Countdown to 30

I'm almost 30. My bones are creaking. My hair is falling out. My stress levels are up. My knee sounds like a ball full of sand pebbles. I look forward to coming in to work in the morning. I shout at students for being childish misbehaving miscreants. I'm renting out my flat, and targeting a bond reduction of R50,000.00 for the year. I must be getting old...

Janith's on the roads today! Good luck to Janith, God bless to everyone else!

You go get 'em Janith! Nail that test! You're the best! Now I'll pray for the rest...

Moving and stuff

Okay so we are finally moving out of our lovely home...I say finally because we have hummed and haaaed and we love our home but it's also just such a stress (those of you who know the saga we have been through will understand) that we decided moving was best. So we are moving to a beautiful place not far away and it seems everything is coming together. I think we have tenants on the way, Bryan and I are moving bits and pieces every evening to try and minimise the big move and hopefully it will all work out for the best.

There seems to be so much to do but I'm hoping we will manage it - the joke is that we are finally going to put the finishing touches to the bathroom for the tenants...and we lived without towel rails etc all the time we spent in our flat! Sigh...oh well, for today I managed to draft a lease agreement, lease information sheet and order a mirror for the bathroom.

I don't have the beautiful Jazz which has aircon cos of the nail in the tyre so I had the Palio (glad I got Bryan radio antennae for Christmas) and I trundled into South Coast road to hunt down this glass company who were recommended by Mica for getting a mirror. Anyway turned out to be the dodgiest looking place in South Coast Road and when I wandered into the shop they seemed quite shocked to see me. Anyway they were very helpful, possibly because they felt sorry for me being totally clueless, and I'm getting a bathroom mirror fitted to size. They didn't take credit card so I have to do a bank transfer and then pick it up tomorrow...Jay (at work) seemed quite shocked I went on my own but I felt pretty safe and I quite enjoy finding these industrial type places where you get a good deal. Sun started to come out though and I ended up having to take my boots off cos it was soooo hot...have bought new slops as I couldn't stand the idea of wearing the boots in the heat for a moment longer especially with no aircon in the car!

Kudos to Bryan for uncomplainingly taking the Palio to work every day!

Nailed!

On Saturday night we discovered a nail in one of our Honda's tyres. Oltman, Mary-Anne and Kat all diligently detected the bulge under the cover of darkness and today I've had to take it in to have the tyre repaired (it was that or install a Marie wheel AKA biscuit wheel).

Took it to Speedy Exhaust & Tyre and they attended to it in no time.

Time? Ten minutes'ish.

Cost? R50.00-

Sent via my BlackBerry from Vodacom - let your email find you!

Happy birthday Emma Lansdell!

19 years old today! Happy birthday!

Hope this year holds a lot of joys and achievements for you - enjoy it; I remember the days when I was 19. Good times - and make the most of your teenage years, you're running out of time!!

God bless :)

Bryan & Kat

Cinnabons & poker @ the Greylings

We've just come back from a marathon day, with another one anticipated for tomorrow.

We checked out the Hoyer's new apartment, for us to rent, and it's simply stunning. We are praying and hoping the price is right for us to afford it, and Mr. Hoyer (Bruce) has just been great about it.

We ended the evening off with cinnabons at Markus & Richelle's place in Westwood. First time I've indulged in such decadence, and that's all I can say - it was a decadent indulgence - really yummy stuff!!

We rounded the night off with a quick-fire round of poker... Kat died early on, and then it came down to the "final hand" where I managed to secure 2nd spot behind Markus with a Jack-high straight, but Richelle still manages to be my bogey opponent. I just can't read that chic!!

We left on a prayer and had a thoroughly awesome time! If we don't get to do that again before the Greylings leave, we'll miss you guys! And I think it's official that you guys were the first (and so far, only) couple to get us to be spontaneous at 8pm on a week-night for a last-minute invite for poker (last year but it was great fun, apart from Richelle annihilating me).

God bless guys - you ROCK!

Crazy evening last night

We've had yet another interesting evening at our flat in Romax Court...

At about 2am I was woken up to some revelry by the guys two flats down; I was a little upset but I got over it.

