Mon Feb 1
I rose early for the new OVD Mailbox Club though I had nothing to buy before meeting Chantelle at Avian Park and bringing her to OVD. It was a cool and windy day. As she gathered up the children I sliced Angel's bithday cake into 11, not too easy in the car. Soon we had 10 kids, but 4 of them were different from last week. Battling the wind I tried a few songs, including Rock Star, and tried teaching them Amazing Grace. I reprised my short talk from last week and added Jesus's statements about the importance of children. Then Chantelle taught the lesson as I cut up more cake. When the time came for cake I took it to them, and there were actually enough slices. Then they all got an apple, and we were done. The weather had made it hard, but we had persevered. I took Chantelle and a cousin back to Avian Park.
I took the car to Tiger Wheel & Tire at 2 pm, which Rian had said was their relatively quiet time. As soon as I had given him the key, I walked along to Post Net and picked up our passports with the medical visas. It took 90 minutes or more to fit and balance the four tires, which wasn't a comfortable time, sitting in one of their average quality chairs and trying to fall asleep. I read a few pages of 'The Kingdom Way of Life' before it was too tiring on my eyes. By this time next week ... ! I withdrew R400 from FNB to pay for Chantelle's school fees. In doing this I made it impossible got Integro to withdraw the two months of premiums I owed them. I just forgot.
At 6 pm I was at Chantelle's house to meet with her parents Moses and Maria. I had prepared duplicate copies of a 'contract' for me to lend them money for Chantelle's school fees. They said they needed R300. Maria would be paid on 8 February. I said I would be there at 6 pm to collect the money, before they spent it. They agreed and signed the contract. I was trying to make this look official so they would work harder to fulfil it. Then I took a photo of them - a rare family shot. When I left their house, Anthonica got into the car. She needs R600 for her school fees (same school as Chantelle). I recommended she writes a letter as from Tersia requesting until 12 February to pay, and give it to the school tomorrow. They may agree, or they may threaten not to allow her into school.
We watched Ramaphosa's 8pm broadcast. 1M doses of the Astra-Zenaka vaccine had arrived from India today. (In a moment of cynicism I wondered how many schemes were being hatched right now to hi-jack some of the vaccine and make fortunes selling it to people who didn't want to wait their turn.) He is also lifting the alcohol ban and relaxing the curfew. I wondered (in another cynical moment) whether Tersia will divert desperately needed school fee money towards wine. At some stage today Integro attempted to take R2000+ from my FNB account but were only able to get R1000, charging me a R110 penalty. This was the price of Chantelle's school fees.
Sun Jan 31
Since I won't be back on the livestream team at church till 14 Feb, I walked onto Church Sqare at 8:30 to join one of the WGC prayer groups that are operating in Lock down. I was eginning to wonder if no-one was coming when the group started to congregate under a tree about as far from Da Vinci as one could be. Linda Schoonraad was the nominal leader, and broke us into 3 smaller groups for communion. Several people spoke about the Charl Munnik murder, and helpfully, before we broke up, someone who had been at his funeral (yesterday?) told us about it; the very opposite of a revengeful gathering. Nik and Gisela walked back with me across the square and I gave them the copy of 'Legacy' I had designated for them weeks ago. Nik's month without pay hasn't started yey, and before it does there will be an appeal. I watched the praise and worhip on line from WCC, and then listened to Don Crisp on GNiTM.
Around middday Anthonica called and said she wanted to come back to God. She described in some detail how she needed a better life with positive things and people and Jesus around her, and she wanted to be baptised. This was beautiful to hear, and when she asked how can she get started I told her that by making this statement she was already starting. I said L-A and I would discuss how we could best walk alongside her on this new journey, and I promised to get back to her. L-A suggested the Alpha course and a pre-baptism preparation. School starts on 15 February; maybe we could compact the course in our house. At the end, maybe we could baptise her, or we could arrange for her to join a baptism in a local church. Later in the day when I took her some food for tonight and tomorrow morning, I put these thoughts to her, and we
came up with a date for the first session: this Tuesday 2 February at 2 pm. Maggie is coming over at 11 for reunion, lunch and shortbread, and if she is still here at 2, I can work with Anthonica while the ladies talk in the studio. I also took Chantelle from OVD to Avial Park and checked all was on track for Mailbox Club tomorrow.
I set up this month's wire transfer from Simplii, necessitating our using $500 of our Simplii overdraft.
Sat Jan 30
L-A woke me shortly after midnight and I felt wonderful - I remember it the next day because feeling good is memorable and unusual. She immediately put it down to the many who had been praying for my health. Yesterday I had checked over TB symptoms on line, and I have about half of them, so I should not expect to feel too good.
Around 10:30 I took some staple foods and R100 to Bella, and then to Fairbairn Pharmacy. Carica switched me from the very expensive Neurobion to the cheaper 'B Complex' to take alongside my TB meds. I went to the mall to find Pick n Pay's socially distanced line up this Saturday morning extened 20 meters into the parking lot, so I went home empty handed. Anthonica persuaded me to bring her a pie, and she got a strawberry milk as well, but as I drove there I was thinking that individual drives to Avian Park to help one of the girls are not really justifiable, and may be getting more dangerous.
L-A is making soup from the remnants of our turkeys. Jamelia wanted me to buy her another set of clothes for another dance competition but I turned her down. I sent $2000 from Simplii to Solutions Banking to pay part of the Mastercard, which stands at about $5,000. This is the first time we haven't paid almost all of the M/C. Chantelle asked me to drive her to Avian Park but I turned her down. In the evening we joined a Harvest Family Network zoom. I considered telling them the shock story of Charl's death, but even as I thought about it, I sensed the Lord saying to me 'What are you doing about it?' and I realized that I must somehow reach out to Charl's mother if there is any way to reach her. I actually called the shop about 8:15 unless it was switched through to the residence, but there was no answer.
Fri Jan 29
After the unusual foot pain of yesterday, I switched from my trainers back to my sandals, and then noticed with some consternation that my orthotics were already in my sandals. I had been 3 days without orthotics. No wonder my feet had been sore.
There was water pouring out of the overlow pipe from the unit over ours as we woke, but soon after there were some plumbing noises and the water stopped; someone had found the main water cock. I needed something to take my mind off the fact that I really wasn't feeing well. I found the live recording of Brian Wilson's 'Smile' from 2005 on You Tube and played it as I made bacon and eggs. Not that I felt like eating, but I know I must. I had one of L-A's Ondansetron tablets to settle the nausea, and it worked. I gradually felt better throughout the day.
Around 1 pm Janey called with shocking news: Charl Munnik had been shot and killed by armed intruders to his jewelry store this morning. Charl had very recently survived Covid, to be beaten by cowardly trash who never achieved anything in life but lived by stealing and killing within the community. It is as if the community of Worcester just lost one of its brightest and best, leaving a loving family devastated. This is news today, but in 30 years it will remain no less shocking to them.
In the interests of partial healing one hopes that the Worcester police will act with unusual efficiency to apprehend the villains and that the process will not be adulterated by endless delays to justice. Further, my personal wish would that the idea of allowing bail to these killers would be dispensed with in seconds.
I went out around 3, starting down the High Street, where I saw a police van parked outside # 79, Munniks. I got water refills, groceries for Bella that I hadn't delivered last night, groceries for us, bulk noodles and pencils for the Mailbox Club on Monday. I drove to Bella's with her stuff and gave it to Cathy.
Laurie-Ann spent some hours brining the My Fathers House website up to date.
