Good start to the Long Weekend

It was a windy, overcast morning again when the alarm woke me up. I sat looking outside in the cottage lounge with my wake-up cuppa and noticed the leaves on the mulberry tree are turning yellow. Autumn is officially here. Hubby left for the Piston Ring as soon as breakfast was over - about eight- and Diane and I got ready for our day out. We were ready to leave just before ten but before leaving phoned Hubby to see how the highway had been on his way through. He said it had been a clear run all the way through so we decided to go on the highway and not through the back roads. We had a good run until joining the highway just before Germiston where as we rounded to join the N3 from the R59 the five lanes suddenly became one about half a Km in front of us. The traffic was at a standstill and the traffic stood unmoving. Eventually I turned off the car as most people around had done. People were even getting out their vehicles and walking around. It was ridiculous! After about fifteen minutes the cars started moving and within minutes were through. A second lane had been opened and once five lanes had managed to squeeze into two we all moved fast and within five minutes had parked at Bedford Centre where even though it was almost eleven the parking area was almost empty. I remarked to Diane that everyone must be stuck on the highway. We made our way across to the Mugg and Bean where Pauline, Val and Kim had got a table for all of us. Pauline had been stuck in a road block coming from the other direction so also had only just arrived. We had coffees and breakfast while Diane and I heard all about their stay in Prague. The trip was Pauline’s second but Val’s first and she had also loved the history all around the city. I really want to go back there and hopefully will do so within the next year. Hubby wants to go to friends in America and me to Prague with Diane so we have agreed to do so.After our breakfast we wandered around the centre for awhile and then went through to the new section which Pauline hadn’t seen before. After shopping at Clicks we parted ways as Pauline had parked on the opposite side to Val and myself. Val was off to see Swan Lake in the city centre at three and as it was almost one we decided to go up to Vida E Café for something to drink while waiting until it was nearer to three. We all had Frios which were delicious while chatting and listening to the guy playing the piano right next to the Café. The music reminded me of Richard Clayderman’s playing. After finishing our drinks Diane and I left for Eastgate while Val and Kim went off to their ballet. At Eastgate we went into Game to see about an upgrade phone for myself. The computer was down so we were told to wait half an hour. We spent the time wandering around the store buying a lightweight cooler bag ready for our hikes. When we got back to the cellular bar at two fifty the lady had just started dealing with us when the power in the centre went off. Within minutes the generator had kicked in but only for part of the store. The lady went off to another section to use the copy machine but came back asking us to wait as it was not working yet. We sat around until about four before the lady was able to finalize everything and were able to leave about half four. When we got home the weather wasn’t too bad and Diane and I chilled with a glass of wine before going for a ride. This time we went for an even longer distance which took us forty minutes to complete. After recovering I made supper after which we chilled watching `Apartment 12’ followed by `Lipstick’. The first was a good comedy and the second was very inspirational. I set my alarm for four on Sunday morning as Hubby wanted to be up early for his Piston Ring meeting and read for a short while before putting the light off around half twelve.