Absence makes the heart grow fonder

Being away from family is not Lekker, I know married men sometimes yearn to be single again and live the life of a bachelor, however its usually when you do get to spend time away from your wife and children that you realise just how much you do actually love them and how without your spouse you are in fact only half of a whole. I think I tell my wife and daughter I Love them quite often, but I am going to try and tell them even more when I am back home. Guys I love you sooooooooooo much and only 10 more sleeps till I am back home.

I got to visit my folks in Gauteng this week as I had a meeting in Gauteng and they have moved ion to a 5 and a half acre plot that has 3 houses on it and stables, My sister and her husband as well as my niece and her fiancé also live there. Must say it’s a great place and I know when Gabby goes up to visit she will be in her element as it has horse and a training ring. It’s the type of place I wish I could give my daughter as it would be the ideal lifestyle for her, but unfortunately I can’t and hopefully one day she will be able to do it for herself. I have written this before in one of my blogs, but I need to say it again. I am extremely lucky to have both parents as well as parents in law that not only love me, but I love them as well. Unfortunately not everyone has that luxury.

Tania’s sister, hubby and our new niece fly out from the Utopia of the UK on Monday to visit the poor relations in SA. Know that Tania is looking forward to seeing her sister and Amber. As is the rest of the Brewerton clan. Going to be a big Family Christmas with all of the Brewerton family together as well as Kirstens mom and dad and perhaps her sister and her family, pity my family cannot also be there, maybe in the future, who knows.

Mat an interesting guy at Friends on Saturday afternoon that was in SA with a couple of other Poms and a TV crew, they competed in a skydiving comp in Pretoria for a week and then have been travelling SA doing normal jumps and base jumps from certain landmarks and buildings in the country. Smudge (yeah that’s his name) is in the army and he was saying how much the UK has changed and how much they pander to other peoples and forget about the English. He cannot wait to finish his contract and probably move to SA. Smudge was saying that crime is getting out of hand in the big cities with the Russians and Albanians having no respect for life or property, so you see its not just SA.

Here is an e-mail I received regards Muslims in Australia and how they are starting to fight back against this almost weak knee approach to fundamentalists trying to force the Muslim way of life on the Western World.

Whole world Needs A Leader Like This!

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd - Australia Muslims who want to live under Islamic Sharia law were told on Wednesday to get out of Australia , as the government targeted radicals in a bid to head off potential terror attacks.. Separately, Rudd angered some Australian Muslims on Wednesday by saying he supported spy agencies monitoring the nation's mosques. Quote: 'IMMIGRANTS, NOT AUSTRALIANS, MUST ADAPT. Take It Or Leave It. I am tired of this nation worrying about whether we are offending some individual or their culture. Since the terrorist attacks on Bali , we have experienced a surge in patriotism by the majority of Australians. 'This culture has been developed over two centuries of struggles, trials and victories by millions of men and women who have sought freedom' 'We speak mainly ENGLISH, not Spanish, Lebanese, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, or any other language. Therefore, if you wish to become part of our society . Learn the language!' 'Most Australians believe in God. This is not some Christian, right wing, political push, but a fact, because Christian men and women, on Christian principles, founded this nation, and this is clearly documented. It is certainly appropriate to display it on the walls of our schools. If God offends you, then I suggest you consider another part of the world as your new home, because God is part of our culture.' 'We will accept your beliefs, and will not question why. All we ask is that you accept ours, and live in harmony and peaceful enjoyment with us.' 'This is OUR COUNTRY, OUR LAND, and OUR LIFESTYLE, and we will allow you every opportunity to enjoy all this. But once you are done complaining, whining, and griping about Our Flag, Our Pledge, Our Christian beliefs, or Our Way of Life, I highly encourage you take advantage of one other great Australian freedom, 'THE RIGHT TO LEAVE'.''If you aren't happy here then LEAVE. We didn't force you to come here. You asked to be here. So accept the country YOU accepted.'

the Bay Horse saloon had its first Western style Brawl this weekend with the barman gettin his ass handed to him by a local business owner, rumours are the bar was also trashed , but this is Clarens so it could be 2 shooter glasses and a empty beer bottle that where broken. "The Brawl at the Bay Horse Saloon" sounds like a god name for a cowboy flick.


Well that’s about it for this week , a boring Blog I know, but don’t feel much like writing today, so have a great week ahead remember tell your loved ones that you Love them every day.

