Monday. Ridiculous rains. Deluge. Freezing temperatures. Nearly missed the refuse truck again. A dripping little rat returned from the upstream run after the truck.
By lunchtime, I already had an eight-hour workday behind me. By the time I finally got into bed, six more had been added to the tally. Since I haven’t slept properly for a while, I am beyond tired – physically and mentally. The numbness has set in.
Topolino has a new window. The two kind men from Glasfit did a stellar job, but they did break my hope. I hadn’t been aware that Topolino already had smash&grab protection on the windows and had been hoping that putting it on would protect me a little bit better in the future. But it turned out that I had the protection film during the attack and it did nothing to delay the inevitable. For a pro like the one who attacked me, this was not a hindrance at all. And, sadly, it is very difficult to install bulletproof windows in a little Fiat (I did ask).
I went groceries shopping once Topolino could leave the garage today, but driving makes me all tense, agitated and terribly sad.
Tomorrow, we are getting the first takeaways to support at least a few of our favourite restaurants, but tonight I just cooked a hearty lamb stew and served it next to the fireplace where I also spent most of the evening, finishing my work. My love came for dinner. Glinka catssisted throughout. Poor Salieri is sick and I think it’s the thyroid medication that might be making her feel so miserable. I have nursing instructions from the vet, and I am monitoring her closely. And Winter Version Mozart insisted on ‘watching’ the rain from the stoep for most of the day. I think he is still out there, although his warm cat house, his favourite blanket and our bed are available for him at all times … He is beyond independent.
Tonight’s EURO 2020 games are quite something, even though I am watching with only one eye on the screen.
Be kind. Wear a mask. Support local.
“Physical distancing remains one of the key strategies to curb this pandemic.”
Spent the morning in bed, lunchtime on Skype with Mom and Krystian, and the afternoon and evening in front of my love’s fireplace, with his cats, watching the amazing Tour de France stage win of Mathieu van der Poel and the EURO 2020. My favourites lost, AGAIN, so now I am just going to cheer for the teams I would usually prefer to lose.
Level Four, adjusted. As expected, I suppose. I am trying to move whatever professional meetings possible online for the next two weeks and to somehow cope, survive. So many people I know are sick, or isolating, or recovering … My heart bleeds for all the people whose livelihoods are going to suffer even further. I am organising a small-scale personal support campaign and thinking of ordering takeaways from a few places I love, like HARU and The Hoghouse. My contributions are only drops in an ocean, but I don’t want these places to disappear.
I dread the work week ahead. I feel defeated before it even begins.
A beautiful day in Botrivier. The food was delicious, the wine divine, the joy palpable.
Not all my decisions were wise today, but like most others, I am just muddling through the everyday, and I learn something new with each experience. Driving is not exactly fun at the moment :(
Wales is out of the Euro 2020 – emphatically so. Not much hope for Austria tonight either, but since I don’t seem to be able to sleep much nowadays, let me watch and hope against hope. Miracles do happen …
Be kind. Wear a mask. Support local.
“Physical distancing remains one of the key strategies to curb this pandemic.”
Lethargy setting in. Not a good night. Opening my eyes took forever in the morning. I spent most of the day in bed trying to read but without much success. I listened to the radio, filled in the forms for the insurance claim, ate a lot of leftover chicken curry, and nearly jumped out of my skin when the wind unexpectedly shut a door behind me. Yes, I am feeling very sorry for myself, but it is what it is.
I just wish I could use this time to catch up on some work, and instead, all that is happening is the work is piling up even more around me. And I will have to write even more apology letters to the people I work with. Ugh.
And this weather … My roof is leaking, but I am incapable of doing anything about it. No money. No energy. There are worse things than a small puddle on the passage floor. Scarlett O’Hara mode all the way, or:
A. Wajda, 2017
“Solve this problem later” (the artwork is a gift from my love)
Be kind. Wear a mask. Support local.
“Physical distancing remains one of the key strategies to curb this pandemic.”
