Christmas Lights

As I have mentioned before our complex did Christmas Lights this year. Here are some photo's for you to see what it was like. The first picture is my Christmas Tree with the lounge lights on.

This is my Christmas Tree with the lights off.Some of the neighbours efforts. The photo's do not do the lights justice.

The complex main gates:

Again the Complex gates:

NOT been biased but the picture below is my favourite lights. This is my effort and is what I did for the complex above my double garage doors.

The photo's are not the best- I am battling to use my camera at present.

A Burning experiance

Last night I went to bed at around 11pm and as I always do I propped up the pillows so I could enrich my mind by reading. All seemed fine, however I must have dozed of with the bedside light on and pillows next to it. The pillows must have slipped and fallen against the light (This with me still on top of the pillows. I must have been in quite a deep state of sleep not to notice this.

Anyway I work up suddenly to a room fill of smoke and a pillow about to start catching fire- it was in fact smouldering quite badly already. I jumped 6 foot out of bed and came to my senses rather quickly, by now I was chocking on the smoke. I grabbed the pillow and dumped it in the bath and opened the taps to wet it.

Anyway I was now wide a wake and windows were wide open to let fresh air in. My house is saved except for the smell and I am now also one pillow down. I this was my sleep for the night finished but I have so much to be grateful for. I could have had my face burned and even lost my house- all because something so simple. I have always respected fire and last night reaffirmed those thoughts.

The Weekend has arrived

Well the weekend I have been waiting for for the last 9 weeks has arrived. Yes I have been back from the UK for 9 weeks now! The reason why I have been counting down this weekend, is because my brother and his wife arrive on Sunday, I am so excited.

Yes I have seen him recently, but I cannot wait to see him again. I think the main reason for my excitement is because he is my only living immediate family left in the world. We have a few things planned to do together, but I unfortunately am going to be working so we will live our individual lives until after I finish work.

One of the first things we will be doing is scattering mom's ashes in Durban on Tuesday. We want to get this done before Christmas and hopefully find a bit of closer.

I then have to fly to Cape Town on Wednesday morning and spend the night there for work purposes. I return on Thursday evening. (Hayley and Francois- please order some good weather for Wednesday and Thursday).

We then have no real plans till Christmas day, which will be a family day- but a very different day. We then all head to Cape Town, although we are ll leaving on different days. So I am again gathering airport time during the next 2 weeks.

Then New Years eve is going also be different, we are attending a Dinner Dance organised by my brothers friends. The one good thing is we are staying at the venue, so no driving.

So that's my next few weeks in a nut shell. By the way I am working through most of this.

My Dad

I have introduced my brother to you, but the 2 people I have not really mentioned are my late parents. My mom- Merryl Comins and my dad Henry Comins



My dad was born in 1944 and died tragically in 2000. What I always found amazing was that although he had limited movement, he always tried to be involved in our lives. My dad had major back problems and hence could not do to much. Although he was not wheel chair bound, he battled.


He had such an amazing nature and would always surprise us with gifts and do things when we least expected them. I remember been at college and was battling with economics. Although we did not need a text book, my dad went out one day and got me one. This did in fact help me pass.


An amazing fact about my dad was that he was the first South African to fly solo at the exact age of 17 years old. He managed to do his solo on his 17th Birthday- a full year before he could get his drivers licence.

My dad was also a person who gave back to the community, he qualified as a paramedic part time and often spent weekends at sports events and provided first aid. He also got involved in scouts and this help us achieve many happy hours together.


Dad unfortunately committed suicide on the 28th February 2000. A day that I will always remember, but wish that it never happened. We do not know why he did it, but he must have had a reason. It took me a long time to forgive him for what he did to me and my mom and my brother, but over the last few years, I have learnt to forgive. He must have had his reasons, but those reasons went with him.


I would not be the person I am today if it was not for him. He was a great dad and a good friend.

The Amazement of Technology

I am giving my age away, but I have been pondering about technology for a while now and in particular the ease of communication.

To think that when I was still at school, the Internet was a luxury and e-mail was hardly known about. Not forgetting the ever important cellular telephone. Now these are items we cannot live without and make our lives so much easier.

As regular readers of my blog will known I have a brother living in the UK and he is my only immediate family. With the aid of technology we probably speak more often than we spoke when we lived 5 kilometres apart. Everyday of our lives we sms or e-mail each other and sometimes have conversations that last ages by e-mail or text. The amazing part is that you will have just sent a reply and the other party has already started replying.

I was on the phone to somebody yesterday and the next minute while I was still on the phone my brother e-mailed me and it was in connection with what I was speaking on the phone about. He knew I was going to make the call, but forgot to mention something when he text ed me earlier and I could get the problem sorted out immediately.

Unfortunately I have got to the stage that when I leave my phone some where I feel like I am missing something. 15 years ago, would think that a cellular phone would be such a part of our lives???