The Beginning

Here's the video that was supposed to be added to the last post I was able to make for y'all, with an update of my Now.

I couldn't upload the video for the post and gave up after trying for half a day.

It was supposed to be the multi-media bit of the last excerpt of "The Book That May Never Be Written". (The Accidental Theory)

As they say... better late than never. 😁

I've recently learned, by the way, that if somebody doesn't answer a question (asked twice and in writing) about whether high speed bandwidth for online sessions with clients, web work and blogging is available at their accommodation...

that the answer is "no".

But that, as I like to say, is another story.
 

(And it's so bizarre that it's funny, so I'll share it with you soon)

For now... let's catch up a bit after me being dead in the digital water for the last while...
 

I'll be coming to find you all this week to say hello. You've been duly warned...

I haven't really been able to post or engage around here much over the last bit which has been frustrating at times. But it's also been manageable because I've been in a small village, at the edge of the ocean, and I fell in love with the landscape out there in full.

So while work has been difficult and finances aren't exactly abundant, I've spent a great deal of time roaming around outdoors, looking up and around, wide-eyed, and saying, "Wow!" out loud to myself a lot.

I'll share more on my time here when I've circled back and filled in the gaps, since I left Noordhoek a couple of months ago.

For now there's a cool thing I wanted to share with you.

28th November 2022

We just had our fridge raided by a baboon.

Yes. This just happened.

It happens quite a bit around here and there's an ongoing battle on the social media pages (and in the village itself) between those who want to live amicably with the baboons in the neighborhood as this is their territory as well...

and some concerned parents who are worried about the animals being aggressive and kids possibly being hurt.

Both valid concerns.

To be fair, some of the stories I've heard around here have been quite alarming. Many of a big rogue baboon (and he's pretty large, to be clear) coming into people's homes and "charging" at them, or of people being "mugged" of their shopping in the village.

In accordance, I've been sticking my shopping bag under a shawl as I walk home with groceries and I keep a look out for possible offenders while I walk as well. They're pretty bold, by the way. One snatched a muffin off my son's plate a while back. But...

they're also pretty peaceful when they take your stuff in my now experience.

It is, for a mostly city gal, kind of magical having them in such close proximity even if they do leave a bit of a mess.

In all honesty, we humans cause far more of a mess in my now more experience as well.

I've been half expecting a home visit and have, mostly, kept my door closed because of this.

Thing is.... it's hot in summer in the Western Cape and the room I rented is incredibly small. Far smaller than the clever photos I was sent depicted.

No problemo... I'm into minimalism and tiny living is cool. I've always been interested to try it out. The landscape around here has made up for this as well. I've simply spent more time outdoors.

But the wind does pump here and then... well...

hot, stuffy, sweaty... and not so comfortable.

Still... I don't sweat the small stuff even if I'm sweatin' these days.

I took a calculated risk and left only the top half of the door open this morning.

The builders building the house on the property directly outside my front door (which I wasn't told about either, by the way) can see me sitting on my single bed in the corner trying to work.

But I'm kinda used to this after two weeks. When they aren't drilling, angle grinding bricks and yelling at each other it can even seem almost peaceful at times.

No. That's not my laundry. The accommodation I rented for my son and I, for the summer holidays, runs an illegal laundromat from their garage. I only discovered all of this on the day I arrived.

Are you laughing yet?

You haven't heard even a tenth of how weird things got from there...

One builder did wave at me the other day when I went outside for some fresh air

^{(* lying... I smoked a cigarette...don't tell)}.

I was a bit miffed about it because privacy and all that good stuff. Today, however, when the baboon came to scrounge food, one gallant builder hopped over the fence to try and assist us.

Sweet 😊

All was immediately forgiven.

I guess when you watch each other over a fence for two and a bit weeks, you become kinda familiar.

I think I'll buy the whole crew some biscuits after the way they responded today, in fact.

^{(I never had a chance to do this because... well... that's a part of that other story.)}

The police officers, who were in their vehicle at the front of the accommodation helping the other once was tenant with something unrelated but similar enough for us to have raised a mutual eyebrow as we passed each other...

said there was nothing they could do about the baboon when I accidentally ran into them.

Wait...

that's not totally correct.

The male police officer didn't bother responding, but the female cop said she would call the animal something or other.

At that exact moment the baboon ran past all of us, clutching a half loaf of "Best of Both" (but actually mostly white) bread that I don't really like my son to eat anyway. I was happy he made that particular choice.

Score. He would take the rap for brown bread only in full. 👍

Prior to him making off (or "her" as my son so consciously pointed out, but let's say "him" for the sake of brevity) with only one half of a loaf of bread and leaving half a dozen broken eggs and a torn carton of milk on the floor (who knew baboons aren't into baking?), the scene played out like this...

A Scene at the Seaside

 
FADE IN

INT. TINY ROOM AT THE BACK OF A HOUSE IN PRINGLE BAY - LATE MORNING

Sarah, a single mother, sits against the wall on a single bed, typing on a laptop. Jack, her twelve year old son, sits on a beanbag, playing a video game while she tries to work.

The top half of a front door at the foot of the single bed is open.

There is the noise of building and a group of men are visible on the second floor of an unfinished house.

JACK:
It's a baboon!

Sarah looks towards Jack a bit confused.

Jack points at the half open door.

