I had now some good veggies right for eating, and was again surprised when a few potatoes that I had stuck in the ground yielded one impressive crop. Most of the small farmers here in Haarlem farm with potatoes, and adter my secind year of such a good crop, I realized why.

I had decided to fetch my dear friends Edythe and Clifford from Cape Town for a visit. They are quite a bit older than me, but they have been my crutch when I went through a very difficult patch, and I leaned heavily on them for support.

But first I had to go to George to buy some food and also some treats to spoil them with, as the shops around here keep only the basic foodstuffs. So I set off for Cape Town where I would stay a few days with Trienkie and Stephan, as I don't see too much of my small grandson, named Kian, after my husband.

Edythe of course do not really eat food, as she is totally addicted to chocolates, and she would cook a beautiful meal for Cliffy and me when I visit, but she herself will munch away on a chocolate slab. The strangest of all this is that she is now in her seventies, and never suffered with her liver, or for that matter, with anything. Where as self, after indulging a bit in some sweets or chocolates, would be suffering from bally bile for a week! But my weapon against that is of course Milk Thistle!

Anyway the first cloud on the horison was when just before entering Calitzdorp on the way back, we encountered a roadblock, and I was stopped.

The officer looked first at all my tyres, at my lights, the hooter, and my disk on the window, and then demanded my drivers licence. I smiled broadly, and took out my identity book in which I had always kept the licence, and I then became a worried woman, as today the pocket where it should be, was empty!

I started hyperventilating, as I always do, and later all the contents of my bag was lying on Edythe's lap, but there was just no license. The officer was getting fidgety, as his colleagues were stopping cars all the time, and quite a queue had build up. 

I then BEGGED!

The officer must have seen that I was sincerely wanting to produce the licence, and after some head scratching he told me that there was another road block about a hundred kilometers away, and he was going to let me go, and if I am lucky not to be stopped by that people, it would be my good luck, but he warned me to find the licence and keep it in the car always.

Phew! A few kilometers on it struck me like a thunderbolt that I had left my licence in Scotland with my international drivers licence!

Coming down the dirt road leading to my house, a ghastly smell blew in through the open windows, and the three of us made haste to close them. I told my guests that it must be another animal that had died and just left to decompose, and that I will phone Oom Vlei. the man in charge of the streets of Haarlem to come and find it, and dispose of it.However, when I got out to open the gate, it struck me that the terrible smell was actually coming from my house, and a terrible lameness came over me as the thought that it could be my freezer that had gone for a loop, took hold of me. 

I parked the car and told the two old people to stay put, as I had to investigate first. Oh Lord! My freezer door had burst open, I suppose from the gass that had built up from the rotting meat and stuff, and the whole freezer and kitchen floor was a mass of green meat and white maggots. Did some serious vomiting!