listless We wish you a merry Christmas
So after laying my dad to rest, we were left with the decision on how to continue with our lives. That decision wasn't too difficult as it turned out...Mom and I spent most of the weeks building up to Christmas running around and trying to sort out all the legal ramifications of my dad dying. Here are a couple highlights…
The Bank
My mom now needed to open her own bank account after we put my dad’s account on hold (she had signing power on his account). So we go off the Standard Bank (where whe has a credit card) and are told by the lady that we need a letter of executorship (saying that she is now widowed and living still at the same address) as well as the necessary FICA documents in order to open the account (they won’t do it without the letter of executorship). They wouldn’t even consider looking at her credit card account even though she already supplied info for FICA on that! So after being treated like crap at Standard, we decide to take a chance at FNB. 45 minutes later, we walk out with a new account opened in my mom’s name! So FNB live up to their advertising slogan of “How can we help you?” while Standards “Simpler. Better. Faster.” was a complete crock!
Most of the other accounts and such went off without a hitch until…
The Car
After finding out (to our dismay) that dad didn’t take out the death cover option when financing the car (stupid stupid dad), we now found that we were stuck with an additional debt to deal with. We inform the company that the car is financed through that my mom wants to take over the payments now that my dad had passed away, and initially it seemed like there wouldn’t be a problem, then we’re informed a couple days later that because dad didn’t take out the death cover, they will have to repossess the car! WTF??? We’re completely willing to honour the payments for the car but they still want to take it back? Apparently all banks and finance corporations do this! So we run around frantically trying to find a bank to re-finance the car for us (desperation sets in as everyone starts leaving on holiday), and thankfully everything gets sorted out a couple days before Christmas.
So things were really busy leading up to Christmas weekend. Mom went back to work, Andy found a job at the nearby video store (free videos yay!)
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thelesseviltwin invited me to her choir’s Christmas concert (was really great), we rushed through our Christmas shopping and tried to keep distracted. We went to our first normal church service without dad which mom kinda struggled with. She wasn’t keen to accept the long standing invitation from my cousin to spend Christmas with them and the reast of the family, but I convinced her that it would be good just to get out of the house for a while and spend some time with family instead of the 4 of us being cooped up at home feeling depressed. So off we went to Christmas lunch…Warning – lots of food ahead!
The Lunch
My cousin once again provided an amazing spread (everyone contributed a meal). We had roast quail (I <3), grilled prawns, roast lamb and potatoes, grilled peppers stuffed with pesto, a gammon (done by yours truly), a turkey curry (very yum!) and a mutton marsala (layered biranyi) and aunty Vee’s decadent trifle pudding. There was much eating and drinking and watching of BBC Food (50 things to eat before you die), and much fun was had by all (I hate that term but anyway). Little Anjali was spoilt rotten with presents and such and provided much of the days entertainment.
A far as presents went, Jonah and Thuds gave me an “Arbor” Body Shop gift pack, Jonah gave me a couple bottles of wine from his collection (yay), and mom gave me some money towards me buying an electric shaver (I like my new electric shaver!). Uncle Aubrey and family gave me some blank CD’s and DVD’s, so I scored nicely!
Come Boxing Day, and we are invaded by other family members who couldn’t make it to the big Christmas lunch which meant of course that we got to have the Big Day-After-Christmas Leftover Lunch! Again there was lots and lots and lots of food. My shoulders were pretty sore from having to scrub down half the walls of the pool to de-algify it, but I got in my second stint in the pool since I came up to Joburg! Andy and I once again displayed our sheer dominance in 30 Seconds taking on and annihilating the rest of the combined families! (I love my brother!)
So yeah, we managed to successfully keep our spirits up over what could have been a sad time for us. It was, I think, the best way we could have spent this time as a family.
But first…
thelesseviltwin decided that she just had to take my brothers and I out for lunch before I left…Sushi and cocktails
We were treated to full limo service (as well as can be achieved when putting 5 people in a Corsa Lite) and had mini champagnes on the way to the sushi bar. We had some of the best sushi I’d ever tasted – ‘yummy’ rolls kick ass!!! – and I also got to taste a Chinese beer (TsingTao – very cool). We then adjourned to Six (a very cool, laid back cocktail lounge) and had some drinks. Jarryd’s girlfriend (Tiziana – or ‘Z’) was with us and seeing as how it was her birthday, we arranged a little birthday shooter for her – a Flaming Lamborghini. Not so little as it turned out but she handled it like a trooper. It was very difficult to say goodbye to Marianne at the end of the day, but I was promised more debauchery when she comes to Durban on conference in July! It was a great way to spend my last day in Joburg with my brothers and my bestest gal in the whole wide world! I love you all.
As much as I love my family and wanted to be with them over the New Year, I just had to get away and get back to my own life and my friends in PMB. After Scotty inviting me to New Years Monster Bash at the dam, I just had to return.
Catch the debaucherous next episode: “Yer off the map mate…here be monsters!”
byee
