Lotto has finally arrived! After months of planning, schmoozing, frenetic activity and frustrating delays, we find ourselves going full steam ahead.

We have been blessed to find ourselves with a team of tactical people who are as eager to get to work as we are to put them to work. The past week or so has been somewhat hectic with travelling around the country to train, and getting back to the office today I found 47 emails sitting in my inbox, so sorry to all of you folk who sent me mails for not responding.

Andre and I were in Cape Town on Friday 26th October to train the tacticals, and on finishing the training session at about 3pm, were invited to “have a drink on the yacht” by our coordinator Gary Franklin!!!!!!!!!! It was an awesome experience, especially for me. Gary got us out of the bay (I wasn’t quite sure about this sailing thing at this stage, but was too chicken to say anything. I get car sick if I am a passenger, so I dreaded what a rolling sea would do to me). However, Gary promptly vacated his position at the wheel and invited me to try it. Any thought of puking over the side immediately dissappeared! For the next hour and a half Captain Linda played with the yacht while the the motley crew, made up of Andre, his daughter Robyn, Luke - Robyn’s “significant other ” - and Gary settled back with Savannah’s and a smile!

To all the folk at Avo - we will try not to invade your space too much, and we thank you for sharing it with us.

God bless.

I love avo’s, whether it’s eating them (the ones from the tree), chatting with them, sharing emotional moments or working with them. It is one of those rare places where you can admit to a cock-up (personal or professional) and know you will get support, encouragement, and a shared laugh.

The first time I became involved with Avo pips I was told I wouldn’t be allowed to leave as the chairs had invisible glue on them. Guys, don’t you know that the glue isn’t necessary. In fact, you would have to invent a pretty potent solvent to remove any of the butts presently occupying the chairs.

My strengths are; Positivity, Relator, Adaptability, Learner and Developer - not what I would have considered strengths in a business environment - but I have learned to think in alternative ways and now realise how powerful those strengths can be. If I can learn to use absolute references with absoute confidence, anything is possible! Like Jenny, I love puzzles, sodukos, riddles, blockwords. I love the process of learning new things, and have little use for the piece of paper that says I can do things. I would rather DO.

I lean towards the practical and logical side and leave the creative musing to people like Andre and Hanli.

I am generally the fixer of things and can often be seen with pliers, a wrench or hammer in my hands (By the way, if any avo pips need their geysers repaired I am available on weekends), and have been know to take a lawnmower apart and reassemble it in working order. (Yes, it is still working 3 years later).

My family are my passion. This include a husband of 33 years (Marraige, not age), 5 children (1 son and 4 daughters), 1 son-in-law and 2 almost sons-in-law and 2 grandchildren. So…..as the more mature member of this environment, a little bowing  will be in order.

I never considered history to be an interesting subject, but now that I have begun researching family history - genealogy - I am hooked. It is bad when you cruise the graveyards before the malls!

My S personality is showing, so I leave you with a thought….. When I start feeling blue……….I start breathing again!