heads wet usually. Anyway, enough proud father babbling, there are new photos in the galleries (here and here).

Last but not least: Fee is pregnant with number two! Totally planned, and we're very excited about it. She was conceived around the time Fee's gran passed away, maybe even on the day, so it's been a nice surprise for Fee's mom who was understandably very upset. As one life leaves this world, a new one begins - let's hope it brings as much joy as Amy has! And no, we're not finding out the sex!

We had an awesome weekend - the weather was perfect and we spent the entire time outside with Amy. She continues to be such a joy, and as long as she's entertained she's great fun. She's starting to hit the terrible twos and can get a bit frustrated at times, but generally she's still such a happy little soul. We've got no garden so we need to get out on the weekends for her sanity (and ours), so we managed a trip to the beach, the Westville pool and Botanic gardens - so she was a very happy bunny.

The downside to all this was that it was BT's last weekend in South Africa. He's scored the managing editor job for Surfer (Surfing?) Magazine between San Diego and LA, so that's him outta here like most of my friends. We lived with BT in London, and although we only see him a couple times a month at the moment, what with having a kid and all, it's a real kick in the bag to know I'm probably hardly ever going to see the guy again. I hate this whole emigration shit, but it's on everyone's minds as the crime here continues it's completely depressing trend. It looks like Zuma is going to be out next PM too, so talk of leaving is on a lot of peoples' minds. My folks have just moved into Loerie Park (our complex) and are feeling a lot safer for it. I'm stoked they're there, but it's ridiculous that we need to live behind boom gates and barbed wire to feel safe - and it's still not anywhere near as safe as a fenceless, gateless house in New Zealand.

Last and not least, my brain has been filled to boiling point as I've been made the development manager at work, which means I pretty much lead the systems development at SA Home Loans. The previous guy is emigrating to Sydney, so I've been bumped up to take his place. It's a great move for me but it's been a hard month, because until now I've been involved a lot more in the technical side than the business side of things, so I've had to try and get up to speed with how the company works. Mortgages may seem simple from the outside, but it's an extremely complicated business model and taking it all in hasn't been easy for my pea-sized brain. I'll be taking 2 weeks leave at the end of the year - I need it just to digest, forget about work for a bit, and hopefully come back in the new year a little rejuvenated.

Next year is going to be a busy year - we already have 4 weddings lined up. Right now though, I'm just looking forward to Christmas - Amy can't stop singing "Jingle bells" so it's going to be such fun with her!