karoo heat

Karoo

The Karoo is a darn hot place. No, perhaps this is an understatement. Karoo is a simile for hot, hot and more hot ......... oh and add to that dry, arid, extreme, isolated. It is the place where the ultimate status symbol is the size of your irrigation dam.
It is a place where even your Estee Lauder Foundation runs, and where no amount of your Fendi eau de toilette can disguise the smell of perspiration.

People who live in the Karoo are tough sunburnt Afrikaner farmers – salt of the earth types whose joy in life is to collect sheep and more sheep and to keep the hungry jackals at bay.They thrive on the solitude and isolation and position their houses at the end of long dusty roads so that they can see the dust from potential visitors half an hour ahead of time - in time to put the moerkoffie on the Aga stove.
Occassionally one retreats to the Karoo to look at stars and to listen to complete silence. It’s very nothingness, space and solitude is very therapeutic if you can stand the heat.
Rain falls rarely in these desolate parts, and yet day after day the scrub waits patiently for a small reprieve.
On a recent escape to the small karoo village of Prince Albert, my man and I sat on the stoep of our little karoo huisie for hours just watching a rain storm gathering over the mountains. The morning topic of conversation in the village was only about rain – will it come or won’t it. After endless speculation and peering heavenward, it eventually began to cool down and the dark thunderclouds converged.
One, two, five large remote drops on the tin roof, and then it let go, hitting the dust with fragrant droplets big enough to hold a goldfish. Palpable relief for the foliage as the organic rain descended – fresh, pure, & cool.
The smell of rain on African dust mingled with wild karoo herbs, quenching a parched and thirsty terrain – reminded me again of why we chose to name our bath range Rain.

more sorrow

The Rockefella store is off. I am devastated & heartbroken.Essentially our dearly beloved bankers of 20 years have dropped us - after keeping our hopes up for five weeks. Somehow they have gone into this mode of 'frozen deer in the headlights " since the country entered recession three months ago. And we are one of the casualties. Strange though how their advertising media shouts about "growing your business from where you are to where you want to be " etc etc - puke puke.
Anyway, I am philosophical and faith filled. God always knows what is best and it is in Him I trust and not my dear sweet bank manager.
So, it is back to the drawing board as they say in the corporate world. For me, it is back on my knees.

Time To Say Goodbye

We have lost a precious friend.
Leon died last night in a head on collision. ( the man in the middle of the photo ).
It is a sore time and we feel desparately aware that only one tiny breath separates this life and the next.It has caused us to take stock of our lives and our relationships, to look back on the good times we shared with him and to value the friends left around us.
He mentored me in my business, he was my husband's adventure buddy and his son is our son. We will miss you Leon

Delta Disaster

Delta airlines have to be the WORST airline in the world. And I have travelled. Short haul flights may well be bearable but long distance - never again.
Cabin crew come stringy and frizzed like a bad perm - slapdash slapstick straight from a Carol Burnett Show- oh so tired.
Ground crew are the sum total of the word rude.I don't know how they sleep at night.
There are no little touches or bits of love to make you feel special or aid relaxation - everything is the barest threadbare clean picked bones - a municipal bus with wings.
And did I mention that I endured four nine hour intercontinental flights within six days with no personal TV screen.
Tatty cabins and stinky loos make you wonder if the engine oil is managing to find its way to its destination.
No seriously now, you can honestly give this airline a miss and take the long route across the atlantic via sydney if need be. It is just not fit for a queen.

The Rock in The Big Apple

You will never guess where I have just been.......
New York.
Yip
The Big Apple
....and for what purpose you might well ask ?
Well to do my queenly duty of approving store locations I might answer.

So, the secret is out. Rain is opening a store in New York. Isn't that just awesome hunnee? and it is in a prime prime location in central Manhattan theatre district right between 5th and 6th avenues. Radio City Music Hall, Anthropology , Nine West and Godiva are our neighbours.
Oh fame at last .
Of course the lease has yet to be signed - we still have some minor haggling to do but it is 99.99% said and done. It is unbearably terrifyingly exciting and thrilling. Our first international flagship store.
All sorts of self doubt creep up on one - even on a queen - and one begins to wonder - is Rain really good enough, can we pull it off , are we fooling ourselves to think we mere african mortals can achieve this ?
And in the next moment all the creepy nagging lurking doubts are shoved away and the happy blessed thoughts take over and one realises the true miracle of it all - that God has really made a way for us, and all we need to do is step forward in faith one foot at a time.
I can't begin to describe how challenging and exhilirating this all feels.Parachuting has nothing on this adrenalin rush.It is also a bit like soul pilates - I feel stretched in every direction by the challenge of making this happen.
On a less intense note, the week long stay at my partners' Simon and Hendrien's home near Conneticut was like a dollop of green in an ocean of hard New York grey.
They live in a forest of horsey farmlands with rivers and lakes for neighbours. On our daily game drives I notched up sightings of three deer, a racoon roadkill and some perky live squirrels.
I was treated royally (one could expect this being queen) with Simon bringing me coffee in bed in the morning - what a good man - and Hendrien feeding me with healthy organic stuff. I was however left with a deep sense of pity for them having to cope without servants - Heaven forbid !

pumpkins and patience

You may well be wondering what is happening with Amsterdam ..... well so are we. We are all anxiously and patiently waiting for a store location to confirm itself so that we can all LEAP into action and make it happen. Patience patience patience. In the meantime we are growing pumpkins.
Here is my gardener Delight - also known as the Green Machine.

