Where's Jerome?

It is not like I am lost or something but I am still down with flu so either you will find me in bed nursing a snotty nose or you will find me at work coughing my lungs out while tending to some crisis.

Walking back to my bike with my shirt hanging out and dragging my feet, I saw a couple of crowned cranes hanging around my Vespa as if they were looking for Isabella who used to wait for me at my bike every hometime.

Wyrd Dreams

I have had this flu bug now just under 2 weeks and I just can’t get to shake it. Now I am getting sleep deprivation and along with lack of good quality sleep comes weird dreams or in the words my favourite writer Terry Pratchett, I am having wyrd dreams.

The one of the dreams was of me shooting jackals who had came into our yard to eat our cats. Now I would have never hurt any jackal and people have all sorts of interpretations of dreams which I normally laugh off as I believe dreams are subconscious thoughts that are still circuiting through your mind when you sleep. That night of the jackal dream actually had real live jackals just outside our yard howling and communicating to each other as jackals tend to do at night when they are trying to find a way in, hence I had a dream about them. Last night my dreams got even weirder and I believe had nothing to do with any subconscious thoughts as the people and things in the dreams, have never been thought of before or spoken about. The first dream was of me holding a wild grey rabbit in my left hand, and next I knew that this was a holy rabbit of some sorts and now my left hand was the hand of God, a deity of some sorts, wyrd.

The next dream was also wyrd. I saw some some sculptures online and the seller came over to our house to close the deal. I remember it was R4,000 but after seeing the artwork in real life, it wasn’t what I expected. It was made from grey plasticine and not really good. I was thinking how am I going to let this guy down gently that I now don’t want his sculptures. As we walked out through the front door, the seller pointed out that the roof had collapsed on our patio. I took Lynda’s phone to try phone the landlord and while trying to find the number on her phone, I said to the seller that this roof was now taking up my time, I will let him know if I still want his sculptures and waved him goodbye.

I seemed to have difficulty finding the landlord’s number. I asked Lynda where the number was on her phone, she answered but I could not hear her clearly. I kept looking for it but was getting frustrated. All I could hear from Lynda it was Peter somebody. It was then when I realised that I had my bike helmet still on which was the reason while I could not hear Lynda correctly so I took it off and heard her say that the landlord’s number was under Lindsey. Now don’t know any Peter Lindsey and that name never cropped up before.

Anyway the dream got even weirder, as I still had got hold of the landlord yet but looked up and the entire roof on one side of our house had collapsed. We never heard anything, it just was collapsed. Spectators started arriving, people I never seen before, bringing food over for us and also they wanted to see all the damage for themselves. Walking through our house, there was people everywhere, carrying trays of food, looking at the roof, and dusting off ornaments and trinkets. I did not recognise anyone except Lynda, nor did I recognise the house or any of the furniture. The strange part was that I only could see the collapse roof from the outside and not when I was inside where most of the people where plus there was no rubble in the house from the collapsed roof just people milling around.

I remember thinking that we now need to get some security to guard the house and the contents; also that we will now need to pack everything up and stay somewhere else. Why couldn’t I get hold of our landlord and who were all these people was starting to frustrate me. I saw the police arrive and Lynda giving them a statement while I walked in among the spectators who were either bringing food or cleaning ornaments and trinkets which I never seen before. I walked into the kitchen and there was a little girl sitting unpacking little glass ornaments onto the floor from the a shelf. Near her was also a little boy playing with the ornaments.

I awoke very tired this morning with these dreams still embedded into my mind. I remember telling Lynda about these dreams and that one of the thoughts I had during the dream is that I should take a photo of the collapsed roof for my blog. Now wouldn’t it been really wyrd if those photos were actually on my phone instead of this sunset of three trees which I saw on my ride home from work.

Room 20

Somewhere in one of many places, I have the title deeds of my Vespa that I just sold but where for the life of me do I start looking. Anyway this means I have to go to the City of Joburg's Motor Vehicle Licencing Department to apply for a duplicate and as expected what a schlep it turned out to be.

