I haven't done London

So I am in London.

I arrived at the crack of dawn - well no, way before the crack of dawn here - at 6am on Saturday morning.

The flight was nice, and I did manage to get a seat on the upper deck of the plane - albeit right at the back of the upper deck. Still it's WAY better than being in the cattle class downstairs. I used my new tactic of drinking copious amounts of Amarula, and no coffee, in an attempt to be able to sleep, but it didn't really work this time. I guess it's been a fluke before and I was so tired anyway that I couldn't have NOT slept. So despite the nicer seat I still didn't get much sleep, but could at least stretch my legs out which is much more comfy than usual. The meal sucked - KLM seems to do better catering, but their bar service is worse. It was cold and yucky chicken curry and rice - not the best choice for a flight. The breakfast at 4:30 am was equally awful - and I normally *like* aeroplane food, so it must have been bad!
We landed in London and I started feeling nervous about my excess alcohol - note to drug barons, I would SO not manage to be a drug mule - I can not lie and I act totally guilty if I am doing anything devious, no matter how mild it is. I had double the quantity of alcohol allowed and with my bag so heavy I could hardly carry it. It took AGES for our luggage to arrive at the carousel. Finally the baggage arrived, I skulked through customs, glancing furtively around and just waiting to be called back - but I wasn't. Score! (It is my job to provide Canonical staff with copious quantities of Amarula and I will not be letting them down.)

I found the tube station - closed, so got diverted to a bus, found the bus station and boarded the bus. This all took 1,5 hours from landing.After a bus ride, 2 tube rides and a ride on the DLR I got to the hotel on Victoria Dock at 9:30 am. So much for thinking I had a 'whole' day spare in London.

I checked-in spoke to the conference co-ordinator and made sure all our bookings were in order etc. Then found my room, and lay on the bed to recover, have a cup of coffee and think. After an hour or so I ventured out to central London to take a look around.

Here are some random thoughts and observations of mine about London etc.

1. Heathrow sucks. I confirmed my disdain of Heathrow while waiting for my luggage. There really is nothing nice about that airport, it's is old, dingy and really badly styled. Has anything been upgraded there since the 70s?. Cape Town International is beautiful, slick, efficient, clean, sparkly etc. Heathrow is a pit.

2. It's COLD here. Granted not as cold as much of the rest of the Northern Hemisphere at the moment, but having come from 30 deg summer weather to 0-6 degs and wind, it's cold. It is bearable when you are warmly wrapped up, but the daily temps here equate to the coldest days of the year in Cape Town, and in SA generally the sun will shine and it can get quite warm in the day time, and the coldness is only at night. There has been no rain here yet though.

3. It's dirty. London has got to be the dirtiest and grimiest city I have visited - including Bangkok. Everything is caked with soot, and I find my nose fills with blackness when I am here. Yuk. The air is not fresh, and I see why people are seen with walking masks on their faces on the news now. South Africa has much cleaner air.

4. There are a lot of people here! Walking around on the streets and in the underground there are people all over all the time, and most of the time they will just walk straight into you. I spend all the time dodging around other people, and don't notice other people steering around me.

5. Tube stations without escalators suck. Lugging a heavy suitcase up and down the stairs at tube stations is so NOT fun. I wish they all had escalators.

6. The people here are stylish! I pretty much just dress in whatever every day. Getting dressed is not something I spend a lot of time (or effort) on. Case in point I was wondering around in a tracksuit! Nearly everyone I saw was dressed in a stylish, unique and interesting way. It was really cool to see the way people present themselves. There seems to be a big focus on fashion and shopping and keeping up with the latest trends.

7. It's expensive! I looked in a few clothing stores and even with '70% OFF' the prices are still higher than I would want to pay. With a ~ 1:11 exchange rate, shopping is not high up on my list as a South African in London.

8. Sandwiches and bread based meals are BIG in London. Everywhere you look you can buy Subs, Sandwiches, Baps, Paninis, Wraps etc. The rest of the places sell pizza slices or pies ;)

9. The British Museum really should be called 'The Places Britain Pillaged Museum' ;) seriously is there *anything* British in that museum. Having remembered visiting and finding it fascinating when I was in London with my family when I was 13 I took myself there. It is free (Yay) and well worth a look. I found the 5000 year old preserved man lying in a curled up position. I saw this last time and didn't really get it then - now I understand 5000 years! and he is in amazing condition. I was also very impressed with the roman pavement mosaic work, and the roman and Egyptian carvings. They are incredibly complex and detailed, I don't know how they managed to repeat such intricate patterns so perfectly. The Asian room was very appealing to me too. The British Museum building is very impressive too.