A platypus walks into a book … the latest Karavan Press title: Conjectures by James Leatt. Stephen Symons drew the platypus and designed the book. We are in the final production stages.
But I postponed all my meetings and commitments for today and tomorrow to early next week. Falling asleep last night wasn’t simple, but I did eventually after midnight with the TV on for the rest of the night. I couldn’t face the silence – or worse, the odd sounds – of the house. Focusing today was also not exactly easy, but I managed to do some work in bed in the morning, met on Skype with Mom and Krystian, and then went for a walk in the sun. I was quite on edge, hyper-vigilant, and relieved to get back home, but it was good to be out there in the sunlight. My insurance company phoned in the afternoon and told me how to proceed with the claim for the replacement of Topolino’s window. I will get onto it tomorrow. By late afternoon, all I could do was wash floors, hang out laundry, clean the kitchen and cook a chicken curry from a new recipe – I improvised a lot, but it was delicious. My love came to dinner. He checked up on me earlier in the day on his way to work too.
It’s impossible not to be spooked by what happened. I am also sad. And then there are moments when I am proud of myself that I did not allow the thief to take my belongings from me. Although ‘things’ had been taken, but they are not of any value to a thief.
The third wave is freaking me out. I remember reading an article earlier this year in which the Sanlam actuaries had predicted that the third would be much worse than the first two waves. All these weeks I had been hoping they would be proven wrong, but here we are, and it is only the beginning.
Be kind. Wear a mask. Support local.
“Physical distancing remains one of the key strategies to curb this pandemic.”
“No! No! Nooooo! NO! NOOOOO! NO!” I just kept screaming, and hooting, and fighting. Eventually, the light turned green, the path ahead cleared, and I just charged forward and escaped.
It all happened so quickly. The smash, the passenger’s window splintering and disappearing, the grabbing hand reaching for my handbag. But I was quicker. I don’t know how. It was probably all the rehearsing I had done in my head for exactly this kind of eventuality. I call it pre-traumatic stress syndrome, all this mental preparing for the worst-case scenarios.
Anyway, I grabbed the bag, stuck it under my right arm and just screamed “NO” on repeat, and kept banging on my hooter and fought off the intruder’s arm trying to reach the bag through the smashed window and over my body. He scratched me, but not seriously. Then, finally, the road opened in front, apart from one white car blocking my way sideways. I nearly drove into it, braked, drove around it and just ran for my life. I am not sure whether the white car was part of the setup or someone trying clumsily to help me. I know at least one other car stopped on the side and watched it all happen, but these were just glimpses, vague memories. All I really remember is my own screaming and the hooting and the brown eyes of the attacker. Although I would never be able to identify him. The police asked me for details and I could not give them anything beyond the eyes.
I was on my way to Karavan Press’s distributor. Still in shock and shaking, I decided to continue to the warehouse, because I knew that they would help me. I did not know how, but I knew they would. And they did. Phil disinfected my small scratch and put a plaster on it. Sia patched up Topolino’s window with cardboard, so that I would have some protection from the wind and rain going home. They listened, talked me through what I needed to do next, and gave me the books I came to pick up. Phil offered to accompany me to the police station, but by the time I was ready to leave, I was feeling calm enough to continue on my own. I drove straight to my police station and opened a case, then I went home and parked poor Topolino in the garage and throughout reported to Phil about my progress (he made me promise I would). Then, although I had texted her not to come, a friend arrived for a scheduled meeting (she did not get the message on time). It was actually a relief, to sit and talk books and our publishing plans. My body, all tense to the point of abdominal pain, started to relax. She brought books and chocolates and good stories. And was kind and understanding.
I then let my love know, phoned my family in Austria, contacted my insurance company, and waited until my love could pick me up after work for a comfort dinner a HARU. I had no time or headspace to organise food for us, but I knew a HARU burger and a glass of red wine would make me feel better. My love’s hugs and reassurances were like a plaster for the soul.