I listened to the 5 pm news on Valley FM. Although it was in Afrikaans, I could tell there was nothing about Charl's murder. So I switched to France 24, and after the news watched a program about the Musee D'Orsay which brought back many memories of our day there more than 10 years ago.
Thu Jan 28
On my first drive out, to Pick n Pay, to get pies for our lunch, two boys pointed to the rear of the car as I parked. I thought they were asking for money, but actually they wanted to tell me that my left rear tyre was very low. I did some quick calculations in my head and figured I could get home and then to Tiger Wheel and Tyre before I would be running on the rim. After eating my pie, I drove slowly to Tiger, every so often hearing an ominous rumble from the rear wheel. The specialist at Tiger, Rian, came to see me after her had examined the tyre, and gave me the news that I badly needed 4 new tyres. He then showed me all 4, and was adamant that I was currently driving illegally. He had already worked out a price for Goodyears of around R 9,000, and he needed my agreement to buy the tyres before ordering from Cape Town, for fitting on Monday. These would be the third set of tires I would buy from Tiger. I agreed. He plugged the bad tire and I then shopped in the mall, finding my feet very painful.
Although there was nothing in my calendar today, I ended up visiting Avian Park/OVD four times, and was feeling weaker with every trip. The situation was made worse by the failure of Powertime yet to fix our problems, so that during the day I gave cash to both Jamelia and Anthonica for power.
In response to a message I sent them about not being able to recharge by credit card, they replied that they were still working on the problem (after 2 weeks).
Bella called about 8:15 asking for food for tomorrow. She had been fruit picking today, and would be tomoroow. But when I when out to get her some urgent needs, OK Foods was already closed in advance of the 9pm curfew. I drove back home, made up some bread and butter sandwiches, added 2 hot cross buns and drove to her house. She was clearly disappointed as I explained about the curfew; I don't think she knew about it. The good news to me was that she was earning a little money for the family. I drove to Anthonica's and gave her R40 for power that we hadn't been able to send with Powertime. There were plenty of people out in Avian Park just before 9 pm. as I drove home. I put some Simply Bee Foot Cream on my very sore feet before getting into bed.
Wed Jan 27
We didn't need to get up too early, but what woke me was a knock on the door. I opened it in my PJs. It was Waterboys, who we had been told would come yesterday. I expessed surprise that they hadn't called first, and shared my relief that our planned drive to Cape Town had been postponed. They came in and got started on the job, but not before I got my washing things our of the bathroom and into the en-suite
washroom. As time moved on I became more and more impressed with them, not least because they didn't need to ask us for anything. Fairly early on there were 5 people there, but I think one was a supervisor. 3 men did most of the work. At 10 I gave them coffee, which they gratefully accepted, but they didn't stop work as they drank it. It was a complex job because of the unusual location of the geyser above the bath. They had 2 ladders in the bathroom, and at about 11:30 I asked if they would help us out by removing the bathroom light fitting so I could replace the bulb. The bulb turned out to be an LED shaped like a pencil; I had never seen one before. I drove to Shoprite but they had no LED bulbs, so I went to Game, where they had very similar bulbs labled as the equivalent to 400 Watts, whereas our had been 250 Watts. I bought one anyway.
Around 1:30, when most of the work had been done, I asked if one of them would replace the lamp fitting, half expecting himm to say it wasn't part of his job description, buy instead he were happy to help. At the very end, he was cleaning our bath tub and making it spotless! When they had gone there was no sign of the intricate work that had taken plave the last few hours. Next day I phoned one of the principals to thank him for having such an excellent team. He mentioned that the current plumbing had gone in about 2005, and that some of it was not according to the standards of today.
It was quite a relief to have this work complete, and to have a light back in the bathroom - and very bright! We received very good news about our visas from Melanie that they were just as we had requested. On a late night drive to Avian Park, just before the 9 pm curfew, I heard a strange vibration from the area of the feft side rear wheel, but i carried on driving, intending to check it when I got home. Of course I forgot.
Tue Jan 26
I picked up Jamelia's mother and her boyfriend at 6:30 to take her to Home Affairs for a new ID. As soon as she was in the car she asked for R70 to pay for the ID. I had told Jamelia that I would take them, but not pay for the ID. Faced with the immediate situation, I relented, because it was only R70 (which I had in my pocket) and I was still thinking in terms of the R200 that Lottie had extracted from me to pay for her ID. I delivered them to Home Affairs, where they faced a long wait. They understood that since they had no phone, they wouldn't be able to call me to take them home. One may well ask, why wouldn't they have even a simple vioce and text phone, (total cost R155), and the reason is they would never be able to pay for air time. The way the girls communicate is free: (Facebook) Messenger, but you need a smart phone for Messenger. Even my Blackberry runs Messenger, though it doesn't support Facebook. The point to understand, is that thousands of South Africans don't have any money,
not even coins, for such things as air time. As they receive their grants, they are spent immediately on food. There is no money for anything else. When they need to travel anywhere they can't reach on foot, they must beg or borrow R10 for a taxi.
We had been told by the men from Waterboys yesterday to expect them today to install our new geyser. But as the day progressed there was no call from them. I had to go out several times, but I made sure my phone was always handy.
Bella's uncle lives in town and had offered to give the family R200 for groceries. I picked up Bella and one of her brothers about 10 and took them to his house. Next stop was the Durban St. Shoprite. I warned Bella that food was more expensive than she may have been used to. What she chose to buy was a little surprizing: 10 Kg of potatoes and some cooking oil - I have been supplying free potatoes to all the families for months. Then we went on to a couple of shops to get her a back pack for school. In 'Sportscene' she chose a black back pack with 'Nike' in very large white letters across the back, for R455. I suggested she coose any colour other than black, to make it easier to spot in a pile of other students' back packs, but she was adamant she wanted black, to be the same as most of the other students! At the counter I asked if we were getting a lower price for advertising Nike, and he explained that no, we were actually paying more, and if we would like virtually the same item without Nike on it,
we would only pay R255. I decided Bella was getting the cheaper one, even though I sensed for some reason she thought it was worth (getting me)
paying more to give free advertizing to Nike.
At 1:45 I arrived to see Rejeanne Diippenaar at Van Yyk, Le Roux & Vennote, Optometrists. She was a thorough as always, testing my vision between series of two almost identical images for each eye. My impression was that none of the images presented for my left eye was crystal clear, but in comparison with the basic vision without a lens, they were spectatcular. I forgot to ask her about my floaters which still look like moving cockroaches. Maybe this I will have to live with. I will be getting progressive lenses for both eyes. When it came to discuss cocts, I offered her my previpus lenses, but because of sales deals being offered by Hoya, the price including new frames was quite a bit less than if they fitted them into my previous frames. With her help, I chose new frames in about 2 minutes. The final price was R2,100, half of what I was expecting! I paid up front, and they'll be ready about 9 February. I can't wait!
We watched a program on France 24 looking at the huge challenges for students returning to universities. It promted me to load Zoom onto Bella's computer. Jan had told me that many students living away from home for the first time, give up on university after a few weeks. What a wasted opportunity if this happened to Bella! I continue to compile a computer maintenance manual for her, covering what a new user of a laptop computer needs to be aware of. It has been a useful learning curve for me to set up her lap top, and I can't imagine how first time user of a PC can manage on their own. The government hands out free computers to some student groups. Maybe what I am writing could be helpful to others, so I will post it on line, and will give Bella a printed copy - much easier to reference than an on-line document.
We hadn't heard from Waterboys all day, and tomorrow we would be in Cape Town, delivering Bella to CPUT.
