In the Dark

So on the third day, after so many Eskom employees have supposed to have come out to reconnect us and fix their mistake, I had to drive around looking for an Eskom employee. Beg with them, and after they phoned the dispatch to check the system that it was an incorrect disconnection, drive them with them to my house so that they can reconnect us. I could no spend another night in the dark.

What does it take to do the job correctly in the first place? Three days with no electricity and so many lies from Eskom where is this country going?

Clutch Control

We arrived home from Rustenburg yesterday afternoon only to find that the power has been cut. All our Eskom electricity bills are fully paid, and after phoning, we discovered that they switched off the wrong property. Okay sort of good news is that not ours but the neighbours should have been disconnected but the bad news is that we have to wait up to 24 hours before someone can come out to reconnect us. Not good enough Eskom as it is the middle of winter and it was your mistake.

All I could do is to take Matthew driving and teaching him clutch control. Yes he has now got his learners which means, everyone stay off the sidewalks, here comes Matthew. After a few jerky starts, Matthew soon got the hang of changing gears. Oh boy this means soon he will be out on his own.

Okay so far Eskom, has told us that they have someone on their way, so many times now that we don’t believe them anymore. What a bunch of liars and jokers, Eskom has turned out to be.

Three Uncles

Be Thou my vision, O Lord of my heart. Naught be all else to me save that Thou art. Thou my best through by day or by night. Walking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.

They say that things happen in threes which has a name, the Rule of Three. Well this rule has come true this year with death visiting this family three times for my pets Ally, Little Boy, and Patch, and now three uncles, Uncle Tony, Uncle Izak, and now today we lay to rest Uncle Ronald or as he is known to me Ronnie.

Now go away Death, ride out of here on that great pale horse of yours, Binky. You have visited us too many times this year already.

Today in Rustenburg, with my mother and brother by my side, we said our last goodbyes to Ronald Kümm, a brother, a father, a husband, a friend, and an uncle to join my gran and other two uncles.

One memory stands clearly in my mind of my uncle Ronnie, and that was of the incident where God clearly spoke and used me. Nearly ten years ago, I took Ronnie down to Durban to see his mother, my gran, on her death bed. To read the full incident go to Good people don’t go to heaven, saved people do.

And this is where I will end it, I hope Ronnie had heeded those words as the baton is passed onto his grandson, Elijah, who was born only a month ago. Elijah will not remember his grandfather and them two meeting but he will be loved. May his God be Yahweh as his name means, and may he be blessed to be a blessing to all those around him.

High King of heaven, when battle is done, grant heaven’s joys to me, O bright heaven’s star. Christ of my own heart, whatever befall, still be my vision, O Ruler of all.

Mother Dearest

All the preparation during the week has been for this moment. I had to go to Pretoria to pick up my mother dearest who only coming up for a few days because her brother, Ronnie, had passed away. This is the same brother that I took down a few years back to say goodbye to his mother, my gran, just before she went to heaven. I think I will have to look for that story of that trip down, which I think is in my other blog which I hardly use, but it is an awesome story of how God spoke to me in an audible voice once upon a time. Maybe tomorrow, I should put a link to that story.

Out came the Sun

And out came the sun and dried up all the rain. And now the weather report. After the last two days of storms, snow, hail, floods, and tornadoes, the weather has gone back to normal winter weather. Outside it is cold and frosty with not a cloud in sight. This means over night the temperatures plummet to below zero and in the morning the lawns are covered in frost and the dams have frozen over.

No wonder the jackals are becoming brave and are venturing right up to the cottage. The dogs and cats are tucked in tightly. What you say Minky, with the dogs all asleep cosy in their bed, isn’t nice and warm by heater?

Lucia Ntokoza Esme

Last night the storm intensified and I am sure the winds must have reached gale force. This morning the storm continued with hail. Later on more reports came in of tornadoes but this time on the East Rand which is far from us.

Anyway safe as houses, Lucia, Ntokoza, and Esme, from the office cleaning division took shelter in our office building. Okay, okay, where we are, it was only hail for a short while in the morning and then for the rest of the day we were shrouded in the clouds while the rest of Jozi was lashed by the storm.

