This is the story of a typical day in the life of Mr & Mrs Noah of The Ark, Pearly Beach, South Africa, and a day when they have guests staying at their B&B.
The day starts early, depending what time the guests want breakfast, as that’s the rule they live by at the Ark.
Anytime between 6.30 – 7am the Ark’s animals start to get restless and want to get up, so they starting snuffling and shuffling about, just enough to gently wake up Mr and Mrs Noah!
So it’s out of bed for Mr Noah (Mrs Noah has a lie-in because she spent all yesterday evening baking yummy muffins and tasty breads) and then it’s … chaos!!
Mr Noah has just 3 minutes in which to switch on the kettle, put his shorts on, let Mango out for her wee, make both Mango’s and Sid’s breakfasts, unlock the front door, feed the other (feral) cats, Madge, Bob (has no tail) and Not-Bob (has a tail) and then feed the birds, all of whom are “screaming” loudly for their food. 3 minutes because by then, the kettle will have boiled, and he can’t stand the miaowing, whining and squawking of the birds and animals for any longer!
Then it’s a quick cup of tea for Mrs Noah, and then back to hold on to Mango and Sid as Mrs Noah heads for the bathroom on the other side of the Ark, (it gets very chaotic with all the excitement of everyone saying “Hello” to one another, jumping and weeing all round! That’s the animals, I mean, not Mrs Noah!)
Then it’s Mango tied up outside of the kitchen, Sid shut in the bedroom and Mr & Mrs Noah can get on with setting up the table and preparing the food for the guests’ breakfasts.
Mr Noah lays the table, either upstairs on the mezzamime, if the weather’s nice, or downstairs in the lounge, while Mrs Noah starts laying out the homemade muffins and breads in little raffia baskets, and chopping the salad garnishes up for the bacon and eggs.
A typical breakfast at the Ark consists of:
- freshly squeezed orange juice (in season) or mango juice (no, mango juice, not Mango juice!)
- fresh melon or other fruits
- cereals – muesli and rice krispies currently
- yogurts
- locally home-made jams and marmalades (at the moment it’s orange marmalade, strawberry jam, local honey and pineapple & orange jam)
- homemade muffins (either bran and raisin, chocolate or vanilla - Mr Noah likes the vanilla ones!)
- Homemade breads – usually yogurt bread, seeded bread, and nutty bread sliced for toasting.
- Filter coffee, English tea, Rooibos tea or chocolate.
Then if the guests can manage any more, Mr & Mrs Noah will cook them bacon and eggs, and Mrs Noah’s salad garnish to make it look even better!
Then it’s up and down the stairs a dozen or so times looking after their every need!
When they have eaten as much as they can possibly manage, it’s back upstairs with the dishes and The Big Clean-Up – no dishwasher here on the Ark!
If it is a working day for Mr and Mrs Noah’s Little Helper, Ronelle, then she will do the next bit, otherwise Mrs Noah then goes into the vacated guests’ rooms to strip off the beds, collect the towels and head off towards the washroom to wash and dry them – hopefully before lunchtime – wash them that is, not have them dried as well by lunchtime! Then she cleans the rooms, showers and toilets (what fun!) and makes them look nice again. Then she tackles the guest lounge!
Mr Noah now gets the shopping list up-to-date and heads out into town, some 22kms away, to replenish the food stocks and buy DIY materials (there are always lots of things that need “touching up” and repairing around the Ark!
The “local” Superspar supplies most of our essentials, and then it’s down to the post office to check the box to see if anyone in England has remembered to send us anything!
When Mango considers it is somewhere around lunchtime, Mrs Noah will feed the greedy “little” puppy again (I just don’t know where she puts it all, but she is getting bigger and bigger) and Little Sid and then Mr & Mrs Noah will have a quick bite as well, usually a cheese or salami sandwich with a coke or fruit juice. Oh, and maybe a bit of chocolate too (Cadbury’s of course)!
Then, it’s on to the computer for Mrs Noah to do the e-mails, check the bookings and masses of other stuff that’s called “admin”!
Mr Noah is now into the garage with his touching-up stuff and has the door firmly closed!
Later, it may be car-washing or painting, gardening or cleaning cesspits out, or simply dog walking or just general touching-up type things to be done.
If they are really lucky, Mr & Mrs Noah might just find time to look out of the windows and notice that they live next to a beautiful white sandy beach and a beautiful turquoise sea, and some velvety green mountains in the other direction!
Then its tea time…the animals first of course! Well, Mango at least, as she is now trying to convince us that she hasn’t been fed for over a week! Just where does she put it all!
Mr & Mrs Noah will now settle down to a “peaceful” supper, with Mango trying to eat Sid, and Sid trying to eat Mango around their feet! Mango, bed! The phone usually rings about this time (great timing) or maybe a guest just pitches up looking for a bed for the night (also, great timing), but, eventually, supper is finished!
Then it’s another Big Wash-Up after the meal, and a Clean-Up to make the animals’ beds nice for them, and a last play all together in the lounge (aahhh!), which usually develops into Mango chasing Sid around the room, Mrs Noah running after Mango shouting, “Leave her alone,” and Mr Noah just running around and shouting at everyone! What fun!
Then the time is … 8 o’clock!
Yippee!
And it’s animals to bed … whether they want it or not.
After that, it’s showers for Mr & Mrs Noah, and then it’s a large glass of wine and a settle down about 9pm to watch a DVD!
If they manage to stay awake to the end of the film it is unusual! So it’s normally, “Shall we watch the last bit tomorrow?”
So, teeth cleaned, a last “wee-break” for Mango, and it’s off to bed for Mr and Mrs Noah.
Night night, Sid! Night night, Mango!
And the snoring starts!
And that’s a typical day at the Ark. If you don’t believe us, please pop by and judge for yourselves!
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