I was busy picking strawberries for my breakfast one morning after everyone was gone, when I heard some-one calling me from the gate. It was a very old man, who told me that he had overheard three Tsotsis (gangsters) in the village shop talking about coming to burgle me that week-end. He said to get help, as they discussed the fact that I was a woman alone, and a soft target. I thanked him, feeling quite dazed, but then jumped into action and phoned Irma to come on Friday! I then went up to Ronalee and Gary to ask if they could keep a bit of an eye on my place, but on me telling Ronalee my story she just laughed, and said that it was a drunk who wanted money for a drink, but I knew that the old man was not drunk, and that he did not want money, as, after he told me, he turned on his heels and walked away.
So I made all kinds of booby traps around the outside of my house, and brought in my ax, promising any intruder who would dare put his hand through the burglar proofing that I would chop off his hand. As South Africa is now quite a dangerous place, and murdering a person for even something like an old cellphone is  almost an everyday occurence, I knew that if the thieves got into my house, the chances of me being killed was very high!
Irma came after work on Friday, and after dinner she went to sit the night out in her house, a pic-ax next to her, while I went to bed with my ax within easy reach. We waited the whole night with nothing happening, and never in my life had I been so happy when dawn broke. We sat on Irma's veranda having coffee and rusks, and watching the peaceful stretch of land that ran up to the far hills, and the birds that sang their hearts out, we relaxed, and actually fell asleep in the chairs.
When night-time came, we had dinner early, then barricaded ourselves again, Irma's house now having a kitchen door to lock, and we waited! I must have fallen asleep, as the ringing of my phone woke me up, and Irma's voice sounded hysterical when she told me that a car was driving up and down between our houses. It was two in the morning, and with my ax at the ready I crept to the front window in the sitting room, and saw a smallish car standing in front of Irma's house, but then it started reversing, and stopped in front of my place. They were stupid enough not to realize that when they brake, the brakelights came on, and we had a good view of their back number plate, and also saw that it was a silver Tazz with three people in.
Irma had in the meantime been trying to get the Haarlem police, that was not even answering their phones, so we decided to call the Uniondale office, where they set out immediately to come to our help. We were both pretty hysterical, and kept on talking to each other for support, hoping that the Uniondale police would get to us in time, as I did not know if I really had the guts to chop off someone's hand!
I was shivering so much that I dropped my phone and couldn't locate it in the dark, so I took my bedside lamp down and switched it on quickly to see where the phone was, and the burglars must have seen the bit of light, and spun away with great speed. Irma was so cross at me, as we wanted the police to catch them redhanded, and I was cross with myself, as maybe now they would come back the next night!
The police was so good, and patrolled our road for the rest of the night. The next day they came to talk to us, and asked if I had a gun or some weapon. I had a small little .22 short that belonged to my grandmother, but I kept it at my bank in a safe, but the policeman told me to get it licenced, and get ammunition, as I was actually in danger living alone so remotely!
When we told the people of Haarlem about the make of car and the license number, they were astonished, as the car belonged to one of the oldest and best families in Haarlem.
It later came out that this people's teenage son fell in with a gang, and stole his parent's car for the attempted burglary, and Charmaine, a woman helping me now and then told me that he got such a hiding from his mother with a broomstick, that he would never try anything like that again! From then on I was really scared, and as I still had to get outside to get to my bathroom, I took to doing my ablutions quite early, before it was dark! In this pictures it can be seen just how vulnarable I really was, with nobody close.