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Trev's Bar

Arriving home in south africa, i felt as i usually did - complete. i know that that sounds pretty cliché and cheesy but there is no other way to describe my emotions when landing in cape town.  i absolutely love going home.

the flight out of joburg was delayed by a few hours so by the time we arrived in cape town, most of the passengers were pretty gatvol and just wanted to get home - i was no different. mom and dad picked me up and we stayed up that night having a few drinks catching up. the following morning, dad and i were up early to watch the rugby and soon after the jet-lag set in. only, this time, i had a new plan! i had decided to drink through it! as usual, luckily it didnt take long for jeanette and cindy to arrive and the first drinks were cracked open around 1pm and the last around 1am! my plan definitely worked and on sunday i was over my jetlag. bonus! of course, i did have a bit of a hangover in its place but that i can deal with!

that was about where the immediate fun ended for me. on monday i woke up with flu/a cold and even with regular visits from dr Steynberg, it still took 4 - 5 days to disappear. Vic arrived from australia on the wednesday morning, and as usual it felt as if we were in a whirlwind - of emotion, energy, activity, liveliness, etc! The rest of the week kinda week by in a bit of a blur of activity - showing vic around, sorting out the wedding, visiting various bars, etc. fortunately by the weekend i was feeling a bit better and we had a great time at my friend Antonios' Greek restaurant and we also managed a saturday night out at The Strip - although we had fun, it did leave us feeling a little old and more than a little "daggy" amoungst all those gorgeous glamarous girls - we consoled ourselves with the fact that they were also snobby and pretentious and later even nicknamed Coup de'tat, the favourite bar along the strip, Coup de Blah!

Unfortunately that again was where all the fun ended though as vic headed off on Monday night for her trip up the coast and i headed to bed for another week-long illness! this time some sort of virus and not even dr steynsbergs medicines or my favourite-tried-a-tested-cure of vodka could cure me of it.  finally by the next week i was getting over it all and managed a few weekend parties. The next to arrive were Marks parents and his youngest sister Amy from Australia. It was finally time for the "Meet the parents!" We headed out to Quay 4 for a great dinner and a few drinks and had a wonderful evening with everyone meeting for the first time and getting to know one-another.

of course now due to my 2 week-long illness (i know, Jays, i am a bloke with a head cold aren't i?!), mom and i were 2 weeks behind in all the wedding planning and we had a lot of ground to cover in only 2 weeks. we started every day early and finished up very late, rushing around like headless chickens to get everything finished. aunty gerry and kelly arrived from canada during all the madness and the party atmosphere really started to kick off. Kelly took up what was to become her place in the house - the kitchen - (she is a wonderful chef who totally spoilt us rotten over the next few weeks and we literally wouldnt have survived without her!) - and aunty Gerry took up her role in the house -  as mom's right hand! and what a magic job she did, often with mom until 2am sewing, beading, cutting, sticking, etc!

the friday, a week before our wedding was our deadline - the overseas guests were arriving and things needed to be finished to make room for all the parties! Dad (Trevor) finished up work to start his 2 week break and finally stopped moaning about being the only one up every day to bring "in the bacon"! (my little brother Stevie was not working and well, obviously i was also off for 10 weeks! he didnt of course factor in that my mom actually also had a full time job - a wedding planner - which unfortunately for him involved spending money rather than earning it!

mark, mo and scott arrived friday night and the party CERTAINLY began with us picking up right where we had left off in Brazil and the 4 of us were up to our usual craziness until the wee-hours of the morning! after only 2 hours sleep i was once again off to the airport to pick up scottie and barry who were arriving from London at 5am. after only 2 hours sleep seeing a dead body in the middle of the road was pretty unnerving (dont worry, to all of you thinking of going to SA, this is NOT a regular occurance but rather an unfortunately victim of a hit-and-run).

Seeing Scottie too was picking up where we left off in london and spending time with him again made me remember how much i loved living with him for almost 4 years in london! My brother Craig also arrived from England as well as Eva who had travelled for 4 days from the mountains of Georgia in Eastern Europe.

