Random outpouring of my thoughts

How is it that stuff all falls apart at once?

And no, I'm not moaning about my family and work stuff this time. I mean actual things, like our bathroom towel rail that's literally fallen to pieces this month (the various bits are lying on the bathroom floor and not even our best glue will keep them together anymore). And the lid of our kitchen pot, which I've had since varsity. It fits both my frying pan and my big cooking pot, but the handle has now disintegrated, so it will have to be replaced. We've also had a whole bunch of drinking glasses and mugs give up the ghost this month, as well as my old hairdrier that TSC uses to start the fire quickly when we braai (ok, that last one didn't really just stop working - he left it outside in the rain. Chop). My laptop is definitely on its way out and takes almost 10 minutes to open or close a window and I see that the guest room duvet cover has also come completely undone at the seams (which thankfully I can fix quite easily).

In literature there's a term known as "pathetic fallacy", which basically means ascribing human emotions to inanimate objects or nature (for example, "the menacing clouds" or the "friendly sunflowers"). It's like how, in movies or novels, bad things always happen on dark and stormy nights. The weather and nature seem to signify the human experience.

Well, right now I feel like my house and everything in it signifies my state of mind... falling apart and all over the show!

See, this is the trouble with working at home, alone - too much time for navel gazing and pseudo-philosophical nonsensical thinking. Thankfully, the exterior world barges in rudely at times. Yesterday, this happened in the form of a surprise visit from Coach and a friend of his.

The two lucky boys are leaving on Friday for four and half months of seeing the USA. They're going to camp out in Yellowstone Park and the Grand Canyon, see the Mardis Gras in St. Louis, visit Boston, New York and Miami and basically have the holiday of a lifetime as they make their way around the country.

Can anyone say ever-so-slightly-envious?

I am desperate to travel. In fact, ever since our names were signed on the dotted line and the house became our house (just over two years ago), I have had itchy feet. Putting down roots in Joburg was a big step for me and it still scares me sometimes. Don't get me wrong - I love, love, LOVE our house, but I also dream of seeing the world and sometimes just winging it for a bit.

I'd love to see Greece, Turkey, Brazil, Mexico, Italy, Belgium, Germany, Canada, Kenya, Vietnam... everywhere, pretty much.

I've been fortunate to travel quite a bit so far (USA, Bosnia, Croatia, France, England, Ireland, Australia, Mauritius, some of the Caribbean islands and Zanzibar) and I've loved all the places I've been. But I was very young when I visited some of them and would like to travel more as an adult and with TSC to discover things together.

It's not possible to go overseas now. We just can't afford it. But we have friends going to Namibia this year who've offered us free accommodation and another friend in Zimbabwe who's setting up his own bush camp. If time and finances allow it, maybe we'll be able to take one of them up on the offer and see a bit of our own exotic and beautiful continent.

But we'll see. Who knows what will happen? Not me, that's for sure. Speaking of which...

TSC has a job interview tomorrow. If you're that way inclined, please keep him in your prayers.