Then, about dinner time, Bella sent the news that her start at university had been delayed several weeks because of Covid. Her grandmother Cathy had received a letter to this effect some days ago, but for reasons of her own had not told Bella about the letter till now. We knew that schools had been ordered to stay shut till 15 February, but we didn't know if similar delays had been placed on universities. So, suddenly, we weren't taking Bella to university tomorrow; but there was one immediate advantage to us, as we discovered tomorrow morning.
Mon Jan 25
In the night I mopped up more water that had come from the geyser(?)
On my way to rendezvous with Chantelle at OVD I went to Pick n Pay for some apples and koeksisters (like donuts) for the kids and a pie for Chantelle. She was ready, but Lottie had refused to give her the Mailbox Club books that Chantelle had left in her house a few days ago. I drove to Lottie's and asked for the books which she grudgingly gave me as she accused Chantelle of lying, so I gently commented that she was also a liar (in reference to the ID money).
Chantelle had 10 children aged between 7 and 11 who would like to learn about Jesus. She positioned them spaced out in from of the wall of #44. She took the names, and at that moment Laurie-Ann called to say that Mr Plumber had knocked on our door. He had been called by the accounting firm downstairs who discovered water dropping over their paper filing system when they came in. L-A recognized the same plumber who had helped us in Hooggelegen. He came in, removed the hardboard sheet from underneath the geyser, and turned off the main water supply, which was high up beside the geyser. Back to OVD.
Before Chantelle started with Storytime 1, I gave a talk to the kids which Chantelle translated parts of when she thought they may not have understood me. I started by picking up some dirt and asking where it came from. I covered creation, animals and humans, reproduction, God's reactions to sin culminating with his visit here in the form of Jesus, and Jesus's death to atone for our sin. This was all totally new to them. I felt God had given me the right words. I then passed over to Chantelle who taught them lesson 1, in Afrikaans of course. They were following her every word. No talking, no fidgetting; a minor miracle in this culture. When she had finished I talked about prayer being talking to the creator of the universe, and then we gave out the apples and koeksisters.
I had photos to remind me of how well it had all gone, and told them to be back next Monday. When I got home I was pleased and relieved to see the evidence of the flood had almost disappeared since the water had been turned off. My Plumber had told L-A that the geyser had burst. I called Lizzie at Grondbeurs (who hadn't seen my email yet) and gave her a status report. She got busy and soon organized Waterboys to install a replacement. Later in the day they came to inspect the situation in preparation.
Jamelia sent a message asking if I would drive her mother and her boyfriend to get replacement IDs at Home Affairs at 6:30 am tomorrow, and would I pay for the IDs. We replied that I would take them, but not pay for the IDs. I was thinking of the R200 price tag that Lottie has asked for.
I called Bella and asked if she had gone to see her grandfather, and she had. I then offered to take her to buy a backpack for university and would pick her up at 10 tomorrow. We also discussed the unreturned book that her school had demanded, or a fine of R230. Since the opening of the schools had been delayed till 15 February, it wouldn't be possible to get the money to them before Bella started at University. I suggested that if there seemed to be no repercussions when she reported to university, then she could probably forget the whole thing, but of there were any problems we would help her in getting the money to the school.
Sun Jan 24
Another relatively quiet day. I think the message is getting out that we need a bit of a break on weekends. Bella had said she was going to walk to town to see her birth grandfather, and had asked me to meet her afterwords and take her home, but we heard about 4:30 that she hadn't gone becaue she didn't feel safe enough walking alone through Avian Park. I said I would take her, so I drove out to pick her up, passing through the tail end of an ourdoor church service at Malmok and Pigeon Streets, with no sign of social distancing. I stopped with Bella on Napier Street near One-Up. There were some surely types sitting around the sidewalks. It seemed more dangerous for Bella than Avian Park. Bella got out with her phone in her hand and walked round a corner. I was worried about her safety and drove a few yards to where I could see her. She was coming back, after being asked to return tomorrow. After expressing my surprise that she had risked losing her new phone I took her home again and gave her R20 to take taxis when she went tomoroow. All she would have needed to take a taxi today would have been R10, but that was R10 more than the family had in the world that afternoon. The idea of keeing say, R100, for emergencies, is impossible for them.
After watching the first part of 'Tiger' on Showmax, we were purturbed to see a small flood coming from the bathroom. Water was dripping from the ceiling above the bath, and luckily most of it was falling in the bath, but some was falling on the floor. It appeared the geyser was probably to blame, and that it was probably located above the bath. I got all our rags and some towela and positioned them on the edge of the bath in an attempt to soak in some of the water. I got out the mop and bucket and cleared the water from the tiles.
Then I sent an email to Lizzie and 'maintenance' at Grondbeurs to report what had happened.
Sat Jan 23
My weight is now 60 KG (123.30 Lbs), the lowest ever, suggesting TB has not yet turned the corner. I sometimes get a stomach pain which goes after a meal, suggesting that the pain is hunger. The trouble is, although I may be technically hungry, I don't feel like eating, and have to force myself to eat. I sometimes buy things I really like even though they may not be well-balanced nutritionally, just to get some food into my body.
I often go shopping on a Saturday between 2 and 3. Most shops inexplicably shut at 3 on Saturdays, so the previous hour is relatively quiet. Today I was planning to do this when Anthonica called to remind me I had promised to take her and a friend to Overhex for a birthday party at 1 pm. I waited for them from 1 till 1:25 and then ran them down to Overhex, a 15 minute drive, so I was still OK for my shopping trip. I was pleasantly surprised to find Swiss Chard in Pick n Pay, but not so happy to discover Checkers was completely out of Appletizer and Grape Tizer. Dis-Chem was out of Tena Pads. Pep had just one nappy left, which I bought for Noona. Before leaving I suddenly had a desire for frozen yoghurt, so for the first time on months I got one, lime flavoured at Marcel's.
An item on SA on France 24 said that Covid in SA is exacerbated by widespread obesity here (way more than half the population), doubling the risks for obese people. The root cause is that people living in poverty buy foods that will feel as if they are filling the stomach, with no regard to nutritional value.
Fri Jan 22
Before leaving home I put R20 of air time on Noona's phone. I collected Noona and Isaiah at 6:30, and drove them to the hospital bus depot. She told me she had already started using the washable nappies for Isaiah and was happy with them! I said she should tell her friends. Let's have a nappy revolution! Disposable diapers are one of those unhealthy imports from the West, like Coca-Cola.
At 10:15 I took some staple foods to Anthonica, and picked up Bella for her last day of housework and computer learning with us. She had remembered to bring her phone. Since I had successfully discovered how to transfer files from a Mobicel to a PC, and recorded it on a document that will become a short computer maintenance manual for Bella, I worked through the transfer process for her, but very soon found that it is different, and simpler, on her 'Star' than on Laurie-Ann's 'Glo.' So while I had her 'Star' here I edited the manual. Also, when I switched on her laptop this morning, up came a notice offering an app for her phone to facilitate the process of file transfer. Clearly I am not the only one who has found it unnecessarily convoluted.
As I was completing this teaching exercise Lottie rang. She said she was near the post office and needed a lift home. I think her ability to get people to help her contributes to her ability to survive quite well without sight. I set Bella to sweep and mop the floor and drove out looking for Lottie. It took two more calls from my almost out-of-power phone before I saw her with a man who had accompanied her from OVD. She had successfully collected one of her grants from the post office. When I suggested she could have a bank account to receive such moneys, she shot down the idea in flames, obviously not having any experience of a bank account - she and thousands of other poor South Africans who spend significant parts of their lives queueing to collect grants. After taking her home I went to the cheapest bank, Capitec, to enquire if they would have a basic account without bank charges for Bella. No, they don't offer something that is
normal at most western banks, or was a few years ago last time I checked. This probably dissuades the grant collectors I just mentioned from having an account. I put my suggestion on the Capitec FaceBook.