10. It gets dark really early in winter here. At 5pm it is dark. This is new to me. I was wondering around next thing all the lights are on and it's pitch dark and feels like 9pm in SA, yet it's 5pm. Odd.

11. The tube is cool. The public transport here is great. We need more of that. I got myself an all zones day pass, and it's great knowing that there's always a tube station 2 minutes walk away.

12. Carnaby Street is not what I remember it to be. My dad took me to Carnaby Steet and I remember being amazed and in awe. There were weird and wonderful shops, loud music, British flags, pins, stone washed jeans and PUNKS. There were strange guys and girls in outrageous clothes and with brightly coloured spiky hair. I loved it. Sadly now it is just a row of chain stores. Very disappointing. :(

13. I should have planned my day better and had a map! I could kick myself. I had a raging headache and actually felt nauseous for most of the day so was not feeling very energetic, but still by not having a plan or a map (other than the tube map) I ended up just walking around pretty aimlessly all day. I did see Soho, China Town, Regent Street, Carnaby Steet, Tottenham Court Road, Oxford Street, Piccadilly Circus, Leister Square etc, but I missed so many other things I would have loved to see like Hamleys which I probably almost walked past. Camden Town, Portobello Road, and *everything else* in London. D'oh.

14. There are a lot of Theatres! I always hear of people coming to do a theatre show in London but I didn't realise how prolific it really is, or how accessible. There are dozens and dozens of theatres, many with well known Hollywood actors playing in them. It looked very exciting, and I would love to experience a show.

15. Roasted Chestnuts! I have always had a warm and cosy image in my mind of roasted chestnuts. Both from the Christmas song 'chestnuts roasting on an open fire' and from my father's stories of eating them on his annual trips to Europe. On my way back to the hotel in the dark I was stopped by a friendly man selling roasted chestnuts. He insisted I taste one when I told him I never had, saying that they taste like little jacket potatoes - and they do! He was really friendly and sweet and gave me a small bagful as he was packing up and had made too many. I can't say I love them, but I can see their appeal, and the little fires used to roast them are wonderful in the cold.

16. The hotel has an orgasmic massage chair. Ok not in THAT way, but WOW this thing is amazing. I have a tense back, every time I have had a massage the masseuse always comments on it. Well this chair has multiple settings and can actually do rolling, kneading, tapping and pointing movements and really works your whole back. It is blissful agony for me, and yes I'll admit that yesterday morning I spent an entire hour on the massage chair instead of going back out to explore London. It's that good ;)

That's it for now.

To make up for my pathetic attempt at 'doing London' on Saturday I am going to try to arrange to dash off early next Sunday to get to Camden etc - But I will have to make sure I can get back to the hotel in time to collect my bags and leave for the airport - because lugging that suitcase up and down tube stairs all day is not going to happen. I should be able to do it. I would need to get back not much after 4pm...

"i wanted to go to school so much ..."

I am away from home in London at the moment.

I was told by the school secretary that Quinn is the youngest child in the school. As we had decided to send him 'early' after his School Readiness Assessment showed him to be ready.

We knew he was ready for the learning and academic aspect, I was less sure
about the school routine and rules and regulations side, and I expected that we'd have a settling in period where he had to get used to the uniform, getting dressed in the uniform each day, packing and unpacking his bag each day (lunch and aftercare clothes), a much more set school starting time, and loads of rules to follow within the day (lining up, sitting quietly), more scheduled play times, playing in school shoes etc etc.

I honestly thought we'd need to encourage and cajole him along, at least for the first month of so.

Quinn has been a STAR. In fact the only thing he needs to improve on is the speed at which he dresses, but he relishes putting on his uniform each day, and does it all himself save for tying his tie, which he will do soon too when he speeds up.

Each day when we get home he hangs up his blazer, puts his clothes in the laundry and unpacks his lunch bag. He also brings his homework bag to us to check. Up to now it's been work for me, but his homework starts this week.

