My eyes feel puffy and I feel exhausted, but I drag
myself out of bed. Coffee!
When our gardener arrives, I give him the bad news.
His immediate reaction is concern for me! Going to ‘that bad country’ – to him,
Pretoria is another country. In a way, he’s right – it’s so very different, it
might as well be another country. Also, they speak a different language there –
here it’s Xhosa, there it’s Tswana and Sotho.
Since today will be his last day, I suggest he leave
the path – he wanted to clear the weeds off the path – and rather clear the
rockery of thorns as much as possible. He had done a lot of prep-work on that
last Wednesday, when he worked for the neighbour on the other side of the
hedge.
He’s back not long after starting to tell me that a
swarm of bees is nesting there. So I suggest he work somewhere else, safely
away from the bees.
I try calling my boss. No answer. Eventually he calls
back. Yay! He agrees to postpone the big move to end of January! That is a
very, very big relief!
Off shopping – on the way, I tell our gardener. He is
just as relieved! I’ve been thinking that he can help me prepare my pots, so I
can take as many of Rose’s succulents with, when I move. Also, he can maybe
make some stakes from the branches he’s been cutting, replacing the one’s I
bought for the carnations. But I’ll let him know when, after I’ve had time to
think.
Makro has a lot of specials, so I get more than I had
planned – filling my boot almost to the point, where it doesn’t close!
At Spar I don’t treat myself to the usual Sushi, but
opt for a berry smoothie instead. It’s cheaper, and in today’s heat, I’m glad
for the cool drink! I see that I’m lucky that there’s bread today – though they
seem to be experimenting with the shape? Why? Anyway, I take tree – that’s
three week’s worth of breakfast sorted out. And I’ll be reducing the stock of
cold meats I just got! Sigh. This Spar is not really good with meat, so I just
pick some minute steaks. I can go to the one down the road for meat.
By the time I’m back home, I’m totally wiped out! It’s
a hot day, and with my lack of sleep plus the lack of eating properly? I am so
very grateful that our gardener offers to carry everything upstairs! Not only
offers, but insists! While he carries it up, I unpack – I don’t have enough
space to pack everything away, so I just pack the freezer and the fridge.
It is too hot to pack boxes today, and despite the
relief of the extra month, my mind is still spinning in circles. So I start
writing. As I write, my mind begins to calm down and clear up. I’m able to
think again.
The vet gave me a number for Move-a-Pet, so I give
them a call. I go visit Rose to tell her the good news, that I’m here another
month (she was out at the time). I also ask for her help to renew my drivers’
license. Since she has just renewed hers, the current process is fresh in her
mind – I’ll need proof of residence. Sigh. When they invented this whole ‘proof-of-residence’
RICA thing, every household was getting an electricity bill from the
municipality – but another department introduced pre-paid meters at the same
time, eliminating electricity bills. So now they accept only bank statements –
which are also no longer sent via post; but electronically! Talk about a
missing link! Anyway, I’ll have to go to the bank and get a hard-copy statement
stamped by the bank.
Back upstairs, I continue writing. The more I write,
the better I feel. Like I’m pouring all the chaos out of my head into this
blog! Ha Ha, I hope I’m not passing on the stress to anyone who’s reading this!
When our gardener finishes work for the day, I tell
him of my plans that he come again in three weeks time to help get everything
ready in the garden, for the move. I’ve decided to cancel the drum end of
November – the drum I rent from ‘Garden of Eden’, who collect it regularly,
removing my garden waste such as weeds, branches, thorns, etc. Rose has decided
to take it over from January, but only twice a month. She doesn’t have as much
overgrowth in her garden, after all!
The weather is changing, and for tomorrow gale-force
winds are predicted. It will be cooler, and a good day for physical work – i.e.
packing. So I troop off to the garage to get some boxes, just in case it rains
tomorrow. I find that some of the boxes seem to have gotten soaked at one time?
Well, I’ll have to sort out which I can use and which I can’t use, tomorrow.
The only thing I ate today has been that thoroughly
well-cooked Leberkäse! I’ve been cutting off slices and eating it cold
throughout the day. I did get some pasta salads, but I’m not really hungry, so
I leave them for another day. I do, however, take out a loaf of bread from the
freezer, to bake up tomorrow morning. I had taken out a sausage of cold-meats
earlier – but I haven’t even started it.
It’s time to call the Mippies in – Lady Jane and Ziva
are already waiting for their treat, only Mewthos is sitting in Rose’s garden.
He looks up at me as I stand by the gate – and I see Romeo strolling down the
path towards me. I select a sachet and go back to the gate, this time I call
Mewthos. Instantly he gets up and comes bounding home … followed by Romeo!
I can’t deny him a treat, my heart is so heavy with
what I have no choice but to do him – abandon him, in a way – I can’t just turn
ugly on him overnight. He deserves so much better! Poor darling! Fortunately he
leaves without much fuss … though he clearly would prefer to stay. Awwww … my
heart just hurts to see the look on his face!
These past couple of days I’ve gone to bed at my usual
time, but haven’t been able to sleep – so I decide to try something different
today. I keep writing this blog, playing that game, chatting with fellows,
until I feel my eyes want to close … then I go to bed.
Still not falling asleep right away … but soon enough.
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