I arrived there during my lunch time only to be turned back because I didn't have proof of address. Back to work and back again landed me sitting in a short queue outside Room 20 but the Room 20 was manned by 1 woman who hasn't had a break since she started in the morning and desperately needed a reprieve. Thankfully she pushed through and after an hour and a half I finally made it to position 1, next to go into Room 20 with now about six behind me also waiting. Talk about under staffed and I bet under paid too.

Gone are the days where they could simply print out a duplicate, now after all this rigmarole, I have to return in 2 and a half weeks from now to collect the duplicate. Yes it takes the City of Joburg, who proudly states that they are a World Class African City 2 and a half weeks to print a document off their records, go figure. I saw the records they are there in Room 20, my name is there on the screen stating that I am the owner and the title deed holder. World Class, my left foot.

Cold Stone Floor

Oh dear, it is after 11pm on a Sunday and I still haven’t taken a photo for the day. I got the flu over a week ago, but my meds ran out by Wednesday and I still haven’t fully recovered. This whole weekend I have just about been in bed for the entire time.

So here I find myself, in the bathroom staring at the cold stone floor thinking what the world I’m going to take a photo of that would represent my day. Do I take one of the rumpled sheets of my bed? My face aren’t pretty at the moment so that is out. Oh well the floor will have to do.

Goodbye Anastasiya

This is the first step in getting my life back in order. Anastasiya, my black Vespa ET4/8 150, has been sitting in my garage for nearly 2 years now while I use Scarlet, my red Vespa GTS300ie Super (Please note Scarlett is also for sale).

Richard my old friend from the Joburg Photowalkers snapped Anastasiya up and will bring her back to her formal glory by changing her name back to Sophia which she was originally called. Anastasiya /Sophia comes with lots of history. She was the first Vespa and the only 2 scooters ever to do Sani in Winter (Mitilda a P150X was the other one). I know of a SYM 125 scooter doing it in the summer months but winter well that is another story. Sophia also did the Roof of Africa the very next day after Sani crossing over Lesotho along 4x4 tracks with thick snow either side.

After that Sophia became Anastasiya after her engine blew after a highway trip home after work. A few years later also along with Mitilda, she conquered Baviaanskloof Valley where the river beds became the road less travelled much to the surprise of 4x4 enthusiasts and off-road bikers.

Hello Sophia, ahhh let the adventures re-begin.

48 Kilograms

Well done Ella, you are down 48 kilograms since you started on this journey. Just 2 more kilos to go then it will be 50kg and we will have a party.

Touch Me

"Ooooh just you try touch me!" squealed Minky in delight as I sat up in bed in the early morning hours trying eat a rusk dunked in coffee before having my medicine and sending out my CEO’s blog post to the entire company. Early mornings mean mistakes can creep in but Minky had other plans, plans that did not involve me getting out of bed, rather her plans involved me spending the day with her.

Doolittle Klipspringer

Did I really wanted to go into work today? No, because I still did not feel that I was even 50% better but my sick leave was over. I simply had to drag my flu ridden body into my work clothes, and somehow walked to my car then drove to work which somehow happened

Once here I had to just keep throwing one tissue after the next into the waste paper bin just to keep me going. I had the Discovery nurse come over to do vitals for the life insurance this morning so you can imagine I was not kind of feeling up to it. To help calm myself down, I used photos of chocolates on my computer and some real chocolate just to smell not to eat as they say the smell of chocolate releases a natural chemical in the body that relaxes you. But through my clogged up nose, came no smells so luckily the photos must have helped as I passed.

Walking up to fetch the Discovery nurse at the reception, I passed this dishevelled looking Klipspringer and I said to her, "I know what you going through buddy, just hang in there." Oh my goodness now I am talking to the animals, Mr Doolittle. What is in these medications?