I really don't think it could have gone better, and I am so so proud of him.

I am very happy with our decision to send him this year and can't imagine what we would have done with him for another whole year if he hadn't started school!

I was a little concerned about Quinn being unsettled by me being away, as he is quite sensitive and although he handles it well when I go, I know he doesn't like it.

I got the following message from home this morning. Awww :)

-----

Hi Mommy,

i had my uniform on on saturday morning by the time dad woke up ... 'cos i thought it was a school day, and i wanted to go ...

and yesterday i got so bored while griffin slept (from 11:30 am until 4:30pm) ... that i wanted to go to school ...

and this morning i was all dressed ... with a squiff tie ... and untied laces ... by the time tiny arrived ...

and i am going to deelan on wednesday because his mummy spoke to my daddy this morning ... and asked if i could please come play straight after school with no aftercare ...

we all miss you ...

love daddy posing as quinn

The boss and the retard...

Quinn (6) and I were having a discussion on Sunday about my upcomming work-related trip to London.

He asked if I would see my boss there. I said yes I would see one of my bosses... So he asked how many I had. So I said there were a few.

Quinn then asked who my bosses are? As I was about to answer he said, 'I know Mark Shuttleworth...' so I said yes, and then told him that Matt Zimmerman is another.

He then said 'What about the retard?'
'What retard?'
'You know, the one you called a retard..'


I had no idea what he was talking about and was back pedalling in my mind trying to figure out which boss I had called a retard!

I asked Quinn if he knew who it was, so he says, ' Um, James... no no George, George Bush! He's a retard hey? And you think he's an idiot!'

LMAO! That was SO funny :)

Where and when did he get that from???

I agreed with him that George Bush is indeed an idiotic retard, but he is in no way, shape or form my boss! Thank god.

Lelita and Leletho

Introducing our Nanny Tiny's first grandchildren!
Tiny's daughter Sisanda gave birth to twins on 19 January 2006.

A little girl named Lelita (weighing +-2.4kgs).
and a tiny little boy named Leletho (weighing just 1.9kgs).
They were born at around 38 weeks via c-section at Groote Schuur. They are so sweet and SMALL - especially considering that my boys were just shy of 4.5 kgs each when they were born! So these 2 are about half the size.

I visited them this morning, and fed Leletho his bottle. Ahhhh ;)

Quinn's first school work

Well Quinn's school work has started and the homework is soon to follow ...

- mine has started already with a slew of labelling and book covering, and wads of notices to digest and respond to.


Here is some of Quinn's first school work which he brought home today (in books that I have to cover).
Exciting stuff!

Also apparently on the first day they were shown the sentence which said 'I am at school' on the picture below and Quinn was the first to read it /guess what it said.
*proud mom*

Raisin boys.

So yesterday I get this alarming e-mail from Richard while I was working...

"Just got a raisin out of griffins nose ...
I had to use tweezers ...
It nearly went up his sinus ..."

Niiice, I wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry... I chose to laugh!
The message is all the more concerning if you consider that we have a cat named Raisin....

I have heard of children shoving things into their orrifices, orrify, orrifici - holes in their bodies, and thankfully my children have never thought of doing it. Until now.

When I asked them later exactly what had caused a raisin to be right up Griffin's nose, it turned out that Quinn had decided it would be funny to place it there to look like a big black ball of snot. Griffin then proceeded to try to pick his big black ball of snot out of his nose, but only succeeded in inserting it further.

Luckily dad came to the rescue.

The joy of raising little boys... I am off to hide the matches!

An amazing not so KAK, kak show!

I love Corne and Twakkie and it might be just because they are so extremely KAK.

They try to come across as so kuul, but they are actually cringe-worthy. They are very comfortable in their roles and I think that's what makes it work. They are South African trailer park trash, stuck in 70s bad taste. They have totally become their personas and even with bad styling and very obviously fake mustaches it is hard to imagine them as normal people. They ARE Corne and Twakkie.

Corne fancies himself as a bit of a lady's man or 'love doctor', replete with huge bulging something (polony?) in his pants, while Twakkie is a madly keen but slightly dim badly treated side kick.

They are 'flippin amazing guy', and have created a concept called the Most Amazing Show or TMAS. Which started as small stage skits and now is on TV. 'Beleeve it, becos it's trew!'

