All Things Burglaries

If I had written this blog 5 days ago, or even last night, I would have written it differently to today but it is what it is and only through prayer and spending time alone with my thoughts did I receive grace to accept the event for what it was.....another rung on the ladder of life.

In the early hours of last Wednesday morning, while the dark of the night was still thick and heavy and our household was at rest, we had intruders in our home. NiQi was sleeping in her bedroom, Johan was in our room and I was in the spare room, having moved there earlier that night..... and I am ashamed to say it, but because of Johan's snoring. I haven't been sleeping well of late, tossing and turning night after night, concern over many matters rattling around in my mind.

That early morning was no different to many others, I was wide awake. I had been up at 3, walking through the house to the bathroom. Nothing was amiss at that time. I returned to the spare room and continued to lie awake listening to Molly barking with an incessant yap. She had been doing this for a while and I was waiting for Johan to wake and be irritated enough to investigate. He was ill with the flu, hence the snoring, however finally at 4 am I heard him get up and go to the window and call through to Molly to keep quiet. He too went to the bathroom and went back to bed to sleep. I hadn't heard him return to bed though and it was almost, in my mind, as if he was still up, as I heard noises in the house. I heard 'him' in the kitchen and the dining room and lounge area, opening and closing doors and moving things around. I started getting annoyed by 'him' and wondered what it was he was doing and what he might be looking for. At one point I thought to get up and ask him but I didn't because I was waiting for my alarm to go off as I had an order for a cake that I had to bake early and I just wanted to lie in bed a little while longer.  The next moment, I heard NiQi talking to Johan. She had woken him up and was in a panic because she couldn't find me and the house was wide open. I called to say I was in the spare room and jumped out of bed. By this time Johan was outside calling to me to let our neighbours know we had just been burgled.

Taking you back a few minutes in time, NiQi was woken with a red lazer light shining on her face. She remembers the light being bright and putting her arm up to shade her eyes. It must have been her movement that made the thieves decide to leave. Her first waking thought was that I had shined the light on her face but wondered why I would use the lazer torch that she had on her bedside cabinet. She opened her eyes and cast them over to where the torch was and saw it still lying there. She got up out of bed and walked out of her room to the lounge extension and then the lounge. She saw my Bible lying on the couch and thought I was up already as I am often an early riser. She walked to the dining room and glanced to the right of her into the kitchen. The lights were off and she thought I may be in the bathroom. She walked on through the house to the section that we are still renovating and the bathroom. As she went through the door to the 'new' flatlet she looked to her left and saw the French doors were open and wondered why I would be outside so early in the morning and leave the house wide open. She checked the bathroom and I wasn't there. She went to the French doors and in that moment she realized we had been robbed. She went back through the house and woke Johan.

Johan, now outside with the torch had noticed that the palisade gate between us and the plantation was open. It was the only section of our fencing that was not electrified. The padlock had been cut off with boltcutters. I, in the meantime had phoned our neighbour 2 houses away. He did not pick up his phone. (We later heard he did not recognise the number I was phoning from and in his state of half sleep thought it might be a wrong number.) I then phoned our immediate neighbour and he answered me. I told him we had just been burgled and Johan needed backup. While he pulled on his clothes and grabbed his keys and torch, his mom got onto the radio and told everyone what had happened. Within minutes we had many of our neighbours here or in the plantation.

I in the meantime phoned  our local police station. I dialled all the numbers I had stored in my phone and not ONE of them were answered. I ended up dialling 10111, a habit I got into when living in Grootvlei. I told them I had tried our local police station but no one picked up the calls. The lady I spoke to said she would dispatch them. I asked her for a reference number, something else I learned from farm life.... never put the phone down before receiving a reference.

The chaps in the meantime had recovered some of our stolen items; a speaker from the one DVD player, Johan's angle grinder, a few smaller tools and my cell phone (the one with the number I most often use, and that my neighbour would have recognized...lol). All were items that were dropped along the way, most likely because the thieves were weighed down with all they were carrying.

The first of the police officers arrived, having been dispatched by his station and apologized for the phones not being answered. A busy night and changeover of shift were the excuses, both of which we have heard before from years of living in a vast rural area.