JACK:
A baboon!

Sarah looks at the door and sees a medium sized baboon sitting balanced, on the lower half of the door. The baboon and Sarah's eyes meet.

They stare at each other for a few seconds before the baboon decides Sarah isn't a threat, jumps onto the floor, walks three steps to the bathroom door and sits down.

The baboon looks around kind of disinterestedly. He leans back and casually flips open the small lid of the bin, realises it's not the good stuff and looks around the place slowly, figuring out his next move.

SARAH to Jack:
Stay calm. He's just looking for food. Don't move suddenly. Just stay calm.

The baboon looks back at Sarah, half over his shoulder, and his eyes lock with Sarah's again. Sarah's sh!tting herself but she won't let on to Jack. She speaks gently to the baboon while they stare into each other's eyes, but it isn't at all romantic.

SARAH to the baboon:
Hello! (dialogue to follow because Sarah's mind goes numb at this point)... "superc alafrage slistcies hskk." she says to the baboon in a calm, soothing voice.

The baboon nonchalantly walks one step over to the tiny bar fridge, opens the door and picks up the carton of six eggs. He opens it, takes an egg out, sniffs it and drops it on the floor. Picks it up. Sniffs it, gives it a lick and drops it again. And so it goes with the remainder of the eggs, one by one, as he makes sure they're all the same thing and not to his personal taste.

While he takes his time doing this, Sarah tells her son to get up slowly and to move calmly towards the door.

The baboon is holding a carton of milk by the time Sarah and Jack have both left the building.

It was scary and incredible both.

The baboon was actually super calm and very peaceful. He wasn't at all scared of us though. The eye contact was intense but there was more a quality of observation from the baboon. Kind of like he was summing us up a bit. Just a part of our community and sharing our stuff.

Bit cheeky as well, I guess. His almost apathy, directness and boldness. But not at all aggressive. Probably because I chose not to threaten him and to walk away instead.

He wasn't even that messy.

Quite polite, is how I'd describe him.

As soon as he had what he'd come for, he left. A little bit of a mess with the eggs and milk all over the floor, but nothing smashed or destroyed. And I was a bit worried about abandoning what tech we have after all the stories I'd heard about how destructive they are, because I can't afford to replace stuff right now.

Nothing much at all...

It was quite beautiful to be so close to one, to see his intelligence and to interact with him.

Even if it was only to say no problem, take the food and to back away slowly. I'd prefer not to have to buy more groceries on my tight budget, with the recent traveling around, but it is what it is.

All in all it was a fair exchange, if I was to be raided by a baboon this week.

I even left the top half the door open again. Not to feed the baboon, to be clear. I can't afford to feed anyone else right now. But because, after the incident, I wasn't that afraid of one randomly raiding us anymore.

It seems to go with the territory in Pringle Bay right now and I guess you have to accept that living in such undeveloped and beautiful surrounds comes with visits from wild animals at times.

In all honesty... it's why I want to move further out of the city anyway.

My plan was to stick around.

Sadly... a person I had dealings with in the village was less respectful and decent than the baboon. We've had to find emergency accommodation in an area we had already visited a few months ago.

I know that's how life works though. Sometimes we need to circle back. Perhaps I missed something around here.

Who knows.

I most certainly didn't document the area we've now had to return to when I was last here. Now I can do this, step by step, and share the journey as it unfolded with Hive, as I'd originally planned to do.

Before some weeks went by.

Or a couple of months...

It seems that things happen pretty quickly while you're traveling.

Especially when you're doing it with hardly any budget and have to make sudden plans to deal with the unexpected. And there always seems to be the unexpected whether you're moving around or not in life, doesn't there?

With no savings left after the challenging past years, this can be pretty stressful at times. But in all honesty I'm still loving it! The sense of freedom is worth a few moments of uncertainty. To me anyway. But after years of Groundhog Day I suppose a change is as good as a holiday.

Still... I was really looking forward to this three week holiday with my boy at the beach... Services had been advertised for the coaching and CVs sent out. I even had a possible part time gig to see me through until I found my feet.

We roll with it though, right?

Life happens. We make a plan and we keeping on moving forward.

_{Or sideways until we can move forward again...}

The biggest problem I'm having with being on the go, is keeping some kind of healthy routine with the meditation and physical training. Having said that...

living in a place like Pringle Bay, one hardly even needs a "healthy routine".

Walking to the local store is meditative. And walking to the beach to watch a sunset is healthy and active. Isn't it strange how, in cities, we have to specifically make time to be healthy when all we really need to do is get out of our cars and slow down?

Out in places like this, slowing down is easy.

In fact, when someone asked how it was out here I answered:
 

"It feels as though I can breathe again for the first time in years."

I'll keep on looking for a place like this for the happy forever home once we're done with circling back.

It was very nearly Pringle Bay, until things got very weird indeed.

I can't say I'm not disappointed to have had to leave the wide open space and quiet. But I must admit that I'm also quiet relieved to be away from the last bit of what I was a bit stuck in as well.

The temporary spot I found on short notice, with decent connectivity, should (hopefully, but who knows what happens next, right?) give me the opportunity to catch up, at last, with some reading of my fellow creatives around here as well.

@wrestlingdesires - I'm coming for you...(r collections). 😁

On we go.

Sometimes by circling back... ❤️

_{To be continued...}