A hot shower, a Skype call with Mom and Krystian, a warm bed with The Cats. I feel like a survivor. I keep looking at my handbag – one I have had for over a decade, with all my documents, an external hard drive, my twenty-year-old wallet with all my cards and some cash in it, and all I can think of is that I managed to somehow save it – my EU passport is still my own and I can use it. Right now, it is an extremely appealing consideration.
I know how lucky I was. No knife. No gun. Just a greedy arm was pointed at me and my belongings. But what if …
The attacker did not wear a mask. Neither did I. Throughout the attack, one of my masks was next to me on the passenger’s seat, all covered in glass (I took the above photograph only once I was back home). But I can’t imagine that the few seconds of the attempted robbery could have put me in danger of contracting Covid-19. A doctor friend assured me that the scratch is also not a problem. But there are no masks or plasters – not even Star Wars plasters – that will protect me against a weapon, against violence.
My abdomen still hurts despite a Myprodol and the hot shower. I either pulled a muscle or the tension of my entire body has decided to concentrate there. But I am writing in a warm bed, The Cats are watching over me, my love’s phone is not on silent in case I need to phone in the middle of the night, my alarm is on, Mama TV is running in the background. Not sure about sleep, but I know I will be okay. For now, though, I just want to cry a little and to thank my lucky stars. Topolino will be fixed and I will heal.
I am just so terribly tired. And scared. And so relieved that the fucker did not get my bag!
NO. Just NO.
Be kind. Wear a mask. Support local.
“Physical distancing remains one of the key strategies to curb this pandemic.”
My love called it “the trans-continental cyber-surgery”, and so it was. It took well over two hours, there was quite a lot of tension involved (on my side; my brother was as cool as a real surgeon), moments of doubts were inescapable, but in the end, I managed to transplant the power supply box from an old computer into my own and gain access to my files. We were also able to diagnose how the old power supply box died and what else was damaged in the process – luckily nothing truly essential, and the patient, although no longer fully operational, is alive and well. And when it was all done, I felt like Chuck Noland in Cast Away, beating my breast and shouting “I have made fire!” It was only towards the end of the procedure that my brother explained that we were not performing computer brain surgery, but computer heart surgery. It just shows you how much I know about computers … but I DID IT! I fixed my computer. At least temporarily. A new desktop computer will have to be bought the moment the budget allows (hopefully in August).
The above screenshots were Krystian’s view of last night’s operation. This was mine:
And, as always, nothing happens in this house without catssistance.
And no, we did not mistakenly take the President’s iPad.
This day begged to be spent in bed, but I had a cover design meeting to go to and shopping to do and other work to accomplish that did not allow me to stay under the duvet on this rainy-windy-freezing-misery-of-a-day. But in the late afternoon, I finally managed to slip under the covers and put on the electric blanket and proofread a book in bed.
In the evening, it was time for a literary curry – literary because the recipe came from Melissa A. Volker and the spices from Helen Moffett. It was delicious.
My love and I had it in front of the fireplace with cats basking in the warmth of the fire. Now, it is time for bed.
“#COVID19 UPDATE: A total of 46,893 tests were conducted in the last 24 hrs, with 11,093 new cases, which represents a 23.7% positivity rate. A further 297 #COVID19 related deaths have been reported, bringing total fatalities to 59,092 to date.” (NICD)
And these are the recorded numbers ONLY …
The third wave might be a tsunami.
Be kind. Wear a mask. Support local.
“Physical distancing remains one of the key strategies to curb this pandemic.”
Shortest day of the year. But, wow, stuff happened!
It all began with a half-awake run in my PJs, hair flying and slippers slipping off my feet (but mask on!), after the refuse truck. It came unusually early, and after a night with my usual insomnia gap in the early hours, I only heard it when it was half-way up my street.
A bit unsettled, I fed cats, administered feline medicine, made coffee, read a bit, but then made a very strange book-delivery run. Successful in the end, but there were some weird bits in the middle, including a misbehaving tyre and a very confusing intercom conversation.