He took a statement from NiQi and later Johan. He phoned the dog unit and they arrived  soon thereafter. He also phoned the finger print unit but they have yet to arrive. We are disappointed the finger print department didn't come because from past experience we had plenty of surfaces they could have dusted for prints.  Over the years and the numerous burglaries we have had, we have learned what surfaces are good for lifting finger prints and in this instance there were many. Knowing too that prints found can only be linked to police records makes it much more difficult to catch criminals in South Africa. There is no link between Home Affairs and the SAPS. It is unfathomable as to why not, but it is the way it is.

Initially I was angry that once more our privacy has been invaded. This is not the first time, nor the second, not even the third or fourth.... we have been burgled more than thirty times in the time Johan and I have been together. Our children have grown up living through the different experiences.  This is however the first time we have actually been at home, inside our house, whilst the burglars have been busy going through our personal belongings. Some years before, NiQi's flat was ransacked and almost everything she owned was stolen whilst she was in hospital, Johan in PMB and me asleep in the main house. I didn't hear a thing that time and all our dogs were asleep in the house with me so they didn't utter a sound in warning. So we have I believe become professional victims over the years.

I know how easy it is for people to say things like: "At least you weren't harmed" and "they are only material things they got away with", and yes it is true. I am thankful especially that when NiQi woke, whoever was in our home decided to make a run for it. I am grateful they didn't get away with more. BUT more than anything I am saddened that another break in sets us back financially. With each and every theft in recent years we have not been able to replace what has been taken or broken. We no longer have insurance to claim from. It just means we have to work that much harder to replace some of the things that are gone. Money from our wallets, my brand new laptop, the tools Johan uses to work on our home, the food in our freezer and fridge and the toiletries from our bathroom..... yes it could have been so much worse than it was, but it was bad enough.

Yes, I am sad for our material loss but more than anything I am sad that there are so many desperate souls living in South Africa. The thieves who broke into our home last Wednesday morning were hungry.... so hungry that they ate the left over sausage from supper the night before and cupcakes in the paper cases where the teeth marks can be seen where they didn't peel them first but just ate straight out of the case. They used our Pick n Pay cooler bags and filled them with almost everything in our freezer - meat, fish, ready cooked meals I had made for my mum and cupcakes...a days' baking of cupcakes....profit for NiQi's trust fund all gone just like that. They cleaned out our bathroom of toiletries and a towel. Johan joked to our neighbour we should be on the look out for a well groomed person  or persons, with pearly white teeth, well groomed hair and smelling of lavendar bubble bath. 

Yes these people are desperate all right and I hope their hunger was satisfied if only for a little while. With all the rest they managed to get away with, I sincerely hope they managed to make enough money to keep them and possibly their families going for more than a month. We have had enough now, it is time our government did more to help the many so desperate they have to steal. Economically it is becoming tougher for salaried people to survive.... how much more so for those unemployed.

Looking into NiQi's room from where a light was shone in her face

Our almost emptied fridge

Our emptied freezer

The basket where our day to day toiletries were stored

The bathroom cabinet - almost emptied

The cupcake case with teeth imprints.  We kept it for DNA analysis but it was never taken by the police

the gate between us and the plantation - now also electrified

Road Trip to Matatiele

What started as a visit to a country member of our local budgie club, ended as a visit by just the three of us.  Not that I am complaining at all, but Thea was disappointed that there were not more of the club members to entertain and show off her breeding room to.  Being one to not get out and about much, I was keen to  hop in the car....take in the scenery and relax, if only for a few hours.

Having had an abysmal market the previous Saturday, where I felt slightly disillusioned by both the lack of sales and the lack of feet at the early morning Farmers Market, I did not want to miss an opportunity for a better morning before making our way to Matatiele. I am so glad I decided to stay as we had record sales of our cup cakes and came home with our display containers almost empty. What a brilliant beginning to a great day.

So just after 11 with the car all packed with overnight bags, portable oxygen for NiQi, fishing rods, meat, salad and the last of the cup cakes, we set off for the open road.

