Well that’s another holiday over! This is a recap of our last couple of days, our return flight experience and some disconnected jottings!

Dinner last night at Basilico and luckily there was a parking guard to hand the residue of ADOGs pasta to. I hope he likes chilli 🌶!

So, on our last full day we decided to go to Kirstenbosch gardens and although it started cloudy it was warm and brightened up as the morning progressed. A very pleasant stroll around enjoying the gardens and the views. We returned to the guesthouse to get ready for lunch - prebooked at Constantia Glen vineyard. We love sitting on the stoop with wide views of he vines and mountains and enjoying a lunch platter of meats and cheeses washed down with a nice bottle of rose (pr. rosay!).

Spent what was left of the afternoon by the pool and stayed in for a sandwich snack and watching a download in the evening.

And then, all too soon, it’s our last morning. It dawned clear and sunny so read the paper by the pool after breakfast until 12 and then popped to Barristers for a bite of lunch. And thence to the airport. Fortunately, the VeriFLY app had worked this time around and so we were able to just do a bag drop and then wait for our flight to Joburg. Sadly, although we had flown direct to CT, BA had decided that as it was now UK half term they would hike the return flight by £500 pp!

Anyway, this meant a longish wait at Joburg for our 22.15 flight. Having gone through departures and sat at the gate waiting to board (as had the rest of the passengers - 450+ on a big A380), the ground crew decided we should all stand up exit the area and then re-enter having had our boarding passes and passports checked. As this is the procedure that they were going to carry out as we actually boarded the plane it all seemed pretty pointless and served only to annoy the passengers! But that was their job!

So we went through the double check to board, sat on the plane and waited. And waited. Finally, the pilot announced they were waiting for the last three luggage containers to be loaded which ‘shouldn’t take long’. An hour and a half later, the pilot stated words to the effect that they had been lying the first time and we were still waiting for the last three luggage containers to be loaded and, as we had waited this long we might as well see it out. We finally took off 1.75 hours late - fortified only by 2 small glasses of orange juice!

We arrived at LHR one hour late (pilot put his foot down) at 08.45. Disembarked and headed for passport control. There was a very very long queue which went the whole length of one corridor, round a corner and the whole length of another and then doubled back on itself again. Aaaagghhh. This was for ALL passengers regardless of nationality. Movement started of slowly (we kept messaging our waiting taxi) and we envisaged a couple of hours minimum. However, it would appear that there is the occasional bright spark in border control and eventually the queue speeded up until someone said all UK passengers could bypass the lesser mortals (well done Brexit) and we then got to the Disney style queuing for the passport machines. This worked reasonably well although some of the machines seemed to be more sensitive than others and kept spitting out its potential entrant. We made it through, albeit with ADOG needing 3 attempts before being admitted.

As we proceeded towards the baggage carousel, we remarked that at least there would be no wait now for our bags. Wrong! So we waited, and waited and waited. ADOG was on the verge of reporting missing bags when, lo and behold, our 2 bags appeared together with only a few other people still left. It had taken 2 hours to unload he plane!!

Our taxi was still there and we finally arrived home to find the house had withstood Dudley, Eunice and Garibaldi!

And so ended another holiday!

Disconnected jottings:

Petrol is under £1 a litre

Masks are worn in all indoor public areas - shops, hotels, malls etc but not necessary on the streets

Hand sanitiser is available (and used) at ALL shops and temperature checks are frequently used at hotels, restaurants and some shops

Everywhere is a lot quieter than it used to be - not surprisingly, but it does make it easier to get into most restaurants!

There are probably other things but I can’t think of them right now and you are all probably bored by now anyway!

So It’s a final sign off from

ADOG AND LMAG xx