November kicked off with local elections on the 1st. Besides a few technical glitches at our voting station, everything went smoothly, albeit rather disappointing in terms of turnout. Nevertheless, the ANC came away with a bloody nose. And about time too!
Alesia’s bridal shower was at the Brauhaus on Saturday the 6th of November. A rather low-key event while us oldies were there, but I do believe that the young friends group went on to have a pool party, sleep-over, and pub-crawling that lasted until Sunday evening.
André’s bachelor’s party was at the same time. The guys all went to a shooting range where they did clay pigeon shooting and had a braai. Then they went to a nearby game lodge where the ‘real’ party started. They took the ‘fun’ a bit too far, in my opinion, by completely painting André in gentian violet and having him passed out drunk early on in proceedings. Eugene was very unhappy and had some serious words with groomsman Damein. There really is no point. Damein left the party early to go to another party and André missed most of his bachelors, being man down! Sad…
On the 12th of November Roger got an ‘arc eye’ injury. It looked really sore and uncomfortable. He was using an unfamiliar helmet which belonged to Sean, and he neglected to turn the welding setting on. It took him a second or two to realise something was wrong but by then the damage was done.
Seeing Roger’s inflamed eye reminded me of an incident that happened when Corné was a youngster of about 5:
Corné: ‘Daddy, there is a strange-looking fly close to my face. It won’t go away.’
Eugene: ‘Don’t worry, just take a swipe at him and he’ll find somewhere else to land.’
Then: ‘Ouch! My eye hurts!’ Corné yelled, covering his eye with his hand.
Eugene, who has always had good instinct when it comes to anything animal and nature related, was immediately alarmed. He took one look at the eye and realised that a bot fly had just squirted its egg parcel into Corné’s eye. The normal host would be a sheep. The parcel bursts on impact and the eggs hatch almost immediately. The hatched larvae are microscopic in size, about the size of a tiny black sugar ant’s leg, but fortunately brownish in colour.
It was Sunday so the Eye Institute in Pretoria would be closed. He would have to make a plan in the meantime. He noticed that the larvae moved around while the eye was closed and it was dark inside. The moment the eye was opened they very quickly moved to the back of the eyeball, away from the light.
Armed with an ear bud he told the child: ‘You will have to be strong now, this will take a while and it will hurt. Keep your eyes closed and only open when I say so.’
As the eye was opened Eugene would target a larva and scoop it out with the cotton bud. At each attempt he managed to get only one, while the rest moved to the back of the eye with lightning speed. This process was repeated over and over, until Corné could take it no longer. His eye was swollen and hurting, and he wailed bitterly. But, they had removed only ten, there were more. They could not stop now. With a lot of encouragement from both Eugene and Marlene they eventually managed to fish out fifteen larvae.
The ophthalmologist was very impressed with Eugene’s swift action when they took Corné to the eye institute on Monday morning. According to him there was no telling what damage would have been caused if the larvae remained in the eye overnight. It all ended well for Corné who was lucky to have a father that took such swift, decisive action.
Meanwhile André and Alesia had taken Roger up on his offer to use our hangar for their wedding venue. This of course entailed a lot of work. The hangar had to be emptied, swept, and washed the weekend before the wedding. Then Dean started with the decor. During the following week the hired stuff was delivered: tables, chairs, glasses, you name it. The two days prior to the event were hectic. In terms of catering, Francois donated a lamb and Eugene a pig. Both were spit braaied to perfection by Francois. Between Maria and Marlene, the two mothers, the rest of the food was prepared.
And then it was the big day. It was hot. Stiflingly hot. Thankfully, there was a storm at 3 pm which cooled things down and the skies were clear when the wedding hour arrived. The ceremony took place on the cultivated grass field and the reception in the hangar. The theme was ‘kortbroek en vellies’. It all worked out perfectly, and the food was delicious.
Bottom left: At the ‘altar’ Bottom right: Straw bale seating
Louis stole some of the limelight, of course. He handed over the rings. It was rather amusing when he would not initially let go. André had to tug a bit for him to release his grip and then Eugene had to carry him away very quickly before he could protest his ‘loss’. At the reception he just moved around and kept himself busy and when the music started he danced along happily.
The timing was perfect in terms of Kevin. His shore leave had just started so, instead of flying to Cape Town International he came straight to OR Tambo while Lucy flew up from Cape Town. Kevin, André and Corné grew up as cousins and shared many adventures over the years. We were all very happy that they could join the happy occasion.
Clean-up started the next morning and by evening the hangar was restored, albeit a lot cleaner and neater than before. I’m not sure how long that will last though. We were back home in Rosebank by 8 pm, exhausted but happy that everything went as planned.
November ended on a high note for me. On the 28th of November I went for my first hike since my foot operation in December 2020. It was at Avianto Trails near Muldersdrift and rated easy, but I had become very unfit due to inactivity, so I found it a bit challenging. But it was so good to be on the move again. Here’s to many more to come!
It was a busy month!