We saw them in Kalk Bay a few years back and they were flippin hilarious guy. In fact they got Richard on stage with a group for a skit. At the end he was told ' out of a kak group, you are by far the KAKest!'. Very funny at the time...

The TV show has been on for 3 weeks now, and because I know and love them I loved the show, but will admit if it was the first I saw of them I might be thinking what the f**k...? I hope the show gets more slick and polished in the next few weeks/months and it might just become a huge hit and certainly FAR better than that god awful *LOL* show we had... I'll watch with keen interest.

Catch them on Tuesday between 22:00 - 23:00 on SABC 2.

Go South African comedy!
Keep it in the style of luuurve.

Other stage shows they have done have had titles such as 'Culture Klap', 'A brand new not KAK show', 'Tokillasunrise' and 'The completely not very kak party'.

You are likely to either love them or hate them....

Right at home

I went to collect Quinn at 12:00 at the end of his first day of school, and guess what? He didn't want to come home!

I had actually anticipated this happening so I took a lunch bag along with me. (Thanks Aunty Bee for the awesome cool Shrek lunch bag!)

I arrived at his class, and he was standing relaxed and waiting for me to arrive. He showed me the class next door where some of his other friends were, and said he'd seen Scott from Madison too. After a quick word with his teacher we went out to the after care class, which is a huge Wendy house right across from his class room.

The after-care lady greeted us, and when I gave Quinn the option to stay he immediately said yes, and went in to carry on playing with his friends Blayde and Delan who were already there.

He was glad that I had brought his watch (we forgot to put it on this morning) and an exciting looking packed lunch.

He was then happy for me to go again. Of course I was annoying first and insisted on taking more photos.

Big School!

So Quinn just started his first day of 'big school' at Rondebosch Boys Prep School.

Everything went well, except as I suspected he refused to allow his top shirt button to be fastened, so looked a tad scruffy with open necked shirt and mom's attempt at tying his tie. ;) (His friend Delan arrived looking ultra smart with fully buttoned shirt and full-Windsor tie-knot. I will have to work on creating a good crisp triangle knot!)

We managed to all be up dressed and ready in time, and thanks to Tiny his lunch was packed and Griffin was in the car and waiting when it was time to go. After taking a few quick photos and then set off.

Griffin got hurriedly dropped off at his school, and I only just realised we didn't take any photos of him with his brother - shame! I'll have to do some tomorrow...

Richard, Quinn and I then set off for Rondebosch. Luckilly getting there was not the traffic nightmare I had expected, and we managed to find a parking right near the school gate. We piled out and Quinn loaded himself up with his school bag and his lunch bag. At the school gate we bumped into some friends, whose son is now in Grade 2, so that was a good ice-breaker. When asked Quinn told them he was excited to be there. Although he hadn't actually smiled once all morning. I think he was showing his apprehension by being cool and guarded.

I did not even know where we were meant to go so luckily Mandy was able to tell us to take Quinn straight to his class. Which we did. There were boys all over the place all looking very smart in their matching uniforms. Quinn had never seen so many boys, as normally they have been in class, or already gone home when we have visited before. He didn't seem scared or intimidated though, and seemed mostly interested and excited by it all. He was talking animatedly and asking questions (again about the sport!).

The Grade 1 block was bustling with noise and activity. We took a few photos outside the class room, and then headed in to meet his teacher Mrs Scholtz. She is the head of the Grade 1 year, and is said to be 'very nice' and 'firm but fair'. I think that will suit Quinn well.

Mrs Scholtz gave Quinn his name tag and said, 'Oh you have lots of friends here don't you?', which was nice. She helped him to put his lunch bag in the lunch basket and took the supplies we had been asked to send.

Quinn has at least 2 old friends in his class. Delan, from last year at Keurboom, and Blayde from his old school Madison. He also knows Patrick and Cameron from Keurboom, and Cole and Tristan from Madison who are in the other classes. There may be others too. Delan and Blayde will be going to the same aftercare, on the school grounds too. So he has a nice network of friends already.

We found Quinn's desk, which also had a name tag on it, as well as all the stationery we had ordered. He was interested and excited by all that and we looked at all his new stuff (chair-bag, pencil cases, huge glue sticks, crayons, sharpener etc - who doesn't love new stationery!?)

