Being back in PE

What's good:

* Winter is never that bad! The temperature may drop to 4 degrees at night and the days may only get to 16 (which feels very cold, even though it was colder in the UK), the cold weather only lasts a few days and then warm (even hot) weather is back!We recently had a whole week of glorious, warm days and nights.
* People are friendly - mostly. It was quite a welcome change to experience the friendliness of people in PE - even shop assistants are smiling and helpful. It really is the 'friendly city'!
* Petrol attendants - I had one hilarious (and unsuccessful) attempt at putting my own petrol in a car in the UK, and so it is really great to have someone do that for you - even if you have to make sure that the right petrol is put in and that the petrol cap is put back on!
* The Beachfront - PE still has one of the nicest beachfronts. Km's of sandy beaches and a lovely long walkway along most of it. Combine this with some nice places to eat or have a drink and you realise you don't really even need to go away on holiday - it's all on your doorstep.
* Wide streets and big parking bays - its wonderful to be able to get in & out of parkings and to be able to drive down streets without performing amazing manouevres to get out the way of a bus that is coming towards you in a street that can only fit one car (let alone a bus!).
* Language - it's good to be back in a place where people understand you!

What's not so good:
* Prices - everything seems to have almost doubled since we were here 4 years ago - but salaries have stayed the same! Combine this with high utility bills and I'm not sure how people survive.
* Paying car guards - it can be quite costly if you go to a number of places. There are car guards just about everywhere and you feel obliged to pay R2 even if you only go in for 5 minutes or even if your husband waits in the car (effectively guarding it himself) - the car guard told me that he had watched over him too! You can end up paying R10 a day or more, depending on how many places you go to. Ok, it probably is comforting to know your car will (hopefully) still be there when you get back, but maybe its time for the shops to employee their own car guards so one doesn't have to pay, pay, pay!
* Home Affairs! Well, I don't think it would be news to anyone that going to Home Affairs is a complete nightmare! I had to get my ID book updated and it was a most frustrating affair! I also got to experience the Traffic Department - equally frustrating! Be prepared to wait a long time!
* Not a nation of animal lovers! The shocking stories in the newspapers of poor treatment of animals makes you realise this is not a nation of animal lovers. Compare this to the UK where you can get just about anything a pet of any sort could possibly want (remember Reggie was the most pampered rat in the world) and the fact that animal shelters really do look after the animals they take in - it is a sad reality that SA is very far behind in this respect.
* Crime - not that we've been affected by crime, but just the fact that you can't go many places that you would've gone or do things you would've done for fear of it.

Back to the beginning

PE Girl has found her way back to PE! We have been back since 13 May and loving it. A lot has changed in the 4 years (almost exactly) since we left. More on that later.