©2013 Edward C. Lunnon
Monday 15 July 2013: 6 years 10 months on …
Physical: Deuce / Mental: Advantage ED
I saw that someone commented on my blog site that I was a lousy blogger! I surely am.
Let me try and justify that lousiness:
I have been very busy – various projects and lots of travelling.
The internet and my wireless connection are playing up – South Africa must have the worst and slowest internet connection in the world. It’s so frustrating! And when the internet goes down, so does the help desk at MWEB! Fat help that is!
Mentally, I have not been in a good place. Almost seven years of illness is starting to take its toll on my tired and weakening body and my fighting and busy mind. The cloudiness in my mind also appears to be getting worse. I have difficulty in putting myself into time and place. The writing is not so easy anymore …
And physically, the most difficult thing that prevents me from writing is, believe it or not, my inability to sit comfortably. Pressure on my bum immediately sets my body off into all kinds of muscle contractions and spasms. If only I could find an answer to this one! And my appointment with a specialist that has been recommended, made in January, is only in August! Roll on August and hopefully a solution!
So please forgive me as I (slowly) try and keep you updated with my comings and goings … I will try and do that for as long as I can.
Tuesday morning, after Sister Gill’s visit at ten, I had Holy Communion with Rev Rowan Rodgers from the Newton Park Methodist Church at eleven. Then a good hour long massage session from Julian Fletcher – the best in town if you can get hold of him! I also booked him for Friday morning – but with Julian that’s no guarantee that he’ll be there!
Last Wednesday, after my radio show and weekly coffee at Bluewaters café, I managed to get in a short gym session. I walked for about half an hour on the treadmill and find that walking definitely keeps the leg muscles going. In the afternoon I had my weekly beard trim and my monthly haircut. Grant at Front Cover in Newton Park (041 363 2529) keeps me looking good, so if you need a haircut, give them a chance.
Thursday I had lunch with Ben Roff at Spargos. It’s always a pleasure catching up with what’s happening in the real world!
Friday morning, we packed for our trip to Somerset East – heading off to the Abrahamsons and the Biltong Festival. We haven’t been there for two years, although it feels like it was yesterday! (See my blog 2B or not 2B written in August 2011 – you can just use the ARCHIVE section on the right hand side of my blog or else the SEARCH blog also on the right hand side of the blog.)
In life, just when things are going smoothly and everything is hunky dory, suddenly something happens to upset the apple cart.
So a relatively short two and a half hour trip to Somerset East becomes a bit of a challenge. Just before we left Port Elizabeth, I heard on the radio that the Olifantshoek Pass was closed as a result of a truck accident. It would be closed for the next five hours!
And that’s our route to Somerset East …
So, one can’t let life get you down – you need to get the upper hand and make alternative arrangements; make decisions now!
Instead, we took the R75 from Port Elizabeth north-westwards towards Jansenville. Some 20 km from Wolwefontein we turned eastwards on the gravel road R400 through Waterford, past the Darlington Dam and the northern section of the Addo Elephant Park.
Some 30 km from Waterford we turned left and travelled north east on the road to Somerset East. Fifty km from there we entered Grant’s farm Kaalplaas – East Cape Safaris – from the south rather than from the north as we would usually have travelled.
In Afrikaans we say “’n Boer maak ‘n plan” (a farmer makes a plan), and we had overcome the challenge of the closed pass. Along the way, we travelled an unfamiliar route to us, through the Noorsveld, and seen another beautiful part of our wonderful Eastern Cape.
It’s another example of how one can address challenges in life – we could have stayed at home and said we can’t get there or we could have found an alternative, which we did, and become all the more richer for having done so.
And it only took us three hours – half an hour longer – to get there. I mustn’t forget to add that Phillip was at the wheel for the first time on a long trip and on a gravel road. His learner’s licence was due to be upgraded to a full driver’s licence after his 18th birthday, but alas the traffic department has been on strike (together with the electricity department and whoever else seems to go out at the drop of a hat these days!) He drove so well – there and back – so hopefully now we’ll be able to get him an appointment for a driver’s licence test soon (the traffic department re-opened this morning, but, unfortunately, Phill has returned to school today!)
We braaied and kuiered (visited) on Friday evening with Grant and Sarine, his parents, their children and the cousins in their beautiful bouma (and two Scandinavian hunters).
On Saturday morning, after a very large BREAKFAST!, we headed off to the Biltong festival in town. However, we did not stay too long this time – it would appear that the festival is starting to lose its appeal and we were slightly disappointed by the stalls, entertainment and attendance. It will be interesting to see how much longer this festival remains on the festival calendar.
It was hot at 25 degrees.
We returned to the farm, watched rugby on TV and ate yet again! This time we were joined by Ben, an American hunter who had just arrived from Seattle and Abrie, the professional hunter, who bambooed our outside stoep ceiling last year.
On Sunday morning, it was cold at 10 degrees. After breakfast, we headed home, again with Phill at the wheel, but this time headed back to Port Elizabeth from Somerset East and Middleton along the usual national route N10 via Kommadagga, the now open Olifantshoek Pass, Paterson and Nanaga.
The weekend had come to an end far too quickly – don’t they all? – and then it was time to prepare for back to school this morning. The three week winter holiday had also come to an end!
This morning, it’s back to me and Charlie at home. Even the God’s are crying in the form of the cold and drizzle. I really miss having the company at home! I think Charlie does, too, because he wants all my attention and he is wearing me down.
Please excuse the errors in my blogs – my mind is not as clear as it has been, my fingers not so nimble and the errors slip through. I’ll correct them later when I feel better. The voice recognition Dragon software is frustrating me and the internet is slow again!