I arrived about midday yesterday (Saturday), unloaded the car, and went to call on Gerhardt to collect the little refrigerator he\u2019s lending me. I offered to buy it, but he declined, saying he\u2019d thought about it and decided that it would be useful in \u201cThe Shed\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cAhaa!\u201d I said, \u201cYes, very useful for keeping \u2018technical beers\u2019 cold!\u201d Gerhardt, you see has a shed bigger than his house, and in the shed is an incomplete 50 foot ocean going yacht he bought last year. The previous owner had spent 16 years building it in Caledon, but was about to run out of marriage long before he would have run out of either enthusiasm or money… how Gerhardt got the 50 foot steel yacht onto a low loader using two bottle jacks is another story altogether…<\/p>\n
Anyway, he also found a little microwave oven he\u2019s not using and lent me that too, so now I can \u201cNuke\u201d my coffee when it gets cold because I\u2019m either writing or battling my cell-phone internet connection. At least the microwave will use less electricity than my single hot-plate.<\/p>\n
After popping in for a cup of tea at Steve & Sandy\u2019s place, I came back to unpack and get settled in. I only had time for a cursory walk around the property, but Jeff has cleared fairly large areas of invasive saplings. Those that were cut down early last year have already coppiced, with annoyingly healthy growth half a metre high, so they will have to be trimmed again and dug out – it is really the only way, unless one poisons the stump immediately after cutting.<\/p>\n
The area is incredibly dry. Everyone is hoping that we will get decent rain this winter – there was very little last season. Ironically, Christa phoned me in my hotel on Friday to tell me about her two-and-a-half-hour journey home through the downpour that had hit Johannesburg. Without water, growing veggies will be impossible. I have ideas to harvest water from the mist that rolls in quite often during winter, but more of that later…<\/p>\n
Much later, probably! I\u2019m down here for six months this time, since I\u2019ve taken a job! My first \u201creal Job\u201d in nearly forty years! Sheesh! I spent a week at a training centre in Durbanville, \u201cswotting\u201d under pressure such as I haven\u2019t known since my third year at University! The job involves installing financial services terminals in shops and spazas over a wide area in the Overberg, so I\u2019ll have an opportunity to get to know the area. The technical side doesn\u2019t worry me, but there\u2019s a fair amount of selling the idea involved, so that will be a learning curve for me.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve just had a text message from my Area Manager – 08h00 meeting in Cape Town on Tuesday, when I\u2019ll discover the exact extent of my area.<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t know when I\u2019ll get a chance to write again. At the moment I feel as if I\u2019ve jumped off a building. I\u2019m still travelling forward, but haven\u2019t quite started to fall yet. That may happen on Tuesday, and the day after, and the day after…<\/p>\n
I arrived about midday yesterday (Saturday), unloaded the car, and went to call on Gerhardt to collect the little refrigerator he\u2019s lending me. I offered to buy it, but he declined, saying he\u2019d thought about it and decided that it would be useful in \u201cThe Shed\u201d. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cAhaa!\u201d I said, \u201cYes, very useful for keeping \u2018technical beers\u2019 cold!\u201d Gerhardt, you see has a shed bigger than his house, and in the shed is an incomplete 50 foot ocean going yacht he bought last year. The previous owner had spent 16 years building it in Caledon, but was about to run out of marriage long before he would have run out of either enthusiasm or money… how Gerhardt got the 50 foot steel yacht onto a low loader using two bottle jacks is another story altogether…<\/span><\/p>\n Anyway, he also found a little microwave oven he\u2019s not using and lent me that too, so now I can \u201cNuke\u201d my coffee when it gets cold because I\u2019m either writing or battling my cell-phone internet connection. At least the microwave will use less electricity than my single hot-plate.<\/span><\/p>\n After popping in for a cup of tea at Steve & Sandy\u2019s place, I came back to unpack and get settled in. I only had time for a cursory walk around the property, but Jeff has cleared fairly large areas of invasive saplings. Those that were cut down early last year have already coppiced, with annoyingly healthy growth half a metre high, so they will have to be trimmed again and dug out – it is really the only way, unless one poisons the stump immediately after cutting.<\/span><\/p>\n The area is incredibly dry. Everyone is hoping that we will get decent rain this winter – there was very little last season. Ironically, Christa phoned me in my hotel on Friday to tell me about her two-and-a-half-hour journey home through the downpour that had hit Johannesburg. Without water, growing veggies will be impossible. I have ideas to harvest water from the mist that rolls in quite often during winter, but more og that later…<\/span><\/p>\n Much later, probably! I\u2019m down here for six months this time, since I\u2019ve taken a job! My first \u201creal Job\u201d in nearly forty years! Sheesh! I spent a week at a training centre in Durbanville, \u201cswotting\u201d under pressure such as I haven\u2019t known since my third year at University! The job involves installing financial services terminals in shops and spazas over a wide area in the Overberg, so I\u2019ll have an opportunity to get to know the area. The technical side doesn\u2019t worry me, but there\u2019s a fair amount of selling the idea involved, so that will be a learning curve for me.<\/span><\/p>\n I\u2019ve just had a text message from my Area Manager – 08h00 meeting in Cape Town on Tuesday, when I\u2019ll discover the exact extent of my area.<\/span><\/p>\n Don\u2019t know when I\u2019ll get a chance to write again. At the moment I feel as if I\u2019ve jumped off a building. I\u2019m still travelling forward, but haven\u2019t quite started to fall yet. That may happen on Tuesday, and the day after, and the day after…<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I return to Boggy Pond for six months, but I have a travelling job in the area, so I don’t know how much progress I’ll make trying to develop the place! Continue reading