On Monday my training for the week was cancelled when the second year students I was meant to train did not arrive for class. I decided to take the opportunity for a week's leave, as I had just gotten married and really just wanted a break. I haven't had leave since December, and the time I had taken off in the last few months where either working holidays or family responsibility leave.

Monday was spent returning all the rented equipment from the wedding. Michelle and I also went past Bytes Systems Integration to say hello to old colleagues and then decided to take Jackie, one of the bridesmaids, to lunch as we were in the area. We ended up spending the evening catching up on some TV shows we recorded the week before and had not had time to watch. I was also able to catch up on some email. I also cooked dinner for the first time in almost a year, as I don't often get time to cook.

I woke up on Tuesday with a swollen foot and ended up sleeping most of the day away. I did spend some time in between catching up on computer and network maintenance and also swapped out the faulty ADSL router which has been long overdue. We also caught up on some more recordings and I ended up falling asleep early.

On Wednesday we returned to Illovo Africa Lodge to take the dogs to the beach. They are right on the river mouth where it joins the sea and it is an extremely quiet and private area, allowing the dogs to run free as well as swim without the concern of waves washing them out to sea. We were also able to relax a bit without having to be concerned about other people.

I popped into the office while Michelle went to the shop and had to resolve and issue with the internet connectivity at the office. Thankfully I had a spare router at home and spent some time configuring and installing it. We then spent the rest of the evening watching movies and catching up on some gossip. It was a refreshing change after the weeks of pressure and stress due to the wedding and the various events we are involved in.

Thursday I spent helping a client with some development on an existing project. It was a fun implementation as we were modifying the system to allow users to select and print labels for sample bottles. I haven't had the change to write proper code in a few months and was quickly engrossed in completing the implementation.

Michelle took me to the doctor on Friday, after waking up with it completely swollen and impossible to walk on. The doctor determined that I had picked up and infection and I have been on medication since. Due to this I ended up spending the weekend in bed, which allowed me to finally finish and implement the new design for HoneyB.co.za, Michelle's blog. It was fun working on her site as she loves pink, and I had the opportunity to play with some new layout ideas.

I am finally able to walk on my foot again and tomorrow I am starting early since I am training onsite at a client. I feel more relaxed then before and the break really helped a lot.