View of Nothing

I seem to have had a good night’s rest but when I sit up and have something to eat so I can take my meds, the coughing starts as the mucus just runs into my lungs. And the couching is now hurting my lungs as it bangs into my ribs. Oh how I hate this man flu plus it is just bad timing as I have to do a medical for life insurance and all this is not helping one iota.

So as I close my eyes in this medicated state, this is all the view I am allowed. Not great but mid-afternoon, I force myself up, go for a slow stroll in the sun around the garden then a soak in the hot bath and back to bed to this view of nothing which as you can see is not great.

I still don’t feel that these meds are working but oh well I can’t keep on going to the doctors all the time.

Billy Goat Gruff

I woke up this morning feeling worse than I ever felt the whole weekend but my sick leave was only dated last Thursday and Friday so I had to somehow crawl into work. I suppose if I am sick and getting behind, everyone else deserves the right also to get sick. Oh dear that doesn’t sound nice, does it?

Well I was a work only for a short while and felt that I had being run over by the bus, so I decided best course of action is to go back to the doctors. The doctor I saw said that I was on good medication but prescribed some more to boost the affects.

I drove slowly back home, half sick and half drowsy. Nearer home a herd of goats crossed the road in front of me and I had to give way. I watched a billy goat gruff cross the road through my nearly closed eyes, walked up to a school exercise book that was sitting long side the road, pick it up and started eating it. I just watched in amazement as this goat ate someone’s homework. Then I was startled as a car behind me hooted, get a move along, the goats all but disappeared and so was the homework.

Someone now has no homework and I have 7 different medications on my bedside table.

Dry is the land

Our dam is now dry with rain still a ways off. Thank goodness we still have borehole water and a Jukskei River below in the valley although the Jukskei is one of the most polluted rivers in South Africa.

Maxy seems much more spritely on his course of medicines while I, that is another story. My humour has along with the weather just about dried up.

Kid Goats

It is August and the dry winds heralding the end of the cold season have started blowing through. The ground is dry and patched with good rains only expected in a month or two. If the rains come after Oom Pauls’ birthday, which is 10 October then is said that it will be a good wet season for the farmers not that they have much rain to start with. From my memory, winter is normally ended with a huge hurrah as a cold snap usually arrives first week in September, after that well summer begins.

But for now these baby goats which have never seen the rain, I wonder what the first drops will be like for them. Would those big drops of rain cause an explosion of dust as it hits the dry earth and in the background a typical summer thunder and lightning just to frighten any kid goat?

Jailhouse Rock

I spent most of the day in bed, heavily sedated but by early afternoon after a good soak in the bath, I think I was ready again for the world. Well not quite the world but at least a drive over to the East Rand to attend the Jailhouse Rock Fashion Show and Dinner which was presented by the Debutantes and Squires of Ashton International College.

We arrived to a wonderfully laid out hall, to which Matthew showed us our table for the evening. As usual the evening got off to a late start but even under medication I enjoyed the Jailhouse Rock Fashion Show.

Both on Cortisone

The vets wanted Maxy to be dropped off for the day so that they can run a battery of investigative tests to get to the bottom of his continued earache and pain when he opens his mouth. So after dropping him off at Lammermoor Veterinary Clinic, I headed for work not feeling well myself. I managed to get an appointment at the doctors at 10:30am and dutifully arrived 15mins early as one should but what’s up with these doctors thinking that they can consistently be late and patients must just accept it. 11am the doctor finally called me into his room, apologised for being so late then stepped out with an empty coffee mug. 15 mins later his phone started ringing and ringing and ringing and 5 mins later he returned. By 11:45 I was on a bicycle strapped to an ECG machine doing spins. Half an hour later I was back in the doctor’s room. More tests then a cortisone injection and lots of other meds.

So now both Maxy and I are on Cortisone.

Later I went to fetch Maxy at the vet after his day in Doggy Care. I am sorry to say that it is bad news. The vets discovered an aggressive looking node in the base of his ear by the inner ear. It is too deep to get a sample so I am left with two options. Option 1: put Maxy on a course of Cortisone and broad spectrum antibiotics for a week then see if the node reduces or Option 2: Maxy needs to go to an inner ear specialist for them to try removing the mass.

