Summer holidays in Winter

 Positive thinking, looking on the bright side, these are the kinds of attitude things that helps you to realize your dreams. Recording new ideas, looking at the things that makes you happy and turn you on, these are the things that help you formulate new dreams.

A recent quotation by an Amercian Football player talked to me; "Your discipine is your product, your name is your brand, your habits are your investments."

The last four months were all about working smartly, remaining focussed on work as holidays were coming, and settling into life with a new partner. I could have written earlier about how I experience life during this time, but honestly, the commitments of life, riding the wave I was on, just didn't allow time for reflection. Some days I could say that this week I will sell a house or two, and then it happened; I was on top of the world, and remained there until the end. 

When asked to sell a house, I will ask for a mandate until my departure date, even when that was only 2 weeks away, and I sold them all, expect for one. The last house I sold was a day before I left on my 7 week vacation.

It was and is not all sunshine and roses. I still have a big multi-million rand property to sell, and I will tackle this on my return. Also, I'm away on holiday with a lady that is not the new love of my life, and you can just imagine the impact of this om my Thai lady.

However, this is all part of my plan of progress and to move forward. A promise to my good friend and the lady I was married to, was to take her, one last chance, to visit her aging father in Sweden. This was a long time in the making, and before I met Miss Thailand. As the planned trip also happened during the time of her birthday, I invited her - as a present - to join me for my annual holiday break, this time to discover Sicily. (I don't like travelling alone.) We've been good travel companions before, and this one is turning out to be no different. She was happy to also escape the cold, and me, happy to have a partner that is good at planning outings and doing shopping.

Even though the antagonism between the women seems to increase as the time goes by, I hope to return to Cape Town and make up for my 'unloving' absence. At least, I have honered my commitment, and can move on from a long-lasting relationship with a kind gesture. 

With the vacation break slowly coming to an end, as usual, I'm starting to look forward to going home. The weather here, the scenery, the people, the shopping, the food, everything is memories to savior. But with eating out at Euro 20 to 30 on average per person, shopping in a supermarket more than double the price you pay in SA, petrol at almost ZAR 40 per liter, and no idea if the speed limit is enforced in this reckless driving part of the world, there may be some surprises waiting for me on my return. I already paid a parking ticket for Euro 29 :( The only things cheaper here are my cigarellos - less than half the price in SA - chocolates, cheese and grappa ;)

The Sicilian landscapes are beautiful, Edna even erupted for some special effects. As this is the poorest part of Italy, the roads are worse than in SA though, the streets and beaches more polluted with litter, and the fruit and vegetables not nearly of the same quality we find in our beautiful South Africa. The people are as friendly, and the clothes - mostly made in third world countries - more beautiful and at about the same price as back home.

We'll be making our way back home with a stop-over in London for 3 days with the goal of doing final shopping and to get a feel on how business is done in one of the financial capitals of the world.

I look forward to plant a lemon tree in my back garden, put up some tiles I bought on the wall of my front stoep, create a private massage room for my Thai lady, and work smartly to reach my financial goals for the year by the end of December.

Greetings from Sicily in summer. 

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