The Village idiot

"Waiting waiting waiting for the bus"

If I thought that packing up a house, packing a removal truck and then travelling 830 kms with 3 semi-comatose cats was stressful, then I was in for a surprise. But let’s start from the beginning. The removal van arrived only an hour later than we had been advised and they started to pack; this to cut a long story short took almost 10 hours. The truck left and we then stayed with Dave and Barbara. We had locked the cats in our bathroom with their food and baskets, ensuring that the window was securely locked.

Waking up early on Wednesday morning we went to pick up the cats only to find that he black cat had managed to somehow open the bathroom window and escape. Luckily the other 2 cats had not decided to join the jail break; gabby found the cat after 20 minutes of calling her and searching the garden. A tranquilising paste was then syringed into their mouths and we sat for 5 minutes to watch their legs go wobbly and start to sway like customers of friend after a good Friday night party. The car loaded we headed off to PE, THE CATS ONLY HOWLED FOR ABOUT 4 HOURS SO the rest of the trip was not too bad. Arrived in PE met Tania’s dad at the house and the made the cats comfortable, only to find there is no electricity in the house, no big problem as we are only expecting the truck on Thursday at 1pm. . ………………… Thursday arrives and we call the truck to find out he is going to arrive around 2-m, we then try to sort out the electricity. To cut another LONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNG story short the truck broke down, got 3 x punctures and by 9pm was still 150kms away from PE, but the good news was that we eventually got the electricity on around 5pm. The cats are however not impressed as they have not been outdoors since Monday afternoon.

Friday morning and I go to find te truck that has broken down again outside of PE, manage to get it started and then drive at 20kms an house to the house, some 25 kms away, this as you can imagine was not conducive to my already HIGH stress levels and made many new PE friends while driving home, seems that the Mr. Bean salute is rather popular here, “and this is the friendly city”? OK so now the truck is at the house and time to unpack (this took a fraction of the time that it took to pack the van)

So now the hose looks like the aftermath of a 75% off everything Mr Price home store sale. First set up the beds and then start unpacking the boxes, it’s Saturday afternoon and the place is starting to look better but far from finished. I have to go back to Clarens to tie up loose ends etc so Tania will do the rest. I have a Great wife.

The trip to Clarens was not Lekker as had to leave Tania and Gabby behind, it is however always nice to go for a long ride, it’s probably the first 100 and last 50 kms that never seem to end. All in all 890kms from PE to Clarens, another 110kms and I would have qualified for an Iron Butt (that’s if you ride 1000kms in 12 hours or less). Whether was ok between Grahamstown and Jamestown it was like riding through a furnace it was so hot, from there I managed to keep away from the rains except for a stretch between Ladybrand and Clocolan.

What could be punted as a new adventure sport to 2010 tourists is a trip between Hob house and Rouxville in a fast moving vehicle and see if you can avoid the potholes, to make it even more exciting perhaps ensure the holes are filled with water to heighten the adrenalin aspect. “COULD THE PEOPLE IN THE FREE STATE GOVERNMENT RESPONSIBLE PLEASE GET IN A CAR AND TRAVEL THAT ROAD, IT’S A DISGRACE AND NOT CONDUSIVE TO BRINGING TOURISTS TO THE REGION”.

The last 250kms from Wepener to Clarens all I saw was a Millers in front of me this spurred me on to get to Friends and it was so nice to walk in and see Kelvin and Brian, get such a great welcome and be handed a Cold Millers. I do think that it’s probably the furthest that someone has ridden to get a Millers from Friends restaurant

So I suppose you want to know how is PE, well so far has certainly lived up to part of its name the ‘Windy City” and the place just loves speed humps and traffic circles, its also a bit hard getting used to traffic lights, we have 5 between our house and Tania’s folks (2.6 kms) they also seem to put speed humps either side of traffic lights. Our house is 8ooms from a Builders warehouse that is the size of the Metropolitan Mall in Bethlehem and there are also a number of other shops nearby. 1.5 kms down another road are 2 shopping malls that I think Clarens could fit into with a movie house that has 10 cinemas (yes 10 and they show the latest movies)

So what’s been happening in Clarens since I was away? It seems that Friends has hired midget Pole Dancers to entertain its clients.

I also received these photos with translations.