Well my budget can only afford Option 1 and my heart well let’s just say that it is broken.

Julius, Merlin, and the Hedgehog

What have these three in common?

Well nothing other than all three happened to cross my path today as I staggered along my path. I feel like the bus is hurtling towards me and all I can do is remain frozen in the oncoming lights. I don’t feel that well and all I am doing is trying to stay on my feet as long as I can. Sing happy birthday to Julius as it is his name day. Yay, may you have a blessed day Julius.

Later Maxy and I toke ourselves to the vet. Maxy is still in pain when he tries to open his mouth wide which is affecting his eating. The antibiotics are not working so now they back to steroids. Merlin the Great Dane was at the vet to greet him but Maxy tried to open his mouth and pain shot right through his little head. He thought Merlin did something to him and now wants nothing to do with Merlin. As for myself well they can take me out back and put me down.

Battling to stay awake and planning to head straight for bed after supper but my plains were shattered by Maxy’s death screams. Lynda rushed out to investigate, then returned just as quickly to call me to come see. The dogs had cornered a hedgehog. Maxy must have tried to bark at it but the pain of just barking was too much for poor Maxy.

I gently picked up the frightened hedgehog who was tightly curled into a ball. The terrified hedgehog rattled his quills as I carried him back into the veld.

Well that’s it, bed for me.

Reception Vespas

I heard about the reception at the Scribante head office in Kyalami or was in the CEO’s office that had a collection of real Vespas on display. Well we can’t top that here but we come a close second as we have some Vespa models in pride of place at our reception area.

I am feeling a little down as I rode into my garage this evening and parked my Vespa GTS300 next to the 150. I looked at both of them, thinking that soon they will be sold and that I won’t get to ride them for much longer.

Breathe Jerome Breathe

Bradley was over for the weekend and Monday is his day off. Unfortunately he is down with some bug so is home in bed and touch wood we mustn’t get it. Today it was the stress all over with trying to finish these impossible deadlines. You know that feeling where you roll a huge round rock up a hill with the hill getting ever steeper, why that is the nightmare that faces me in my constant battle to get on top of things.

Sigh! Breathe in deep Jerome, breathe.

My thoughts go back to that day Rob explained to me the 5 levels of leadership which came from the principles that John Maxwell preached.

5. Pinnacle (Respect)
People follow because of who you are and what you represent

4. People Development (Reproduction)
People follow because of what you have done for them

3. Production (Results)
People follow because of what you have done for the organisation

2. Permission (Relationships)
People follow because they want to

1. Position (Rights)
People follow because they have to

I better just leave my thoughts as inside thoughts as I wonder back to the times when we felt liked, cared for, included, valued, and trusted. The sun is setting as I finally pack up and head for the safety of home.

Ouch the Pain

Over a month now and Maxy still has a problem, health wise. The ear-ache is about gone but he is still in pain when opening his mouth wide. At first the medicine helps but then the pain comes back after a week. Back to the vets again this morning. Now the vets are trying to investigate if it is the antibiotics or the steroids that are working. So now Maxy is off the steroids and only on antibiotics but it is painful for him to eat his usual pellets and treats so it is wet food only.

Move over Ingress

Move over Ingress, we now have the new kids on the block. With two augmented reality games now to choose from, driving around the city has come to the fore again.

At first there was Ingress which placed the portals in which the next game Pokémon Go now uses. Strange game this Pokémon, distressing in a way as now instead of the Resistance battling the Enlightened for the control of the human minds, now we have kids running around with balls in hand, catching wild animals, using the stronger ones for animal fights, and giving the weaker ones to a nutty professor for animal experiments in exchange for sweets. I now call this professor the Pedophile which I hope isn't true. Doesn’t this Pokémon sound like so many wrongs on so many levels, Catching wild animals, animal fights, and animal experimentation by a pedophile.

