Laugh a little at least.

I had quite a lot of language problems when working in the UK as lots of little words came to mind, some of which I can`t put on this page.

It`s terrible when you get old as most youngsters are into cell phones and         technology. Their favorite saying is ( did you plug your brain cell in last night) 🙂

I had a tooth pulled a couple of weeks ago, now I have to see a Maxillo facial surgeon to have the hole plugged that goes from mouth to nose. It was quite a shock when washing my mouth out and suddenly having a waterfall from your nose. Does anyone have any info on this problem. The Dentist took X-rays so I think I should have been referred to the Maxillo guy first as now he wont touch it for 6 weeks. All extra money in someone else`s pocket 🙂

This was no laughing matter but all the fynbos is growing very well now. At least most people have got rid of the large pines but it`s making the place look very strange and empty.

After the UK trip.

My closest Pub in Maidstone

A UFO landed in Chatham.

iI wish we had fruit like this in our supermarket

I haven`t written a blog since coming back from the UK as things have been a bit hectic. I didn`t manage to get to Folkstone as I was reliant on my brother for transport. We did however get to Rye, where I took a few photos until my phone went dead. I wanted to photograph the cannons but at least I got the wind farm.

 

We did find a nice cafe and had cream scones and coffee. Frances took a lot of pictures of the very unusual door knockers around town and in the back streets. Most of the side streets were cobbled with round flint stones and played havoc with my old ankles. 😉

 

Since then my brother has decided to move to Beckley which is not too far from Rye. I googled it and found out that it is a great place to live. There are many things to investigate in the area, from Alfred the Great to the making of cannons. I is also connected to the slaying of Thomas A`Beckett and the Great Plague.

 

Our Little Town. Part Two.

The first part showed the Whales, seals, Bats and a few beaches. This part is mainly the historical bits of town.

This is the Old Rectory when there was a lot of camping due to it being very close to the sea. It is privately owned now and in bad repair, most has been taken over by vagrants.

Across the road is the wood shed which is also in bad repair. Most of the wood used for window frames have been used for firewood.

In the foreground is the Wood shed and the Rectory is in the trees now.

This was an Anchor from one of the first boats to bring in wood.

When I first came here there used to be a Wagon complete. The problem was that the municipality did not consider this area as Historic so it has been used for firewood and scrap by vagrants.

The town is usually quiet unless we have a Biker funeral or the Plett Rage

We do get a few surprises when getting up in the morning but that just life.  🙂

Main Beach is on the far left, the Beacon Isle hotel is on the left of the beach.

This is one of the landing spots on the Main Beach the hotel is then on the right.

If you like Mushrooms, DON`T pick these.

These seem OK, BUT always check before cooking.

Ill finish off with a visitor to the flower garden, this frog is so small it doesnt even bend the flower stem. End of Part Two……………..

 

 

Our little Town. Part One

 

Plettenberg Bay is not what I would call a bustling seaside resort and the beaches are not very interesting. But, we do have plenty of sand and sun though. We have a Whale watching company here on the Main Beach.

I was lucky getting free trips on this boat and be able to take such photos close up. I have taken several hundred of these and it was exhilarating to be so close when the Whales breached. Most of the year you can see the Dolphins and Cape Fur Seals in a colony near Robberg.

Sunset at  Robberg

This was also taken from the boat when approaching Robberg Peninsular.

We have had a few fires around that area lately.

Both these Bats were photographed in the garden with flash.

We bow out to part one and a Sunrise over the Bay………………..

Have the fires stopped ?

Whitewolf`s Blog

The fires seemed to have burned out for the time being, but there are still a lot of pine trees still standing. We have a Berg Wind again today so there has been another fire warning from the local firefighters. I think all the Vynbos shrubs that have been partly burned should now be cut level with the ground as they are so dry and can still burn. There are quite a few holes in the ground which look like Snake holes but they are where the shrubs used to be before the fire.

It has only been a few weeks and a lot of the vynbos is starting to grow back. We had a wake here for the firefighters that lost their lives during the big fire. The town was filled by Bikers on Harley`s and filled the main  road for most of the day. Last weekend was the…

View original post 228 more words

My last trip coming up.

Whitewolf`s Blog

As this will probably be my last trip to the UK I have a lot to do in the few week there. When I was there last time my brother only had Alfie the Wolf Hound so it will be great to see if he remembers the walks we had in Mote Park and the local roads. There are now another 2 Grey Hounds so I will have to be careful.

A few photos of Alfie, out and about and sleeping it off. 🙂

Chatham hasn`t changed much over the years, the fruit and veg stalls are still in the street. The most unusual thing was in the other photo taken near the bus center they had a UFO parked and somebody was giving a big speech nearby about visitors from other worlds. 🙂

In the High Street there was an electric three wheeler writing on the walkway controlled by…

View original post 241 more words

My last trip coming up.

