Les Aventures de Mathilde & Co.

Life seems to go through me in phases of about 8 years. I left home at 17 to go and study, and then work in France. In my eighth year in Paris I suddenly panicked on my way to work. Was this to be my life? Like the 60 something man reading his newspaper each day on the train, who only disappeared every now and then for his allowed 3 weeks annual leave - had I joined the rat race and imprisoned myself in a routine that would from now on be my life? That day, I applied for an Adventure travel job, got it within a week and a month later had asked my friends to come to my flat and help themselves to anything they wanted. I swapped the fridge for an MP3 player, packed one bag and set off on my big adventure.
Six years later, after working in an average of 7 countries a year, I started longing for something else. I'd met Neil on one of my Peruvian contracts - a Welsh tour leader who worked for the same company. We'd meet here and there all over the planet - sometimes choosing contracts in adjacent countries, hoping to hop over the border and catch up. Although that didn't work so well between Ethiopia and Eritrea... we managed to stay together for a few years.
We eventually decided on South Africa as a country we both could live in. I'd grown up there and my nationality would help us settle down. Force of habit, we roamed the country and discovered a small town in the Klein Karoo desert, about 3h out of Cape Town. A beautiful old Victorian House with white shutters had our name on it... And so we became a happy DINK couple, with a lock up and go, perfectly balanced life of roughing it on the one hand, and living in the lap of luxury by the pool in our lovely home on the other.
We had it all! Well, almost. Mathilde, our first daughter arrived a year or so later, shortly followed by her sister Apolline. Dad was still on the road, making an appearance here and there, working double shifts while Mum stayed home with the girls and started developing Mathilde & Co... Life was still fabulous, but things had changed... we'd become responsible adults with loans, and future plans, and stress!! All in all we had it easier than most but the next 5 years gave our adventurous spirit a serious beating.
And then at last, the girls,by now 3 and 5, were old enough to share my love of exploring the open roads. I took them on their first real road trip over the summer holidays. Bliss. It was perfect. And it awoke that old wanderlust in me. We'd been battling with this life style for the last few years, with Neil being away now 6 months at a time and missing his girls - me having to take on everything else here and work hard at my successful little business. There had to be more to life than this! Where was the Freedom we used to have? Surely there was a way to combine family life and escape the daily grind with it's financial constraints?
And so another 8 years has come to an end, and with it a new beginning on the cards... We have something planned but it will require some serious consideration, planning and budgeting. Our 2 gorgeous girls are obviously the first priority but we want them to grow up free, adventurous and knowing they can do anything.
I have re-launched this blog in these more positive, exciting times and would like to share with you this new adventure we are about to embark on. Will it happen? Is it even possible? Because, if we can do it with  2 small girls, then so can you.

Sunday morning.
Up at 6am (I know, I have it easy), cooked breakfast for the family, turned on the stereo and  tidied the house while boogying around to entertain Mathilde and get her off my case. Took her outside to play an exciting game of Push Your Bike Like A Shopping Trolley Around The Pool A Million Times - and came back in, searching her little eyes for any signs of a nice long nap time approaching. Alas not looking tired in the least, I sat her on the couch and let her enjoy her obsession of the moment, a well worn DVD of BBC’s In The Night Garden. I sat down besides her and starred blankly at the screen, not quite fully grasping the action. Fifteen minutes later I emerged from my reverie in a trans-like state only to find my 18 month old chatting away to some imaginary correspondent on my blackberry! It was the way she was talking though, I observed her for a good 5 minutes walking around “multitasking” and chatting very seriously about something I’d have given anything to understand. She was mimicking my expressions, questioning, waiting quietly for the dialogue to bounce back her way, giggling, and sounding surprised (did I detect a little hypocrisy in the giggle??)… ah where is that video camera when you need it?!
I’d bought her a plastic dial phone on wheels a few months ago, complete with ladybird stickers and a big old fashioned handset – she hadn’t the faintest idea what to do with it – I gave her an old Nokia that had been soaked once too often, and she gave me a disapproving look as she chucked it into the nearby waste basket; well what was she to do with a phone that doesn’t even light up when she presses the buttons? Give her a blackberry, even a toy one from the local Chinese shop and she’s a happy bunny! She’s even mastered the typing with 2 thumbs technique which I’m far from having acquired…
Just goes to show. Give them 18 months and they’ve outwitted your 30 years of hard earned experience. I rest my case and am going to bed for my morning nap. She can run the household.