Sea view

In front of my unit is another parkhome. Between this and the sugar cane field, is a HUGE tree. This tree had grown branches that completely blocked even the slightest sea view. Yesterday there was much noise as someone was hacking down branches with a chain saw. I now have a reasonably clear view down the slope to the sea. A photograph hardly does it justice. You can see just above the dune forest, the breakers on the beach! Followers can see from this photo that the countryside is green - this being late winter. From Pietermaritzburg (50 miles west of Durban) or even before that, the countryside is brown and dry! Flying from Johannesburg to the coast, you definitely can see from the plane when you are near to the coast! The countryside below changes from Brown to green!

Just off shore is Glenton Reef, a coral reef that is actually a breeding ground for sharks. The municipality did try to instal sharknets, but found that they were catching way too many sharks. The uproar ment they had to remove them. It is better for a few Gautengers to have their toes nipped, than to endanger sharks. At Easter and Christmas there is a ready supply of holiday makers, and sharks are way more inportant!

As it is, since records have been kept here, one surfer was bitten (lost her foot!) and 1 surfer claims to have been bitten - without loss of limb!

When we first moved into a house in the village, we had an incredible sea view, to the right of this view, where you can regularly see ships waiting to enter the harbour at Richards Bay.

I love living where the tiny road in front of my unit, divides me from my neighbors and beyond them is about a kilometer or so, of sugar cane fields, then the dune forest, the beach and the waves. Summer here, is a breeze - literally - as I get cool sea breezes all the time.

School holidays

Christine is writing her Matric Trial exams! Her 18th birthday was on Saturday and her mom treated her to a day in a Spa in the Midlands. Then she got permission to have Christine not at school for Monday or Tuesday as Christine had no scheduled exams on these days, so she took Christine back to Johannesburg.

Anyway things went wrong and Christine was admitted to hospital on Sunday with expected appendicitis. When she was 4 or 5, she spent time in a local hospital with suspected appendicitis. Her return to school by Tuesday has been expanded to late Thursday. I can only imagine the fallout if I had taken Christine for a day and a half, and only returned her some 5 days afterwards. Still if she was to be ill enough to be hospitalised, I am glad that she was at least with her Mom.

Strikes me as crazy that the surgeon refused to operate and remove the appendix. When I was at school - just after the Ark beached on Mount Arrarat - it feels like a whole lifetime ago! - a surgeon would have thought nothing about removing the offending appendix. I still have mine, but I am positive that I would have survived without it if they had removed it! I lost my tonsils when I was 5 or so, and have not missed them since!

Anyway, Christine starts her holidays on 21st September and I have been commanded (SWAMBO) to take my V8 Landy - and trailer - up to school to collect the luggage that Christine will not use next term. It is phenominal that in a year she has enough crap to fill a Landrover - and a trailer - and still have stuff in her Dorm at school. Boy is she fortunate that I changed from a 1.4 litre 4 cylinder Opel Corsa, to a V8 Landrover.

When I went to Cape Town for 2 weeks, I took one suitcase - small enough to be cabin luggage, but she needs 3 cases just for a weekend! Maybe I take what I need rather than what would be convenient! I just wonder why a woman needs so much stuff - and still goes shopping for more stuff! Thank Heavens for pieces of gold painted plastic (credit cards!)

She has booked her driving test on 13th. Hopefully she will pass (she drives very confidently!) and I can have my V8 back - permanently!

SWAMBO

I came across an acronym that made me smile - SWAMBO - or She Who Always Must Be Obeyed! I know that I am divorced, but even so, I find that there are people like this in my life!

My Mom, who insists that I am out on the road no later than 5, for fear of the sun setting and BM (Bad Men) coming out to attack the innocents (Me?) - as if I am THAT innocent!

My daughter - who is paranoid about me being attacked AGAIN! - I kind of feel that I have fought off an out of control bread truck - not THAT successfully!

The ladies at Church - who dont exactly like being told "NO!"

My female dog - who has some very set ideas on who is important in this life!

Luckily the lady whom I like to share my time with, is not as insistant! Being in her company is kind of a breath of fresh air!

I was divorced in 1998, and have not exactly looked back much since then. I am important in my life, and what I do surprises even me!