We traveled a short distance on the N3 and then just before Howick, slipped off the highway and continued our journey on the R617.  It has been many years since we last drove on this road, in fact it is almost 20 years, the last time being when we went to look at the snowfall the winter of 1996.  I would like to say that not much has changed in that time, but in fact it has. We noticed plenty of rural growth in housing, schools and clinics in a few areas where at one time were small groupings and are now definite villages or townships.  We were none the less impressed by the neatness and cleanliness for the most part of these areas with homes made from what could be considered 'modern' building materials and not the mud huts of years gone by.  This, together with better spacing, made us think that education for the land layout has achieved a ''mutualness'' beneficial to both living and farming.  The trip nonetheless was therapeutic with beautiful scenery and plenty of greenness.  We noticed a number of horse studs along the way, all of them fat from the abundance of grazing, making us ever so slightly 'green' with envy and being a largely dairy farming area, cows in their herds were lolloping along at a slow amble as they too stuffed their faces and chewed the cud...their udders bulging with the creamy and delicious, fresh farm milk they were carrying.

Although we could see from the lushness of the land that there have been good rains falling here, we noticed how little water was in the farm dams and how dry the rivers were, some with just a trickle of water winding along a familiar path cut by years of weathering and others as dry as the ground surrounding them.

At Underberg we decided to stop for lunch and found Mike's Restaurant just off the main road. We were lucky we were told, as the last of the early risers and tourists to the area, had left after a hearty breakfast which had kept the restaurant busy for hours. We had the restaurant to ourselves and chatted to the patrons about our trip, the changes we had noted along the way and our impending trip further on to Matatiele. Our meals were all prepared and cooked by the owner and chef himself, Mike Moncur. Portions were huge and the dishes very palatable. I was impressed by receiving a wedge of lemon for my fish, in a piece of soft netting tied with a ribbon. I may not get out much and to some it may be a usual sight, but not for me. It felt strange to squeeze the lemon through the netting knowing it would either be washed or disposed of, but so ingenious as the pips remained inside.  Johan ordered a side of ribs and NiQi a 'surf and turf'.....a piece of steak with a few calamari pieces. Tummy's full, doggy bag  in tow, we paid and were on our way again.

At Kokstad we were dumbstruck at the size of the maximum security prison on the outskirts of the town, at first unsure what this huge building and it's surrounding houses were.  It looks fairly new and is all red brick and shiny with a number of fences of varying distances apart. NiQi jokingly said she wondered if 'Michael Schofield' from Prison Break would be able to tunnel out of there. We heard later when talking about the prison, that this is where the infamous Kreijec has been imprisoned. Kokstad was the last big town before Matatiele and by mid afternoon we arrived at our destination.  Driving along the main road of the town we were  not surprized to see it set out like many small towns with one road leading from one end to the other before driving through.  It doesn't look to be very big at all from ground level, but way up in the mountains as you look down, you can see exactly how it is laid out with smaller roads leading off of the main street and at a distance a township to the left and behind it.

Nonetheless the ''budgie meeting'' was short and sweet and excitement mounted as fly fishing rods were packed and we all piled into one vehicle to make the trip up the mountain to the nature reserve and ultimately the mountain lake. The air was thin at the top as we ascended quite a height. Scott told us that at the top of the mountain it is as high as Pretoria in Gauteng. NiQi battled with the change and connected herself to her portable oxygen.

Johan, Scott and Tristan soon had their rods in the water as we took photos and walked a bit over to the other side of the lake. It was late afternoon and the fish were biting. They reeled in one trout after the other becoming more excited with each catch.  Johan was definitely the oldest 'boy'of the three of them and 'stole'Scott's fishing spot on the pier...lol  After a  while we watched as the mist started rolling in and soon covered the lake.  Courtney and NiQi started to get cold and retreated to the car to sit and wait patiently, and patient they had to be as Johan kept saying, 'one more line'.  Eventually we went back down the mountain with Scott obviously familiar with the road as it had disappeared in the the mist.  The following morning I had a slow start as I woke in the early hours with such a migraine,but after a couple of tablets and a few more hours sleep I felt ready to go out again.  I would have liked to explore the town and take photo's of the lovely old buildings,  but relented and we went fishing again.  NiQi wanted to try her hand at fly fishing too so I couldn't say no to two hopeful faces. Next time we go to Matatiele, and there will be a next time, I will take photos, but this trip was all about budgies and fishing...lol  The mornings trip took us back up the mountain and before putting a line in the water we went round the other side of the lake to the sandbar which looks like a tiny little beach area and you can pretend you are at the sea if you really want to.  Conditions weren't great for fishing though as the wind was blowing quite strongly, but NiQi had fun and Johan had even more fun. 

