10 April

Today's the day my grandfather (on my mother's side) died 14 years ago. It seemed fitting therefore, to go and visit his grave, as well as the relatively new one of my grandmother, next to him. It was special to be able to go to the graveyard with my grandfather's sister who is turning 98 next week and who is always such a delight to meet. My mother's cousin and her husband (especially armed with a gun should we be accosted by a gang from the bushes) kindly joined us and invited us for an impromptu lunch (a braai! yay!) at their place. It was a lovely afternoon with lovely company.

I was sitting in the company of someone who was telling us stories about when King George visited Stellenbosch - a brilliant story about how the (Afrikaans speaking) mayor of Stellenbosch was clearly so flustered by addressing the King of England to thank him for gracing them with his presence, that the words that left his mouth were " I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart and from my wife's bottom also..." It was especially funny when followed by my great aunt's infectious little giggly laugh. She adds her own theory to the story, that when an acorn fell on Princess Elizabeth's head (on her hat), the King laughed and laughed, finally having an outlet to his (no doubt) stifled laughter at the "wife's bottom" statement. An acorn falling on someone's head can't possibly be THAT funny, she theorises.

Of course it is also said that one is not a true Stellenboscher until an acorn has fallen on your head, so there you go, the current Queen of England is also, officially, a true "Stellenboscher".