I Queue...You Queue!

I seem to have done a lot of queuing this week! And I have realised that different queues have different 'personalities' so to speak! Depending on where you are and what time it is.

My first queue was on Wednesday lunchtime when I needed to get more cat food from the Vet. Now, that's a jolly queue with lots of 'ooohs' and 'aahs' and 'oh shame' as people (and sometimes their pets) shuffle happily backwards and forwards, stroking and patting, or opening and closing the door to let the resident cats in or out. There is a basket placed on the counter that contains cats! There must be six or seven cats that have been rescued over the years, and handed in to find new homes, and the minute they get through the door..... they are home! They curl up in the basket only relinquishing their spot when they need to have a snack or go out when nature calls. Then there is always another to take their place!

So, I stood in the queue for about fifteen minutes and listened to the chat going on. Nobody was in a hurry, and some of the owners were giving advice on how to stop scratching (their pets I assumed), or what cream will cure mange (ditto), or the best way to cut canine toe-nails! Great fun. I heard the receptionist telling a new customer about the time they were 'given' a cat whose one back leg was so badly damaged that the vet had to amputate it. It was later adopted by an elderly gentleman who only had one leg. He was more than happy to give the cat a good, loving home, as he said that they were both a little lopsided!

Then it was off to the local supermarket for some essentials! And Wednesday is Pensioner's Day! The good news is there are specials! The bad news is there are queues! And....pensioners do not like queuing. Their time is too precious. I was quite happy to lean on the handle of the trolley and wait my turn at the till, but many of the blue-rinse brigade become agitated at the wait. Maybe they are thinking of lunch, maybe they are thinking of their bladders, but twice the woman behind me pushed her trolley into my heels! Not pleasant! There isn't much chat at those queues, mainly loud sighs and 'tuts' and 'why haven't they got more tills open?' And the occasional breaking of wind as us elderly tend to do!

But then came Thursday!

Thursday was apply for my new driving licence day!

So after my morning at the Hospice shop, and armed with my photos, my ID book and my copy of the rates account from Saldanha Municipality as proof of residence, I arrived at the Traffic Department and the parking ground was full! I groaned to myself and decided to get the green form, fill it out and if the queue was snaking all over the place, I would leave!

But it was not overwhelmingly full in the sit-and-wait area. I think there was a learner test being conducted in one room and a few people were milling round waiting for them. So I filled out my A, B and D parts of the form and joined the twenty or so people clutching green forms and ID books and photos. I sat next to a lady who must have been 85 in the shade. Well, if she is still driving then I have years to go.......

But I tell you, that lady knew exactly who was next in the queue! The queue had absolutely no system. We were simply a bunch of people sitting on two rows of chairs facing each other. I had no idea who was in front of me and who was behind me..... but she did! As each person went into the eye-testing and paper-handing-in room, she made every one shuffle up or move over one seat! Backwards and forwards we moved, from one side to the other, like sheep we did as we were told and all I knew was, I was next but one from her! After her was a young girl, and then it was me! Every now and then her daughters came in to see if she was alright. She sent them off on errands, fetch her water, purse, she had left her ID book in the car, and they scurried to and fro while we all watched and laughed along with her.

It was a long wait, I think I was there over an hour and a half, but it was extremely entertaining and no-body was confused or annoyed. There were several different conversations going on at once, in English, Afrikaans and Xhosa, and much laughter. As new folks arrived, they were promptly told where to stand and who to follow.

I have a feeling that she was a retired teacher!

And then she was gone, the next girl went in...... and it was my turn!

We have very sophisticated equipment at our testing centre, the latest technology that makes re-doing the licences a breeze......... when they work!

Yesterday only one machine was working, so that made the wait longer than necessary. The problem is this (because I asked!) Although the technology is German, the people using it are South African. We are a long way from Germany when/if things go wrong..go wrong..go wrong.

But once it is back to normal, there won't be any need for anyone to direct the queue.....

Each office has its own queue!

But will they be as much fun!

Market Day by the Sea!

We have a lot of 'pre-owned' cats here in Jacobsbaai. We know that because we have personally homed, loved and put to rest under the bushes in the back garden, three that made our home their permanent base, and we have three more that are now firmly settled, namely Basil, Morris and Kindle! We homed Sage to the nursery where she chats to the customers and tells them that she is never fed! Wally went to our friends in Philadelphia (not the American town I hasten to add...... he would have had a problem now with the new President, being an alien! Hmmmm... cat or president...I let you decide!) Blackjack comes every evening for his supper but still won't let me get closer than one meter!!

Blackjack popping in for supper!

And there are others who have been left to fend for themselves when the owners move on, or dumped by those wonderful people who make life so rewarding.

So when Amy, who lives round the corner and is passionate about cats (and who has personally trapped, neutered and released at least a dozen cats, and who puts out food and water every day) asked me if I would like to help with a new privately run animal shelter situated in Vredenburg and long overdue, I said yes!

Let me qualify that 'yes'.

I am happy to do the behind-the-scenes-stuff. I can provide food, give donations when and if I can and make things to sell at their market days.

But. I cannot work with the animals. I get too emotional and want to bring every dog or cat or donkey or duck or whatever home with me. I would be in tears daily, and I would end up being extremely rude to the people whose animals are removed for the animals sake. I would enjoy chaining said owners to a pole, a short chain with a barbed-wire collar, with no food, water or shelter from the elements. I could happily shove fireworks into various outlets on their bodies and kick them every time I walked by. Oh yes, and make them fight each other and leave them bleeding in the street.