Back home it was time for our egg sandwich lunch. While Bella and L-A were engaged in deep conversations about what she can expect in university, I started on the problem that arose when I set up Bella's Microsoft account initially, using L-A's phone number. Now we needed to change that since when we return to Canada her number will beome innaccessible. There is a facility to add another phone number, and then make it primary, but Microsoft wouldn't accept Bella's phone number, saying it was in use on one of their other accounts. I don't know how to deal with this, so I put our a request on Quora.
Meantime L-A was having an excellent computer session with Bella about the myriad world of Google and the Google apps that will be useful to her.
Noona had told me her bus would be back at 3, and I had said I would be there unless she called me with a different time. I attempted to sleep in the shadier back seat of the car for 80 minutes before the bus arrived. The good news was that Isaiah was fine and wouldn't need another check-up until April. Noona said she was very hungry so I got them a pie and a chocolate milk, and I also had a chocolate milk.
I got home about 4:40 with some food Bella had asked for so she could cook for her family tonight. She decided it made more sense for her to do the cooking at home, so I drove her. On the way she asked if I was OK, because I was being quiet. I admitted I felt as if I was a free food service, with free delivery at whatever time was convenient to the girls, and that they now expected more than emergency food, and that I felt we were being used and were not appreciated.
At 5:30 Jamelia arrived downstairs with a bunch of hangers-on boys. The boys decided it would be fun to take movie footage of me and threaten to take it to the police. I just wanted to keep out of Covid range. I couldn't get Jamelia to tell me what she wanted, and they didn't want to get into the car so I went home. By now they had moved to our back gate and were asking for water. I went upstairs and filled an Appletizer bottle with water and made three apricot jam sandwiches, but these Jamelia and her two girlfriends refused! I don't know what they wanted me to bring, but part of this performance was to impress the boys that they could whistle up food, but then refuse if it wasn't exactly what they wanted. My concern was social distancing as I offered three sandwiches to others in the group. 90 minutes later Jamelia rang again to ask to be lifted home. The whole group was still together. The three girls got in and I took them to Avian Park.
It was being an exhausting day. After supper I took off L-A's bandages and bathed and moisturized her legs before going to bed and sleeping soundly.
Thu Jan 21
Picked up Chantelle after going to the bank to withdraw R800. She asked me to give a lift to two friends, suggesting it was on our way, but in fact it was near Agrimart, twice as far as Lottie's. I was happy to help since they were trying for jobs. We got to Lottie 15 minutes late and drove to Home Affairs. Her ID was falling apart and she needed a replacement, something that I didn't think would cost her, but she was adamant that she would need R200. At 10:15 I picked up Janey for a nails appointment. I then went home for breakfast and to get Lottie and Chantelle an apricot jam sandwich, and when I got back to them they were almost done.
I asked Lottie if they had charged her R200, and she said yes, which turned out to be a lie, as Chantelle later explained to me. The new ID was free since she was blind. I won't confront her; I'll just be less responsive to her next request. I discussed Chantelle's plans to run a Mailbox Club, and we decided the first one could be on Monday at 9 am, before the heat of the day. I gave her the materials she would need for the first course. I will come on Monday, and bring the guitar and some fruit. I asked Chantelle if she was reading her Bible, and she said every morning after she had said her prayers. She decided to stay at OVD and asked for R10 for the taxi fare home. I then drove to Bella's and talked to her and Cathy about the R200 they had asked for. I wanted to suggest to them that it wasn't a good idea to exhaust the family finances on the funeral. Bella later told L-A I had been angry; a serious exaggeration. I did give them R200, and had now used up half the funds I had drawn from the bank this morning.
We received a WhatsApp from Rita, secretary to the owner of our apartment, with a token number for our electricity meter. I keyed it in, noticing that it didn't change the number of units we had left. But when I turned on the oven and all the hobs, and the kettle, there was no blackout. I left them all on about 10 minutes. Then I replied to Rita, thanking her, and giving her an idea of why this would be so important and helpful to us in the future. I also told Lizzie at Grondbeurs.
Wed Jan 20 - Biden's inauguration as president
I spent some time in the morning going through the Mailbox materials that we still have and sorted out 3 almost complere courses, one of which Chantelle could start with.
My eyes wouldn't focus as well as they could before I saw Dr Van Dyk, and the only possible cause of this I could think of was that the pupil dilation drops he had put in my eyes had an effect that had lasted more than an hour or two. Because of this I avoided working much at the computer. I did however check out Joe Biden's inauguration in the afternoon and early evening, and was impressed with his address.
Before making an appointment with the optician, I wanted to look through a selection of reading glasses to see if they might be a cheaper option than custom lenses. Just before closing time I drove to the mall and checked out reading glasses in Dis-Chem and Clicks. Some of them allowed my eys to focus on objects about a foot away but were useless for distance. It seems I will need custom lenses.
The first answer to my Quora question told me all I needed to know to transfer files from any Android phone to a PC. The key point was to slide 2 fingers down the screen and click 'disable USB debugging.' How the designers of Android could use such technical language to kick of a crucailly important function is beyond me. However, in a few seconds I had the Glo explorer showing up on my laptop, and was able to take all the photos and videoa off. On Friday I will teach Bella.
Lottie called asking if I would collect Chantelle tomorrow morning, drive her to OVD, and then take Lottie to Home Affairs to replace her ID, which would need some money from me. Bella messaged L-A asking for R200 for family food money after they were cleaned out at the funeral.
I told Laurie-Ann I had finished composing the music for her worship song, and she asked me to sing it, which I did once a capella and then with the guitar. Now I need to learn it, so I am playing praise songs for half an hour each day to get back in practice.
Chantelle called asking for food, so I asked to speak to her mother who confirmed the family was completely out of food. Everything they needed urgently we had in our home store, so I drove home, made up a food parcel and drove it down. Chantelle explained that although her mother was paid once a month in the 15th they had other income streams on the other weeks, and she had spent almost all the pay from 15 January on urgent household needs. Chantelle agreed to come with me tomorrow morning to help her grandmother.
We watched the final episode of The Queen's Gambit, marvelling at how good it had all been. I paid $1,500 on the TD Visa.
Tue Jan 19
I was at Jamelia's by 9, but it turned out it was just Noona and Isaiah who were my passengers to the hospital. Two hours later I returned them home and agreed to take them to the Cape Town bus at 6:30 am on Friday morning. These visits are just so the doctors can monitor Isaiah's stomach after his operation to connect his intestine to his rectum. He seems very healthy.
I took L-A's phone into Vodacom and begged help with the file transfers with a PC. They were able to enable USB debugging, a step in the right direction.
I had learned that nappies could be bought at Ackermans and Pep, but Ackermans in the mall had none. Pep did have them at R27. I bought 3 and went next door to the Crazy Store for safety pins. Back home I had OMO which I added to Noona's bag and drove down. I didn't see her but I told Jamelia (a) to have her ask their grandmother how to use nappies and (b) to tell her I will get her 2 more nappies if she actually uses these.
My appointent with Marius van Dyk was at 4:30, and it was good that I had a busy day up till then to stop me worrying. As soon as I arrived an assistant put drops in my eyes. Soon after Dr Van Dyk had me in his office, he had focussed both my eyes on an icon in the viewfinder - and I knew everything would be OK. He examined me with another machine that shone bright light into my eyes, but then pronouced that my right eye was text book excellent, and that the left would be fine with the right prescription. He deferred my questions about glasses to Rejeane at Van Wyk & Leroux, and said I could make an appointment for next week. I was hugely relieved that he was OK with the results of the surgery.
