Brute Force, Politics and Architecture

Saturday 28th August

Monday was spent filling all the joints in the panelling. Well, about half the joints, since I ran out of pollyfilla during the afternoon, so I made a start on the backing supports for the opposite wall, where I hope my bed will be. At least it is becoming easier to work in the confined space as I use up the timber and boards, although I’m still having to move my tools and plumbing supplies around, depending on where I’m working, particularly when I have to cut the rhino board with the jig-saw rather than scoring it with a craft knife. I discovered that the gypsum does the blade no good at all, so I have to set a new blade aside to cut the wood and use the blunt one to cut the board. I could probably beat the Ferrari pit crew at changing blades on the jig-saw by now!

Didn’t want to delay the work of the digger-loader on Tuesday, so I donned my “muckboots” and set about removing some of the barbed-wire fencing camps that the previous owner had erected. The best I could do with some was to cut the wire at the boundary posts – it would take a piece of heavy machinery to disentangle the wire from the undergrowth. Barbed wire is mean stuff – but then I suppose it is meant to be! One of the local farmers has lost an eye to the barbs, so I was extremely careful to shield my face when cutting through the wire. I had an idle thought during this… If the EU Nanny State could legislate the barb out of barbed wire to make it safer, they probably would!

My downhill neighbours have cut down some of the saplings so that they can see through to a relative’s cabin uphill of me, which has left stumps varying in length from 10 to 30 cm hidden in the undergrowth. This makes moving around a hazardous operation, since I would often stand on one which then buckles sideways, throwing me off balance. Of course, whipping the other booted foot up to steady myself would often simply find another stump, so this larnie occasionally entertained the watching neighbours with an ethnic dance step which makes a snappy Tango look like a slow Waltz! I probably caused a cloudburst in Polynesia…

On Tuesday, while waiting for the earthmoving guy, I took this picture of one of the dew-laden spider webs among the succulents that grow amongst the aliens. I couldn’t see the spider lurking within the hole at the top-left of the funnel-shaped web.

The diesel mechanic and model helicopter pilot turned earthmover, arrived at 08h00 on Tuesday morning. The noisy diesel soon attracted the attention of my neighbour to the East of Boggy Pond. (HOP Land lies to the West) I first met this fellow last week, when he ambled across to ask if he could run his few cattle on our land. I agreed to let his cattle graze here until I get the veggies growing, in return for a supply of fresh cattle dung with which to start the Biogas digester… when I’ve constructed it! This time he was quite talkative, and I’m afraid it soon became clear that he is a true relic of Apartheid. His family has lived in this largely Coloured community for three generations, but his conversation is liberally peppered with “the K word” and “the H word”. If there were an AWB branch within a hundred miles, I guess he might be found somewhere at the back of their meetings, amongst the noisy but ineffectual loud-mouths.

Luckily, the grunting diesel engine of the CAT protected my nicer neighbours from the worst invective, while the driver scratched untidily at the alien invaders, getting the four-wheel-drive front end loader stuck down to it’s jacks twice in this soil! At least he worked for just on four hours for the agreed price for three, before going off to do another job up the hill. By that time he had at least cleared a few widths around the lower borders of the property. Actually, he achieved about what I was expecting, although not as thoroughly as I’d hoped. If nothing else, it gives easier access to the remaining jungle and makes it very evident to the pedestrian commuters approaching from Beutelskloof that this land is now being worked….. Well, about to be worked…. I recorded some video of the earth scratching on the last few minutes of battery, but have not extracted stills yet. The back end of a digger-loader looks very much like the back end of a digger-loader anyway, so you’re not missing anything….

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I went into Caledon to do shopping for Sandy, draw money to pay for the earth scratching and buy more pollyfilla. Christa had complained that I had not sent a picture of the Canola blooms previously, so I took some during the drive into town. (Sure prettier than smog over Gauteng.)

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While in town I took these pictures of some curiously-named buildings…

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The buildings are obviously all owned by the same person. “Our Martin Luther’s Abode” houses a sweet-shop, and I learned from the very pleasant young woman who runs it that some of the slogans had caused some controversy.

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The local Boere Mafia drew up a petition to have some of the graffiti painted over since they found it offensive.

The Quisling Horse wall shows evidence of a long diatribe having been painted out, but it is impossible to get the gist of the message from the ghostly remnants, even from close up.

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The other side of the Dr Webster is labelled John F Kennedys’ Apartment. (The owner’s plural apostrophe, not mine!)

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One can only speculate that the absent Tik-Theron’s name is not unrelated to either his source of income or the reasons for his precipitate departure…. (This sign has been painted over since I took the picture)

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Took the slightly longer route to Tessies via Shaw’s Pass, since the earth-scratcher was working at a farm on that road, so I could cross his palm with a lot of silver on my way home… Once again just rejoiced in scenery like this, which makes the 25Km journey to town no hardship at all, even on the sand roads. I spotted the digger clearly not working in a field and when I buzzed the operator I learned that the digger part had popped an oil-seal, so I went to his basic zozo hut in a bare field on the other road into Tessies to pay him. I found him clearing rocks to make a landing strip for his model helicopter. Boy, does he have rocks to clear! I think he has more rocks than we have trees! Perhaps I can trade him rocks for wood…

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The rest of the week is a blur of pollyfilla dust and sawdust… I have at last completed all the panelling I can do, so today was devoted to painting the undercoat for waterproofing the shower. The rest will have to wait for Monday, since the remainder of the process involves applying several coats of special paint and membrane within set times.

Next week I hope to start building the Biogas digester unit, now that Steve has found me some reconditioned blue plastic drums during a trip to Cape Town. Digging several two metre- deep holes to bury them in will be another matter….

Looking forward to a trip to Hermanus for lunch with Penny on Sunday, now that she is back from her trip up-country. HUGELY looking forward to my trip to Cape Town airport on Tuesday to see Christa after her meeting with a film director. YAY!!!