Lunch time we went back to Thea and Scott's, had a quick bite to eat on left over braai from the previous night, then packed the car to come back home. At Kokstad we took the alternative route, driving along the R56.  What a horrible drive it was, mist all the way and so windy it makes one feel quite car sick.  At one point I said to Johan that I thought we were supposed to be going down hill to get home again as the road kept climbing and climbing.  There are also so many small villages along the route that we were slowing our speed to go past, then driving faster again until we reached the next one.  It wasn't half as clean either as the R617 we had driven the day before, so it was a bit of a let down.  At least we know now though and in future will stick to driving up Underburg way.  So our road trip turned out to be adventurous and exciting, relaxing and therapeutic....here's to the next one.

Eating crumbed mushrooms as a starter at Mikes Restaurant

Surf and Turf

Rickety Jetty

Enjoying the Sun

A cave on the other side of the lake

First trout caught

With the mist over the lake

Contemplating Life

Misty View

Sunset behind the cabin

Dusk.....waiting to go back

On the jetty

The mist does not deter him...

They can't see much more than directly in front of them...

One of 3 graves on the hillside....The Nature Reserve used to be a family farm

until it was taken away and given to the Parks Board

the 2nd grave

the 3rd grave, weathered and unreadable

left on the sand bar to paddle in the water

Courtney enjoying the sand

Johan lost his croc in the mud...

Enjoying the water

Scott showing NiQi how to cast

Walking gingerly on the rickety jetty

On the jetty

pretty wild flowers

Cosmos

A few protea bushes still had flowers, not many though as it was late in the season

Courtney 'balancing' the tower behind her

Holding up the jetty...

A butterfly Johan captured on camera

The view looking over to the Lesotho mountains

What a catch...

Update on Building Willow Lane

The days, weeks and months are passing so quickly and work on the house has slowed with all that has been taking place in the garden...more importantly, clearing and fencing for the horses.  Much has been done but there is still very much more to be done.  Below are photo's of the house as it is progressing.  It will be more than a year before we are done and truth be told I am not bothered.  I have never been one for keeping up with the Jones's and I don't care to make comparisons.  I am not a social snob and have learned that there are way more important things in life than pride in possessions.  So what if  the house isn't completed as yet...we are still living comfortably amongst the chaos and that is all that matters.  I am proud of Johan for all that he does....working a day job and renovating our home.  He is a hero in my eyes and I love that he is so capable.

 The almost finished pool side of the house 

 One of two slate pillars found under plaster

 Matthew building the foundation wall of NiQi's bedroom

 The tiles have been removed and replaced with corrugated iron, the roof is now all one level

 A new doorway has been made leading from the lounge extension to NiQi's room.  The pillar is a feature in both rooms.

 NiQi's outside wall built up

 Old windows removed and openings cut for new windows

Clearing all around the outside walls to build a huge verandah

Anniversaries

The beginning of January Johan and I were married 34 years which as so many people are quick to point out is an achievement by today's standards.  

In the back of my mind there has been one couple who played a pivotal role in my life that I think I based my married life on....that is the life of my maternal grandparents.   I remember my gran being loving and caring and kind to everyone she knew, whether they were family, friends or neighbours.  As my gran she took me under her wing and taught me so many things about life.  When teaching me to knit she taught me perseverance.....she could see with each row I knitted that I was getting closer to finishing the article I was knitting.  When discussing the cost of a beautiful doll I had seen and dearly wanted, she taught me about the value of money and shared her wisdom on what mattered in life.  When watching her cook in the kitchen she showed me how to stretch a meal for one more unexpected mouth and shared cooking tips that I still remember.  When chatting to neighbours across the back garden fence, or passing every day greetings to those we walked past in the street, she taught me that friendships are important.  My granddad was quiet and softly spoken.  He saw more than he let on and he never judged anyone.  He showed me that hard work and working at something you enjoy has it's rewards.  When giving me sixpence pocket money once a month he taught me how to budget and save for something I really wanted.  Above all they both taught me that marriage was worth it for the long haul.

34 years has been hard work but I wouldn't want to have gone through all that we have done, with anyone else.  I hope that one day I may have grandchildren who will look to us as I did to mine.  Here's to another 34 years and counting....