I was able to get the WhatsApp photos and one video off L-A's Mobicel using Transfer Companion (on the phone) and Droid on the PC. However, to get her other photos they wanted me to buy the software for R499. It must be possible to do this for free, as on Priv. I must continue searching. I started by asking Quora. I can't be the only person who needs to know! Across the world, how many Android phones are discarded because they fill up with media files (eg from using WhatsApp) and the owners of the phones don't know how to get their photos off, or don't have a laptop or the money for an SD card.
At 7 pm we had our first Zoom call with Faan and Naomi in 2021, which was good and comforting. We shared my computer. L-A has been suffering brain fog for the last week; we prayed and I felt we should both go back on the multivitamin Spectrum.
Mon Jan 18
I did various errands for Chantelle and Anthonica, which took up much of the morning. Anthonica persuaded me to let her buy some underwhere.
I bought a 32GB SD card for L-A's phone to deal with her space problems for R200 (half the price of the phone). I spend time on her phobe dealing with an error message that recommended setting a password. I thought it was referring just to the use of her second email, but it maanifested on the main phone.
Late afternoon Jamelia asked for emergency food for the family. The final load shed for a while was from 8 - 10, so we have an early night.
Sun Jan 17
I was at church at 8, ready for the live broadcast of the 9:15 service. I am on the team once a month. Apart from the worship team, the preacher (Marius today) and the audio-visual team, the church remained empty. While awaiting the action Chantelle called me asking for food. This is the young lady I had deivered two large thick crust pizzas to last evening, saying she should keep some for tomorrow. Chantelle told me that she and two brothers had yomped the lot that night. I told Chantelle there was no way I would bring her more today. On the following Monday Chatelle told me that her parents had had some of the pizza the next day. I don't know which version of the story is accurate. The broadcasing went well. I was on the wide angle view and Kenneth was beside me on the close-up camera. Marius preached. By the end of his sermon I was quite tired of standing. The people on stage were somewhat blurred to my eyes, but the viewfinder was sharp enough. While the church broadcast was in progress, a group from the congregation were holding a prayer meeting on Church Square. Gisela was with them and Laurie-Ann 'joined' them from our
balcony. seen by Gisela at one point. We heard today the great news that Charl Munnik had receovered from Covid.
When I returned home, Jamelia and Bella were needing food. The funeral yesterday of Johanna's baby had exhaused the resources of the Cupido family and apparently cleaned out their bank account. It remains a mystery to me why providing good hospitality for a funeral matters so much to the poor who must often borrow or beg for the money to pay for it. Bella was at her church most of the day so I was trying to assist her family and the children, none of whom could communicate with me. Jamelia had made it easier, asking for potatoes, rice and meat. She also got garlic, which she uses for medication.
The wire transfer from Canada arrived in our FNB account, suggesting that the email on Friday was a phishing attack, to which I had responded correctly. However, we also received a reply from Fraudreporting@fnb.co.za saying that the original message was legit. I replied that the Forex Department needed educating in how to communicate with the public, eg not asking for an account number by email. I am not sure how this will pan out, but having the money in our bank account is a significant comfort.
Chantelle started harassing L-A about 7:30 but we didn't respond. L-A lost the telephone notifications on her Mobicel, and I was unable to download a ring-tone app. I sensed there is just not enough spare memory space on the phone so I resolved to to get her photos and videos off it tomorrow.
Sat Jan 16
Anthonica popped up at 11:30 asking for breakfast and toiletris, including soap, toothbrush and toothpaste. These last 3 made it important, but it would be tight getting it to her by 12:30, particularly since I wanted to satisfy Chantelle on this trip. I went to Quennet's for the toothache gel for Chantelle and managed to get everything else inluding 2 pies for Chantelle at OK. I found Anthonica in time, giving her a R10 to get home from a netball game. There was no sign of Chantelle. I then called on Jamelia who had said an aunt was harrassing them for the return of a R300 loan several months ago. They had R250 and desperately needed the rest. I gave her R50. At this time there was no sign of preparations for the baby's funeral next door. I drove to OVD but still couldn't find Chantelle, so I drove home via Pick n Pay - and a shock. As I got out of the car I couldn't find the all-important trunk key, vital for locking and unlocking the driver's door. Without it, the car could become fully locked and impossible to open. So I set all the doors to the unlock position while I bought the last few groceries for us. Before going home I drove to OK Foods, one of the two places where I had got out of the driver's door, and asked if anyone had handed in a key. The friendly man who squirts the hand sanitizer called the manager and I explained my situation, and he asked all the staff. We agreed that if anyone had found it they would have handed it in by now. I drove home, depressed, and made L-A even more depressed when I told her. I suggested we eat Chantelle's pies for lunch, but I didn't know what was in them. L-A tried a morsel of one and decided it was steak and kidney, which she hates. I ate the pie and made her a cup-a-soup. After lunch I went out to drive to Quenet's and search the gutter for the key, and ask if anyone had handed it in. Before driving off, I pulled out the driver's side carpet and as it came, I saw the key nestling in it. It had fallen from my pocket when I first got in the car this
morning. I locked the car and went back in to show L-A the good news. She stopped praying.
Fri Jan 15
I had agreed to take Lottie to try and buy a mattress at 10, but when I arrived she said Chantelle was coming too, and asked if i would collect her from Avian Park. This I attempted but couldn't find her, and the only phone she uses is her monther's who would have been at work. So I returned to OVD and we drove into the Institute for the Blind compound. Lottie had a budget of R400 maximum, less than half their cheapest price. They recommended Journe en Almal on Baring Street, a second hand furniture store. We drove there, but the owner, John Smit had nothing under R600. He said that he did sometimes get in cheaper mattresses, so I took his phone number. I then took Lottie to Pick n Pay, and to our house to get groceries and potatoes respectively, before returning her home. It's good to see that she is using the padlock I bought her on her front door chain these days.
I sent another 'Help' message to Powertime, and a lady called me from the customer service department. We were no longer in a danger zone, after setting up the account on L-A's PC, but it is inconvenient to have to use her machine every time one of the girls needs air time, so I am keen to sort out the problem with mine. I tried adding L-A's TD Visa to my account but it wouldn't load, so the problem is not related to a specific card. The Powertime lady really wanted me to load the Powertime app onto L-A's phone, which I did, but was unable to add either credit card to it. Powertime software is flaky, and I feel sorry for the CS staff having to try and solve some problems that are probably due to design flaws. A year or so ago I had been unable to buy data, only air time.
I wrote a birthday letter to Lynn; she is 77. I wanted to do something more personal than an e-card so I listed her top 10 character plus-points in a hopefully humourous way.
I received a disturbing email apparently form the Forex division of FNB demanding information on the reason for my current wire transfer from Canada, and asking to confirm my account number. I replied with the eason for our transfer but said if they wanted my account number they would have to phone with a very good reason, since as FNB surely theu would have access to it. I then called FNB security and they checked that no legitimate such enquiry had been flagged on my account. They said I should forward the email to the FNB Fraud department - which I did.
My eyesight seems to be getting worse, in that I can't focus so well as I could before with my good (right) eye. My left eye is very marginally improved. Just 4 days before I see Dr van Wyk, and hopefully find out what's going on.
James called on the iPad as L-A was preparing food for supper, so I took the call alone and we had a very pleasant chat. He was on his way to 'Nelson' air force base for a Covid innoculation. He was in and out of there very rapidly, calling us briefly again to let us know. It isn't mentioned on the news but I guess front-line military personnel are given priority, like medical staff.
