When you live on a small holding outside of town, Tshwane in this case, life is a bit different to that experienced by city folk. For instance, the thoroughfares connecting us to the world are all old-fashioned dirt roads. They are uneven, rocky, severely corrugated and ignored by the city.
It came as a big surprise when for the first time I saw Jolyon’s new signage. ANSWERS TO LOAD SHEDDING, it said. I just had to go in to see for myself. He looked very happy and confident. “I am going to make fortune out of loan shedding,” he told
Last time I told you about Tramp. I found his free spirit both endearing and frustrating. He had learnt to survive in a hostile environment of farmers with firearms and big, aggressive dogs. They do not take kindly to a free spirit like Tramp running off with a chicken or
You cannot live out of town and out of sight of your neighbours unless you have dogs, at least not in our neighbourhood. Our closest neighbours each have five or six. Two older ladies who live some distance away have twenty-four and a man whose place is quite close has
Along the edge of the plots, the Wildsplaas provides a barrier of sorts between the plots and a large township. The erection of shack dwellings by people for whom no space in the township can be found is also a growing reality. In this case, the reason is desperation of
Most male plot owners go armed. Hand guns are carried on the hip, either tucked into the wearer’s belt or in a holster. While the bushveld that surrounds us is a home to some creatures who could be injurious to your health, primarily the guns are carried for protection against
We have a meal occasionally at a place that often seems to have too many waiters and waitresses. You get served very fast, staff members almost bumping each other out of the way to get to your table. This situation is good for patrons, but it results in some unhappiness
The R101 cuts through the centre of the Springbok Vlakte. Often you cannot avoid it to reach some destination in our area. Apart from its high accident rate it is also noted for its proliferation of traffic cops, especially at this time of the year. The official reason for so
South Africa is a strange country and always has been. All true South Africans love their country, but many have chosen to leave. During Apartheid years some people left because they were suffering intense discrimination and wanted to get away from it. Today, people are leaving largely because they have
Like everyone else in the country we have to plan around the times when we have power. And, also like everyone else in the country, we anticipate some pretty erratic load shedding times. A message from head office might say that the power will be off from twelve noon till