As this will probably be my last trip to the UK I have a lot to do in the few week there. When I was there last time my brother only had Alfie the Wolf Hound so it will be great to see if he remembers the walks we had in Mote Park and the local roads. There are now another 2 Grey Hounds so I will have to be careful.

A few photos of Alfie, out and about and sleeping it off. 🙂

Chatham hasn`t changed much over the years, the fruit and veg stalls are still in the street. The most unusual thing was in the other photo taken near the bus center they had a UFO parked and somebody was giving a big speech nearby about visitors from other worlds. 🙂

In the High Street there was an electric three wheeler writing on the walkway controlled by a laptop. further up in town there was a walkway to cross the road, which took a good 6 minutes but on the way back I  went across the road and it took as many seconds. 🙂

Back in Maidstone and we have the Bishops Palace and the Victoria monument both landmarks in the center of town. I normally stay here but it seems to have more closed shops every time I visit. I don`t know what Brexit will do in the future ?

I went to Whitstable to see the wind farm and have lunch and a beer for old times sake. it was very crowded and difficult to find a parking place. When I was in my teens there used to be a pirate radio station, Radio Caroline, anchored out near the wind farm. At the time BBC wouldn`t broadcast Rock and Roll, so it was Medium wave 199 if you wanted to listen. I was living in Broadstairs then so we got a good signal.

My local pub which wasn`t open last time. Some Pubs only open at 15.00 hrs . Many have closed permanently because of no-smoking and the price of beer. The other shop on the corner is a wine and beer shop where I got all my ingredients for making  wine and beer in 5 gallon vessels. This blog is getting a bit long so I wish you all the best, and sign off. 🙂

 

 

Have the fires stopped ?

The fires seemed to have burned out for the time being, but there are still a lot of pine trees still standing. We have a Berg Wind again today so there has been another fire warning from the local firefighters. I think all the Vynbos shrubs that have been partly burned should now be cut level with the ground as they are so dry and can still burn. There are quite a few holes in the ground which look like Snake holes but they are where the shrubs used to be before the fire.

It has only been a few weeks and a lot of the vynbos is starting to grow back. We had a wake here for the firefighters that lost their lives during the big fire. The town was filled by Bikers on Harley`s and filled the main  road for most of the day. Last weekend was the turn of the Municipality and local residents, this was much quieter and smaller.

While i was gardening I heard these women singing in the distance and it sounded like a mass march but I was so surprised at how few arrived. The singing was very good and they were very well behaved even though they had to wait a long time to get their voices heard.

I think  this blog should have today`s Sunrise.

To show how ridiculous things have got, I will put a joke that was on a newspaper web site.

It is still very puzzling that 26 fires started in many different places at the same time. There have been some arrests for arson and theft from farms and buildings that were evacuated. The disappointing thing is that articles were stolen from the very places that were trying to help the victims of the fires. These were items like a coffee machine, pressure cooker, hot plates and other kitchen ware. This may cause people not to help next time we have an emergency.

I am still getting Hestony trucks parking outside with their refrigeration motors running all night. This time I was lucky a the Police agreed that he couldn`t. It was a restful night but I think the chicken in the back had defrosted a bit by the time he left in the morning.

 

Baboons and rubbish….

They used to party a lot round here before the fire.

I mentioned in an earlier blog that the baboons had been burned out of their natural habitat up on the airport road. even the veggie garden at the farm is half burned out so there are only sweet potatoes there. In my veggie garden the sweet potatoes did not yield much when I dug them up, there seemed very few big ones, but the baboons found them digging with their hands. On going round the side of the house after hearing several grunts I found a big Baboon sitting on the wall eating a very large sweet potato as if it was a Hotdog. they had eaten most of the Turnips and pulled all the tomato plants out. This was after the last fire so I`m just waiting now to see what will happen.

When they came last time it seemed like a family affair.

When big daddy appeared in the bushes , things changed.

On showing his teeth it was best to go inside 🙂

I think he`s outmaneuvered me, but he looks a lot smaller and did not like being on the same stoop.

I am busy pulling as many turnips and sweet potatoes up as can be used and just hope they don`t rubbish my bean plants like last time. It`s time now to plant the winter veg in the front where an eye can be kept on them. So most of the things used in the kitchen are mostly in pots or troughs.
The ground around the farm areas will be quite fertile for the next crop as there is a lot of burned foliage and ash to dig in, before it`s blown away with the wind. There are a lot of places that I saw in that area that have already got vynbos coming through after a week or so. I think most of the problems were caused by the pine trees as the vynbos needs a fire to get regrowth and are not so difficult to contain, as I saw on one of the farms nearby. Our municipality decided many months ago not to collect garden refuge which is causing fly tipping. I think if they collected it still and made it into compost for sale, it would produce employment for those who cannot do technical jobs and improve the local situation.

I think it`s time to dress up and scare them away.

Well we have had some good rain lately so that must be good, and the wind has dropped.

 

JZ finds fire culprits…….And I thought it was true :-)