The Village/City Idiots free piece of advice for the week is ‘Don’t use Elliot to remove you”

"The gods must be crazy"

If you read last weeks Blog you will have read that my mate Mark (“sorry” Meat Bomb) decided to try and become the first man in Clarens to cross a large donga sans any wings, or an attached mechanical device and in the process nearly killed himself. Well it would seem MB has nine lives as this is the 4th incident in his lifetime that a guardian angel has been looking over him. However as is the norm in the village we rarely let a life threatening accident get in the way of making jokes about it. We now have a new greeting for MB, if you see him coming you say here is Mark and everyone in the vicinity looks up.

Mark is now famous and was recently interviewed by The High Flyer Magazine (HFM) and not to be confused with the FHM (due out in March 2019) but I have managed to get an advanced copy so thought would give you all an exclusive sneak preview.

HFM: So Mark or can we call you Meat Bomb / how does it feel to be a celebrity in Clarens?
MB: It’s great and Meat Bomb is just fine.
HFM: So what was the first thing that went through your mind when you hit the ground?
MB: “My Ass”
HFM: “Ha ha” , So for our readers how would you describe yourself ?
MB: I would say I am a really down to earth type of guy and some may even say well grounded.
HFM: We hear that you have had a number of calls offering stunt jobs and Boswell Wilkie are considering you as one of your new acts can you confirm or deny those stories?
MB: Well it is true I have been approached by a company but negotiations are “up in the air” at the moment, hopefully I will know soon because I am flat broke.
HFM: We believe that a local pub has created a shooter called the “Horton Drop Zone”, is that correct and what does it consist of ?
MB: that’s correct, its part Aftershock, Jagermeister, Jack Daniels and Tabasco in a shot glass, you then pour Red Bull into a beer or Zombie glass, hold the shooter glass over the red bull, drop it in and slug it all back.
HFM: Any after affects ?
MB: Yes, if you have to many then you can land on your ass, “oh but then I have done that already”
HFM: Do you take drugs?
MB: “laughs sheepishly” well I was partial to a MCM (mountain cabbage muffin) every once in a while, but since the fall I seem to be looking for a line every now and then.
HFM: what is your worst attribute?
MB: I tend to just drop in on people without appointments
HFM: What are your plans for the future?
MB: Well now that I have a Meat Bomb Award (MBA) I thought I would spread my wings, rise to new heights and see if I could land a decent job, something like a branch manager would be ideal.
HFM: Now that you are in demand and have speaking engagements in places like Marqurad, Lindley and Canaveron, what airline do you use ?
MB: “One time” airlines



HFM: We always ask the celebrities we interview a few questions about their favourite things, so that we don’t leave the reader “high and dry” so to say, so if your ready here are the questions the readers would like to have answered.
MB: Yeah lets go
HFM: Favourite colour
MB: Actually I have two, Black and Blue
HFM: Favourite movie
MB: Drop Zone
HFM: Favourite TV show
MB: So who’s line is it anyway
HFM: Favourite band?
MB: Actually I have two, Smashing Pumpkins and the Crash Test dummies
HFM: Favourite clothing line?
MB: That would have to be hang 10 and I also like Nike Air shoes
HFM: Favourite song/s?
MB: “Free falling” or “I believe I can fly”
HFM: You’re Idol ?
MB: Evil Kenivel
HFM: If you could own any car what would that be?
MB: Your readers may think this is nuts but I have always been partial to the Mazda 323 (tree to tree).
HFM: favourite drink?
MB: Well up until the Drop Zone was concocted it was RED BULL, but its great that the new shooters still can give me wings.
HFM: Favourite internet site?
MB: The Darwin awards.
HFM: What 3 words would you never use again given the chance?
MB: Oh that’s easy “ile go first”
HFM: What’s your favourite food?
MB: Squash, which also happens to be my favourite sport.
HFM: Favourite saying?
MB: “Beam me up Scotty”


HFM: Well thanks very much Meat Bomb its great to land such a celebrity for the magazine especially someone who seems to have their feet planted firmly on the ground.

