Fidler in the Hood: Take my hand, I’m a stranger in paradise
No sooner had the sad state of the grass verges been mentioned last week, when a chain gang arrived to start cutting grass and clearing streets.
GREETINGS, friends and visitors. Holiday time, and, so far, so good. The weather is holding, there’s water in the taps, and load shedding has gone down from stage four to stage one. Let’s not push our luck, claiming the crisis is over; hold thumbs, and pray for deliverance. As someone remarked ‘Last week was murder: the heat is getting to us, load shedding is killing us and our business and there’s no water.
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We’ve had it: enough is enough.’ Then the heat subsided, load shedding went down to a tolerable level and there was water in taps once more and any thoughts of an exodus were put on the back-burner.
Unbelievable response
It can be maddening living here, but little things mean a lot. No sooner had the sad state of the grass verges outside several Uvongo residences been mentioned last week, when a chain gang arrived to start cutting grass and clearing streets. Still, better late than never. Street signs are visible and the clean-up makes residents proud (nearly) to live here once again.
Far from the Madding Crowd
There is a world-wide campaign to get rid of plastic bottles and related refuse. Somehow, the campaign seems to have overlooked parts of the Hibiscus Coast: plastic bottles are frequently thrown out of passing vehicles onto the highways and byways of suburbs.
True ‘patriots’ – residents, joggers and walkers alike, particularly along Lilliecrona Boulevard, can be seen picking up discarded bottles, packages and placing them in already over-full rubbish receptacles.
Still, the exercise does everyone good: payback time for the privileged to keep Uvongo litter-free. Living in a lovely part of South Africa – far from the madding crowd, we should thank our lucky stars!
The silvery moon
Talking of lucky stars and full moons, the league of empire loyalists turned up at the monthly Moondeckers get-together at the Ramsgate whale deck last week. To the musical strains of ‘Moonlight Serenade’, ‘Blue Moon’, ‘By the Light of the Silvery Moon’ and ‘Shine On Harvest Moon’, ‘lunies’ eagerly awaited the full moon in all its splendour. The clouds rolled by to obliterate any hopes of a moon sighting, but it wasn’t all bad – there was good turnout, conversation was convivial and some holidaymakers joined in the fun. The view over Ramsgate beach is superb and the bonus of winning the raffle prize of a bottle of excellent red wine (and wine glass) made the evening well worthwhile. So, yes, let’s thank our lucky stars. If only the conservancy was in a position to sell national lottery tickets. Now there’s a thought. People might actually discover a genuine winner – in person, too. There’s one born every minute. A thought: has anyone met or know of a real person who has actually won the South African lottery?
The Harrisons
However, the CO and your scribe entertained some ‘real’ people, Bill and Margaret Harrison – down from Durban after four years’ of cajoling for them to come and visit paradise. Hopefully the Harrisons were suitably impressed by what was on show on the Hibiscus Coast. The proof of the pudding being in the eating at the Hofman’s ‘Guinea Pig dining-in evening’. They commented that the kindness and hospitality shown to them ‘you’d never get in Durban’ and the friendly atmosphere contributed to a great weekend.
ALSO READ : Fidler in the Hood: Distant relatives, Theresa May and a pinch of salt
A bit of background
Margaret has been in the nursing profession for over 40 years at a leading Durban hospital. Prior to nursing, she tried her hand at being a ‘novice’ entering the priory at a young age. Deciding that ‘A nun’s story’ wasn’t for her, Margaret became Mrs William Harrison and next year, Bill and Margaret will be married 40 years. They have three daughters. Bill was a lecturer at Howard College and currently has his own management consultancy in Durban. The friendship has continued for some 35 years and our common interest is English football. ‘Willy Boy’ is quite knowledgeable when it comes to the ‘beautiful game’, however, for his sins Bill is a born Everton FC ‘footie fan’. At least he’s not a Liverpool supporter!
See you, Rob.
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