Coming out of this Covid thing ……(sort of - sort of) …….. has allowed for at least some mixing and mingling with friends - albeit at a safe distance, and with no hugging and kissing unfortunately. The world has always been a bit of a hard-arsed place, but this Covid thing has seemingly taken away all semblance of everyday affection, and the more people grow used to it, one wonders what percentage will ever get back to it as a natural expression. Brrrrrrr - makes me shiver! I really don’t want to live in a world with even less natural affection than we had before.
The re-introduction of liquor restrictions without any warning has also put a bit of a strain on what mixing and mingling is allowed. Now when you get together its definitely BYO, and God help you if you run out because nobody out there really wants to share what little they have with you …………….. what the hell are they going to drink tomorrow? Can’t really blame them, but I have seen it being the cause of folks that would normally stay well into the visit politely getting up to leave very soon after their BYO has run out ………. so sad - so sad. But - even without the affection and the limited supply of booze - it has been really great to at least get to hang out again with a few old friends and acquaintances.
BROWN-HOODED KINGFISHER (Halcyon albiventris)
Getting back to work has also been good for some - those that is that have work. There are quite a few out there who unfortunately have no work, or have not really been able to get going again, and I really feel for them. Life as they knew it has literally come to a halt, and the worst part is that there no longer even exists the atmosphere of their local pub where they could (in the past), at least mingle with others in a similar boat - exchange sympathies - and perhaps even pick up a little something here or there.
Then there are others who, having managed to scramble through the worst of this whole thing, have the misfortune to lose not only their livelihoods, but absolutely everything they own as a result - not of their own doing - but as a result of carelessness by someone else. Just such a person was Warren Steenkamp who two days ago saw his home reduced to literally a pile of ashes, losing absolutely everything he owned, including the equipment and tools of his trade that made his ability to earn a living possible. Joining him and his brother Shane and one or two others on site literally minutes after the fire it was utterly heartbreaking watching this grown man scratching through the ashes of his life in search of a few meaningful keepsakes ……………. nothing ........... there was nothing there that could be salvaged, and whether or not the miscreant responsible for the devastation is able to come to the party in financial terms, Warren will never be able to recover the emotional value contained within the reality of those keepsakes that are forever lost, and nothing that anyone might be able to give him as recompense will ever take their place.
(EASTERN) BLACK-HEADED ORIOLE (Oriolus larvatus)
GREATER DOUBLE-COLLARED SUNBIRD (Cinnyris afer)
On a lighter note …………… that while the weather here in Bathurst has been both sublimely warm and alternatively - bitterly cold these last few days - we have at least had a little very badly needed rain, and literally overnight one wakes to a garden with a huge grin on its face ………. real “happy” making stuff. And the birds …………. the birds are everywhere - birds we haven’t seen for a year are suddenly back. Every time I turn my head there is something new …………. a Brown-Hooded Kingfisher, a pair of Southern Boubou’s, a trio of Olive, Cardinal and Knysna Woodpeckers, a Crested Barbet, ………… up in the big Coral tree twenty or thirty really noisy Green (Red-Billed) Hoopoes - also known in Afrikaans as the Rooibekkakelaar (red-beaked cackler), and in Zulu, iNhlekabafazi – which means the laughter of women, rather unflatteringly likening the laughing of women to raucous cackling! Also quite a few Trumpeter Hornbills and a large number of Red-winged Starlings. We have also been inundated with Cape Whiteye’s who vie with the sunbirds for aphids (I think), on the rosebushes below the deck, as do a few Olive Thrushes who compete with the Drongos and the African Hoopes for the various grass and other insects in the flower beds.
GREEN (RED-BILLED) WOOD-HOOPOE (Phoeniculus purpureus)
OLIVE WOODPECKER (Dendropicos griseocephalus)
Then, as I was making coffee in the scullery this morning a never-before seen pair of small birds landed on the Confederate Rosebush outside the window. I had just enough time to determine a few features before they took off, and I’ll be darned if I can find anything even resembling them in the Sasol Bird Book. They were the size of a Woodland Warbler, with a black crown, a grayish body and what appeared to be a bright red vent. The closest I have been able to find is the Chestnut-Vented Tit-Babbler - except that its vent is Chestnut rather than red and it lacks the black cap. Very frustrating!
BLACK-COLLARED BARBET (Lybius torquatus)
As I write, something that has been frustrating us the entire past year is the very attractive green-domed street light on the pavement outside our gate that does not work. One of three in the street, it is the only one that doesn’t work, and after numerous calls over the past year to Ndlambe Town Council, absolutely nothing has happened. Then suddenly - 15 minutes ago - a bakkie arrives and out pile seven guys - up goes a ladder - and I am told it is the light bulb. How many Ndlambe electricians does it take to change a light bulb? ……………. Only seven it would appear. It will be interesting to see if it actually works tonight.
CARDINAL WOODPECKER (Dendropicos fuscescens)
So ………….. that’s about it for this entry. Covid has finally struck the community with quite a few people in lockdown as a result and two deaths that I am aware of. The demand for fogging is considerably slower than I expected it to be despite having approached every single business in the district and sending out over 300 emails……………..but, South Africans are notorious for poo-pooing positive measures to fight pandemics of any kind: Consider for just a minute the huge majority vote that this government still commands despite its dismal track record when it comes to just about anything. As cousin Lynda suggested, we must “Fog maar voort!”