"Living on a Prayer"

“If he wanted to see his ass why didn’t he use a mirror”? Mark the Meat bomb Horton has really made a Impact” Is it a bird is it a plane? no its Horton’s Comet” Horton hears a SPLAT, Mark wanted to become a Branch Manager” Those are just a few comments that we bandied about on Saturday night at the Braai, and while we bent over with laughter it was more from relief and a gratitude that my mate Mark (AKA Wolverine) was still with us after a freak accident on Saturday morning. Mark had picked me up at 6.30am so we could go and try out the new zip line at the Willows before he officially opened the Clarens Grocer. After we argued who would go first Mark got hooked up and I was going to take the photos, what happened next was perhaps the worst event that that I have probably ever experienced.

Mark left the platform, I took 2 photos and heard a cracking noise, I looked around because I thought a willow branch had snapped as I turned back to take another photo, my eyes saw but my brain didn’t register ………….. the steel cable was doubling back like a fly fishing line cast. Then time stood still for a split second as Mark seemed to just hang in the air and then he dropped like a stone (between 6-8 meters) the guy on the platform and I looked at each other in disbelief and then I don’t even know how I got off the platform, but Ollie and I reached Mark at the same time, he was crumpled up on the ground and I really thought that he was going to die, I raced back up the embankment to go and fetch Kathy and Tania while Ollie and his guys made mark as comfortable as possible and called emergency services. When I got back to mark he was conscious and moaning that he was sore, the guys keeping him stable did a awesome job and helped to keep him for injuring himself more.

ER 24 came quickly, stabilised Mark and took him to hospital, after scans and x rays it was found that he had no internal injuries or had broken anything, in fact when we went to see him later in Hospital he had hardly a bruise. Now this is where I believe the power o prayer played a BIG part. When Tania came to him she put her hands on him and prayed that he would be safe and that he would not be seriously injured………..I think here I need to explain to people that while I believe in God i am not extremely religious person, however my wife is and she believes in the power of prayer and after yesterday I have to agree , it was a miracle that Mark survived, and in fact for the height he fell only suffered heavy bruising, people can scoff , laugh and say no ways…………….but I was there I saw how high he fell, I saw that he missed a rock and a large tree stump that if he had of hit, he would have been seriously injured perhaps even dead. Mark is at home and is obviously sore but alive, and that I am extremely grateful for. If I know mark i am sure that he will "as soon as he fit enough" hook himself back up and do the full 150 meters"

Well Time is few as they say in the Classics, Packing is almost done, the removal van is here on Tuesday and on Wednesday we make our way down to PE, with 3 x cats (now that’s going to be fun with a capital F and probably a whole Blog story in itself.)

Packing and moving home SUCKS, they say that it’s probably one of the most stressful things to do and ranks up there with Death and Divorce and since I have neither died nor been divorced I will have to bow to that person’s superior knowledge.

Gabby turned 13 on Thursday, so we now have a Teenager in the houseJ. On Wednesday night Gabby had Prize giving at school and she did very well, receiving certificates of achievement in a number of subjects but perhaps the best was that Gabby was the first recipient of the Oliver Family Fellowship Trophy; this will be a floating trophy and is given to the child that best served the school over the years. Gabby also gave a small speech to thank Margaret (the headmistress). Friday was Gabby’s last day of Std 5 and next year will be going to High School.

Good to see the Cricket team had been practising during the week, pity they can’t play like that all the time, the either play brilliant or Crap, there is no in between. Ok Sunday they played crap again???

Wolverine has been working hard setting up the Village Grocer shop this last week and opened on Saturday (without Wolverine of course as he had tried to fly). The shop is looking great and sure that it will do very well.

Oh yeah just in case you get a call from a mate and he says ‘hey come over to the pub and I will buy you a beer or two” be suspicious “Very Suspicious” why you say that I hear you ask? Well Wolverine did that to me on Monday, had a couple of beers and a chat and then sprung the “oh by the way Les (he is owner of Trading Post and The Village Grocer) wants a hand to offload a few boxes of cherries” well to cut a long story short the first load of the few boxes was 300 x 2kg and on Tuesday it was 200 x 2kg boxes, yep 1 Ton of cherries.

Wolverine has also come up with an alternative to the lying down game its called “The South African Indiginaai lying down game” its where you take photos of locals sleeping or passed out in public places. Think it may become popular and lead to its very own sight. Oh here is Marks entry to the lying down game “oh it’s him”

Saturday we had Rugby and say bye to the Dunkley’s at Friends Rugby was Crap, the Braai better

I see England is having big floods at the moment probably the Big Mans way of flushing out all the “KAK” on the island, then again I don’t think there is that much water, so most will stay behind.

