Life in a small (for SA) village

I am amazed that life in Mtunzini can be so rewarding. It is a small - but growing - village (too big to be a hamlet, but too small to be a town) but life for me is preferrable to living in the fast lane!

Sure only a handful of shops can be seen as a downside, with the common misconception that we are being ripped off every time we shop for groceries. If you need to get more "bang for your buck" there are alternatives:-

There is a huge new Spar outlet in Esikhawini. This caters naturally for the darker members of the population, but the fears that existed before of black hatred of white people, is unfounded.

There is a Pick and Pay in Eshowe, that is in the line of sight of Mtunzini. Sure it is 45 kilometers away by road but in a straight line is only about 20 kilometers in the Ngoye Hills.

Empangeni has a full selection of shops - Spar Superstore, Checkers, Shoprite, Woolworths and Pick and Pay.

Richards Bay is only about 20 kilometers up the coast, but is around 55 kilometers by road.

Ballito is only just over an hour south, and has the best Woolworths that I have seen in a long time! Woolies is supposed to be expensive, but I find that the quality of food is such that if you buy a lettuce, you eat all of it,but from Spar, you throw about half away!

I find that in a small village, the people are far more accepting of me. In a town, the attitude is "Go bother someone else if you have to!" and cities are really unaccepting of disability. The attitude there is "Don't use up my oxygen!" - even if the air is foul with pollution. On the way down the coast from Mtunzini to Durban, you can see when you are getting near the city - there is too much traffic and the air is a smudgy grey colour. Driving up to Johannesburg, you can tell when you are nearing the city because you can literally cut the air with a knife it is so grey with pollution. At least in Mtunzini the air is only polluted when the sugar cane is ready for harvesting and the cane fires burn off the rubbish! Where I live, the sea breezes clear all the waste in the air!

I am so glad that I attend Church in the village of Port Durnford, where the air is similarly unpolluted. The air in Richards Bay is foul with pollution from Alusaf - the aluminium smelter - and from Mondi - the paper mill! I literally cannot breathe properly there and speech is a function of breath. If you cannot breathe properly, there is a snowballs hope of speaking properly. After about 30 minutes there, the air tends to get to my spastic diaphram and I can barely talk well!

It is apparent to me that when you view places like Singapore, New York, Bombay or London, it is easy to be discouraged that there is land for everyone - and to spare - but it is obvious to me that there are huge tracts of land that are barely inhabited. Flying to Cape Town from Durban, there are huge areas where they dont even farm! Sure lots like to live in Cape Town, but there is more to life than a view of Table Mountain over picturesque Table Bay. Living in Rural Kwa Zulu Natal (Mtunzini?) is way better than views of mile upon mile of freeway and concrete buildings!

GPS

I have decided to invest in a second GPS unit for my cars. It is so depressing to be driving say my Disco, only to realise that my Garmin is sitting in Ladybug - my Freelander. I love driving each of them and it is impossible to drive them both at the same time - even though they are both Automatics!

Now I have a Garmin for each, one a Nuvi 500 and the other a Nuvi 50 - wider and as far as I can tell, it allows you to see on screen which lane to be in on freeways.

I see from the icon line above, that I can now post photographs again! Last time I checked, I was unable to access the function where you can post photos to the blog!

I anticipate that on Monday next, I can again go up to the Game Reserve with the 2 Elders from Port Durnford Branch. I am really stimulated at being on the Branch Presidency of Port Durnford. It gives me a way to be creative as a leader of a not so tiny branch of the Church. I feel that the members there loveand appreciate me just as much as I love them.

Vehicle troubles

A while back now my Discovery's battery went flat. It was not so much of a problem except with a low battery, the vehicle thought it was being violated and the alarm went off. It was a time when I was recovering from major(?) surgery to my left heel, so I could not do very much about it except disconnect the battery and recharge it!

Anyway, someone was upset by the alarm going off and - as if by magic - my tyre was let down. Was this retribution? Who knows, but I used my 4x4 Jack  - a cannister of stuff that reinflates the tyre and seals any minor holes. I could not move the vehicle and someone let a lot more air out of my tyre.

Eventually, I moved the spare (an old Michelin tyre) to the deflated side and the flat to the spare. I reconnected the battery and drove through to Empangeni and bought a new BF Goodrich, so all 5 tyres match.

What stuns me most is that my first car that I bought (a Leyland Mini) only cost me R 800 and now my Disco has All Terrain tyres worth R 11 500.

I think my Porsche has now been sold! An offer has been made and accepted. I think that the Indian who made the offer either lives in Stanger or Durban.