Unplugged edition - Nirvana style

When I was growing up, we all had that one Nirvana unplugged CD.  You know the one where the poor drug addict screams his little lungs out, come as you are...preferably high.  In my case I also had an Eric Clapton unplugged CD.  The first CD I ever owned in fact was the Eric Clapton one, the teary Tears in Heaven and the more upbeat Layla played extensively on my DVD player back in the day.  I don’t think that any of us really knew just what unplugged meant, or how we would in time to come need to unplug ourselves from the network a bit.

This past weekend we went to a cherry farm in Fouriesburg, Free-State with some friends, and the most amazing part of the weekend was most probably the fact that our smartphones had zero reception.  Zero as in nada, zip, this meant no BBM, Whatsapp, Facebook or emails.  It was quite a new experience to be living in the moment again and not living the moment on Facebook tagging along all the time. 

Yes, I am the first to admit that when we arrived on Friday and I discovered the lack of reception, I panicked and walked around phone in the air waving my hands like I just don’t care, but then I relaxed, I realised that my husband and children were right there next to me and Sekai would be more than capable of dealing with any crisis at home.  Hell she probably had a pool party with margaritas, and good on her, that woman works way too hard anyway.

Technically speaking I was on leave and replied to emails for the biggest part of the day on Friday, so I could not really do much more now could I .  Monday was only a whisper away, and let's just face up to the fact that it is November, pre-festive season slowness has started in most of our beautiful country and we might as well be in full government shut down mode similar to Barak's people over in the US. 

On a recent family vacation in Mauritius, Gerhard and I religiously checked emails once a day, replied to the urgent ones and posted some pics on Facebook, you know just so people could see us relaxing, having fun.  Crazy, madness and just a bit sad really.  When five year old kids as you if you are on Facebook, it is funny and sad at the same time. When they ask you to just Whatsapp the teacher that they are sick, you know we have a problem!

So we forcefully unplugged this past weekend, the kids had a ball, Liam caught his first ever fish, he is hooked in a manner of speaking so I guess Gerhard will unplug again, soon, rod and tackle in hand.  Luka played outside, and shouted ‘moo’ at every single cow she saw, Gerhard played golf, I went to the spa, and you know what, the photographs were still there to load on Facebook this morning, and the office believe it or not still stands, regrettably so. 

If you are looking for me in December 2013 folks, I am unplugging at an undisclosed destination, phone in the cubbyhole of the bakkie.  Pics will follow in January 2014.  No more panicked hand waving cellphone reception seeking for me thank you very much, I pay a lot of money for my holidays, and so I will be experiencing them, real time.