Gerry is a teacher at the prison here and a lovely guy who took us up the hill overlooking the town early one evening. Some evenings clouds have gathered but this one was very clear and gave us a bird's-eye view over the town and the Karoo beyond.
In this view you see the Olympic-sized swimming pool in the foreground, as well as the tree-lined grid of streets in the somewhat smarter side of town. We live beyond the railway lines and station which run across the photo.
In the first photo are new army houses for those who work at the ammunition dump behind the hill, the largest in the southern hemisphere.
It was a steep climb up rough stony ground but we loved the views and the excercise felt good. Gerry can run up it several times an evening to keep fit; he is big in the football world. He also brings his youngsters here regularly and shortly they will renew the white painted stones that spell out De Aar, seen from across the town.
We intend to walk up it quite often too, maybe even in the early morning. I am determined we should stay fit, something that is not so easy in this heat.
Early evenings is also the time for church meetings for Tom and on Nov 30 we drove to Philipstown to be at the evening celebrations for St Andrews Day. The chancel was decorated with letters strung across, with Xmas lights and ornaments.
After a joyful service a fire was lit outside, pieces of lamb cooked and a table set up in the nave for the chief guests. Everyone ate a large meal of lamb and various cold salads – potato, pasta, beetroot, carrot etc followed by iced cake – two huge slabs had been decorated lavishly by the lovely Charlotte, a teacher and the lay leader in this small community. Her colourful hat worn throughout matched the colours of the braid on the red robe she and the other lay assistant wore for the service. Fathers Joseph and Tom wore brand new chasubles recently ordered by St Thomas De Aar. Patronal Festivals are important occasions.
The drive home in the dark gave us our first real view of the clear bright night sky as well as the occasional springbok at the side of the road which can cause accidents if they shoot out in front of the car.
In reply to a query about food – we can buy anything we want pretty much, from Checkers the upmarket supermarket. ShopRite is owned by the same firm we are told but is more compact and African feeling, though nothing like the real African supermarkets away from the smartest street. We haven't ventured into those yet. They would have much less stock and sell in larger bulk quantities I think. The quality of fresh goods is not as high as back home. Fruit and vegetables are SA grown but not locally I think. Perhaps the best quality fruit etc is sent for export. Traditionally vegetables are be cooked, often in rather sweet spicey sauces, not eaten raw as salads. At one home BBQ – or Braai- no salad was served, only a pasta in sauce. Meat, especially lamb, reigns here!
We have had a frustrating time being entirely unable to connect to the net, perhaps due to a huge storm on Thursday evening. So we are a bit out of date and I will try to write again soon. Photos have been tricky to upload today so no more of those yet!