Quinn then started chatting to the boy next to him - William, who seemed very confident and comfortable too. His other neighbours are Matthew & Julian. Neither Quinn, nor Richard or I shed any tears, and Quinn seemed quite comfortable about staying there. I think we were all ready.

One little boy was sobbing when we were leaving, as his mom had just left, and Mrs Scholtz was having to comfort him - shame poor thing.

On the way to the school all Quinn could talk about was the sports and when they would start, so I think that's what he is most keen for at school.

I'll be collecting him at 12pm, and will then take him to the after care facility for a look around and to make all the arrangements. From tomorrow he will go to aftercare straight after school.

I think his first morning went really well, and he did not show any signs of being younger or less ready than any of the other children. I am so proud of him!

There are some more pics in my gallery .

My beautiful sisters.

I have 2 sisters (and 2 step-sisters as well), one is younger and one is older than me. Although I was quite close to both growing up, especially with Belinda (Bee) as we shared a bedroom through most of our childhood, I am finding that I am feeling more and more fond of them now as the years go by.

They are both beautiful and accomplished women and I am very proud of them both.

We are all married with children now and all live in different cities, quite far apart, I am the furthest away. I wish I could see them more, and the infrequent times that we do get together we talk and talk and talk. It's fun. Bee and I inevitably turn into cats after being with each other for a short while, and always end up curled up and tickling each other's feet!

Catherine is my older sister and is very sophisticated, elegant, and poised. She is also very confident and capable. She dresses extremely well and always looks good. She has 2 gorgeous sons Stephen who is very nearly 10 and Thomas is 6.
I am the middle one... if you are reading this you probably know me - enough said! ;)

Belinda is my younger sister. She is caring, sensitive, ever-thoughtful, fun, friendly, capable, intelligent, ambitious and a brilliant mom (especially for a first timer) to Alastair Henry who is now 6 months old.

The three of us together at Belinda's wedding in October 2003. Do we look similar? I am not sure... but I know we all sound very similar.

It's funny because it's true...

Last night I caught a bit of the Simpsons (or 'Yellow man', as Quinn has always called them).

Homer winks and says to Marge, ' Who knows maybe the 'SNUGGLE' MOSTER will come and visit you in bed tonight...'.
To which she replied, ' I hope he is also going to bring the HOW WAS YOUR DAY MONSTER, and the FOOT RUB MONSTER and the LET'S CUDDLE ...'
Homer butted in grumpily ' Don't worry he's not comming...'

I had a fit of giggles over that.

Nuffing Magazine

Just what the world has been waiting for. The official launch of Nuffing Magazine!

The launch pary was a glittering affair at Speir featuring the who's who of the Cape Town social scene ....

Actually I was messing around on flickr toys (after I saw the one Ashleigh did), and I found the Magazine creator.

So without further ado, here it is my very own magazine featuring ME!

I can only dream...



Ok you can stop lauging now!

School Daze

With just a week to go before Quinn officially starts school, I thought it would be a good idea to try his uniform on, to make sure that we have everything and that is all fits. We were very eager and bought everything in mid-October. I was careful not to buy anything too tight fitting as I am sure he'll be doing some growing over the next year, so most sizes are for age 7 as the age 6 items seemed already a bit snug.

Quinn has grown up wearing only comfortable clothes and almost always informal clothes, so the change to a pretty formal and strict dress code is going to be tough I can tell. Admitedly we did try the clothes on after 9pm last night, so he was rather tired anyway, but my goodness. Nothing was right, and he complained about everything except the shorts.

* The shoes are too hard, he doesn't like the heel, and he want's more vertical room for his toes (note that I bought the more expensive and more comfortable looking type!). They may be a size too big though, so I might have to try again with those - the label is still on them.
* The shirt is fine until you try to button up the last button on the neck. Then OMG he goes all panicked and wants the whole shirt of *NOW*! he just hates the feel of the collar against his neck. We have tried washing the shirts to see if the collar will soften a bit, but he still reacts the same... I decided to leave the button undone and just support it with a ties, but he won't let me tighten the tie enough to even get close to bringing the shirst collar together. Either we are going to have a battle about this, or I will let the school deal with him on it! *efg* Hopefully with peer resssure and the requirement to conform he will get used to this and submit.
* The socks are too tight, too long, he can feel the seem on his toe, and if you fold them over at the toe (because they are a little big) they 'HURT'.
* The tie is fine as long as it is on loose and scruffy *rolls eyes*
* the Blazer - ok he loves the blazer and would happily wear it every day :)


I noticed his hair is a little long and shaggy, so we'd better fit a hair cut into the schedule for the next week. This whole school thing is a bit daunting for me. At preschool the rules are pretty flexible, now we have to really toe the line. I hope we are ready!

