Ramblings of a Kept Woman

Having earned an honest living for so many years, it was a bit of a shock to accept my new status!  Abandoned in the UK for two months whilst Steve wandered off to Johannesburg once again, advantage had to be taken of the rare good British Summer.  So out came the paintbrushes and gardening tools to bring the house back into a semblance of good order.  Talk about jungle warfare!

That sentence eventually ended and I was allowed out to join our breadwinner.  Our separation had been tough after having spent almost every hour together for the previous nine months – thank heavens for Skype!  Now it’s life in a guesthouse and long weekends away. 🙂  Forget the image of the battleaxe running an oppressive regime in an English seaside B&B, this is luxury!  Closer to a country house in a very pleasant suburb, with swimming pool and wonderful staff, it is a magnet for international travellers. Supper is a great mix of business people and tourists, all with an interesting tale to tell.

A mere Casino!

Joining with Nanci, a traveller from Singapore, we took a ride on the Red Bus round the city, a hop-on, hop-off trip, allowing us to visit such places as the Apartheid Museum.  That was an assault on one’s sensitivity, coming from a European background.  Even entering, you are segregated into nominally ‘black’ or ‘white’ classifications that serve to immediately drive home some of the brutally divisive aspects.  Honestly, after going round the museum, one is struck by just what a miracle was delivered by Mandela in preventing a bloodbath when the apartheid regime collapsed in 1994.

Having walked for miles exploring the neighbourhood, I’m now 2″ shorter and a lot fitter.  This area is not for the impoverished; the range of architecture is extraordinary, and the wide streets lined with trees, many the bright blue Jacarandas, are stunning.  I have even been lent a dog so I can walk in the park – though what effect a Daschund would have on my safety has to be questioned!  It’s surprising the things you see when you are on foot, and I stifled a smile at the driver of a Bentley Coupe who eventually had to get out to open her own gate after her hooting didn’t bring the expected response – pity the poor security guy who was probably having a pee at the time!  Local directions take some imagination – robots and circles (traffic lights and roundabouts) and imagine the confusion when I mentioned sleeping policemen! 

I’ve made some good friends who have introduced me to lots of people and I’m pretty busy now (while the breadwinner earns us a crust!) not least helping in two local schools, but more of that later ………