Loadshedding cut into the Queen's Gambit shortly after 10, right in the middle of a tense chess game, but Pink Dell continued for about 10 minutes that had been buffered, so we were able to watch Beth win. In the almost pitch dark, L-A wanted to go out on the balcony to watch the stars, so I brought her pink chair and her last Hunter's Dry cider, aided by our small blue torch. She spent about 20 happy minutes out there. Two huge trucks stopped on the High Street beneath us for 10 minutes. I went to bed and slept soundly till 9 am.
Thu Jan 14
I collected our saucepan from Cathy, but forgot to bring requested toilet paper, so decided to check out the U-Save (Shoprite). Marco was sitting outside on the step and we chatted. I suggested that he has more Covid immunity than the rest of us, having had the disease. I bought some 'Grandpa' headache remedy for Anthonica as well as toilet paper for Bella's family. You would never think from the outside or the inside that the U-Save was constructed from containers.
I went on up to the mall and bought a computer mouse. All three of our mice have been misbehaving, but I was only able to diagnose the problem for sure by using Bella's mouse with my computers. I wouldn't have thought that mice would work partially. They were very bad at dragging and dropping, for example, and often seemed to fall asleep. The new mouse, by Logitech, from Game, works just fine, and cost R110. I also bought drugs from Dis-Chem, including Vitamin D3 - 1000. I guess we should each take 5 pills daily to be equivalent to the D3 - 5000s we are just finishing, but are now only available on prescription.
Last night I dreamed I wrote a 'father to son' letter to James. The idea actually came from watching 'Away' and the transition of the astonauts from being antagonistic to being loving. At one stage, the suggestion was made, probably by the Russian, Misha, to contact their loved ones and tell they how they felt. Anyway, today I actually wrote such a letter to James. I recall that in the last few months my father write a similar letter to me (I may still have it) but the only part that stays in my memory is his advice not to buy life insurance, which didn't then (or now) increase his credibility with me.
Eskom had anounced Stage 2 loadshedding today, from 2 - 4:30 and 10 - midnight. This is the first loadshedding in months. At 1:45 I went to bed and slept to 4:30. L-A joined me for the last hour, but she was able to draw for the first part.
Claire's funeral was scheduled for 5pm at her house on Crane Street, where I had picked her up several times. Jan had suggested that instead of going into the funeral, wellwishers could drive by in their cars. When I arrived about 10 to 5, noone was driving by, but several cars were parked in the street, and about 15 people in their best clothees were waiting across the street for the proceedings to begin. There were few sign of social distancing, but there were a few masks. A man came to my car and asked if I was coming to the funeral, and I said "no," but aked him to take in a card I had written. Nik and Gisela arrived a little later. also not intending to go in. Amplifiers and a keyboard arrived, ahead of a pastor. I took a few photos from inside the car. I just wanted to 'be there for Claire' for a while, and then I left.
We watched part 1 of 'The Queen's Gambit,' timing it so it ended just before loadshedding.
Wed Jan 13
I took Janey to have her toes painted in the clinic at De la Bat, and then collected Bella to spend a day with us. I had R100 to go towards the funeral of Johanna's baby on Saturday, and Bella gave it to Cathy. She hadn't eaten today so I got her a pie and chocolate milk en route.
We had social time for a while after she arrived.
My main objective for her was to continue her 'how to use a laptop' course, and the first segment we looked at was performance problems, introducing her to Disk Cleanup and the Optimizer.
I switched Bella from training mode to house cleaning mode throughout the day. We had L-A's special egg sandwiches for lunch. We will only have probably one more chance to spend time in our house before she goes to University.
By 3:30 I had covered the teachings on my list and she had made a difference to the look of the house, so she watched a movie on her computer. About 5:15 she started cooking tuna casserole for her family, but the only container we had was our main saucepan, so we lent it to her for the night.
I bought another R200 worth of food for her at OK on her way home. We watched the final episode of 'Away.' featuring their arrival on Mars. This was not really a space story so much as the human stories of the astronauts. Unique in my limited experience was the balance given to one of the astronauts, Kwesi, of Jewish faith, and the acceptance by the other 6 for him to pray for them all, particularly when things were tough. This contrasts with the mini-series Mars, and (all ?) most other secular TV where God's existence is ignored.
Tue Jan 12
Jan had posted on the My Father's House WhatsApp Group that Claire Slinger was in hospital with Covid. This morning I posted that Covid cases were getting closer to us, and that I try to reach the ones for whom I have an email. Then Jan posted the seriusly sad and shocking news that Claire had died this morning.
I had taken her to the Mother Church on Christmas Day, just 18 days ago. She had I had met several times in the previpus few weeks, mainly my driving her to places. She was the prime mover in the Avian Park Umbrella Group in organizing emergency food for children, and unless her helpers rise up, the children could suffer.
Dr van Dyk gave me an appointment for next Tuesday for him to examine my eyes post-operation. As my left eye improves very marginally, there seems to a be a conflict with the right eye, making more things out of focus.
I took food parcels to Anthonica and Chantelle, plus milk and bread to Bella. I drove Anthonica to bring her cousin back from OVD. While in OVD I saw Lottie about her need for a matress and agreed to take her to Innovation for the Blind on Friday at 10.
I worked on the 2021 TD1s for IMC, and may have figured out the problems from last year resulting in the IMC income being allocated to me.
Several jobs were done on Bella's computer prior to her being here tomorrow. No time for TV relaxing tonight. but L-A read our pralm as I unbandaged her legs.
Mon Jan 11
Car to MMJ because the brakes-need-attention error message was still coming up periodically. I suggested to Brian not to do unnecessary work just based on the computer message! I chatted with another customer, and later with Willem as he drove her home.
We were shocked to hear that the girl twin, Jua-Nique of parents Johanna and Leroy had died. L-A thinks it may have been a cot death. There had been no reports of her being ill. Her twin brother Elrique remains healthy.
I worked on our song - the chorus. But in the time available I wasn't able to satisfactorily complete the harmonies on the final line.
I helped L-A make turkey paprakosh, another variation on what we were doing with our second turkey. Around 11:30 Brian called to say the car was ready. It turned out they hadn't had to change any brake linings. The problem was a dirty sensor sending false data to the computer. This was a great relief.
I set up our monthly XE wire transfer. We had a
serious problem with Powertime. We had R1 in the wallet, R2.70 on the Da Vinci meter, and were unable to recharge the wallet from my credit card. I sent an urgent message to customer service, and they actually called me back. They suggested I use the app on a phone rather than the program on my laptop! They said they would escallate the situation.
We needed action urgently, so L-A suggested I set up a new Powertime account on her laptop using her Visa. This I did, and it all worked, avoiding what would have been a very serious issue if we had actually run out of power.
Sun Jan 10
No church today. Lock down Stage 3 is firm about that. I watched the livestream from WCC, but it was in Afrikaans. I went to P n P and noticed the quality of the audio system. Ths is the store I had complained to about the quality of their sound when playing The Jerusalema a couple of months ago. Maybe they took notice! I spoke to a couple of
staff but they hadn't noticed any work being done on the speaker system. During the day we had calls from Chantelle and Jamelia needing food - any food. Jamelia even got some of my pineapple cremora tart, and a turkey samdwich. Of course these weould be shared by 5 or 6, but even a taste of something other than dry bread will be memorable for them.