Recession is over according to the economists well not according to this photo J

Ok well that’s about it for this week, think of us as we move and travel down to PE with the cats.

Quote for the week: “Live life to the fullest because you never know when it will be cut short”

Ciao

The Village Idiot

Symbol of Courage

Just finished a fascinating book called Symbol of Courage by Max Arthur, its about the men behind the Victoria Cross medal and while their stories are very interesting it’s the following information that I found to be worthy of note.

The origins of the VC

Queen Victoria was perhaps the first monarch to recognise the fact that the ordinary soldier or seaman where the backbone of her empire and that their acts of bravery had up until then gone mostly unnoticed. She therefore wanted a new medal struck for all ranks who conducted themselves with extraordinary bravery. The initial royal warrant of 1856 stated that the “cross shall only be rewarded for most conspicuous bravery, or some daring or pre-eminent act of valour, self sacrifice or extreme devotion to duty in the presence of the enemy” and was made retrospective to June 1854 to cover the recent war against Russia.

The VC is in the shape of a Cross Patte, it measures 1.375 inches across and with the suspender bar and link weighs around 0.87 ounces, its dull in colour as its made from gunmetal – specifically at first from the cascabels of two cannon captured at Sebastopol in the Crimea. Its rumoured that from the 1st world war other metals where added (for those who don’t know a cascabel is the large knob at the rear of cannon which holds the rope for transporting it). The two cannon themselves stand outside the officer’s mess in Woolwich.

On the front of the cross is simply inscribed For Valour with all the other details of the recipient being on the reverse, the suspender bar is decorated with laurel wreaths and on the reverse is inscribed name, rank and regiment.

Here are some facts about the VC

1)First Presentation of the award was made in Hyde Park, London on the 26th of June 1857 when Queen Victoria decorated 62 officers and men for their actions in the Crimea.
2) Only in 1920 an amendment was made to award the VC Posthumously as the original warrant made no mention of posthumous awards.
3)298 VC’s have been awarded posthumously
4)No woman has ever won a VC , although they are eligible
5) Fourteen men not born in the UK have won the VC, 5 Americans, One Belgian, two Germans, three Danes, one Swiss, one Swede and one Ukrainian.
6)The most VC’s won in one day was 24 (second relief of Lucknow on 16th November 1857, during the Indian mutiny)
7)The highest tally for a single action was 11 , for the defence of Rorkes Drift during the Zulu war of 1879
8)In 2005 there where only 14 living VC holders
9)Army unit with the most VC’s is the Princess of Wales Royal Regiment with 56 recipients, Royal artillery with 51, Royal engineers with 41 and the Royal Army medical corps as well as the Rifle brigade with 27 each.
10) Only 3 men have won the VC and bar
11) Four pairs of brothers have won the VC and on two occasions the award has been made to a man saving the life of his brother
12) Three father and sons have been awarded the VC
13) One family of father son and uncle have received the VC
14) 5 civilians acting under military orders have been awarded the VC
15) Youngest winner is 15
16) Oldest winner is 61
17) Three men in one street (Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada – Pine street) have been awarded the VC (the street was later re-named Valour road)
18) First man to receive award was Henry Raby
19) First ever nomination however was to Charles Lucas
20) First gazetted VC was for Cecil Buckley
21) First airman to receive the VC was William Rhodes-Moorhouse
22) One VC winner William McBean held every rank in the army from Private to major in his career
23) Of the different services
A) Naval services hold 119
B) British army hold 838 (including 2 x bars)
C) Air services (except the Fleet air arm) hold 32
D) Indian army (including Honourable East India company) 137
24) Only ungazetted award was made to the American unknown soldier of the First World War, buries at Arlington National cemetery.
25) Since the end of World war Two on 12 VC’s have been awarded (Korea – 4, Malaysia – Indonesia - 1, Vietnam - 4, Falklands 2 with the last being awarded in 2005 to Johnson Gideon Beharry during the Iraq war.
26) All in all 1355 VC’s have been awarded from 1857 – today (some 152 years).