At about 3am I was woken up again by a dude roaming around drunk and calling for his ex-girlfriend to let him into her flat. This oke was making a helluva racket. I was ready to throw things at him, when I noticed a CHUBB vehicle pull up, and the guard kind of kept an eye on the guy and escorted him away. "Hooray for CHUBB" Kat exclaimed from the bed.

At about 330am I was woken up AGAIN by hooting. I looked outside and CHUBB was hooting and calling for our neighbour. I asked him what the heck he was on about and he explained that the dude had just jumped off the BP garage forecourt. Not usually a big deal except that the forecourt is about two or three stories above the parking area below. He said the guy was in a bad way, bleeding etc. I then saw my neighbour responding so I went back to bed.

In a moment I realised I had to go check the dude out since I knew first aid. Either I could allow myself to go back to sleep or I could go and examine the carnage and see what little my level 2 training could offer, so eventually I decided that even though my skills don't include "a fall from a height of seven metres", I could at the very least aid the guy if he had trouble breathing etc.

Off I went, with a few reassuring smses to my neighbour who had no idea how serious it was, if it was an attempt to win her sympathetic attention and get her outside, or whatever.

I met up with CHUBB outside, who was examining our now-newly-smashed front door. We went across to the Village Market where I found the dude lying in a heap and covered with a blanket. His dad and mom were already there, and I realised he was conscious by his colourful murmured expletives and his screaming.

I hesitated long enough for my instincts to kick in and I froze. I suddenly didn't want to see his brains on the side of the road, or to see the protruding ribs from the other side of his lungs, or the eyeball lying in his ear cavity, or anything. I had my basic kit, but his parents didn't look like they wanted a fumbling first aider to interfere with what is a really significant moment in a parent's life - there's not much one can do as a parent when your child is lying there like that. Did he jump? Did he fall? Is he paralysed? All those thoughts went through my mind but I wasn't the one being called out for in desperate panic. I wasn't the one looking helplessly into my son's eyes and lying that I knew everything was going to be okay. I was just a bystander, but I hated myself for not trying to offer any help - but what the heck can I do?

At that moment the paramedics arrived and we helped to eventually secure his neck in a cervical collar and log roll him onto his back, and onto the stretcher. The one thing I did manage to do was remind the paramedics to check his legs for injuries, which revealed a suspected broken femur. I also noted internal bleeding or bruising on his lower back. We splinted his leg, hoisted him onto the stretcher, and they took him off to hospital.

I don't believe he had medical aid and the gravest injustice was the decision they had to make about whether to pay a R30,000.00 down payment for his scans at St. Augustine's or to take him to a public clinic. I was willing to offer aid financially but it wasn't my place nor my call to do so.

I got WesFlash on the line because he works with the father, and told him to pray. That's about all we could really do.

In the end, based on the examinations, the guy must have landed feet-first, fractured his femur, then landed on his side. Bruised his lower back, strained his spine / neck, and grazed his elbow. Other than that he seemed to survive the fall, apart from the sorry hangover he'll have added to his woes come this afternoon.

Crazy times, but at least I know to get further training because I was an absolutely useless first aider. I've already asked my work to upgrade me to level 3 as a result of what happened.

Sorry Wendy; welcome to the life of The (new) Johnstons at Romax Court!

Robin and Emma are MARRIED!

Just spent a lovely day with two of our dearest friends, Robz and Emma, at their wedding. It was fantastic to see two very-much-in-love people get together and celebrate the "upgrade" of their relationship with each other.

Robin, well done - you've found yourself a gem and you deserve that!

Emma, you looked stunning today! Oh, and good luck (haha) - you complement Robz so well and always bring out the best in him (and everyone). You two will do great because we know you love Jesus and he is your cornerstone.

Really had an awesome time and we're glad that we could have been there to share it with you guys :)

Some pictures are on my personal blog, at:

http://brattex.blogspot.com/2009/01/lovely-couple.html

Note this is THE FIRST photograph of you two published ANYWHERE.

Enjoy :)

God bless
Bryan & Kat

From BrYan's Blah Blah Blahg

The first official post of Robin and Emma at their wedding.