Thank goodness we know where all the Ingress portals are which helps in the hunt for those rear and elusive Pokémon even if it is late into the night.

I Am Hot

Watch out it is Friday and I am hot!

Well at least the coffee is hot inside this cup and after a long two weeks, I am hot for Friday and the weekend is most welcome.

Outsurance Ripoff

I hardly use my pickup as I commute daily on my Vespa. Somewhere, somehow a stone must have chipped my windscreen and now with the cold weather I discovered a crack in the windscreen about 30cm long.

I pay nearly R1,400 to Outsurance every month to cover two vehicles and my Vespa for the last 5 years with not even 1 claim. Every year they have pushed my premiums higher even when the value of my vehicles and bike are dropping but it is up to me to chase them so that they can reassess the policy (place sad face here).

Now back to the windscreen, I phoned Outsurance and the lady who answered the phone after all the automated choices dutifully went everything with me and informed me that my access will be R1,120 plus that it will affect my no claim bonus. WHAT, I had to go back and look at the policy, and sure enough my accesses are very high and it is a black mark against my name but the worst is yet to come.

They didn’t give me any other choice so I had to pay the ridiculously high access and PG Glass in the form of Abiel (shown above) and Karel arrived this morning to change the windscreen. Afterwards I phoned PG Glass to inquire the price of the windscreen and to my horror I found out that the windscreen that was used for my pickup is on special for the last few months at only R990 fitted. WHAT!!! Now before Outsurance get their panties in a knot and say that was a special and cannot account for it, the normal price fitted is only R1,345. Yes you read correctly. Yes for all the money paid to Outsurance over the 5 years, they paid out a measly R225 and it has affected my no claim bonus.

Surely Outsurance should have my best interests at heart instead of trying to rip me off. Oh they have lost a once loyal client now.

I see you

Maybe if I stand real still, he won’t see me. Oh darn, he has seen me and now he wants to take some photographs. The privacy in this eco park is not what it used to be.

Yes there I was head down, ploughing through the reports that I have being compiling and I look up and gaze out of my Mogale Business Park office window into the late afternoon winter’s sun. And with a twitch of a Duiker’s whiskers, I saw grey duiker in the under growth.

I see you little one!

Sigh, consider the little bucks, how they don’t worry about what to wear or where their next meal will come from, yet God has even this little creature under its care. Sigh I think it is time to pack up and call it a day.

Cat in a Box

It is Women’s Day in South Africa and Lifestyle ran some specials for the ladies, and here is one that we stumbled across, the Cat in a box, a cat lady started kit.

This cat is part of a beautiful group of TNR cats who live in Lifestyle. As you can see, its left ear has been clipped as part of the TNR programme, which means Trap, Neuter, and Return. This programme traps free living cats, fixes them that they can’t reproduce, then returns them back into their environment. This is the most humane thing to do, and by this way the cats themselves prevent other stray cats coming into the area and the population stays down.

So if you ever see a tipped ear cat, know that it is doing an important job, keeping the neighbourhood a nice place to live.

Hey Black Child

Hey black child you can do it. The possibilities are all there, if only you believe in yourself.

Steward shown above has his heart set on helping black children and Terrance has helped him design this t-shirt in support of his initiative.

Hey black child, you can be who you want to be.

Bright Side of Life

Oh well I have to get a more positive outlook it life. Yes I know that I am blessed but I need to live like I am especially when I struggle to find and see the good all around me.

Take for example an old friend came round this afternoon and test rode Anastasiya and he seems happy with her even though her battery is flat and she is not idling correctly but he needs to do the math, while another friend, a lecturer at Wits also wants her. All the while I need Scarlet sold more than Anastasiya but all am getting is con artists contacting me. And as for the electricity, now we can see not all is well is the state of Eskom.

So let’s look on the bright side of life.

Con Artist Alert

My Saturday started much the same, a little sleep in then up to make breakfast in bed, then I had to get into that garage of mine to rescue Anastasiya from years of neglect. Oh dear even my breakfast looked sad.