Richard in the press....

Richard is in the January edition of Windows SA magazine, he commented on a list of questions which has been turned into an article.....

Rat a tat tat.

So Christmas has come and gone, and the special request for rats, as sent via pictogram post card to Father Christmas was received.

Richard worked long and hard (and almost fanatically) to finish the rat palace in time for Christmas - resulting in him being up till after 4am on Christmas eve/morning - and being tired and grumpy on Christmas day (but that's another story). It was finally completed and is rather impressive and very neatly and expertly finshed. Who knew he could produce something like that!?

After being seen working on said cage for weeks - although the boys thought it was just a cupboard being created, we couldn't pretend it had arrived from Father Christmas, and so we decided that Father Christmas asked him to make the cage for the rats which he would be bringing.

On the Friday on my way home from my last day at work before starting my leave I had to return via the Durbanville Pet's Paradise, armed with a shoe box. I was tasked with selecting 2 suitable critters of the correct age, size and gender. It was a bit of a challenge as the little guys were 6-8 weeks old and frankly their genitals all looked the same! I eventually chose two hooded white rats which I am hoping are female (or the same sex at any rate), one with a black hood and the other with a light grey hood. They were whisked away into the outside room when I returned where they were fed and watered until Christmas morning, when they appeared in a ventilated gift-wrapped box.

The boys were pretty thrilled at the discovery that their Christmas wish had been granted, and Griffin in particular has been enthralled with his, and keeps saying, ' I like my rat, she is so CUTE'. :)

They are pretty tame and relaxed, and we are hoping to keep them that way. so hopefully other visiting children will not terrorise them unduly.

We let the boys name them themselves and they have ended up as Harry (the black one) and Grommit (the grey one).

We have had them for 2,5 weeks now and so far so good. Except for one of them peeing on me this past Saturday night - thanks!

Secrets Revealed

I normally don't bother with these polls anymore after participating in dozens via e-mail years ago, but I have decided to give this one a go.

1. Given a homeless guy more than R5? Yes, but I generally don't hand out money to beggars. I prefer to help people who are trying to help themselves, and support a particularly happy and polite man, who is doing the best he can to make a meagre living at a traffic light selling fudge. I'll buy from him whenever I stop there and usually pay extra.

2. Spent more than R500 on a bf/gf's gift or a night out? Yes certainly!

3. Had sex with more than one person in a day? er, *thinks*, No. Whew.

4. Hooked up with a good friends bf/gf behind their back? Never

5. Dated two people at once? No not really.

6. Actually met someone that you met online that you didn't know before? Yes loads of people! Including my husband *blush* (and it was 10 years ago before THAT became a fad).

7. Been raped? THANKFULLY NOT

8. Failed more than one class? NO, I did fail Calculus 228 the first time I tried it, but then aced it with 94% the second time.

9. Took someone's virginity when you weren't a virgin? No (not yet) ;)

10. Hooked up with someone from a different race? No, but I have socialised with lots of people from different races.

11. Ran around naked outside in the daytime/night time? YES!!!!

12. Scuba dived? No, but I'd love to.

13. Snorkled? YES, off Raya Island, South of Phuket in Thailand. It was fantastic, and I'd love to go back for more. There were stunning tropical fish nibbling my fingers.

14. Dated someone you didn't want your friends to meet? No

15. Got your stomach pumped from alcohal poisoning / drugs etc? No, I know how to manage my substance intake.

16. Threw up from alcohol? Yes, occasionally I have thrown up from various substances. It's my body's way of dealing with anything it is not enjoying.

17. Been suspended from school? No, but I got into trouble a few times. Including being sent out of a classfroom for being noisey and disruptive an hour before starting school on the first day of grade 1!!!

