On one day recently, Oom Wessel (not me) had a spade stolen that he had left outside, Bennie who farms with a modest variety of livestock lost one hundred chickens, a visitor from a civilised place called Johannesburg lost her car in a hi-jacking, a young man from the Pieterse
Unmentionables on the Stoep
We were naturally outraged by someone defecating on our stoep. To be clear about this, we realised from the beginning that the responsible individual could not be much more than a foot tall. The size of the droppings told us so. Nevertheless, we felt this was very impolite. We first
Trust
I have heard it said that God placed dogs on earth to teach humanity about unconditional love. I cannot vouch for the accuracy of that statement, but if you know dogs it seems quite possible. However, dispensing unconditional love is not the only fine quality they possess. Another was demonstrated
Losing her Innocence
The girl was very little, just five years old. Her grandfather, to whom she turned for information on every possible subject, was very old. Terribly old, she thought. He was probably the oldest man in the world. In fact, he was sixty years old. He had lived twelve times as
Weaver Wars
The start of the hostilities can be traced back to an absence of shade on our terrace. Miriam was determined that we should have shade and that it should be of the natural sort, provided by the leaves and branches of a tree. Accordingly, she set about acquiring a leopard
Christmas Confusion
Christmas comes round faster each year. As you grow older you experience that. Professor Ruth Ogden of John Moore University in Liverpool tells us that time drags when you’re bored and speeds up when you’re having fun. She also says it slows down when you are about to have a
Give him a Beer
We live in the country, away from the city and the relatively sophisticated entertainments it provides. Now and then country life is enlivened by a touring entertainer. Usually the singers perform Afrikaans country songs that sound like an imitation of American country and western songs. Let it be said up
Trees Misbehaving
Tannie Susanna van Wyk was an unhappy person. When I arrived at their home to collect bags of chicken manure for our garden, she was in the kitchen, her face looking like thunder, to use a colloquialism. Outside, their teenage Zimbabwean gardener seemed to have gone insane. He was as
Getting Noticed
A long, long time ago when I was an apprentice telecommunications technician, and that was very long ago, the qualified technician to whom I was assigned, told me his theory about how to get promoted. “The bosses have to know about you,” he told me. “If they don’t know about
Magic in the Water
So you don’t believe in magic? You think that everything in life must have a rational explanation? Well, maybe, but then again maybe not. I spoke to a lady whose home was filled with the pungent smell of burning incense. “What’s that about?” I asked. “It attracts money,” she said,