4th January 2012
Olavinlinna Castle, Savonlinna, Finland - Photo by Heikki Muona
First post in my Caledon Post Box, that is, and it is a little weird all round. At left is the cover picture of a 2012 calendar, sent to me by my (ex) Mother-In-Law in Savonlinna, Finland. The fortified castle of Olavinlina (Olav’s Castle) is well over five hundred years old, and is perhaps my favourite scene in all the world! I lived within sight of it on-and-off for nearly two years – whenever I wasn’t working as a Lighting Cameraman in the capital, Helsinki.
It is strange – and fitting – that this calendar should be the first item of mail addressed to me to arrive in my new post-box at a time when I’m again swinging to a new bearing on the compass. Thirty-two years ago, almost to the day the calendar was posted, I arrived in Savonlinna having initiated a major change in my life. I’d left my senior position at the SABC and cut myself adrift from the country I was born in to start a new life in another, very foreign country. It was an intensely exciting, unforgettable time. Everything was different – the weather, the landscape, the language, the culture. I fell in love with my Mother-in-Law at first sight and will never forget the warmth of her welcome hug. It was not a good time to be a South African abroad, and although I was welcomed by the whole family and never had “issues” with other townsfolk, I was the most visible stranger in town – an alien from a Pariah State. I turned down a request for an interview for the local newspaper within the first month! (Soon after arriving in Tesselaarsdal I turned down a request for an interview by the Editor of the newspaper in Caledon.)
Savonlinna, although inland, is situated on a vast lace shawl of lakes stretching East, which makes it a Port for traffic from what was then the USSR. Anybody old enough to have lived through the Seventies in South Africa with its atmosphere of “Rooi Gevaar” would understand how weird it was to go down to the little harbour and be faced at arm’s length with a huge red hammer and sickle on the bow of a decrepit freighter, the Antonin Dobrinin. (Yes, I remember the name, and yes, I could read the Cyrillic script – my mind has always been a weird place!)
A balmy day in April - Photo by Heikki Muona
I never intended to return to South Africa, so I found it very difficult to adjust to being back here. I realised quite recently that it probably took at least twenty years and a good marriage! The reasons are complex, and I guess no longer relevant now that I’ve travelled a long and sometimes dark road to arrive at acceptance. I visited my in-laws in the town for a week early in 1990, and although I’m not likely to see Savonlinna again, nor ski 25Km. across frozen lakes and a dozen islands on a February morning, nor row on the lake in the balmy midnight dusk of June, Savonlinna will forever be “my home town”, the place where I began a new life.
Which more or less brings me back to Tesselaarsdal…
I took a break from working on the plastic fiddly-bits for the digester to work with wood. I’m making a fold-away dining table for the cabin, using off-cuts of timber and a piece of rather thin three-ply veneer. When the cabin was full of drums and boxes I accepted the fact that life was awkward and difficult and cramped. There was at least always somewhere to rest a plate or a utensil while making a meal. As I’ve cleared the space I’ve deprived myself of work-surfaces and substitutes for a dining table unless I pack away the computer. The crunch came when I prepared a bowl of tasty diced Bacon, tomato and fried egg “hash”. Just as I picked up the bowl to enjoy lunch, it slid off the miniscule kitchen shelf. A lunge that would have won Roger Federer yet another Grand Slam title simply ensured that whatever didn’t land on the floor was evenly scattered over the groceries on the lower shelf. Enough! I demand a dining table of myself!
I’ve lived aboard a small yacht for a week at a time alone, or with one or two people for a long week-end. Although even more cramped, it was bearable because a well-designed cruising yacht has stowage space and work surfaces. One also accepts that it is only for a short time and it is after all an adventure on a yacht with the main objective being sailing. Living spare in a cabin is not my prime objective – it is a necessary part of doing something else, so getting my living space “ship-shape” is important. I have been struck by how much time is taken up just looking after myself – cooking, cleaning, doing laundry and shopping. The more efficiently I can arrange the necessary routine of living, the better I will be able to focus on turning a piece of land into a productive smallholding.
An aged Garden Gnome having his first snack on the new table he made.
Well, it has taken two and a half days, but it has been worth it! Rather than just nail the table together, I have used carpentry joints to ensure strength. Of course it has been a long time since I have tried anything as complex, so I have been working carefully rather than rushing the job. Although the result is not likely to feature in the Design Yearbook, once sanded and varnished it will be serviceable enough. I celebrated by having my first “sit-down” snack of tea with cheese and apple sandwiches.
Tomorrow I’ll carry on with the Digester. Making the pump for the second chamber should be a lot quicker than the first, and the two remaining valves are very simple, so I should be able to assemble it all above ground during the week-end. I’ll probably leave it filled with water for a day or two while we trim the hole to fit.
I can imagine Jeffrey’s shoulders sagging when he hears that news!