In my late twenties, disillusioned with city life, I began to dream of building a simple seaside cottage well away from civilisation. At that time Pearly Beach seemed as good a place as any, so, on returning from a year on Gough Island with a few tho...
It must be about 40 years ago that I read a short story by Nadine Gordimer in which a toddler gets trapped in razor wire surrounding his parents' upmarket Johannesburg home.
When I heard they were going to build a new bridge over the Cogmans River at Ashton, and that it would be the first tied arch design to be constructed in South Africa, I looked at my wife and said, "That sounds interesting."
For more than a decade I paid Doctor Carey to work on my teeth whenever one or more of them caused me pain in the form of toothache.
We arrived in Joburg on Friday 17 May 2024, and returned to Pearly Beach on Monday the 27th of the same month and year, which makes the trip an 11-day odyssey.
In my early twenties I went on a mission to take a drink in every bar in Cape Town.
We do not inherit the Earth; we borrow it from future generations.
The relative who died was my wife's youngest of two sisters.
Two weeks after the Cardiac Ablation, which was supposed to correct my Atrial Flutter, I experienced a mild attack, and then, about ten days later, a more serious episode that lasted for over two hours.
This latest episode has confirmed my suspicion that I am on the way out. It could still take some years to get there, but I have the impression that the journey is now well under way.
My deteriorating eyesight forced me to give up driving twenty years ago. This has made me dependent on my wife and, to a lesser extent, my daughter, should I ever need to leave Pearly Beach, and that is why I could not travel back and forth to cancer...
When it was brought to my attention that November 19, my birthday, has been designated by the United Nations as World Toilet Day, I was mildly offended and thought that they had a bloody cheeck choosing that particular date.