Anyway, I digress!

So I happily volunteered to man the stall at a market day on Saturday. It was held at St Helena Bay at a venue I had never heard of and didn't know existed! Never mind, I bravely set off with a box of bits and pieces from Amy plus the cash box (boosted with our first donation from Rob), my water and my chair and eventually (a few minutes late as I did get a little lost and had to backtrack), I met up with Ronel who had by then organised the table, put the cloth on and had arranged most of the items for sale! After we had introduced ourselves to each other, she left to go and do a few house visits and check up on the dogs that lived there. I must add that Ronel started the shelter, appropriately called 'Lighthouse Animal Shelter' and Amy designed the posters.

To the point!

Pass on the Passports!

It is now just over ten years since we moved here from the Big Smoke.

How do we remember that?

Our passports will be expiring in March! Not that we needed passports to gain entry to the wonderful Cape............. hmmm, could be a plan though!

Renewing them in Randburg was not an option! That was the stuff of nightmares! The offices were dingy, cream coloured walls and not enough officials to help, and those that were there were not very helpful anyway! The queues were hundreds of people long, either leaning against the walls and waiting until their name was called, or sitting on long wooden benches and shuffling up a space every time the next in line shuffled up to fill the gap left by the next one to be helped!

You get the picture?

So we waited until we were settled here in Jacobsbaai and then made a day of it by going to our nearest Home Affairs office in Malmesbury. Malmesbury was a dream! we arrived there clutching our old passports, filled out the forms, had our fingerprints taken, handed our forms and photographs over and left........

Wow, what a pleasure.

Our new passports arrived by registered post a few weeks later.

So, here we are ten years later!
On Monday we went to town to have our photos taken. Two coloured ones (stern faced, glasses off....... ghastly!) and two black and white ones (smiling, glasses on, hmm not bad) for my driving licence that also falls due in March. (How quickly ten years goes...) Yesterday, Tuesday would be 'P Day'! (It was, in more ways than one!)

We do have a Home Affairs office in Vredenburg now.......... but naturally, they do not deal with passports at all.

So, we made arrangements with our friends who live in Malmesbury, that when we had finished our business, we would arrive for a spot of lunch and a good chat! Off we set yesterday morning at 07.00, reckoning to be in Malmesbury easily by 09.00, business completed easily by 11.00, surely two hours would be plenty, it was more than plenty last time.

Yes, well that was ten years ago! When we arrived at the Home Affairs building yesterday, dead on time, we couldn't believe our eyes. The doors were closed.... and they open for business at 08.00, what could be the problem? And the queue was from the doors, down the veranda, down the steps, out of the grounds, down the road to the corner, and round the corner. There must have been over 300 people standing there, from young to old.

Rob stayed in the car while I went to ask a few questions. I spoke to the first people in the queue....they had been there since 07.00! Two hours and they had just reached the door. How many people had been in front of them... and what time did they arrive? Apparently only fifteen people were being allowed in at a time, once they were out then the next fifteen were allowed in etc etc. So the people standing round the corner could be there till the office closed at 16.00!!

Also they told me, if we were applying for new passports, the office only took 100 a day! So, if after several hours of standing in the queue, you found out that you were numbers 101 and 102, then very sorry, come back tomorrow.

I reported back to Rob.

Now, we debated whether we could bear to stand in the queue-with-no-end-in-sight until we finally collapsed at the door, or whether to abandon the entire enterprise and slip away. I knew that neither my bladder nor my back would cope with a long wait, plus it was one of the hottest days that we have had so far this summer and the temperature was forecast to be 35 with no cooling breeze!

Hobson's choice!

We arrived at our friend's house for (surprise surprise) breakfast! Lovely toast and coffee!

As they were knee deep in plumbers with half the garden dug up, we didn't stay long.

Home via Darling Olives and the Darling Butchery, to re-group and re-plan.

Chairs, books, a cooler bag and the Porta-Potty will go with us next time.

Like a Boy Scout, we shall be prepared!

Wildfire Heroes!

Can you believe that there are so-called 'people' who find it funny to deliberately start fires?

We have them here in the Cape.

This is the Fire Season, (it follows the Silly Season), a time of year that is dreaded by Firefighters and home-owners alike. A time when the merest smudge of smoke on the horizon can send you running for binoculars, checking for wind direction and doing a head-count, in case there is an awful chance of it advancing when you are not looking, racing with deadly red and orange tongues towards homes, farms, nature reserves and settlements.

Last year my daughter and her husband were threatened by a fire that had crept up on them, fanned by strong winds and helped along by the terrible dryness of the surrounding countryside. They managed to get the hose out and dampen down as much as possible, before the wind changed and disaster was averted, but not before they had packed a suitcase with some of their necessary papers and sentimental possessions and taken the cat-boxes out of the garage in readiness for a quick getaway.

Too close for comfort!

A few days ago a fire was deliberately started in the Somerset West region of the Cape. The usual strong winds fanned it and that in turn, hampered attempts to bomb the flames from the air. Volunteer Firefighters from near and far pitched in to help not only to fight the flames, but to rescue animals, including cats, dogs and horses, that were in the path of the fire.

Monday's Fire map.