Wetter Weather

Arguing about the weather only gets you wetter, and on this Monday, the weather looks all closed in. Snow on the high lying areas, floods on the coast, while here in Krugersdorp, it is hailing. Not a lot of hail but a dusting, just to keep us on our feet. Wait stop the presses, a tornado was reported just down the road in Magaliesburg, uhmmm. At least our dams are filling up.

Oh well let the week begin...

Needs a Cleaning

With snow and rain on its way this afternoon, it just made perfect sense to wash may pick-up, don’t you think. Na, it is just that I have my mother coming up from Nelspruit towards the end of the week and well my pickup needs a cleaning.

No Room

With Shekinah back from Madeira, Marco thought it is best to have a family evening out. The first choice restaurant was fully booked, and the second had no water, so we headed for Montecasino which had plenty of restaurants to choose from but with a party of nine and no pre-booking we were turned away from just about all of them.

Finally a Greek restaurant made some room for us and the celebration began. With the belly dancers distracting the men, baby Rebekah got stuck into the chocolate cake.

Shed some Light

Yay, its Friday, woza weekend! It has been a long tough week and I am glad to see the back of it although I suppose next week will just be about the same. But for now it is the weekend and for the first time since I moved into this office, the building services have come to fix the lights, now I can see what I am doing and it doesn’t look good. Thank you Shadrick, as no more can I sing, hello darkness my old friend, as you shed some light. Oh well I have to find a new song, any suggestions?

Water off a Ducks Back

Well it is downhill now till the weekend, and these forced breaks that I have been taking have helped, as the stress has rolled off me as water off a duck’s back. No I am sure that saying doesn’t quite fit with stress and workload but somehow I found myself at this duck pond with cute little ducks frolicking in the water without a care in the world. If I close my eyes, I can just about hear the weekend calling, Jerome, Jerome, come away, oh human child, to waters and the wild with a fairy hand in hand for the world’s more full of weeping than you can understand.

Slog Break

This week has not being a good one so for with work just merging into one big mess. Oh well it is just one foot in front of the other and aim for that bed-gasm when your head hits that pillow at the end of the day.

To break up the slog, one has to just push the mouse and keyboard to one side, get up, step out of the office, and take a walk on the wild side. Even the Springbuck are relaxing during lunch time. Time to follow their example and soak up the sun, recharging my batteries before heading back inside.

Muteness

Today started and ended much as yesterday did but I didn’t want that to get me down as yesterday somehow got to me. Fight or flight did not quite work for me nor did standing very still and hoping that Monday would not notice me.

Today I forced myself a break and took a walk into the gardens surrounding my office. Sitting by side one of the duck ponds, I could feel the heaviness roll off. Next to the stone bench on which I sat, was this square stone pillar and inside the bowl on top was three smaller square stones, intriguing.

While sitting in stony silence in the fresh winter air, my thoughts were all over. Schweigen, inside thoughts! What will my future hold? Do I settle down or do I flee. One of my options is buying a house and we have found a rather lovely one but it is near the very top of our budget.

Two young swans were inquisitive of my muteness and swam a little closer but not too close mind you.

Unchained Soul

I left for work this Monday morning as the weak winter sun shone its weary eye over the horizon. With my back to the rising sun I headed into this week on my Vespa knowing that the insurmountable tasks ahead would not be an easy climb.

I sat chained to my desk throughout the day and while my colleagues sat out in the winter sun eating lunch, I glanced up from my work towards them. Just for a moment, I wanted to join them but between 2 meetings, 1 interview, and 1 coffee break, I never left my desk. Have I simply become an implementer, and not a thinker anymore? What used to be an awesome job now has me wondering what is next?

It is dark when I finally called it a day, and walk back to my Vespa alone. Everyone else has left hours ago, as I start the engine of my Vespa, the stillness of the night was cut by the purring of Scarlet’s motor which warmed my unchained soul as I readied myself for the ride into the cold cruel darkness.

Roadhouse Burger

So after a night on the other side of humanity, we finally back home safely and what better treat than to end up at the roadhouse for some affordable burgers, roadhouse style.

Hippie Birthday

We finally found the birthday boy, Sandor, as mad as the hatter and as lost as Alice.