Hope you enjoyed the info as much as I did

Regards

The Village Idiot

"Sing for your supper"

So now that I have had the misfortune to see Bob Marley’s little brother and his two idiot friends on Bongo drums murder the national anthem, the question to ask is how did this happen, this ass is apparently in France to cut a CD, “for what” to bring people out of comas? I also see that the Frogs flew our flag upside down, I have never had a soft spot for the French and to be honest this has just made me dislike them even more. I hope we return the favour when they come and play here. We can scoop up some homeless dude give him a violin and get him sing the Marseilles and then hoist the German flag. If there is one thing that I admire the Poms for is that many of them cannot stand the French either, who have a tendency to give over to the enemy to easily. I believe that the army camp near Disney Paris has had to be moved due to the fact that every night the whole garrison came over to surrender during the fireworks show. As you can see the jokes and the photo shopped pictures are coming out.

So we lost against Saracens as well after leading 18-3 at halftime, I don’t understand how you can play so well in the 1st half and then play like under 12’s in te second half. So it’s 3 games and 3 losses for the Boks. Interesting to see that while we lost all points where scored by South Africans as the Saracens had 9 South Africans in the team as well as a South African coach/director of Rugby. Don’t be surprised in a few years time if the Poms national team has players such as De Wet, Potgieter, Hougard, Bekker etc playing or them. Not many good Pommie rugby players or any other sportsmen to think of that. Just look at the South African playing for the English Cricket team that are touring SA at present and they are the ones scoring all the runs and making the team what it is.

Boks vs. Italy on Saturday was a win, but not the World and Tri nation’s champs are not that impressive, I know that they are tired after a HARD season, but feel that we are not playing well. Ireland will be a hard end of tour game. I think that they should use end of year tour to find talent for future Bok teams and leave the tired Boks at home

Now I am no oil painting but I read with amusement the other day that Poms that tried to join a dating line did not do that well, in fact 0nly 3 out of every 10 men where acceptable and only 3 out of every 18 women, seems the rest of Europe found them UGLY and Dowdy, maybe that’s why they allow so many refugees and losers into the country to try and improve the gene pool?

1 week left before the Dunkley family move to PE and you cannot believe how many people have asked me what type of work I will be doing ad then look at me like an idiot when I say “don’t know. I was thinking perhaps I should go and work to that South African Utopia called England, I will only have to work for 2 months a year and then relax in the sun (SA sun that is) for 10 at least the average IQ of the island would rise and they would perhaps have another good looking dude on the island grow. I believe that England has become a magnet for the flotsam of other countries that at one stage or another belonged to the Empire and that anyone that was lazy, lame, dom, dik or difficult In their own country is seen as a genius in England, this probably due to the fact that most of the Hard working Poms have moved out and standards on the island in general are very lax. Perhaps France should donate a Statue to England of some sorts so when the flotsam arrive at either Dover or Heathrow they can see the words, “WE accept all rubbish, lazy and ugly foreigners”

As i watched the Boks against Saracens on Tuesday, lo and behold there they where the “lets pretend we are South Africans, by wearing the clothes, painting our faces, waving the flag, singing the National Anthem, shouting Bokke , but we don’t want to contribute to South Africa brigade” Many of my friends feel that same about this “False” outpouring of emotions and patriotism by the economic mercenaries, you just know that those with the surname Potgieter etc are there because they feel they cannot get a job here (no job reservations for the pale skins anymore) or because they don’t like the fact SA is run by blacks and would rather live in a gloomy little island with more rejects from other countries in it than anything else. “Yeah its lets lambaste the Island and all ex Sefricans that live there Blog”

The back of this tank on the local municipality truck means ‘drinking water” in Sotho, they use the tank for sucking out septic tanks “don’t drink the water”

Met up with two sunglass models in Trendy time on Sunday, thought that they looked hot and the glasses were also not too bad, seriously who buys and wears crap like that?

This you tube link is doing the rounds showing Obama is a Muslim, check I out and make up your own mind. http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=tCAffMSWSzY#t=28

The electronic shop that opened up in the local mall is now starting to pump out Muslim hits, I presume next will be the call of the Azan. Not sure if clients at a coffee shop nearby are going to be chuffed listening to the Muslim top 40 while eating a scone. There is a rumour that a shoe shop will be opened by a Camel Jockey in the village as well, can you imagine the advertising ‘our prices are so good we will Blow away the competition” ………………………………………….. “Quite I Kill YOU”

This photo sent to me of the Grand opening of a Metro type shop in Zimbabwe, as you can see it was very well stocked J

Snow “yes Snow” fell on the back mountains on Wednesday night (18/11/09), that’s the latest I have experienced snow in Clarens, but believe that it did snow in December many moons ago. It’s been cold and winter like, grey skies and miserable. Now I know why people who live in the UK are so gloomy and pasty in colour. By Sunday the weather was glorious again with blue skies and 29 degrees

“There coming to take me away ha ha” is a tune my mom used to sing and this lie down photo reminds me of that all I am missing is a straight jacket.