I have been helping my mechanic neighbor to service "Ladybug" - my diesel 4x4. He was battling to get the air cleaner cover back on and I felt that since he had only changed the air filter, that MUST have been the problem. I looked at the one that came out, and the plastic cover, and I had a flash of inspiration that MAYBE he had put the filter in upside down. He was scratching his head, and I made my suggestion. He kind of looked like he was sighing "What does HE know?" but he tried turning the filter over. Wonder of wonders, it now fits! It is obvious to me that the manufacturers have no intention of you servicing your own car! When you open the bonnet - something that I RARELY do - you cannot even see the air filter. Most cars that I have owned, this is in A circular type housing on top of the carburettor! (even a confirmed book worm like I grew up as) can recognise that. However in my Landy, it is kind of hidden away behind the motor beneath a cover. Even then, most filters are easily fitted, but in my Landy, it can fit in 2 ways, but only the right way can you tighten up the screws!

How any monkey can be trusted to do it with a minimum of supervision defeats me!

What also amazes me is that the oil filter is tiny. The fuel filters are so much larger - by a factor of about 10 or so! Obviously the fuel is more important than is the oil! When i bought the fuel filter, they could not tell me which one should fit! There are 2 types - one under the bonnet and the other that apparently fits underneath near the rear wheel! The cars that I have owned in the past have one TINY little white gubbins that fits under the bonnet somewhere - and even then, they fit with fuel flow in either direction. Why are things suddenly so complex - and expensive! I remember on Fred, the car that I learned to drive in. The fuel filter was in a metal housing, and when you serviced the car, all you had to do was to undo the filter, take out the element and ckean that in a bowl of fuel! I suppose that someone decided that this was not economical as the owner NEVER needed to buy a new filter. All he had to do was to scrub the old element clean in a bowl of petrol and - heavens sakes - it actually worked.

I have seen examples of rooftop tents - ones that fit onto a roofrack affair on top of a roof! This is a great idea if you are out in a Game Reserve, as an ordinary tent has the downside of easily being broken into by the likes of monkeys, Elephant or even lion. How likely is it that a lion will attack you if you are a long way from the ground? I am quite keen to look at seeing if I can instal one on top of my trailer, behind the car! This ranks up with the idea that I can drive from home to London - overland! Ewan McGreggor and Charley Bornman did it from John O Groats to Cape Town - although they did travel by boat part of the way! They also did London to New York - via Russia, so I believe it must be possible - although not easy - to do Cape
Point (Africa) to Cape Horn (South America) overland.

If the presenters of Top Gear can drive to the North Pole - as unfit as they are - it MUST surely be possible to go Cape to Cape - overland (even if some of this must be over the ice in the Baering Straits. The only thing against this is they did it on British Passports and I dont think that an SA passport holds the same sway! It should, but who knows. I know that in "the Long Way Down " (John O Groats to Cape Town) they had to abandon some team members to fend for themselves when Americans were not allowed into Libya. Would I be allowed into Germany or France - or even Russia on an SA passport? Sure my daughter has been to Switzerland on an SA passport, but Switzerland only took them part of the way round the world!

It is an interesting thought though, altough I would be loath to try it, especially since I am deathly allergic to bee stings - and need to carry a supply of scheduled drugs - muscle relaxants! These are no ways "Over-the-counter" medecines! I carry ampoules of adrenelin in case I am stung and need to get to a doctor in a reasonable hurry. The last timec I was stung I was in Intensive Care for 4 days! In the far out of the way stretches of Africa - or Siberia - I am not going to survive for longer than an hour without medical attention.

It is kind of a bummer being allergic to yourself! (If I get stung the anti venoms in my body now, will react just as if I have been stung by another swarm of bees!) Chances are however that statistically, I have been stung twice in the last 50 years - true, once by one bee then by the rest of the same swarm. I am so fortunate though. Just after I was hspitalised, so too was the Branch president from our Nseleni Branch. I have recovered with only relatively minor side effects, but he has been hospitalised at least every 3 months as a result of the stings that he had! He looks quite sickly now, and I am positive that I dont look as bad as he does - even if you discount the effects of my Road Accident that left me with immense problems!

