I walked past a pool shop this morning that has been in the area for many, many years. They renovate and build pools as well as sell all the accessories. It seems as though very recently a fire raged through part of their building, damaging at least half of their floor area, forcing the business […]
We visited two repair shops today. The first one was in Kempton Park. The purpose of this visit was to have a belt fitted to our bread making machine. In one part of the workshop, I saw hundreds of items that were returned under guarantee and needed to be shipped back to the manufacturer. These […]
Walking can be very interesting. There is so much to see compared to when you drive a vehicle. Today, I saw a ‘bakkie’ (known outside South Africa as a truck or maybe utility vehicle) with the business name: Boom Gogga. The company does tree felling. I thought about the name “gogga” … translated into English, […]
Today I walked past two places I thought were very interesting. They were directly opposite each other. On the one side was a Funeral Parlor (Undertakers or Morticians). All three of these names imply ‘death’. When one dies, the normal practice is to obtain the services of a mortician to take care of the corpse […]
Our children in Naperville, Illinois, drove to Indianapolis in Indiana yesterday for a three day get-away. Whilst they were driving, we did a FaceTime call with them. It’s wonderful to think that we are able to talk to others so far away as they travel. During the conversation, we changed language from English to Afrikaans […]
I am part of the 911 emergency WhatsApp group on our street. At 20:40 last night, my phone went off as I was writing yesterday’s note. A lady up the road was hearing noises like the roof of her lounge being removed. Her husband was not at home. Her emergency message was for help. I […]
About two weeks back, our president announced that churches (including mosques, synagogues, temples, etc.) are essential services and may resume services and prayer meetings under strict gazette guidelines with special reference to numbers, social distancing and sanitization. Most churches were only expecting to resume services from level 1, so this announcement that churches may resume […]
One pastor asked another on a 9Marks site: “How do I respond on Sunday to my congregation in the face of George Floyd’s death?” George Floyd’s death sparked a conversation amongst pastors as to the treatment of “black” people by law enforcement officers, especially during lock down (and, in this case, in the USA). How […]
Today I took the completed Marriage Register to the Department of Home Affairs in the City Center. Everyone is supposed to stand on the “social distancing lines” to create the 1.5 meter gap between each other. This does not work. An official comes and questions why you need to be there. After explaining, I was […]
Under level 3 lock down (starting from June 1st), clergy may perform marriage services. There are certain requirements, though. Only five people may be present. The clergyman, the bride, the groom and two witnesses. This was a totally new experience for me as a marriage officer, and to add stress, we decided to invite people […]