We are in the market of buying a home for ourselves especially after the loss of Patch, my Italian Greyhound. By going back into the property market means that Scarlet, my red Vespa GTS 300ie Super, has to be sold and I thought that at the same time Anastasiya, my black Vespa ET4/8 150 which has been standing for nearly 2 years should also be sold. So reluctantly I have put both Vespas onto the marketplace.

Two friends immediately responded with interest to buy Anastasiya, shown here covered in dust, which means I had to take her out of storage in the garage and wash her, hence I needed to get into the back of the garage this morning. Deep somewhere in the depths of my garage, I found Anastasiya with a rear tyre that was flat so I had to get that fixed before washing her nice. Later when I tried to start her up, I found that her battery was also flat which after standing for 2 years was to be expected so I had to charge it up but it looks like she needs a new battery. Also she is not idling properly which means I need to get her sorted out. Uhmmm maybe this is not a good idea.

Anyway back to Scarlet and the reason for my Con Artist Alert, I have had only one response for her but it seems that it might be a con artist trying fleece me of a beautiful bike as his email to me seemed suspicious.

"Thanks for the response! i'm interested buying this for my son but only if you can assure me it's in a good condition and please send me more some pics? note well: Pick up agent will come for the pick up as soon as i have made the payment"

And later

"Got the pics and love it, so do you have an account with payfast so i can arrange for the payment? i don't want someone else come for it"

I am not sure about this one so I went onto the world wide webs and trolled around and found this con artist going by a different name but using a nearly identical message.

"Hello , Thanks for the response, i am really interested buying this for my Son as a surprise gift for him,its Graduation that is coming soon only if you can assure me that everything is in order and it works fine,i am a petroleum engineer currently on a rig offshore i really want this to be a surprise gift for my Son so i wont let him know anything about this until it gets delivered to him , i am sure he will be more than happy with it.It will be secured paying via Payfast as i'm on rig offshore.So let me know if you have an account with payfast so i can make the payment.

note well:
Pick up agent will come for the pick up as soon as i have made the payments, i would have loved to talk to you on phone but I work mainly offshore, our phone is down on the rig right now due to bad weather, we can only communicate with our base for now."

Digging deeper I found many more similar messages of how people have been conned. I need to sell Scarlet if there are genuine buyers but it looks like I would have to be careful out there.

Nicole

Happy days everyone, after a shortened week, it is weekend again and bonus, it is Nicole's birthday. Okay it was yesterday but somehow Nicole tried to keep it a secret and everyone knows that is not allowed. So happy birthday Nicole for yesterday and may you have an awesome birthday weekend.

Having Fun

All work and no play is quite boring and it is quite easy to get into a rut. Late this afternoon Pabs son, Bokamoso was arrived at work. It was near the end of a long day and so why not have a little fun as Lesego shows us that it is all about people and not just a job.

Free and Fully Democratic

I believe that if you don’t vote then you have no right to complain and as we stand in the queues to cast our vote in a free South Africa, we heard news that a community north of Pretoria decided to protest their unhappiness with the last government by staging a soccer match at the same time as voting. "Our position is clear: no voting for us and the people would rather play soccer", oh well their choice and we will get no more complaints from them anymore.

It is a privilege to cast your vote in a free and fully democratic South Africa.

Flea in my Ear

Oh no, there is no fleas on me, I use Bravecto. My dad is just been silly by saying that there is a flea in my ear as I am suffering from a nasty ear infection. My ear ache first occurred 2 weeks ago and I’ve been on Surolan ear drops and antibiotics but this bacteria has been quite resistant.

Now Alex, the kind vet at Lammermoor Veterinary Clinic has to mix up some potent ear drops containing Baytril. Surely these pesky microbes have seen the last of me.

The Wheel Turns

A new month and reporting starts all over again which means for the next week or two I’ll be working late. Sigh, the wheel is turning but does the hamster want to run?

So let get these late nights out of the way, shall we.