Lynda and I decided to take up Sandor’s offer and go to his birthday Trance Party bash down in the deep south of Jozi. It was very cold when we arrived, the trance music was declaring out into the crisp air with not many braving the cold. We hesitated and was considering heading back home but a huge bonfire was lit and we decided to move in close to the warmth with a wary eye on all that was offered freely to us. No thanks but I did not want a trip but to be safely home in my warm bed later.

Sandor, you have a hippie soul now, as free as the wind, following your own blissful path. Full of love and whatever else, it is really that simple. With so much time gone past since we last saw Sandor, this hippie was truly mad as the hatter and as lost as Alice.

Elvis is leaving the building

It has been a busy week, which ended in my work being shredded and with two different sets of instructions, I have to start all over again on Monday with only four days to complete. Oh my if life were fair, Elvis would be alive and all the impersonators would be dead.

This is Siphiwe aka Elvis, who is about to leave for home on his bicycle. After the shredding season, I packed up and walked to my Vespa to start the weekend on a low and bumped into Elvis who was about to leave the building for the weekend and as usual was full of smiles. Now with a spring in my step, my weekend can only get better.

Elvis has left the building!

Matthew and Mummy

Ohhh this heading of this blog reminds me of not the most scariest episode of Dr Who, the baby Weeping Angels episode, but one that had one of the most profound effect on my son Matthew’s mind, the one during the Second World War when a “Are you my Mummy?” plague spread through wartime London.

This is another Matthew, a sick Matthew, whose mummy is Nicole. Sorry no gas masks but a not so well Matthew.

Lion Princess

With a heart of a lion and the nature of a lioness, our little Princess has turned out to be a beautiful rescued cat. I am sure that there is Maine Coon in her somewhere as she started off as a little runt but has not stopped growing and has in size and love overtaken most of our other cats. Now Princess is just over a year and a half and she has certainly lived up to her name, our little lion princess.

Honey, I Shrunk the Groceries!

With the Rand Dollar Exchange Rate being so bad, there is not much you can buy now with your money. Okay it has climbed a tiny bit due to the British Pound dropping because of the Brexit mistake but still with inflation added to the mix, all you can do is reminisce back to the old days when the Rand was based on the Gold, the Pound on the Sterling Silver, and well the Dollar can stay where it is.

So with the little purchasing power our money now has, Checkers, a local retail brand, has brought out new sizes of popular products in smaller sizes. So now I can come home and say, honey I shrunk the groceries.

One Green Bottle

There are ten green bottles standing on the wall, and if one green bottle should accidently fall, then there would be nine green bottles sitting on the wall.

Okay, okay who remembers this song from their childhood or something similar that used to drive your siblings and parents crazy? Well if you had that song, I bet you are humming the tune right now and can’t get it out of your head.

Monday has come, too fast on the heels of the weekend. Work is starting to pile up to a daunting level as more work is flowing in than what is going out. So here goes one foot in front of the other.

Baby Noma

Here is my good friend Emmelinah with her grand-daughter Nomalanga or Bright shining star which her name means. But as usual she is known as Noma, Baby Noma to me, as I am already friends with another Noma and one Noma is enough. Sitting with them is Jennifer on her tablet and as always Emmelinah is full of smiles.

Teach them Young

Here is Robynne taking her daughter Rebekah out for a ride on her tricycle. Soon she will progress to two wheels and then the world is your oyster.

You got to teach the young’uns to enjoy riding a bike, oh the freedom it gives just to choose a direction and peddle.

Back in the Saddle

Aah to be back in the saddle again after so many days, I was wondering if I still knew how to ride but it is like riding a bicycle, once to have learnt, you never forget.

It was slightly nippy this morning, but on the open road with Scarlet my Vespa purring beneath me, and the wind in my hair so to speak, what more can a man ask for. Okay maybe a good warm place to lay his head, that that is coming, I am working on it.

18 Weeks Skedaddle

Finally after 18 weeks, Scarlet has come home. Four months or 18 weeks or 126 days, whatever way you put it, it was 17 weeks too long.

Scarlet went into ME Motorcycles for a new drive belt, rollers, brakes, and a full service but it turned out to be more than that as the entire variator and clutch had to be replaced. Still this should have only taken not more than a week but from what Mark has told me, his supplier did a quick and dirty on him, took his money and skedaddled.

