A day at the beach

[Biltongboer]

Sunday was one of those lazy days. Or so I thought, earlier during the day. We slept late, and decided to skip church for a change. I was just getting relaxed in front of the TV, watching re-runs of Dharma and Greg, when the wife decided that we needed to "do something".

This comes from the wife's bloodline. They cannot sit still, they always need to "do something". It is utterly sinful to spend your day reading a book or watching TV, or - heavens forbid - sitting in front of the laptop all day, blogging.

But this is why I married this lovely thing - she's got a liveliness that I love. And all my children inherited that property. They like being busy, doing physical stuff. If I didn't marry Celesti, I would probably have ended up sitting in a dark room all day watching TV with my laptop on my lap and the fridge within arm's length.

So, we started getting ready to "do something". But I had to decide what the "something" was. There were a few options: go to a park, have a barbie or picnic, or go the beach and do the same.

After getting everything packed, and everyone covered in sunscreen, we headed to the beach in our trusty "Province blue" Commodore. But we first had to stop at IGA to get a chicken.

We stop at the beach, and select a nice undercover bench and table next to the slides. Anica runs like a wild animal, and climbs all over the play pen screaming. We meet another South African couple who have baby twins and also came here to have a picnic.

The wind is blowing, and we try to finish our chicken before it blows away. The magpies are watching us for crumbs. I spot some large cockatiels in the tree just above us. The birds here are massive, I am always surprised by their size.

There are signs around the park that say that this is an alcohol-free area. This is because the young hoons made life really unpleasant, and now alcohol has been banned from family-friendly areas like this one. While we were sitting in the park area, two cops came by on blue police quad bikes. (Or “squad bikesâ€, as my old CEO Dokta Vaino Shivute used to say). They check everyone, and inspect the premises to see if anyone is bending the rules.

A while later, however, this did not stop a guy with a pesky dog to sit and sip his beer on the grass. This guy was wearing a t-shirt with the large words “ terrorist†on it. Not my kind of guy, especially in a family setting. Luckily he had only his one beer, and then took his dog and his fat wife (or “partnerâ€, probably?) and left. Eish, you get weird people in the world...

The wind was blowing like crazy. There is no way I would want to swim in weather like this. But this did not stop my children. After we devoured the chicken, we headed down to the beach, with the wind howling around our heads.

Celesti and Anica tried to hide behind a towel while I kept an eye over the two crazy kids in the water.

When I finally managed to get Michael out of the water, we headed back home - tired, full of sand, and feeling good.

What a lekka day. Must do it again some time.

[check my blog for some pitchas]

[Terence.H]

Thanks BB!!! I appreciate the English posting. I guess your wife and kids are keeping that waistline of yours to a minimum not letting you rest on your laurals for too long, that's gotta be a good thing. Apart from the wind it looks like a great choice you made in the end.

[Eva]

Thanks for the English, Biltongboer, always much appreciated!

And by the way, I think its sweet the way you appreciate your wife!!

[candivw]

Thanks for this and all the info on your blog Biltongboer, i thoroughly enjoy it and find it a great source of info...

[Enrica]

Hi BB

Thanks for the Inglisi version we appreciate the effort.

By the way...WA does not have "cockatiels", those big white birds are call Corellas....You get a long bill and a short bill Corella ...the Aussies call them "cockies". The Grey and Pink Jobs are call Pink Gahlahs(those are the ones in your pics) ..or as my son called them ..."pickled eyes" when we arrived. The Galhahs just love hanging out around Mullaloo Beach

The Black Cockatoos you see flying around are call Carnaby Cockatoos. A real treat to see these , these are on the on the endangered list of parrots.

And yes they are all as noisy as only a flock of parrots can be.

The smaller very colourful parrots are called rainbow Lorikeets (These to are not indigenous to Perth, much to CALMS dismay, they are an introduced species)

The small greenish Blue parrots are called 28's ..because when they sqwak its sounds like they are saying 28 , 28

Cockatiels as we know them are called Weiros, but they are not indigenous to Perth.

Cheers

Enrica

Edited December 4, 2008 by Enrica

[Biltongboer]

Whoops, my knowledge of birds is extremely limited. I've never found them very interesting.

The magpies are the black and white little pests aren't they? Or big pests, rather, these things look like vultures.

Edited December 5, 2008 by Biltongboer

[AndreaL]

Hey Biltongboer

Thanks so much for the Namlish translation, look forward to you learning Auslish too.

It was so nice to enjoy your tale without getting a brain freeze and having to " phone a friend" for a translation.

I am exactly the same as your wife and always need to be "doing something", as my Granny used to say " there's enough time to sleep when you're dead" as opposed to my father who belonging to the male gender has this approach " why do today what you can put off till tomorrow"

[Bob]

Dankie dat jy het in Engels geskryf.

Nou kan ek al verstaan.

Sounds your battle & strife is much the same as mine . . . . . . full of go!

I would never get into heaven if I sat around all day just reading a book.

Watching League Rugby when the season is on is an exception.

[Jordy]

Now that was a lekker read. Why is that the wife always come up with the idea "to do something" but the husbands have to decide the "something" when we already doing something.

[Alida]

Dankie dat jy het in Engels geskryf.

Nou kan ek al verstaan.

Sounds your battle & strife is much the same as mine . . . . . . full of go!

I would never get into heaven if I sat around all day just reading a book.

Watching League Rugby when the season is on is an exception.

BOB, YOU'RE AWESOME ! STUNNING TO READ YOU REPLY IN AFRIKAANS !!!

Bob, jy is ongelooflik ! Fantasties om te sien dat jy in Afrikaans terugskryf !!!

Edited December 5, 2008 by Alida

[ronfire]

Biltongboer, you're a man after my own heart....."laptop on my lap and the fridge within arm's length"...couldn't have said it better. And, my wife and son are exactly like yours.

Scary.....I wouldn't get any exercise without the two of them!

Keep having fun!

Which beach do you guys prefer? We always tend to end up at Burns Beach. I'm sure it has NOTHING to do with the children's play area and the nice little cafe at the corner. Ahem. Two birds with one stone.....why not??

Good blog, keep 'em coming!

[KathyW]

Must admit, I just love Burns Beach, I think it is the nicest beach spot around. But then on Sunday we went to Quinns Beach which also has a little coffee/fish & chippie type of shop on a corner there as well. The beach is closer to the Jindalee side.

Very nice, I found that beach lovely and noticed that there are loads of little kiddies there enjoying the surf. I have heard that this is where some guy takes the littlest one's there to teach them to surf, they start them from 6 I believe.

Cheers

Kathy

[Biltongboer]

Must admit, I just love Burns Beach, I think it is the nicest beach spot around. But then on Sunday we went to Quinns Beach which also has a little coffee/fish & chippie type of shop on a corner there as well. The beach is closer to the Jindalee side.

Very nice, I found that beach lovely and noticed that there are loads of little kiddies there enjoying the surf. I have heard that this is where some guy takes the littlest one's there to teach them to surf, they start them from 6 I believe.

Cheers

Kathy

We normally go to Mullaloo - I'll have to try out Burns for a change. I like the idea of the cafe nearby.