Through a friend of Ann and Terry’s, we eventually find someone who will go to Jeannius to have a look at the freezer. Mike is in bed when he phones him and when the guy says he can be there in 10 minutes, he leaps out, jumps into the first items of clothes he lays his hands on and drives down to the marina to meet him.
A couple of hours later, he calls to say that the freezer is now working, as is the air conditioning unit in the stern cabin. Success. I decide to leave it a few days before starting any provisioning to make sure that it stays on.
While he is down at the boat, Mike has another go at trying to fix the starboard engine exhaust hose but has as much success as last time. Eventually, he concedes that he’ll need to try to order some new stuff rather than fixing it.
In the meantime, Ann and I sunbathe for a while, but as usual, the weather changes and the wind starts to pick up to such an extent that it gets cold.
Mike and I into Knysna to get a few bits of food shopping and are amused very the very enthusiastic efforts of the new traffic controllers. Let me explain. One day last week, Mike noticed a person directing the traffic, all togged up in a new uniform (hat, dark trousers, luminous vest and sparkling white gloves), with an instructor looking on and about another 12 trainees watching his efforts. A little later the same day, another trainee, who was obviously not very quick on the uptake, was standing in the middle of the road, directing the traffic, while the supervisor stood behind him operating his arms. Mike was laughing so hard that he probably nearly crashed the car.
Well now all these little traffic trainees are out loose on the roads. Apparently the traffic goes haywire in Knysna in the run up to Christmas and these little people are obviously thought to be the solution.
We decide to drive down to The Heads as it is so windy, to see how rough the entrance is, and go past another little wannabe traffic cop. He obviously likes his job and the little white gloves, and does his best to impersonate Michael Jackson pirouetting around in the middle of the road directing the traffic, big Cheshire cat grin spread across his face. I wonder how many of them will be mown down during the Christmas period?
We turn off before we get to The Heads to have a drive around Leisure Isle. There is a lovely mixture of houses here, some absolutely beautiful (and with fantastic views) and some rather more ordinary, but it has a really nice feel to the place. Ominous clouds are starting to roll in, but we are still in the sunshine, and although the wind is cold, I manage to coax Mike out of the car and on to the beach.
Photo: Leisure Isle looking inland
Photo: Leisure Isle looking towards The Heads
From Leisure Isle we go to The Heads. By the time we get there, the clouds are really nasty out to sea and looking at the waves as they hit the sand bar, I am once again glad that I am not trying to sail through them. From The Heads, we head to Thesen Island. This large island in the middle of the lagoon has a distinctly Cape Cod feel about it. All the houses are build in the same sort of style, all wood clad and painted in blue, beige and shell hues.
Photo: Low tide at Thesen Island
Back at the house, we feast on Beef Stroganoff, using up the remainder of the delicious fillet steak. Mmmm.
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