I see that Xenophobia in the Western Cape has raised its ugly head again, with Zimbabweans getting chased out of homes and being accused of taking South African Jobs. I feel for them, but if one wants to fix this problem, you have to go to its roots and that is that “Lucking Funatic” Mugabe, get him out and those people will return to their homes. I also feel that the farmers should not be hiring Zimbabweans juts because they will work for less they are taking advantage of a situation. This is not an easy problem to solve I know and many arguments could be heard, but I do not think violence against these people is the answer

Well I passed my second test for the Health and safety course, better than the first one, so next is doing a practical (hopefully will be able to do in PE) and then an exam. I will be the most qualified shell collector or Grillers mate in the windy city when I am finished.

Gabby had a small horse jumping competition this Saturday and she did very well with 1 first and 2 places, Gabby is such a great horse woman and I am proud of her achievements. I see that the recession has affected even the horse set with the kids having to do the jumps sans horse.

Mom and dad here this weekend and as always it was great to see them, watched the Rugby with my dad and a few friends at Friends and had a few drinks together. Spent the morning at Schaaplaats to watch Gabby ride and had a great dinner at Mosaic Pizza in the evening, great to see my mom and dad and hopefully we will get to see more of them when we are in P.E

On Saturday received some sad news from Danie Crowther that his mom had suffered 2 stokes on the Friday and is in hospital, that is really sad news as Danie’s dad Rob Crowther passed a way only a month ago and now his mom is seriously ill. Elize is such a great lady and al out thoughts and prayers are with you and the family Danie.

Reading a god book at the moment called Symbol of Courage, its all about the Victoria Cross, its origins etc, will put a little info on the log sometime or other.

Well last full week for the Dunkley family coming up in Clarens, Wow it actually seems surreal, lots of packing to do.

Quote for the week: “The greatest quest in life is to reach ones potential”

Have a great week

Ciao The Village Idiot.

"Tread lightly and carry a machine gun"

Not sure what movie this line came from but the reason it came to mind was due to my mate Tino in America sending me a few photos of a machine gun shoot that he and his wife Lana attended in October, as you can see by the photos, they do not mess around and this is apparently a well attended pastime in the good old U S of A. Ok now I remember it was a line from Jack Nicholson in “A Few Good men” when he is being interviewed by Tom Cruise and Demi Moore , its been bugging me for ages and I just remembered “Aint I a clever Idiot” ??

So what’s been happening in the life of the Village idiot, Stress levels still high but have not had chance to go and test my friends rifle again this week .

Sad news this week is that friends Rob and Heloise are splitting up and leaving Clarens. Good hardworking people that have tried heir best to make a go of living here and surely a couple that this village will miss. Guys we are sorry to hear the news but know tat we love you both and wish you all the best.

Wrote exam this week, its for a health and safety course that I am doing, did not do that well in the first exam ‘lets just say I passed”, so hopefully pride will be restored and I will have done better this time. Hopefully when I get to PE I can find work in this line, but let’s see, as at the moment the way my luck is going it probably wont happen and I will end up working at Mc Donald’s as the Grillers mate he’s the dude that fries the onions and on special occasions slices the Gherkins

On way back from the Holy City on Tuesday (approx 5pm) the view across the valley towards Clarens was absolutely breathtaking the sun was shining just right and the mountains looked majestic with the peaks seeming to stand out, I don’t even think taking a photo would have captured its beauty, only those who have witnessed or experienced the same scene will understand what I am talking about.

Steelwings were here this weekend Wolverine and I are knackered with a capital K, it was a pretty good weekend. I missed the Bok / French game but believe I did not miss much, hear there is a fuss because of some doped up Rasta not singing the Anthem with respect or correctly.

Quote for the week: Remember when Sex was safe and Motorbikes where dangerous

Have a great week

Ciao

The Village Idiot