I had more spare time than usual, so now was my chance to find out more about the GBV song I kept hearing on SAFM. I downloaded the voice note I had made on Wednesday on my Blackberry, and made it available to my main computer. L-A got Shazam up on the iPad and I attempted to identify it. It took 4 tries on Shazam before it came up with the name 'Ungandibulali,' and the singer as Beriita, together with the Ndlovu Youth Choir. I soon found it on Spotify. I searched SAFM diligently for a link to pay for a download of the song to help the cause, but could find none. So I shared the Spotify link on Facebook which gave me the artwork. We listened to several of Berita's albums. This is probably my favourite African genre.
I was very tired by evening, but was energized by a turkey korma that L-A created, followed by the last portion of creme caramel. We watched Away, and read our nightly psalm. Finally I helped L-A a little as she processed the turkey carcase that had been slow cooking a couple of days, making very rich soup stock.
Sat Jan 9
It was a warm day and I came home from a shopping trip to find L-A very hot and bothered trying to draw in her studio. The house didn't feel particularly hot to me, but her room was warm. I sugggested she move to the kitchen, so I took her computer and put it on her place setting and turned on the fan. Soon she was fine, staying there most of the day.
I had bought a full sized pineapple cremora tart, just for me, to give me something that my small appetite might still go for, and I had several slices. Yummy.
We heard from Heather that Charl Munnik was in hospital with Covid. Charl has been like a friend ever since I interviewed him for CWCP. I sent a personal note of encouragement to the email address on his business card. Heather also reported on Whatsapp that she had finally bought new tires for her car.
Fri Jan 8
I re-sent my November email to Grondbeurs asking when we could expect a plumber and a carpenter for faults they had noticed when we moved in, and this time copied it to Attie. I also asked if they would bring a ladder so the bulb in our bathroom light could be replaced.
Having not heard from our GP surgery, I called them to hear that Gina Eloff had indeed written me a prescription but they had forgotten to call me. Janey called to ask if I would take her to the mall.
After taking Janey I drove to the surgery. I asked how Dr Eric was doing and they told me he had Covid and was isolating, but may be back next week. I took the prescripions to Carica next door and also ordered another batch of Rifafour TB pills.
We have heard that Covid is accelerating here in Worcester. Apparently Worcester was mentioned on SABC as a warm (if not hot) spot, with hospitals filling up. I have noticed people are being more cautious around town, and the 9pm curfew means we have been sleeping better since there is less traffic noise. Some vehicles do still come through the centre of town past our house at all hours.
After having the car serviced 2 weeks ago, the brakes-need-attention disply was again coming up. They had replaced the frint brakes; maybe this warning referred to the rear brakes. I must have it attended to or a new owner would immediately see the warning. I called in at MMJ just before they closed for the day and took the one remaining slot they had next week - Monday.
We watched 'The Music Lovers,' Ken Russell's fantasy on Tchaikowsky, but it does capture his tortured life and loves.
Thu Jan 7
I woke and dozed for an hour, concerned about whether my friend at Cell Repair Centre was able to have replaced Anthonica's screen. Finally my desire to know was greater than my apprehension so I got up, had a quick breakfast, and drove to Q-Square. There were no other customers, and he soon showed me the phone, looking brand new! I asked him to fit a screen protector. While her was doing this another customer came in asking to know how much it would cost to replace the screen on her rather larger phone. He said R500; she left. Soon I had had a lesson on putting on a screen protector. I said I would like to buy a second screen protector of the same size.
He asked me how much he had quoted me yesterday, and I said R300. He asked me about Canada, and it seemed he wanted to emmigrate there and needed a sponsor. I told him the Canadian High Commission was closed during Covid, but I think I will find out the role of a sponsor. He told mee that the second screen protector was free. I gave him my name and email and asked his name; Tahir.
I walked back to the G-Square parking lot via Daly Bread, buying our first loaf in 10 days while Trevor had been surfing(?) Probably not with the beaches closed. I bought some medications from Carica, and then drove to Anthonica's. She saw me from afar and got into the back. When she saw her repaired phone she was ecstatic. Very counter-cultural. She was less ecstatic about the school supplies, laughing about what I thought she meant by 'crayons.' Then I went on to Bella's giving her some cough syrup that had been prescribed for L-A, and some Panado pills. Then I put the second screen protector on her phone, getting it right after a couple of tries. Now there were two of our girls very happy.
On SAFM I heard a report of violence in Washington during the electoral college recount, and a dramatic audioclip was played, in stereo, of gunfire.
When I got home, I turned on France 24 which confirmed 3 deaths after Trump supporters had stormed the Capitol building. This event will stain Trump's legacy redder than any achievements he will claim, and a series of statements have been made by different nations decrying the abuse of democracy in the country that until now was was a model of the democratic dream.
We had cap-a-soup for lunch, and L-A noticed that I kept falling asleep as I drank the soup. When it was finished I went to bed, sleeping for 3 hours. I got up at 5 feeling the way one feels after 3 hours of daytime sleep; certainly not a 'back to work' feeling. As I prepared cups of tea, my eyes fell on a packet of Moir's Creme Caramel mix. It had been in our pantry about a year, and whenever the idea of making it had crossed my mind, I had immediately dismissed it as being a task that I didn't have time for right then. But now, when I didn't feel like doing anything constructive, it felt like the perfect occupation. I collected the magnifying glesses to be able to read the tiny writing of the instructions, and took the first minute or so looking for said instructons. The problem here wasn't just related to my current eyesight problems; the writing is miniscule so as to allow more space for redundant branding logos, a common issue with food labelling for people with poor vision.
Soon I was starting to mix the pudding and getting it into the microwave for 6 minutes. I did make a mistake with the caramel sauce, mixing in 4 times as much water as was called for, so we have ended up with a mixture of the two instead of the sauce floating on top of the pudding. That night for dessert I had one of the four servings; very very good, and refreshing.
During 'Away' tonight they briefly played as background the pas de deux from Nutcracker, a favourite of mine, so after the show I played to to L-A. We then searched for films on the life of Tchaikowsky, and found 'The Music Lovers,' by Ken Russell and Melvyn Bragg, from 1970, a 'sister' film to the Delius film that had turned me into a lifelong fan of Delius in 1971.
Wed Jan 6
Anthonica had asked if I could visit her now the family was back in Avian Park after Christmas, and I caught up with her this morning. She needs a new screen for her Mobicel, something she has asked for for months since her cousin snatched her phone from her hand in anger and threw it on the ground. This time I said I would investigate, but I needed to take the phone with me, which would make things very hard for her and her mother, but she realised this was the only way. It turned out her 10 days over Christmas at De Doorns was an all-expenses-paid gift from her aunt, and now they are back they are at square 1 financially. But this meant that the Kees hadn't cost the Copples anything over Christmas. She gave me a written list of the school supplies she needed.
I took the phone to Cell Repair Centre and he assured me he would have it done by tomorrow morning, since he had the right screen in stock. I then went to the Boland stationery shop and bought everything on Anthonica's list for about R150.
Janey had asked me to take her to the mall to have her very injured nails treated at Annique's, and for shopping. Two hours later Andre asked me to take their 'Sasa' cards to her (like store cards I think) and she shopped for two hours before I brought her home. I was driving from Avian Park when I heard the SAFM public service announcement against GBV which ends with half a minute of a beautiful song that I had first heard in the company of Claire Slingers. I immediately pulled over, and recorded a voice note. I am so keen to find a clean copy of the song. 10 years ago we chased down the song Epoka.
We watched the initial stages of the 'recounting' of US electoral college votes that Trump had engineered, not because he thought he might overturn the count, but it gave a chance for people loyal to him (a dwindling number) to put themselves on record.
As the temperature heats up, the fan I bought from pick n Pay is proving helpful, particularly for L-A, who feels the heat more than I do.