Store hunting in Amsterdam

Amsterdam was so much fun - I had to smack myself to remember that I was actually working . Oh I LOVE my job !

My gracious hostesses and franchisees - Esther and Marianne - pedalled me around Amsterdam in the bakfiets looking at store locations. Now I am told this is not normal practice - such vehicles are strictly for the use of children, dogs and shopping. This might explain the smiles, waves, frowns and comments I received like " very chique " !! Well I just don't care - it was superb fun and I could really concentrate on the serious job of looking at locations instead of worrying about mad cyclists approaching from every angle, traffic driving on the wrong side of the road and camera happy tourists who do not look where they are going. I could focus. And focus I did. On the breeze in my hair, the beautiful tulips in the flower market, the crisp fresh green spring leaves on the trees, the boats plying the canals...........oh, and of course, store locations !!

Amsterdam

Amsterdam and our FIRST OVERSEAS FRANCHISE !!!!

I am so excited I can barely sleep. I leave in an hour for Amsterdam. After almost a year of patient and diligent negotiating with two awesome ladies in Holland, we have signed a licensee agreement with Esther and Marianne for the Benelux countries. Their franchise store in Amsterdam is to go ahead as fast as possible to be ready for season, and I am off to help them chose a store location.
What an amazing privilege for RAIN. I am over the moon. It is a huge leap for us from a sleepy village in the Cape to a mainstream branded franchise in central Amsterdam.
And these ladies are dynamite - they are going to make serious waves in Europe -I feel it in my broek.
Watch this blog for the next exciting episode !!
bye

Easter and the Great Trek North

Easter and the Great trek north

Easter weekend saw the mass migration of Rain workers up country to the Eastern Free State and mountain Kingdom of Lesotho – 12 hours drive to the birthplace of Rain.
The excitement was palpable – some of the workers only see their families three – four times a year. Migrant labour is commonplace in South Africa. Poverty and desperation force breadwinners to leave their families and seek work where they can find it.
It is deeply humbling to see these men and women uncomplainingly leave the love and comfort of their family lives and travel to work far away – unselfishly sending all their money home to their loved ones and living on the barest minimum for themselves.
Some of our Rainmakers are Zimbabweans ( South Africa officially has 3 million Zimbabwean refugees who have fled a despotic president, extreme poverty and starvation and a cholera epidemic to try and find a means of survival in South Africa. These people work only to send money home to their desparate families whose expected lifespan is now at 36 years of age for a man ! These are brave people who have left their homeland to face hardships and uncertainty in a new country with a xenophobic people who lash out and kill Zimbabweans simply for “taking their jobs away “. It is not a pretty picture.
We are privileged to be able to make a difference in these poeple’s lives – to be able to throw them a lifeline and watch as they gradually get back on their feet and have their smiles return to worried faces. It certainly keeps things in perspective and keeps one eternally grateful for everything we have.

Just back from a long weekend trip to the region of the mountain kingdom of Lesotho. The land of long grass and high mountains. Went looking for baskets . Found big sky, autumn golds, fresh air and warm hearted people

Electronics versus scones

Electronics versus Scones

Had a fragrant drive in from the airport - thanks in no small part to the sign on the taxi driver's dashboard !
Woke up in a pokey Hong Kong cubbyhole of a room with a full blown headache from hell – no doubt caused by an event the previous evening when I was mercilessly ripped off by a pimpley slanty eyed boy in an exchange booth. Threw the proverbial tantrum – ranting and wailing like a toy toying Zulu, but to no avail.
Decided only a Starbucks grande latte extra hot was all that could mend me, so went off pounding the streets of Kowloon in search of one.
Perched my buns in a comfy starbucks wingback which was literally hovering over the harbour water amidst ships and other harbourish related things – and slowly I began to find my equilibrium.
Caffeine injection complete, humour intact, I set out to pavement slog – searching for electronics for our stores. ( shopping for electronics must be a “boy thing “ because it really does nothing to turn me on.)
In between boring electronics shops, to maintain sanity , I nip into the occasional street market – selling piles of exotic fruit, barrels of spices, buckets of dying fish, flowers and plants unfamiliar to me, tourist trash, temple candles and fake money.
Back to the electronic stuff. Phew – you need an IQ of 148 to understand the stuff, and well.......... I just don’t qualify. ( I can spot a fake Louis Vuitton bag though ).
More information overload and I still have no clue. Oh well, I will just have to go and find a nice cuppa tea .......... and a scone. ( Hong Kong ought to do scones – the British were here long enough to have taught them something valuable ).