It rather scare me that the Avocado tree in my neighbours yard is currently in flower, and mid morning, it is buzzing with bees, and there ia a constant rain or tiny white flowers. At least I know that bees have more sense than to commit suicide by stinging me! When I was stung by the swarm of bees, I saw that dead bodies littered the ground where the bees had died after I was stung!

Live and learn

Back when I was first out of school – the year that I served as a conscript in the Rhodesian Armed Forces – things like Word Processing – were not something that could be done! You could type, but back then, type writers were the ones that rang a bell when the carriage reached the end of a line! Tippex was common to fix mistakes. At school, I had precious little to do with typing and type writers were kind of an unusual occurrence. Digital watches were not common, and it stuns me now when school kids are now unable to tell the time unless there is a digital readout!

Maybe I’m crazy – or old fashioned – but for me a watch HAS to have hands to be of any worth. When I was running marathons, I used to use a digital watch that acted as a stopwatch.
I had to replace my watch recently since the one that I was wearing, broke and – wonder of wonders – the agents could not fix it! When I was run over in 1992, I had a Seiko watch that I was given as a birthday gift whilst I was still at school. When I was run down, my Seiko was smashed beyond recognition. To replace it with a new Seiko was far too expensive, so I had a variety of watches that were not so great – or as expensive. Turns out that I probably spent 4 or 5 times as much as I would have on an expensive quality watch!

When my watch broke irreparably, I found a watch that I was assured is made by the same factory as Seiko watches – a Fossil watch – that is guaranteed to have spares availability for at least the next decade! How many digital watches have anywhere near that sort of backup. Chances are, it will outlast even me – and that is saying something!

I am constantly amazed at Heavenly Fathers artwork. Where I live is always green and if it has not rained this week, it is classed as a drought. To see yellow grass to the horizon is something different. I have to question why some (most?) people believe that this world is a divine an accident, instead of crediting the art work to our creator! Not very far from this area, is the Drakensberge (Dragon Mountains) that in winter are white with snow. In Zululand we are not used to seeing natural snow. True locally we get “Zululand Snow” the fallout from cane fires, when cane smuts fall to the ground from out of the air!

When I was stung by thousands of bees, I was hospitalized and the General Practitioner attending to me diagnosed me as diabetic. My blood sugar levels were through the roof and the GP felt that I was diabetic. He would not even let me eat my jelly and ice cream – the only thing that made hospital food anywhere near palatable!

I am convinced that people in hospital only recover so that they can get to order meals out! Sure pizza is not healthy for you, but they are worth looking forward to when you are faced with some disgusting scrambled eggs!

I have found out that a “normal” blood sugar level reading is 6.9 – although 6.9 what is a complete mystery? I have an impression that the shock of bee stings pushed my reading up. I have a home testing kit, with which I monitor my blood sugar readings, but they are usually around 5.3 – or kind of low. I can feel if my blood sugar is getting low, so I can eat “luxuries” like the occasional (very occasional) box of Smarties. I kind of remember these from before we had economic sanctions in Rhodesia. Back then (40 years ago) you could by quality sweets in the local Greek corner café! Then they could not be imported, and we used to stock up with them when we came to the coast for holidays. Local chocolate was terrible quality. We only used to eat it because there were no alternatives! One thing that has not changed is the taste of Coca Cola – that has remained the same ever since I can remember. I not missed fizzy drinks since I gave up sugar, just like I have not missed alcohol since I joined the LDS Church. I have certainly not missed the weight that I have lost!

Memories

I often wonder why bits of random information stick in your mind - almost like stick-it notes in your brain - forgotten most of the time, then something triggers a memory and these come flooding back!

I received a random Email from a contact who is researching a book that includes details on National Service at the very end of the existance of Rhodesia and the commencement of Zimbabwe as we know it now!

I was in the final intake of conscripts that were called up before National Service was officially called off!

I served in the Pay Office at the Cranborne barracks of the Rhodesian Light Infantry - RLI. When I was given the chance to join the Pay Office, I cheerfully volunteered, since I was sick and tired of lugging the FN Rifle that I was issued with as a troopie, EVERYWHERE. You HAD to carry it everywhere you went, on pain of serious military action against you. I HATED (with avengence) the lump of metal that was standard issue. You had to take it everywhere - to the mess hall for meals, to the bathroom for the traditional triple "S" (shit, shower and shave!) and when you had to march (or run) anywhere! A few soldiers left theirs next to the bed when they did their ablutions, and boy did they regret it! In a firefight, your weapon was of more use to you than your mother, your dog or even your girlfriend.