Tue Jan 5
I was at the Traffic Department by 9, and joined the end of a long, socially-distanced queue. I had brought one of the camping chairs so I was comfortable enought for the 2 hours it took to reach the head of the queue. I was praying that I wouldn't need a roadworthy test, or any forms I hadn't brought. Finally it was my turn, and I had my new licence within a minute! I forgot to ask to have our address changed, but later decided that changing it to Da Vinci might be a mistake since the mailboxes here are a disaster. I then drove to give Jamelia the AC2000 I had bought yesterday. Finally I drove to 125 Kalkoen, which had burned on Sunday. Some men were attempting to clear mess. I spoke to a lady called Roslin and gave her some bulk food, and took a picture, and prayed for them all.
The redemption had arrived in Simplii for the Poulin windows 2nd assessment $11,187,80. Actually $33,000 had arrived due to the misunderstanding on the message. I emailed Vanessa Symington at Poulin and authorized her to suck the money out of our account. She replied, adding that there would be no interest charges.
I tried to buy Metagenics D3 5000 on line without success, although L-A is sure we bought it from Wellness Warehouse.
Mon Jan 4
I dreamed I had gone to 125 Kankoen to see the situation after yeatreday's fire.
I took a second look at the washing powder I had used since we arrived in Da Vinci, since last week I had given half a pack of Omo to Bella. To my considerable surprise, the power I had been using was Pollyfilla, packaged in the same colour plastic bag as Omo! I collected the washing from the line and showed it to L-A, promising that she would be able to fill crackes with them.
Mid afternoon: power failure. I assumed I hadn't pumped up the meter and attempted to do so with the Q10 unsuccessfully (it hadn't remembered my password). I tried with L-A's phone and was having difficulty there when my phone rang. It was Janey to ask if we had power. I looked out the window and saw there were no lights. Janey had checked that no loadshedding was scheduled. So this was a rare unexpected general power failure, and it lasted about half an hour, and was a relief, since it turned out we had plenty of power on our meter.
Sun Jan 3
No live church again this Sunday, so we both tuned into Hillsong Church on the line at 10. For me however, it was to be short lived, since Lottie called me about 10:30 to say she had walked to Pick n Pay Local for food, and would I take her home and bring potatoes and bread. While not appreciating calls from children asking me to do something immediately, I took pity on Lottie and got there in 5 minutes. She had come with a boy from OVD who had acted as her guide. I took them home. Maria had not called her yesterday to confirm what was going on, and neither had Chantelle brought her anything with the R50 I had given her.
We had a leisurely day, not rushing. I went grocery shopping around midday and got pies for lunch. Our 2021 is uncertain, particularly getting from SA to Canada when the SA vaccination drive will not start before April. However, worrying about uncertaincies is pretty fruitless. We will trust in the Lord for his continued protection even though we have faced many challenges. Life in Da Vinci is far from unpleasant. I washed L-A's 'smalls' and hung them on the line on the balcony.
Sat Jan 2
As I got up I had an idea about GNCM. After a few more years of the Weebly site, I could construct a new site allowing visitors to select any podcast for playing or downloading, as well as keeping the 'Podcast of the week' feature. This would not need Weebly, saving us our main expense.
Chantelle messaged several times saying she needed toiletries and other items. I called her back and the toiletries included salitary pads. She suggested coming to our house if I would give her R50. I agreed, but the organising to get here at any expected time proved hard for her. In the end she talked her way into our complex and knocked on our door. Then it turned out she also needed mayonaise and potatoes since her family were walking over to OVD to spend time with Lottie, so I gave her another R50.
I resolved to write and send my response to the GNCM board today. I described how I would maintain the webside starting now with far fewer new podcasts, and drawing on the existing library for a 'Podcast of the Week' feature. I designed a spreadsheet showing the annual expenses for the next 10 years. I made it so that the total expenses for the next 4 years would be $2,000, the amount Richard had suggested they would send to me for the purpose.
I updated the descriptive document to cover all the points Richard had listed in his draft, and added a number of my own. I used the Dell E6500 for the spreadsheeting since it still runs Windows 7 and Excel, and the LibreOffice Calc program on my Windows 10 machine seems less than fully compatible.
Lottie called late afternoon and it seems Chantelle and the family hadn't showed up. I called Maria Diedericks and asked her to call Lottie and tell her what was going on. She said they would be going over tomorrow morning, Sunday.
I finished the reports for the GNCM board and emailed them to the individual board members about 7pm. This was a major hurdle achieved, and I felt my reports were good quality.
In the evening we watched the movie 'Woman in Gold' about the Gustav Klimt painting, Adele.
Now I will survey Laurie-Ann's current medical conditions. (1) Hypothyroidism, for which she has taken thyroxin since 1989, (2) ingrowing toenails, (3) tendonitis, usually in hands, or thumb, or shoulder, or the back of her knee, (4) osteo-arthritis in the knees, now requiring the use of a walker even for getting around the house, (5) Astigmatism, which affects her artwork. Could be cured by eye surgery, (6) hidradentis suppurative, HS,
(7) recovering inflammatory breast cancer, (8) recovered from menapausal issues including fibroids in her uterus etc, after small operation, (9) allergies to local conditions causing itching, spots, cold symptoms, (10) lymphadema, which we attempt to control with MLD and compression therapy, (11) iron defficiency since the 90s, (12) wearing orthotics since 2011 because her feet started turning in. Although the painkillers she needs have reduced considerably since the time of the chemo, she still takes a large number of pills and pinkillers. After reading these two lists of medical conditions, one could well ask how we are able to carry out productive tasks as missionaries, or indeed, should we have ever embarked on the missionary life?
Well, most of these conditions have arisen since we came to South Africa, and the quality of medical care we have both received here has been exceptional, so we are able to do good work despite the medical conditions.
Fri Jan 1 - New Year's Day
I had promised to bring Bella her phone during the morning. Before doing so I added the Google Calendar, adding an event at 11 am this morning when I brought her the phone. Her sister Johanna and Leroy were there and I got a photo of them with the twins who we had had a role in bringing safely into the world.
I did some work on my response to keeping the GNCM website going, which is overdue for sending to the board in Ottawa. The the weather is generally heating up, so I decided to assemble the Pick n Pay fan. There were still a few parts left in the box when I was done, mainly the small extensions for the four legs which I couldn't clip on, but the fan itself was working well and silently.
Since it is New Year's Day, I have decided to list our current medical problems. So here are mine: (1) TB, causing loss of appetite and weight loss, now stable, fatigue, nausea (lessening)
(2) anaemia, for which I am on quite powerful and expensive Ferrimed, 2 x 100 mg tablets a day, (3) pain in my right leg, and throughout my body, caused by lower back misalligment, for which I take 2 Tramacet and 1 Celebex each morning. I seldom feel the leg pain any more, but if I cut out either Tramacet or Celebrex I have a really bad day, (4) my left eye is far from recovered from cataract surgery. Everything is quite blurred, and I am unsure if it is improving. I wear dark glasses outside the house since I am over-sensitive to light. The saving grace is that the focus in my right eye is excellent for computer work, and I can read a book with it. The surgeon predicted I would require prescription glasses for such activity. I can also drive well enough and there is even some depth of field, despite the left eye being blurred,
(5) my bunnions are causing increasing discomfort, which I alleviate by switching every few days between the two pairs of shoes into which I can insert my orthotics. Occasionally I suffer a sharp pain in my left foot. (6) allergy to local conditions causing continual runny nose, but controllable with Texa Allergy medication. (7) enlarged prostate, resultig in the need for a daily Uromax tablet. I will survey Laurie-Ann's medical conditions tomorrow.