Have to add

While I munch away on my afternoon snack (which I started guzzling cos I noticed it was 3:41 on the blog)...I have realised that the blog actually says 3:41 am and my computer tells me it is only 2:43pm. Bother! I have eaten my weigh-less copied snack (a smidgon of cream cheese and Melba Toast) too early and I have to now correct the time on my post. At least I can pride myself on having corrected this as our blogs would have a had false archive dates ...this is going to greatly annoy Bryan who is probably going to hunt for a way to remedy it....doesn't look like there is a remedy apart from manual override...apparently the blogs run on the great world time of the good ol USA! Thankfully we South Africans can still function without the automatic ;)

Kat's First Blog Post

Okay so Bryan has been encouraging me to blog and despite my lame protests I guess it could be fun and, seeing as I have been writing lengthy emails to Sharon and Gary (friends newly in the UK...yay you also made the cut) I may as well start writing about life on our couple blog.

So it's Monday, which of course means I'm still recovering from the depression of having to be at work (should be fine by tomorrow), and the weather is miserable and drippy instead of happy and hot and all in all I'm afraid my feelings about today are leaking into my first blog. I'm not getting much work done because really I would like to be doing something fun and reading the news on the internet can be totally addictive and a great way to procrastinate doing the most simple of tasks. Would quite like to be on holiday but after a week long snooze!

The good news for the day is that the boss has said I can work from home when it's stuff that needs peace and quiet. This is quite an achievement reached, in part, by my comments about how I get a lot more done by working in the car ...so yay...I have the option of sitting in front of a movie, in my pyjamas doing work. This sounds like the perfect office environment. Sadly I would not be able to watch TV whilst working as our new attempt at abstaining from TV is underway. I have discovered this leaves me with lots of extra time in which I wander around aimlessly until I find something to attack with a vengence...lucky for Bryan it was tidying on the weekend instead of him :) Here's hoping I swiftly learn how to relax without technology once I have turned our house into something fit for a magazine.

If only I had returned that baking library book (which I never read) on time two years ago...I could take books out the library to read in all the extra time...now I have to wait for amnesty day so I can sheepishly slink in and avoid being black marked :P

Okay so I think blogs shouldn't be too long because nobody has the concentration these days for a few minutes so I'll sign off and blog again another time (it's been fun!).

Why is beach sand yellow?

A: Because the sea-weed!

During Kat's merciless cleaning spree we found a bunch of old Christmas crackers and decided to pop them together. That joke was the pearler.

Q: What did the old telephone say to the younger telephone
A: You're far too young to be engaged!

Q: Why did the human cannonball lose his job?
A: He was fired

We're heeeeeere...

Hello World.

At last, you can all breathe. We're blogging.

After two years, two months, and two weeks, The (new) Johnstons have gone live!

The delay has been both of our faults - BrYan (AKA "Brat[tex]") is too much of a perfectionist and insisted on hosting it ourselves, but never got around to it. Katherine (AKA "KateY") just wasn't ever interested or bothered to set up a blog, so I (Bryan) never had anyone pushing me to get it done.

I suppose the novelty of our wedding and photo's etc. has all worn off about now, but I shall proceed unperturbed. This blog is going to be an account of our lives - our joys, our journeys, our plans, and our trials (based on 2008, how literal will that be this year I wonder). Maybe one day our kids (God willing, ahem) will reflect on their parents lives, maybe one day this will be published in The Memoirs of a Great Couple, a President's biography, or whatever... but if this serves as nothing else but a storage space and a journal for our lives, then so be it. If I'm only talking to myself, note to self - become more interesting.

Okay, that's about it from me - we've settled on blogger.com because our lives are so intricately connected to everything GOOGLE - and now if I could only remember bryanandkatherine@gmail.com's password :)

Kat's on a mission because she's bored stiff - we've decided to follow through on our "newly-wed" plan to have no TV - and after seeing it work so well with Greg & Bronwyn Landwehr (ha! you made it to our blog, and on the first post!) we've had renewed impetus to do it ourselves! Kat's crazily tidying up and getting edgy, so don't expect anything from her on the first post - she's with me in spirit, and she is proof-reading it, but her mind is busy-bee'ing on tidying up our small office (although she claims women can multitask)...

Cheers for now, and again HELLO WORLD!

Bryan & Katherine
(Brat and Kat)