Abraham Kriel Bambanani provide childcare and skills development for traumatised children and youth in need. They are my main charity and had been for more years than I can remember. AKB recently celebrated 120 years of their existence and the occasion was shared via Zoom. From all the feel-good personal accounts the one that stood out the most (for me) was a boy of about 9 years old that said:
“The most important thing I have learnt is that dreams don’t work unless you do.”
Our friends Aldo and his wife Cetti from Botswana spent the day with us on the 12th. They flew in from Botswana, slept over at our place and left for a holiday in Turkey the next day. They were mighty impressed when Roger collected them from the airport in a Jaguar. Rosewood Terrace owners often ask Roger to take their fancy cars for a drive after they had stood in the parking garage for an extended period, so this was an ideal opportunity to take the Jaguar.
Living in Rosebank really is very convenient. Cetti had her eyes checked, did shopping and paid a visit to Rory, my hairdresser.
We invited some local Italian-speaking friends to join us for the evening and had a really good time.
Bottom: Francesco’s very drinkable homemade Grappa
After dropping Aldo and Cetti off at the airport the next day, in Ufudu this time, Roger and I drove through to Wakkerstroom for the weekend.
Our first stop was in Volksrust to see the architect Tony de Pooter about our development. We spent about an hour getting to know each other and exchanging ideas. According to Tony the best builder in Wakkerstroom is a guy called Paul, who also happens to be the owner of The Bistro restaurant and Papillon venue. So, we decided to stop at his restaurant for dinner. We met Paul and his wife Lizzie, as well as Mary, who we soon realised was the ‘gestapo’ person from the Wakkerstroom Music Festival. During the show she walked up and down and reprimanded folk whose masks did not cover their mouth and nose, even though everyone was spaced according to regulations. It became so unpleasant that Roger actually took her to task, telling her that she was spoiling the event for everyone. She stopped her patrols after that!
During the evening Lizzie picked up that we were interested in the stand adjacent to ours. Lo and behold, besides being the chef she is also an estate agent and she happened to know that the owners wanted to sell urgently because they were getting divorced. She promised to follow up for us.
Brunch on Saturday was at The Village Bakery. They make the best coffee in town. Mary had invited us to see all the environmentally friendly building and heating ideas that she had incorporated in her house, so that is where we went after breakfast. Wakkerstroom gets extremely cold in winter, and one has to be mindful of that when developing your home. It was an interesting visit.
Dinner was at Thyme Out. There was a cosy fire burning and their food was excellent. We always enjoy going there.
We paid a visit to the Wakkerstroom Cemetery on Sunday morning. It consists of 3 distinct sections:
- The Garden of Remembrance for Imperial soldiers of the South African War of 1899 to 1902.
- Graves of 18 British soldiers from the 58th and 80th Regiments of Foot and the King’s Own Dragoon Guards who had died in Wakkerstroom between the years 1879 to 1881.
- The older section surrounded by a stone wall with an entrance gate proclaiming it to be ‘Rosemary’s Garden’ where the graves are intermingled with trees, shrubs, and flowers.
You can read the full history here: Wakkerstroom History
Sunday lunch was at the Red Rooster before heading back home. Once again a most enjoyable weekend.
Simoné’s 21st birthday was on the 20th of May. She chose to spend it quietly with her parents, not wanting a big party and all the hype that goes with it. She came through on the Gautrain the next day to visit us. We first went to an art exhibition at the Rosebank Fire Station and then had lunch at the Proud Mary restaurant. It is always a pleasure to spend time with her.
On Thursday, the 26th of May we attended the pre-launch of Tom Cruise’s Top Gun: Maverick in SA. The event was organised by the EAA and screened at the Nu Metro Theatre in Bedford Centre. Roger was on pilot’s course at Dunnottar in 1986 when the first Top Gun was released. Everyone on their course went AWOL to watch it – also at Bedford Centre! According to Roger it was not as good as the original one. Perhaps he was just younger and more impressionable at the time? All our Silver Creek friends are raving about it…
This month’s hike was on the 29th of May. Piesangkloof is in the Magaliesberg behind the village of Majakaneng in Northwest Province. It was very beautiful, with spectacular views from the top of the ridge.
Louis is getting a baby brother! I wonder how he will handle having to share the limelight…
