Monday

I woke up to the alarm without a problem, even though I went to bed later than usual. I suppose I’ve caught up on some of the lost sleep. Ziva tried to burrow through the sheet at one stage, I just reached out and tickled her tummy and she was happy.

Overall, I’m rather surprised that I haven’t overslept – not once! All my life I’ve had trouble waking up on time, regardless which job. I’ve agonized over this so often, keeping away purely in fear of not waking up on time – yet now? I go to sleep and I hear the alarm. I just hope I didn’t jinx it by writing it down!

Mippies were active this morning, when I opened the curtains, I saw the stray dogs my landlord had been after, right there in their garden! I had some coffee, scooped the litter box, got dressed and went to work. I dropped the rubbish outside the gate, and from today onwards, I’ll be closing my gate when I leave, as well.

Coming towards the mills, traffic came to a near stand still, I guess there must have been an accident – fortunately, I turn off there, so I missed the worst of it. I switched off my PC at five to six and parked the car at work at eighteen past – so, all together it takes me about twenty-five minutes from chair to chair (home to office).

They fixed the pothole in my office on Friday, so I had been sitting at the storeman’s desk on Friday while it was still drying. Today it’s dry and I’m back at my own desk. I’m trying to get a grip of material movements – but it’s quite challenging. There are systems in place and a lot of information is recorded and even captured – but nothing links or talks to each other … yet. I’m working on that. I feel like the Sherlock Holmes of spreadsheets at the moment!

I spoke to a colleague today, who also has a cat … or maybe had. His cat looked very ill Thursday evening, so he rushed him to the vet who diagnosed tick-bite fever and gave medication. The cat seemed recovered – and then looked a bit down again. Before he could take him back to the vet, the cat disappeared! I do hope he comes home! What really has me worried about this is the tick-bite fever bit! I’ve been hearing more and more stories about pets dying of it – even when they were being treated! I did ask my vet in PE whether I had to worry about any parasites in Pretoria – and she told me ‘none at all! They’ll have even less trouble with fleas in the dry climate.’ Yeah – so much for that! The minis have their collars, which should prevent ticks from biting … but what about Ziva? I may have to start treating her with Spot-on … that stuff you put on the back of their necks.

My landlady also told me she has had no good experience with the vet down the road. Three times she took animals to him, and all three died. She now goes to a vet in Sinoville – who has three cats! But also has office hours – if I come home and find one of my darlings unwell, I’ll have to rush off to the Training Hospital, Onderstepoort. Fortunately, that’s not too far.

Back at home, the lounge curtains are up again. Mippies are happy to see me – and there’s a new chapter available for my online game! Well, that will have to wait till the weekend – I need to plan a layout again, and I really can’t do that in the evenings.

I managed to get done what needed doing, and now … you guessed it: Time for bed!