Was so cold the last few days, did not even use the computer, or any gadget but things to thaw my frozen bones. This is one terrible winter, with frost, and when it is not frosting up, it rains, and the wind sccreeches through my far from windproof house! That is when I just get into my bed, one hot water bottle at my feet, one behind my back, and one I cling to for life with my frozen hands. The thing in South Africa, is that the older houses do not have any heating, and to run a free standing heater for most of the day, would soon lead to bankruptsy. And through all of this we have load sharing, where our electricity provider just switches of our electricity for a few hours, usually at the busy times, so one then have to wait for hours before you can cook a hot meal for your dinner.
Our petrol price have also risen enormously, as the coal plants have stopped producing, because it was not maintained the last twenty years since the new government took over. Now they run the electricity on diesel, and we have to pay outrageous prices!
My neibour turned out to be nice, but quite strange. Her little Labrador, which she called Sweatpea, is just the most adorable little thing, but like all Puppies, it loves making holes, and this puppy has the smell of all the creeper moles to check out! So I hear a lot of anguished screams, commanding Sweetpea to get out of the garden, but of course the call of nature is too big for the pup, and she just walks around the house once or twice, her nose quivering in the direction of the veggie garden where the moles live, before the latest sold is forgotten!
Anyway, I was out in my garden one kind of sunny day, when I saw Sweetpea making off down the dirt road in the direction of Sheila's place. As Sheila has eight big dogs, of which six are ferocious German Shepherds, I was concerned, so I gallopped after the small white bundle, and this bundle was not exactly walking sedately, I was out of breath by the time I caught up with her, all my pleas for her to stop being ignored!
I took her back to my neibour, and boy was I shocked when she was not at all glad when she saw the pup in my arms! Actually, she was quite upset, and told me to please in future leave her dog when it escapes, as she must learn to get back on her own. Being in a place where emmaciated dogs, suffering from mange and other illnessess roam the streets, I thought she was really silly, and I told her that she would have the little dog ill if it gets into contact with the poor creatures limping around the roads. Did I get any thanks? Not a bit! She told me coldly that it is her dog, and she will be the judge of how the dog was raised! 'In future you please just leave her, she said, as I am raising her, not you!
I am so disgusted with my winter crop, as all and every plant have now been killed by the terrible frost! Even the broad beans that have so far withstood all the winters before this. The spinach plants on the west side of my house are the only survivors, but luckily I have canned and frozen a lot of summer veggies, and I have a lot of frozen broad beans also! Might just outlive this killer winter! And I would rather not complain about the rain, as this country does not get a lot of that! At least the smaller dams are full, and what a pretty sight!