I thought my blog post for this week would be late courtesy of Eskom, we were all prepared and planned for a 4 hour stint of no electricity from 6pm, but the magical being at Eskom who promptly flips the switch from on to off and vice versa .maybe cannot tell the time since our power supply was restored shortly after 8pm - we are very definitely not complaining and I am showing our appreciation by writing this "funny old week" blog post.
I do try to publish 2 posts a week but the loadshedding power outages has really disrupted the lives of all South Africans so I am only publishing this post tonight and giving myself a 'pass' on not posting another blog post. It is all part and parcel of trying to be gentle with myself, not being too hard on myself and only doing what I have the capacity and bandwidth for.
I recently read this and loved this story:
"Library book returned after 75 years
Proving that it is never too late to return your overdue library book, Bob Jablonski returned Hitler by Oden Rudolph 75 years late. The now 89-year-old checked out the book when he was 14, all the way back in 1947, from his school’s library. And we guess he just forgot about the book until he came across it while cleaning out his family home. Lucky for him, it was still in mint condition with its original reference card tucked inside! Like us, you might be wondering about the eye-watering late fee he had coming his way, but Bob’s timing couldn’t be better as the school’s library had implemented a no-overdue fee policy in March 2021! So, a happy ending after all."
As a huge fan of the incredible institutions which are libraries, I just loved this story and there will be a blog post dedicated to libraries in the future.
It was a productive week despite the challenges of loadshedding and navigating our lives around the hours of no power and traffic lights not working.
In the UK people flocked from all over the British Isles (and the continent) to queue for hours to have a few moments viewing the late Queen's coffin, paying their private respects and moving on. I have read posts mocking the queues and people sacrificing their time, sleep and feet to queue for up to as much as 13 hours (if not more). In South Africa we have not experienced this; there was something akin to this when Nelson Mandela passed away but it was not on the scale which has been unfolding in the UK. (And some of the authors of those mocking the queues forget standing for hours in Grahamstown in 1996 waiting for the motorcade bearing Nelson Mandela drove around Grahamstown and we caught a glimpse of the legendary Madiba for a few seconds - I will never forget that Thursday morning and how my colleague and friend, David, had done an entire "Priscilla Queen of the Desert" routine to entertain us while we were waiting).
Apologies for the detour down memory lane - what has fascinated me is the stories emanating from the UK is how a gentleman left his home at 2.30am one morning to travel to London to queue to pay his respects to the late Queen as he had been in the military and she was essentially his boss; a little boy smartly dressed in his Cub Scout uniform queued for 12 hours throughout the night as he "felt it was my duty to pay my respects to the Queen who was a great lady and I want to be part of history" . The stories of people making friends with those they met in the queue, taking selfies and exchanging numbers; keeping places safe in the queue for strangers who have to take a bathroom break, sharing snacks and drinks etc. This is a nation where people bonded together in bomb shelters during war times, looked out for others through wartime, strikes, storms, floods and thinking this reminded me that Great Aunt Win, whom I wrote about in my last blog post, living alone in a bungalow in the village of Norton had in the 80's a coloured lightbulb outside her house which if she turned it on everyone in the village knew she needed help in some form of another - long before panic buttons and alarms were designed; that coloured light bulb was Great Aunt Win's need for help from her neighbours. I find stories of camaraderie, bonding, befriending so heartwarming and uplifting especially in a world where all too frequent there is violence, abuse, confrontation, hatred and in the tragic case of Ukraine, war.
Out of moments of sadness and griefs are moments of joy, reconciliation, making friends and these thoughts circled around to how my life has been enriched because of Tristan's addiction and his recovery. But for his addiction and recovery, I would not be part of my amazing recovery fellowship meeting some amazing people and I shared those thoughts with my lovely friend, Lindy, whom I had the privileged of spending this Sunday afternoon with. Our paths would not have crossed but for the disease of addiction so through the pain, heartache, hurt and anger of a child, spouse, partner, sibling fighting the disease of addiction, there is good and as I described in my blogpost last Sunday, Growing Pains of Addiction, something beautiful can emerge from the pain of addiction.
After returning home from Lindy and quickly watering the garden I did (albeit belatedly) join an international recovery fellowship zoom meeting with attendees from the USA, UK, Sweden and South Africa. It was an incredible and uplifting meeting and I love meeting people from all walks of life and am so grateful to be able to expand my circle in this way by being part of a "club where nobody signed up for membership" but we are in it and making the very best out of it and most of us in the club are working at healing ourselves and endeavouring to be the very best versions that we can be.
My highlights of my Funny Old Week
The launch of EXPLOITED! on Friday, 16 September 2022. If you are on IG and/or Facebook please follow (and on Facebook follow and like) https://www.facebook.com/people/Exploited/100085149927886/
The love, support, encouragement and sales are so appreciated by every single member of my ` beautiful family - grazie!
Mia bella famiglia
Spending a beautiful Sunday afternoon with one of my soul sisters, Lindy and her Mom, Carise. Soul food, soul searching, laughter, tears and great conversation all part of a very special afternoon.
Our weekend started off with Johan and I being treated to amazing full body massages at Balance Wellness in Bromhof. Roxy very generously treated us to a voucher for the massages for our wedding anniversary at the end of April - we finally got there yesterday and I had a multitude of knots in my neck and shoulders (my knots are called Work Stress) which were magically massaged away; it was eventually so relaxing and I could have spent the day there. A very tranquil and calming environment, such a treat which we are eternally grateful to Roxy and Remo for.
The annual Succulent Show was on this weekend in Johannesburg and I took my Mom to the show; it was an event and an expedition. I did not have the energy to take photos of each and every unique and fascinating succulents but I did photo these rare succulents from Zimbabwe
It was a brilliant weekend which is ending with us enjoying the miracle of electricity which is a much brighter way to end the weekend.
What have I been reading:
The House in Amalfi by Elizabeth Adler (still!)
What I have been listening to on podcasts:
Brian Tyler Cohen
The Daily
Dear Gabby
Nancy Grace Crime Stories
In the Land of Lies
Pressure Cooker
The Bittersweet Life
What I am listening to on Audible:
Beautiful Things by Hunter Biden
What have I been watching on the small screen:
Netflix
Sins of our Mother - horrific, true story, a must-see
My usual bubblegum series which now includes the Real Housewives of Cheshire
Ridley (brilliant British crime drama)
Paula Zahn Investigates
Dateline
Bad Sisters
The Con (superb documentary style exposure of despicable cons and scam artists narrated by Whoopi Goldberg)
My quote for today, tomorrow and forever -
"Do less and attract more"
Gabby Bernstein