I dredged up some detail that I hope is correct and today I got 2 replies to my info dredging Email, in gratitude for the detail I provided! It was of tremendous help to someone who was not sure but my memory seems to be intact, and of help. Amazing what sticks in your brain!

I did not exactly relish being conscripted, but looking back, I can see that I actually enjoyed it! It was the first taste that I had of freedom to be an adult - earning a pittance as a NS soldier, but it was enough for pocket money. You were fed and clothed by the army, so the pittance we were paid, was good enough to buy a round of drinks at the Corporals Club in the barracks. The world thinks that the commissioned officers - those with stars on top of their shoulders - ran the army, but I am convionced that the real power players were the NCO's - or corporals! We were senior to the run of the mill troopies, and being in the pay office especially, the officers respected us - they had to because we directly controlled the true power behind the armed forces - their pay! They knew this as the one evening, the base was mortered and the loudest cry was that of "Save the Pay Clerks! I want a "Casual" tomorrow" - a casual was a casual advance on the salary - kind of like drawing cash from the Piggy Bank! Casuals were safer than keeping money in your boots, and were important for the evenings when you were out with your mates!

Civillians look on the arms (FN rifles and hand grenades) as the reason that an army exists, but I can assure everyone that in a firefight, the main concern is not for "Ammunition" but for "cash!"

Being in the last intake of NS, Igot to see a whole lot more action than the soldiers who laughed at me volunteering for a "cushy" job in the Pay Corps. Most of these spent the 11 months in the army confined basically to barracks, and the Pay Office saw way more action. We went into the centre of camps where the "returning heroes" (terrorists) were housed - all armed to the teeth. As the Pay Office we were there, and the troopies who laughed at us, were all left in barracks, with nothing to do!

I was terrified of having to kill anyone, and in the Pay Office the most we ever murdered was a ball point pen! we were respected, by everyone (we controlled their pay) and were kind of Godlike in how we dealt with anyone and everyone! We were on close relations with junior officers, and were - as 2 stripe Corporals - way more influential than the troopies!

We progressed from the Troopies Canteen (the food was not great!) to the Corporals Club, where the food was not too bad! I certainly will never regret being in the Army.

That was way before I joined the LDS Church - which was quite fortunate. I used to drink a few beers - Servicemans food - and even if I was not over the moon at it, it was better than your average coke! That was before I found out the joys of wine - especially Red Wine, shortly before I gave up alcohol when I found that the LDS (Mormon) religion that has given me a reason to live!

Additional thoughts

A year ago when I started to wear my Medic Alert Bracelet, it was kind of tight fitting. If I had the choice, I would hae chosen a slightly longer chain. After I was so heavily stung, I have lost a lot of weight, so it is now quite loose on my arm. Behind the bracelet is my watch strap, that a month ago was fairly tight. In a month it is loose enough for me to consider having links taken out. Yesterday a friend commented that I was looking far trimmer than I have looked recently - even given my weight loss. I am still in the process of losing bulk - and I assume weight also. I dont weigh myself, but I feel that I have lost somewhere between 50 and 65 kilograms since I was diagnosed as diabetic! I regularly check my blood sugar level and the reading ranges between 4.3 whatevers to 7.4. Normal is 5.2 and when I was stung, it sat at around 15 or 16 for days!

It peeved me off when a fellow member of my church commented "You are getting fat!" In whose world is losing weight and inches. considered getting "fat"?

Anyway, if fitting into clothes that I grew out of a decade ago. "getting fat" then I welcome it! If this member - who drives me NUTS - feels that losing significant weight is getting fat, then she needs her head read! She certainly is not permitted to comment to me!

My Temple Garments are in the wash and I am comfortably wearing garments that I bought 20 years ago when I took out my Endowments in the LDS Temple - the same weekend that I was run over! Amazes me that they fit me again, after I had resigned myself to being unable to excercise! If I excercise, my muscles cramp up and dont release properly. That is technically spastic where they dont respond to brain stimuli. So much for school kids telling me "Dont be so spastic!" and not realising what they are saying!