After a bit of grocery shopping, for me anyway - others escaped to the pub! - the welcome-braai (bbq) began at 2pm at mom and dad's house and "Trev's bar" was officially opened! make no mistake, Trev's bar has been going for years and has seen some serious celebrations but all the overseas guests had now started arriving and the 'The Wedding Celebrations' had finally begun! what an epic party! starting at 2pm on saturday, going through till 6am on sunday - copious amounts of food and alcohol consumed and so much laughter and fun! it was great seeing my friends and family finally putting names to faces after so many years of having all the people i love "seperated" and more importantly, it was hysterical seeing the faces being put to the "bar stories" that had been told over the years! there were certainly many incidents that will lead to more bar stories over the years! Eva, the barlady serving beers in shot glasses certainly will be a favourite and "the Ostrich" performed by Eva and Vic will certainly by copied for years to come! one of my personal favouries was being invited (mistakenly) by Kirsty to share hers and Vaughns hotel room the following Saturday - our wedding night! - but it turned out to be a case of hilarious mistaken identity!

after a few hours sleep, we headed off to the greenpoint markets for some african craft shopping which soon led us, invariably, to another pub, before hitting Trev's bar once again! uncle walter and Noelene had now also arrived (from Canada) so of course there were more welcome drinks that needed to be had! uncle walter also took up what-was-to-become his role in the house - Bartender! and that is pretty much how the week continued. the tourists went off and did the touristy stuff during the day while mom, myself and the other "wedding helpers" got things finished off for the wedding and mark and i did the same meeting the photographer, minister, venue, etc. The nights saw the usual long, awesome parties at Trev's bar - they were all fantastic nights with the only variation being the bar tender! (eva had been banished for her atrocious beer-in-shot-glasses-stint!! :)

On Wednesday aunty tess arrived from Tanzania/East London (which meant more welcome drinks of course!) and thursday was meant to bring Linda and Derek from australia. of course nothing is as simple as that when Flight Centre is involved!  we got a text message around 5pm - about 2 hours before they were due in cape town saying Derek (the best man) would not be able to arrive till sunday (after the wedding!) Crises! thanks to an unsurprising flight centre error, i spent the rest of the night until 3am on the phone to Australia. Our angel came in the form of a dear friend Ange and her friends and work colleagues at Qantas and British Airways who managed to get our best man to the wedding! he arrived a little worse for wear and furious with flight centre but we were just so glad to have Linda and Derek there. without your help Ange, i have no doubt in my mind our wedding party would have been minus a few members!

As a result of the night before, i woke up on Friday shattered and exhausted! thursday was supposed to be my one night to relax and get a good nights sleep (up until that point, i had been averaging about 4 hours a night!) but i woke up more tired and emotional than when i went to sleep! i was sent straight to the gym for a relaxing steam bath (which wasnt all that relaxing in the end as all i kept thinking about is what i would be saying/writing to flight centre!) but i did feel better for the "time out". Flight centre will definitely be hearing from me as the stress and emotion is certainly not what a bride wants to be dealing with less than 36 hours before her wedding! Unfortunately that was not that only problem we had had that week as a friend and family member had both ended up in hospital, another friend had a car accident and another heartache had hit another close family friend so by that stage, emotions (for me anyway!) were running high which is NOT a good combination with such little sleep!

So, friday night - the supposed quiet night before the wedding! - saw the arrival of Grant and Uncle Craig from Tanzania/East London and the party once again kicked off at Trev's Bar! The alochol was flowing and the laughter was constant as we heard uncle craig serenading enrique iglasias all the while trying to marry Craig and Eva, while at the same time, trying to convince mark and i NOT to get married! it was hilarious! as much as i was loving the party, i eventually crashed out around 1am, to get a "good" 6 hours sleep! the Mansell house certainly was full that night with 15 people sleeping in it so you can imagine the parties just continued at Trev's bar.  Mom and aunty gerry continued their brilliant handywork on my dress until around 3am while the party continued around them and the bridesmaids and myself got a "good nights rest". 

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