Good news, Scarlet is home and tomorrow will be my first ride on her in 18 weeks.

Glow Awards

Please excuse my usual shirt hanging out, as some of us have to work, but here is Happy, yes that is her name, awarding me with the a Glow Award this afternoon. So finally, the troubles have started to fade into the distant past as the silver lining of the dark ominous clouds have come to the fore.

Besides being Hump Day and the hump of the week has being summited with only downhill till the weekend, a plumber has fixed our hot water problem at home, my long lost Vespa is in final assembly, and the Watson Corporate Academy has awarded me with a thank you gift of Glow luxurious pralines wrapped in Cadbury chocolate for the work I put in helping them to achieve their Global CCU Compliance Certification from the Global Council of Corporate Universities.

Doorway Attack

Lots of action plays out as I lay in bed, slowly waking up for the day. The cats start jockeying for superiority with powerful strategised assaults, mock attacks, and defensive play. Worse off is normally Shammy who if caught in the open is usually de-furred along with lots of screeching with gets me out bed in a huff. Here is Bibi in the doorway, I think, laying wait for Shammy to head back to his hiding place, so before tensions start rising, I think I will take some more 40 winks as I wonder how many pots of water I’ll need to fill my bath. Yes now that the electricity is back on, there is something wrong with the geyser as there is very little hot water.

Respect the Jungle Juice

Fit Chef says that you are what you eat and Riaan lives by this statement who can be seen here endorsing the Fruity Green Power Smoothie or what it actually is Jungle Juice packed full of spinach and fruit. After Riaan chugged most of Fit Chef’s Jungle Juice down, I expected him to do the Popeye the sailor man and burst out of his shirt brandishing his super human strength.

Lesson of the day: Respect the Jungle Juice.

Getting too old

One problem after the next, as soon as the electricity problem was sorted, a hot water problem arose. I am getting too old for this.

A cold front has swept past, bringing colder temperatures, thank goodness the electricity is back on as this cold weather is not good for my bones.

I think cats know just how to behave in weather like this, that is to lie in the sun but out of the direct wind which blows right through you, don’t you agree Bibi?

Walkies

After the three days of no electricity, our water tanks ran dry and now with the electricity back on, there seems to be a blockage somewhere as we have no hot water other than a trickle. Sigh, I am starting to give up.

Anyway let’s get my head back onto positive things. Who remembers Barbara Woodhouse and her calling “Walkies!” on her television series Training Dogs the Woodhouse Way?

Well in the weak winter sun Matthew calls “Walkies” and Podge, Maxy, Jade, and Minky come along for a walk. Tiger and Princess were a little reluctant after the Killer Jack Russell incidents that left two of my cats and an Italian Greyhound dead.

As you can see, Maxy and Minky both kept a wary eye out from where the killers could strike from but Matthew kept them safe on their short walk in the sun.

Thethelela

Day three and still no electricity. Eskom’s call centre just escalated our problem for the umpteen time. The excuses we are hearing, no vehicles to go out to check. Time to protest and throw my toys out of the cot.

So I arrived at Lanseria Connections sector to start my sit as the supervisor Sydney Tshehla never answers his phone. Rose, at Lanseria was very helpful, she phoned the Dispatch to find out who was going to rectify our problem but they said that someone went out yesterday, but did not have the tools to fix the problem and simply left. The works order was on hold and no one was allocated to go out today.

WHAT!!!

Does this mean I would have to sit all weekend here until someone could go out to fix our no electricity problem? But Rose was resourceful and managed to find Thethela who was willing to go out and check what the problem was. So Thethela, arrived and saw that potential cable thieves had disconnected the main power lines from the transformer and with this insulated collabsable yellow fiberglass rod, Thethela simply reconnected us.

Three days without electricity and it took a few minutes and we were back on. What happened to the Eskom team who supposed to arrive on Day One just before 10pm? Why didn’t the Eskom team who arrived on Day Two at 11am, have the right tool to reconnect us? Why didn’t he drive 5km to the depot and fetch the right tool that he had somehow forgot? Many questions on the incompetency of Eskom arises yet bonuses are still being paid to the managers.

Three days without electricity, lost five tropical fish but a big thank you to Rose and Thethela who stopped three days becoming six days.