18. Kissed someone of the same sex? Yes, but not in that way.

19. Wore no underwear? OFTEN

20. Paint anyone's toenails? Yes, mine and my kid's.

21. Met someone famous? Yes. Mark Shuttleworth (does that count?), Corne & Twakkie, David Hasslehoff (vomit), Patricia Lewis (double vomit), Sol Kerzner, Elizabeth Hurley (served her in a restaurant in Pretoria), James Small and Christina Storm (at a sushi making evening), George Bizos (very intelligent and interesting man), .

22. Saved someone's life? No, but I have helped a few injured people.

23. Seen someone die? Yes, sadly, a little girl whose head I held on my lap after she was involved in a car accident just outside the flat I lived in, died after the ambulance arrived. She was only 7 years old. I was 19 and found it devastatingly sad.

24. Killed someone? THANKFULLY NOT YET, but I have wanted to!

25. Been in a physical fight? Yes, with my sisters.

26. Hooked up with someone 10yrs older or younger than you? Yes, several times. I am married to someone exactly 10 years older, to the day, now.

27. Been arrested? No, I don;t get caught.

28. Spent the night in jail? No.

29. Been in more than three car accidents in a year? No, luckilly I have never been in a car accident - unless the famous 'Pineapple Pudding Incident' and running over my own hand with my car count...?

30. Had sex outside? Yes, who hasn't?

31. Given or gotten road head? Yes

32. Had sex in your house when your/his/her parents were home? Yes

33. Had phone sex? Yes

34. Been turned off by someone's personal hygiene "down there"? eeeeeuuuuw! No - thankfully!

35. Watched Jerry Springer? Yes, but never again. Arrrgh save me!

36. Had sex without a condom? Yes, of course I have children!

37. Had a one night stand? Yes, a couple. I wouldn't recommend them. The one guy was a total bastard, the other just wasn't going to work out, even though we stayed friendly. I prefer a more meaningful relationship.

38. Flirted with a teacher? Yes, a young hot prof at varsity. was totally innocent.

39. Had sex on the beach? Yes, it wasn't great, in the ocean is much more fun ;)

40. Watched porn with someone else? Yes.

41. Been fired from a job? No never.

42. Danced on top of a bar? Yes, but not often, I passed up an opportunity recently in Montreal - there were too many cameras around!

43. Had sex somewhere in your high school? No, it was an all girl's school...

44. Bought a vibrator? No (but I have had them bought for me)

45. Been in a porn shop? Yes, alone and accompanied.

46. Been in a dance competition? No, but I did do a few ballet exams when I was little.

47. Had a threesome? Nope.

48. Spent more than one night in a hospital? No never. I had express deliveries with my kids - gave birth and went home a few hours later.

49. What color are your kitchen plates? I have lots of different plates, the nicest ones are white with green and blue designs.

50. What book are you reading now? I just read Ben Elton's 'High Society'. Before that 'Eleven Minutes' by Paul Coello.

51. Favorite magazine? FHM! The SA version really rocks. The UK and US versions are not as good. The women's mags here suck however.

52. Baked Goods? Um, not often but I like anything with almonds or other nuts, and chocolate croissants. I also like Milk Tart and Carrot Cake.

53. What's the first thing you think of in the morning? Do I have to work today?

54. How many rings before you answer the phone? As long as it takes to hear and find the phone, and I hate answering the phone.

55. Favourite TV shows? The L Word, Nip/Tuck, House, Survivor, The Amzing Race, Days (Not the 'of our lives' version!), Fear Factor, Las Vegas, The Most Amazing Show, Desperate House Wives,.

56. Ketchup or mustard? Neither, I do copious amounts of sweet chilli sauce on everything now.

57. Hamburgers or Hot dogs? Hamburgers I guess, but I'd rather have a wrap, or chinese/thai food.

58. The best place you have ever been? Thailand. I love love loved it! Take me back there.

59. The most amazing sight? Seeing my children just born. The reclining buddha in Bangkok. Bangkok's Patpong Road at night. Sunsets and lightning from Karon Beach Phuket. The MCQP attendees each year!

60. What wall paper is on your computer right now? Normally a photo of my kids, but it's the controversial default installed 'Edubuntu girl' at the moment.

That's it.