So we got a message today. Jorge's brother, Henrique, is finally off to Australia... the start of a new life. We just got, "Cheers mate! We're on our way!" They leave South Africa on the 14th. They're currently living with Marlise's family and have already sold all they need to sell. I think we'll have no contact with them until they land in Australia. We then have to wait to hear from them.
I'm thrilled for them. I wish them every happiness and smooth sailing on this new journey. I can't help being a just a little envious though. Ah well... our turn will come : ) Funny, I was busy working on my new Multiply theme when I got the message. Somehow fits.
Before our phone line went down, we had had incredibly dry weather. That ended a couple of days before we got telecoms back. We have since had nightly storms and pretty much constant drizzle. Apparently a record amount of rain for August? Don't know where they get that from. Yes, it has been raining and we've gone from constant bone dry to constant damp, but still...
My sewing machine has finally gone in for repair/maintenance. This machine was given to me by Jorge when Tatiana was just a couple of months old. It has worked very hard. It has taken me through soft furnishings in 10 houses, much of our clothes these past 18 years, self-employment doing soft furnishings for others, and so much more. If they had told me it was past repair, I wouldn't have been surprised. They had never seen this model of machine. It is old, for one, and secondly, was bought in SA, where machines are very different to here. Repair quote, a very surprising R$50 (US$31). Nice! I have a pile of fabric and a major deficit in pants. I need to get sewing. Shopping for clothes in this land of midgets is... well... challenging ; ) On the other hand... sewing time means time away from the pc. Oh dear... *sigh* I can't win haha!
My sewing machine was my
ReplyDelete19th birthday pressie and still going... admittedly I've lost most of the embroidery stitches, but it still sews. I made my wedding dress on that machine. :-)
Unfortunately material is expensive here. like £8 to £12 a metre! (which works out as something like R90 to £150!!!) Even the silk I bought for my wedding dress only cost about R18 a mtere from the Indian shop in town. There's no way I can sew cheaper than buy here, which feels so WEIRD. :-(
Added to that there are no sewing shops in our area - two knitting shops in a nearby town, but no sewing shops within an hour's drive from us and.. no buttons! Can you believe we live in a first world country and struggle to buy buttons?? THere are two shops that sell a few, plus the knitting shop, but none of them keep the range like what I could get back in SA.
Funny the things you find out when you move countries. If I could get back to SA I'd go mad buying fabric from the Indian shops... and buttons!