Monday 6 July.
Our appointment with Vernon Lever the podiatrist was at 10:45 am. Moira had the route sussed out after her outing with Alex to the dog training on Saturday. The only problem was we didn't know if the traffic would be heavy, so we left early at 9:30 am. Moira drove up the Great North Rd to pick up the R21 and R24 motorways that skirted round the airport to Edenvale. It was then on to normal roads, that I directed her on using the road map, to our destination.
We were early and after filling out a form that covered both of us we sat and read the newspaper on our iPads. We were taken exactly on time. Vernon dealt with Moira first and I was allowed to watch the process. After filling in a questionnaire about life style, allergies and medication he examine her legs, feet and tested her reflexes. Then she had to take three steps on an electronic pad that recorded her movements and stride pattern on the computer. Next she walked on a treadmill. was videoed and the degrees of pronation measured on the play back. Lastly she stood on a glass plate like a photo-copier and a scan was taken of both feet. He then fed all the info into the computer and it designed the orthotic. He had to make a few adjustments manually because Moira has one leg longer than the other and her feet are very flat. Lastly all the data was fed to another computer linked to a cutting machine which cut out a template that is used for the construction of the final inserts for her shoes. It was then my turn and he put me through the same process. My problems weren't as complicated as Moira's, just pronation and the heels to be raised to protect my achilles tendon. It was quicker for me and he soon had the machine linked to the computer cutting my template. It all cost R8600 but the receptionist said she had a copy to send to our medical aid and hopefully we will get something back from them. Vernon said that the finished product would be ready in the morning; he was in at 7:30 am and if we came in then he would check the fitting. We would be able to get in at that time and back for Alex to take us to the airport in time for our flight to Durban which wasn't until 12:30 pm. This would save Alex the bother of picking them up for us and bringing them to the coast when we goes down to Scottburgh to his car show later in the month.
We drove back along the N12 home. It was a more direct route but a toll road. Alex goes by a roundabout route to avoid the toll gates but it only cost R3 so it wasn't a big deal as a one-off. It was lunch time when we got back and we had our lunch out in the back garden. The maid was in cleaning today again and we had to make sure the dogs were kept out of the house. We came in about 2 pm and watched the Tour de France. There was about 130 km to go and we sat and watched while also reading. It was through Belgium today from Anvers to Huy-Mur de Huy. It was fairly flat up until 60 km to go then there were some hills. The peleton was going on at a very high speed with a tail wind when there was a serious crash, while the TV cameras stayed on this pile-up there was another crash further up the road. The race referee 'stabilised' the race meaning they slowed the race down by having his car in front like a safety car in the F1 Grand Prix. When it turned out than there were some riders with serious injuries and the ambulances couldn't get through he stopped the race. The ones who were recovering got back into the pack, battered and bruised with torn shorts and lycra tops. The race leader, Cancellara was looking very fragile after coming off his bike and turning somersaults in the air, when the race got started he had trouble keeping up. It turned out later that he had a cracked vertebrae and had to withdraw. The race had been stopped at the bottom of the first hill, 60 km from the finish and the 'safety car' started in front until the peleton reached the top of the hill before releasing them to start racing again. The pack seemed reluctant to battle and they took it easy for the next 20 km to a sprint point where there was a challenge for the 'Green jersey' points. We didn't see any more as it was now time for us to go and see Hanammie, with the delay the finish was late and we didn't have time to wait and see it.
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| Tour de France crash. |
We left just after 5 pm and stopped at Pick-n-Pay for some cheese, we had eaten all Alex's cheddar. At the security barrier on Sunny Rd we were just waved through with a smile by the guard, great security. Arens let us in, Hanammie hadn't got back from work and we chatted to Arens while his daughter Lisa made coffee with a bowl of biltong. Hanammie soon arrived and we talked about our walks and travels. They wanted to do the Camino de Santiago sometime and were very interested in our experiences.
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| Visiting Hanammie & Arens |
Moira had her iPad with her and proudly showed-off the pictures of our grand children. They are expecting their first grandchild next February. They are a very nice and friendly couple but we had to cut our visit short as Alex had the dinner ready for 7 pm.
When we got in the dinner was ready to serve, the lamb curry he made yesterday and rice. As usual we had a tasty dry red wine to accompany it. After we had washed up Alex put a DVD on instead on the TV. It was a Rod Stewart concert form the Royal Albert Hall. It was very good, we had seen the original on TV years ago together with Moira's mum. It was after 10 pm when it finished and it was the latest for a while that I got to bed.
Before getting to sleep I checked the result of today's TDF stage. The racing had really started again after we left and there was an uphill finish. Chris Froome battled it out with Rodriguez for the stage win but just failed, he did take the Yellow Jersey though.
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