Still three weeks to go!

Well, it may well be a week later, but we are still three weeks away from departure date due to dramas and developments that occurred during the last week, which have caused us to delay our departure by a week.
Firstly, Pieter arrived rather unexpectedly from Holland, to apply for a renewal of his Schengen visa which was due to expire. His application was successful, but for some reason has only been granted as from the 28th of this month instead of the date of issue as is usual. This means that he is stuck in South Africa until then. Because Lisa can't bear to be parted from him for so long, she has decided to join him and they will have a few days leave together, before both flying out on the 27th.
This, of course, means that there would be no-one at home to receive us when we arrived in Europe on the evening of the 24th, so we have had to postpone our flight.
Also, in the last week, Lynn's illness has taken a down-turn and she is now in a very serious condition indeed. We are hoping that this will turn around in the next ten days or so but if not, we may well have a very difficult decision to make.
Hopefully next week will bring better news.