|
JAYNE WITH A WHY |
|
|
. : Recent Posts : .
HOME FOR A NIGHT . : Archives : .
January 2006 . : On My Perch at Night, I'm Reading A Book On My Kindle: .
|
. : motley assortment of blogs from other parts of the multiverse : .
. : MY FAMILY MOTTO: FUCK 'EM ALL EXCEPT US: .
. : Credits : .
Template By Caz . : email: spadgesmum at gmail dot com .
|
|||||
Sunday, September 02, 2007GOOD TO BE HOME AGAINFinally, the unpacking, washing & ironing are all out of the way & my feet have touched ground in the Big Sandpit once more. Grandma survived for two whole weeks without us & without buggering up the TV or any other electrical appliance. She's just happy to have us home again......awwwww bless. My trip home to South Africa was blinding. My folks had recently moved to another small-ish town in the Eastern Cape - namely Port Alfred. I was curious to see what the town looked like, as I'd never been there before, but had heard a few choice stories about it, which was worrying. (I needn't have worried) I flew into Joburg, stayed overnight & then flew down to East London the following morning. I picked up a hire car & less than 90 minutes later, was greeted by Dubs & Pup, who alternated between hysterical laughter & crying.............the laughter because I arrived wearing an abaya & niqab* & the tears because it was an emotional reunion.  Pup & Dubs
Nice houses admittedly, but nice prices too. An average stand (plot) is approx 500sq.m & house sizes are around the 230sq.m (which is a 'comfortable' size to me) but for that, it'll set you back a cool R3million (approx. $421,000 or Dhs1.5million). The days of cheap property in Souf Efrica seem to be well & truly over.  We also took a drive out to Bathurst, which is renowned for two things - it's prime pineapple growing country & also an area where many of the 1820 Settlers actually settled. As you can see by the photo, the pineapples grow to a fair size......ahem!   An avenue of kaffirboom** trees, Bathurst. One Sunday morning, we decided to go up to the Toposcope, which is in Bathurst & from there, on to Kleinmonde, another seaside town. There's a dirt/gravel road connecting the two towns, so we opted to take that. The road is well travelled & also well maintained. I was tootling along merrily (as one does) but certainly not travelling at any kind of speed & next thing I know, the arse end of the hire car swiped violently to the left as it hit a patch of loose gravel. I tried to correct the steering & immediately the car skidded in the opposite direction. As much as my brain was screaming "don't touch the brakes!" I had to.....................which resulted in me practically losing all control. The car hit a bank & proceeded to take me on a low-flying detour through some very thorny bush, where it & we, finally came to a halt, thanks to the restraint of a farmers fence. Pup was in the passenger seat in front & was fine (thanks to me insisting he wear a seatbelt) but once the dust had begun to settle, Dubs chirped up from the back seat: "I think me neck has gone". Blinding - that's all I bloody need. The poor woman has had 4 major spinal operations & I had instant visions of ambulances, neck braces, more surgery etc. I just told her to sit still & not move at all. Unfortunately she wasn't 'buckled up' but in all fairness, I very rarely ever put on a seatbelt whilst sitting in the rear passenger seat of a car, so I could hardly blast her. Thankfully, no major damage was done to the car & Dubs was able to move around within minutes. I think her neck muscles must've siezed in an instant reaction & once she'd relaxed again, she was fine. The poxy car got bedded down in the sandy soil, but thankfully a passing motorist came to my aid & towed me back out on to the road again. (Picture damsel in distress, waving her arms frantically!) We headed home again & despite there being no real damage or injury, I just had to pull over & have a good cry. It was my first accident & I've been driving since I was 17yrs old. That evening, Hubs phoned & I told him about it. He was brilliant - he showered me with love & support & told me the main thing was no one was hurt.
Anyway, the time came for me to say bubye once again to my mum & dad..........heaps of snot 'n trana, hugs & kisses. I travelled back through to East London a few hours earlier than needed, because I'd made an appointment with a local tattoo artist.  It's been a few years now since I had 'SPADGE' done (under my original tattoo, which I had done in 1977.....eeeek!) & I remember it being just a tad painful, so I psyched myself up, got comfy in the chair, read another couple of chapters of my book & let the master create his piece of art...............which looks like this:  My departure from Joburg airport (a.k.a. Oliver Tampon International) was one of note. Good friends SLC (Sophisticated Little Chap) & his Missus 'Dear' came through from the East Rand to see me before I left. We caught up on old times & had a good laugh together. Unfortunately, an 'historically disadvantaged' mongrel (who was totally ratarse) decided to keep interrupting our private conversation. In almost 2wks, it was the first time I'd had any kind of run in with a flat-nose & it left a sour taste. The icing on the cake though was the security officer at the scanner prior to passport control. He deemed my bottle of Aigner perfume was larger than the official 100ml & he'd have to confiscate it. An argument ensued & I informed him he would have to smash the bottle in front of me, cos he sure as hell wasn't going to take it. There were a few choice swear words thrown in for good measure (by me) as his attitude pissed on my battery big time. I ended up going back out of the secure area & phoning 'Dear' to ask if she'd like to come back up to Departures to collect a bottle of rather nice perfume. She phoned me the following day to thank me & said she was well impressed..............well...................who am I to brag of my good choice in perfumes hmmmm? So, I returned to the Big Sandpit, unpacked, repacked & along with Hubs, set off for Dublin the following day. More on that in the next entry............................ * Gotta give the net curtain twitchers something to gossip about - especially with new folk moving into the street! ** It's always been known as the kaffirboom tree, but me dad said it's now to be known as the coral tree.  
|
