I saw Sunday - Vandalism.

It was Saturday, 2am and we were fast asleep. Suddenly in the silence the sound of shattering glass resounded through the house. We were dazed and unsure about what had happened.

I thought maybe it was in the street or across the road from us. As I reached the lounge window a family member yelled get away from that window. It was too late I had already stepped on a thick layer of glass which crunched under my slipper. I ignored the warning and drew back the curtain, the huge window had been smashed and a brick was lying 2 meters away from the window where it had landed after bouncing off the old glass pane.

A family member said we should phone the police. I was not sure what would that achieve. The woman across the road stood at her gate and called to our neighbour EH and asked him if it had happened on his property. I stuck my head through the hole and yelled it happened at this window. She had not seen me in the darkness and got a jolt when she heard my voice so close to her. She replied that she had seen a guy in a black hooded jacket walk away from our house after it happened. I asked her if it was a white guy and she replied yes. She said she was going to call the police I did not reply.

The phone rang, it was EH from next door. After confirming that it had happened at our house he asked if he could come over and help check if anyone was lurking in the shadows. We welcomed his generous offer. I changed into my clothes.

Suddenly I panicked. Our little black dog usually barks if there is any movement at the front door and I had not heard him make any sound. I rushed out of the back door checking in the darkness if I could see any lurking figures and suddenly the little sleepy head comes from his warm bed and snuggles his warm nose against my hand. I could cry with joy but I patted him gently and went into the house. I walked straight into EH who had arrived with his gun wearing shorts and no shoes in the bitter cold. EH helped check the whole property (with bare legs and feet), had a quick cup of coffee and then he rushed off home (I think to get some heat into his nether regions).

It is amazing how cold the house became. We went back to bed to get some heat into our bodies but I did not sleep again. I kept listening in case someone tried to get in through the window because it is very close to the road. The burglar bars were still intact.

I got up early and picked up the larger pieces of glass and then sat with a banister brush for about half an hour brushing all the glass splinters out of the carpet. No police arrived and at 8.30am we phoned the glass fitters to come and replace the pane. R650 later and 1.30pm we had the window repaired and cleaned up the mess.

I am convinced it was not an attempted robbery but an act of vandalism.

Thursday afternoon when I came to the stop street at the corner of our block I noticed a teenage boy forcefully throwing gravel at a good friend’s house on the corner. I watched the youth for about 2 minutes while he frantically threw the gravel from across the road trying to get it over a high wall and aiming at a window. Suddenly the youth spotted me and I drove into our driveway. I did not glare at him or confront him, I left it like that. While I was pondering in the dark about which enemies we might have who would want to do something like this I could only think of this chap. I will probably wonder forever who had done this and probably never know the answer.

Rue.

Everything in the garden is getting ready for spring which is still 3 weeks away.

The rue plant is flowering. Although rue has many medicinal uses I like planting it in flower beds because it is an excellent insect repellent.

Flowers remain beautiful and undamaged because the rue has a strong smell and bitter taste so insects like aphids avoid it completely.

You can't have my chocolate and don't call me ma'am!

It annoys me how reckless people drive in a subway.

Driving to work this morning a taxi driver decides it is safe to reverse in the subway! It amazes me how many people think it is ok to make u-turns or overtake dangerously while travelling through a subway.

Don’t talk about my food!

There might be some people who disagrees with me (it’s ok) but I personally cannot stand it when someone makes a comment about my food when I am eating. I’ll give examples, say you are eating a chocolate at work and a colleague says “that goes straight to the hips you know” or someone says “you have a chocolate everyday, can’t you bring me one too?” If people comment when I eat something my immediate opinion about them is that they are common.

Ma’am or Tannie

I think it is extremely rude when people assume that it is ok to call you “ma’am” or “Tannie". One can be respectful without calling anyone names.

Brrrr ... Winter

The beautiful coloured leaves announces the arrival of winter.

Young plants are covered by special fabric to protect against frost.

Frozen drops of water.

The dreaded school photo.

When I was still at school the worst day of the year was when someone from the medical profession visited the school. Either they would be there to do a general examination of all students or they were there to administer inoculations.

The second worst day of the school year was the day allocated for the taking of photographs. I remember in one particular year when I was in high school. It was August (which is of course the windiest month of the whole year). The staff summoned two classes at a time. Every class had to line up from the shortest student to the tallest. I remember this particular year because it felt like we waited an hour for the class preceding us to have their photo taken. When we were finally allowed into the hall being used for the taking of the photos my cheeks and lips were red and aching from the blast of the wind and my hair was in a mess.

The photographer was making all these stupid jokes to get the students in a pleasant relaxed mood but it did not work for me – it just irritated me because I wanted it over and done with. Now for the reason why I hated the photo taking so much (apart from the fact that I am not photogenic). The shortest students sat on chairs, then the next rows students would stand behind those sitting on the chairs, the next row of students would have to stand on a wooden bench, then because I was always the tallest in my class I would have to climb onto a bench place on top of another bench and then I must walk to the centre of the bench so that I would be in the middle back row of the photo. I dreaded this because as students climbed onto the stacked benches and walked along it the benches would rock and feel very unstable.

Then we had to look relaxed and comfortable and smile. The photographer said “say whiskey” and we said “whiskey” then he snapped the photo. Well the terror on my face was clearly visible and printed at the end of the year in our school year book.

Addiction to Pills.

About a year ago someone at work had a minor injury. We always have Disprins on hand but because this guy was in pain we got in stronger pain killers so that he could take medication and continue work without taking extra sick leave.

My office mate WA, who has a bit of a problem with medication, could not keep her hands off these white little beauties and one morning when I came to work I was told she was admitted to hospital during the early morning hours and was in a serious condition. Everyone at work suspected that she had overdosed.

WA rummages through the medicines and collects about five different tablets in the sticky palm of her hand and then swallows them all in one gulp.

A few weeks ago WA tells me that her son takes a fist full of vitamin tablets and she doesn’t mind because they are good for him. (He obviously sees this from his mom.) I was shocked and I informed her that vitamins should be taken as advised otherwise they could also be dangerous but she just laughed me off.

One month ago, we were all working in the office and I hear thud on WA’s desk, I look over and WA’s face is flat on the desk and she is snoring out loud. The temp helping me was horrified and urged me to do something because WA was obviously not well. I didn’t panic – it was not the first time I had seen WA react this way. Eventually the boss came into the office and ordered WA to go and sleep it off at home. WA sat up and said she was not sleeping and then drove home. I was shocked to think that anyone would consider allowing someone, who could not keep their eyes open, to drive.

Today WA demanded pain killers again. There weren’t any – simply because she had already taken them all. Annoyed WA ordered the temp to run to the corner shop to buy some tablets for her. WA walked out the office and when she returned 2 minutes later she grabbed the money from the temp and said “never mind, I’ll go myself”. The temp said she was busy with something and would have gone as soon as she had finished. I knew that, the problem is that WA needed it really urgently because she is addicted for sure!

Variegated Periwinkle

It was only 14°C today with an icy wind, but the variegated Periwinkle was looking happy as if it were Spring.