Nou Gaan Ons Braai

This morning Jade was supposed to go for her operation to fix her broken leg but because her bones where long and thin, the vet was very concerned about the success of the operation so he decided to use an external fixator. The operation was postponed till the afternoon but when I arrived to visit after work, I found out that a vet in Brits got to hear about Jade’s trauma and offered the use of his surgery and plating equipment to my vets at a fraction of the cost going to the specialists. So my vet jumped at the opportunity and rushed Jade the hour’s drive north to the town of Brits. They had not returned back from Brits so all I could do was go home and wait.

I arrived home to find load-shedding. This is sole electrical supplier, Eskom’s failure to run, manage, and plan our electrical grid. Okay maybe it is because it is a government organisation and bonuses get paid even if they fail so why work at all. Anyway as South Africans all we could say was “Bly kalm, ons gaan nou braai” which is directly translated, “Stay calm, we are going to now barbeque”.

So we joined the nintsy weeny spider making her web on the patio and started the braai. Being mid-week we didn’t find much braai meat in the freezer so staying calm we made do with what we had. Chicken breasts, potatoes, and butternut stuffed with spinach feta and ham. We sat on our patio enjoying our dinner by lantern in the darkest Africa while the night creatures kept their distance.

The report back from the vet was that Jade’s operation was a success, praise God. Lesson to be learnt here is that when you find yourself in darkest Africa and in a sticky predicament just say these words “Nou gaan ons braai”.