I returned home to witness my desktop computer going into a coma. My recent CPR refresher course did not cover this eventuality. I know as much about the inner lives of computers as I know about brain surgery, but with the help of my brilliant IT brother, later tonight, I am going to attempt just that: brain surgery on my computer. Transplant organs and a vacuum cleaner (don’t ask) are on standby. Krystian is going to direct the procedure via Skype. Pray for me.
From the moment I discovered that I could not access the files on my desktop computer, I went into a mental semi-coma myself, or my Scarlett O’Hara mode: ‘I’ll think about it tomorrow.’ In the meantime, I just installed Skype on my laptop, had a meeting on Skype with a future Karavan Press author to discuss her manuscript and the way forward, did the admin and computer work that was still possible on my laptop, went to the post office, did some groceries shopping, and cooked a healthy dinner for my love. I did not panic. Yet.
The great news of today is: the winners of the SSDA Prize have been announced!
Winner: Idza Luhumyo (Kenya)
First runner-up: Mbozi Haimbe (Zambia
Second runner-up: Alithanayn Abdulkareem (Nigeria)
Congratulations to the three winners and all other authors included in this year’s SSDA anthology!
Be kind. Wear a mask. Support local.
“Physical distancing remains one of the key strategies to curb this pandemic.”
Franschhoek Valley is a magical place in any season, but during a balmy weekend in late autumn it is beyond magic. My love whisked me away to Franschhoek yesterday and we had an amazing time of laziness, great food and all-round beauty.
Walks, reading, trampoline jumping and a long bath were the non-culinary treats of the weekend.
The culinary treats included a visit to Tuk Tuk, Épice and Yama Sushi Emporium. All, sadly, half-empty even during the Father’s Day weekend. But all extremely well organised when it comes to social-distancing and safety. We did book but could have walked in to most restaurants in Franschhoek.
I have never been to Tuk Tuk and Yama Sushi Emporium before, but I am familiar with Épice and returned there with hungry anticipation. Once more, every single dish on their winter menu was a delicious delight.
Now, it is back home and back to reality, but with recharged batteries and renewed inspiration.
Be kind. Wear a mask. Support local.
“Physical distancing remains one of the key strategies to curb this pandemic.”
Fourteen days later, still no symptoms – my self-isolating days are over (for now). On the day of my ‘close contact’, we did social distance, we wore masks for most of the time (unless drinking or eating, but seated well apart around a big table), had all doors and windows open, and never hugged or touched while greeting one another. No one got sick (apart from my friend who was already infected with Covid-19, but did not know it at the time). It could have been that we were very lucky, but I think that these non-pharmaceutical safety measures (distance, ventilation, masks) probably prevented further infections (unless asymptomatic). My ill friend is also recovering. We count our lucky stars.
An emotional day on all fronts. I watched an online funeral service for the first time. Yolisa Qunta was laid to rest today. Even though I hardly knew her, it felt quite overwhelming and I could not watch all of it – but I did listen to some truly touching tributes. She is remembered and missed.
Two lovely visitors arrived on my stoep today: one of my step-granddaughters and her husband. She was the first of André’s grandchildren to get married and I attended the wedding last year just before the lockdown. It was so good to see this beautiful young couple again and to witness once more how much in love and happy they are. They clearly belong together and the beauty of their togetherness makes one feel inspired. Although watching them, I also felt bruised by my own experiences, and old, and cynical in comparison. Loss of innocence and deep regrets can do that to one.
After some intense work, I finally left the property for the first time in ten days late in the afternoon and took my love’s cat to her vet for an antibiotic injection and then took her home and had dinner with my love. It was amazing to see each other without masks again.
Over ten thousand daily infections are becoming the norm and I guess it is going to be very difficult again to stay out of harm’s way, but I am determined to at least try, to find a balance of being in the world but in a safe and responsible way. It was so nice to get behind Topolino’s wheel again :) I have to renew my car and driver’s licenses in the next few weeks … Deep sigh.
Very tired tonight.
Good night.
Be kind. Wear a mask. Support local.
“Physical distancing remains one of the key strategies to curb this pandemic.”
Karina Magdalena 