Am I the only one with soccer withdrawal

For 4 weeks PE buzzed.  There were people everywhere and everyone was acting as though there had never been a recession.  Strangers chatted to each other in the streets and everyone became an instant soccer guru.  It feels as though we have gone back to being sleey hollow at the coast.  Dont get me wrong sleepy hollow is good.  I like living in a "5 minutes to anywhere" town and never having to worry about getting a table at a restaurant but for a while it was fun.  So much fun in fact that I cannot bring myself to remove the mirror socks from my car.

Funny how after 4 weeks of the press being all positive they went back to the norm.  The day after the final they posted about how the stadium was destined to go the rack and ruin and to cost the tax payers a fortune.  Couldn't they have just left us in our purple haze for a little while longer.  Let's not become the profits of our own doom.  While we cant hide from the issues out there we can occasionally see the glass as half full.  Maybe if we keep seeing it that way it will stay that way.

The Squatters

When we moved in to the house three years ago we were looking forward to the tranquility and peace that large open spaces offer.  It took around twenty four hours for us to discover that we were not alone and that we would be sharing our tranquility with some very distant relatives.   We awoke that first morning to clattering footsteps across the roof followed by a chattering on the deck outside our bedroom window.  There is nothing quite like coming face to face with a tiny black face pressed up against the glass when you are half asleep.  It appeared that we had squatters.  Three to be exact.  These little Cape vervet monkeys for some reason feel safe in our back garden and had moved in.  

The monkeys arrive every morning as the first rays of sun hit the pepper tree.  They spend the morning there and disappear around lunch time only to return in the late afternoon.  Every year they go missing for two weeks at the end of summer and come back with a new addition to the family.  We are now up to six squatters of varying sizes.  For the most part they dont bother us and we leave them to their own devices.  We keep the dogs in while they are around and we never feed them.  I had to add that bit in as the first thing people ask us is if we fed them to keep them around.  They do enjoy any birdseed that I put out but judging by the size of the pigeons that is not a problem.

It is wonderful having nature so close to the house and they have been very considerate in selecting the tree right in front of the wing-backs as they playground of choice. We get a bird's eye view of their antics as the sun comes up.  After finding one sitting in the kitchen sink when I got home one day we keep now keep windows closed and have not had a repeat of that episode.  We are always aware of how dangerous they could be and regardless of how cute they may appear they are still wild and should be respected as such. 

Here's for starters

Our wing-backs have commandeered the ultimate place in our home, at the top of Port Elizabeth's highest hill, for three years now. They stand in our dining room facing due north and it is from them that much of our planning and reminiscing takes place. They provide glorious views across the western suburbs of Port Elizabeth towards Uitenhage and the Kirkwood mountains. If we look to the left we see the Cockscomb and get to watch the seasons and sunsets change over the months. To the right they look towards Malabar and the Northern suburbs beyond. We cant quite see the bay from them as it is obscured by a bank of trees along our property line. We like it that way though. It gives a belt of green that seems to separate us from the rest of the world.

The chairs are multi functional. In the heat of day they become a tanning bed for a lazy German Shepherd. She can guard her home from here without being too uncomfortable or having to set foot outside. She divides her time equally between the two. We are sure of this because they are both equally worn out.




At night they become a place for us to sit and watch the lights while we have a glass of wine. In three years we have never once got tired of the view. These wing-backs have travelled a long road with us. They arrived before our daughter was born and long before we allowed our dogs to sleep in the lounge let alone lounge on the furniture. In those days they were pristine. Now they are slightly battered and bruised and have been around the world with us. I would like to think that they will be with us for many years to come and that I will get to tell lots of stories from them