It was a new dawn and a new day and I woke up exactly where
I had fallen asleep the night before. I was glad to see my tyre was fine and off I
went. I came across Brian again shortly thereafter and said hello. Turns out it
was him who had passed by me in the night. Aha, it all made sense! Calling me
his friend. The calm yet friendly demure in his voice. The fact that I wasn’t
attacked and sold into slavery on the planet Apokalips. But one question still eluded me. Why
had he walked past me last night when he had been going in the opposite
direction when we passed each other yesterday? I had thought that he would have
stayed put for some reason once he reached his destination. I had to have my
answer, but I knew it would take great cunning to get it out of him without him
knowing he was giving it to me. So I just asked him. He told me and I can’t
quite remember now to be honest. I laughed at the whole thing and wished him
well as I set off once again.
I realized after an hour or 15kms since I left that morning
that I wasn’t wearing my glasses. Shit, not again! I had left them in my tent
much like the morning I left Strandfontein. Dope. But then I recalled I had
shaken my tent out this morning to clean out the dust and grass and maybe I had
thrown them out like that. Noooooooooooo!!!!!!! I had to know. So I quickly
unfolded the tent as fast as my mortal body would allow. Am I really this
cursed I thought? I was. My glasses were gone. I doubled checked my pockets and
anywhere else I may have placed them but they were nowhere to be found. My poor
glasses. All alone out in the wild, in the hot sun lying amongst dried stone
and tree. There was only one thing to do. Turn back and find my glasses, for I
did not want to do this trip with only 97% clear vision. Plus it was only 15kms away so it wouldnt take too long.
So I turned around and already a plan was forming in my
brain. I would stop at a farmers house to ask if I could leave my stuff there,
then cycle to where I started this morning, find my specs then just return to pick
my stuff up. Solid plan. Little did I know that the plan, had plans of its own.
Sooner than I remembered I came to the farm I was thinking of but instead of me
going up to ask, I was met by a man called Mundy, and he sounded Kiwi to me. He
had seen me passing by and was interested to find out what was going on. I told
him. He said not to worry and that I should stay put here for a little bit till
his brother returns, then they would give me a lift as they were going in that
direction anyways. Sweet! So I unloaded my things and met his brother’s wife
also, Margaret. And their 2 cool dogs.
Then his brother, Carel arrived, filled up some diesel and off we went.
We were quickly at the scene of the accident and I found my specs after a
minute or two. There was only one place to put them, on my face. Then we head
back a little bit before they stopped to check on some cows they were raising.
Then we headed back a little more, before they told me they have to go off this
road but will be back shortly at the house and that I could stay for lunch if I
wanted. I said cheers and rode back the last 4kms or so to their place.
 |
| Farm where I stayed after shortest ride so far. Maybe I should leave my glasses behind all the time. |
My day felt a little disrupted and there was no way I would
be able to reach Tsidilamolomo if I carried on now. So I asked politely if I
could just stay. Margaret said ok. I was then showed to my room which was had a
super comfy bed. The brothers then came back and we had a lekker lunch. The
brothers farmed a bit of livestock and some vegetable too. Mundy had immigrated
to New Zealand a few years ago from Joburg and came through regularly to see
how things were running and to do his share related to the farming they did. After lunch I lay down for a bit happy to be chilling
on a soft bed on this Sunday afternoon. They also excused themselves for their
Sunday afternoon nap. I then got up a little later to walk around and take some
pictures. I was really stoked to have ended up here. All thanks to my little
mishap with my glasses this morning.
 |
| You gotta be tough as this lot to survive out here. |
A little while later, a neighboring couple came over to
visit. I met them both before the wife went to speak with the other wife, which
left the 4 of us men to sit and talk. I didn’t say a damn thing for almost the
entire time. But that was alright because I could have listened to this other
guy talk all day. Man, the stories he told and the way he told them. Flippen
hell they were kak funny!! I wish I had them recorded somehow. Eventually him
and his wife left and we then had supper before I watched a bit of tv before turning
it. Was stoked at how this day turned out considering how it started.
Distance 15kms plus another 4kms for the return trip.
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