The wet laundry sat in the washer overnight when we didn’t have water for almost 24 hours. Finally, this morning, it was back on, and I could shower and tend to the laundry in the washer. I’m rushing a bit this morning since Rita is picking me up in less than an hour to go to Stoep Cafe for our weekly breakfast and girl talk.
I considered canceling today since I have not improved from the antibiotic I’ve been on for three days. But with all of us leaving South Africa this weekend, I wanted to spend this special time with Rita. Perhaps, it’s due to the long time I’ve had this after testing positive for Covid-19 in April.
Plus, I have hardly slept more than four or five hours a night since taking them, a common side effect of my medications. There are enough antibiotics left to get through the next four days. We are flying to Zambia in four days, and I look forward to feeling better by then. It’s frustrating.
Luckily, we still have enough leftovers for tonight, so I won’t need to cook anything for Tom, just something for me. I am happy to have something easy to prepare, like salmon salad and leftover fresh vegetables.
It’s almost 3:00 pm, 1500 hr., and we just returned from Komati after Rita, and I had brunch at Stoep Cafe. We walked out to the loaner car she was driving while their vehicle was being serviced in Malalane, and there was a flat tire on the small car. Immediately, she called Gerhard to help since neither of us was up to changing a tire.
But then, she realized Gerhard was at their bush house with friend Lee without transportation. There was Midas shop which wasn’t far from Stoep Cafe. I told Tom to sit tight until after we figured it out. Gerhard called Midas when they said they’d help in 30 minutes. . In Africa, 30 minutes easily could mean 60 minutes.
Much to our surprise, the tire guy showed up in about 20 minutes and got to work on the tire. Instead of using the spare tire, the guy was determined to remove the bad tire, take it back to the shop and bring it back repaired and ready to go. Rita and I went back inside Stoep to sit at the table we’d just left.
When the repair took a while, Rita suggested I call Tom on Whatsapp to ask him to come to get me. Tom was more than willing to do anything he could to help. In minutes, he was on the road to Komati. When he arrived, he sat at the table with Rita and me while we all waited for the tire guy to return. We didn’t want Rita to be sitting there by herself.
When the guy returned with the tire, we waited until it was done, and Rita went to the shop to pay the bill. In no time at all, we were back at the house. Rita made it home safely, and all was well.
Once back at our house, Tom peeled the boiled eggs while I chopped celery and onions for my salmon salad and cut up more vegetables for tonight’s salad. All is prepped for tonight’s dinner.
Zef and Vusi arrived while I was gone, cleaned the house, loaded the soaking wet laundry from the defunct washer, and took it with them. They’d take care of the laundry at Louise’s home until we get a new washer which Louise and Danie are working on now. Knowing them, our laundry will be washed, dried, and returned to us by tomorrow, and a new washer will be in the outdoor laundry area.
If they cannot get a new washing machine before we leave on Saturday for our trip to Zambia and Botswana, Zef and Vusi will do a few more loads for us since we have to go through the closet to choose the items we’re taking with us. Everything, including clean clothes, gets dusty in the bush.
As soon as we arrived at the house, Norman and Nina were waiting for us to return. It’s always such a joy to see the nyalas family, particularly Norman, who makes intense eye contact with me whenever he sees me. I do the same with him.
All we have to do for the rest of the day is reheat Tom’s meat for dinner at 4:55 pm, 1655 hrs. since load shedding starts five minutes later and lasts 2½ hours. There will probably be a lot of load shedding over the next week, so it’s not bad that we are leaving for a week.
That’s it for today, friends! Have a lovely day and evening!
Photo from one year ago today, August 16, 2021:
