Chit chatter

Our first good rains of winter have soaked into the soil, bringing renewed life to the garden and much singing from the birds. The sea is rough and tumbling and the roar blots out any other sounds - not that there is much else down this end of Kommetjie. It's either birds or the sea. With it has come a sharp drop in temperature and coats are now the order of the day, together with socks and closed shoes.

The dogs don't enjoy the rain when they have to go out into the garden for toilet duties, and I can't say I do either, particularly in the dark of morning or late at night. If only they could use litter trays! Mango Kitty wasn't impressed by the rain either and rushed back inside as soon as the first drop hit her. Another new experience for her. She is double the size she was when we got her, although still small, and there is no end to her curiosity and love of exploration. Her favourite game is to tap Susie on the head while she is trying to sleep - it doesn't amuse Susie very much, particularly as she can't see the new addition to the pet family. She also likes to run underneath Monty who gets quite grumpy about it and snaps and mumbles to himself at the cheek of it. It won't be long before she is too big to do that, but I'm sure she'll find some other way to tease him.

The leg climbing persists. This morning the Telkom man came to fix the phone line - reconnected the landline after a year and a half, connected the fax and told me the modem needed to be replaced (:() (will do that tomorrow), and Mango ran up his leg, attaching herself quite firmly with her claws. He didn't really know what to do - I suppose it's not the sort of thing that usually happens on house calls - and as I am so used to seeing her run up my own legs, I didn't react as quickly as I should have. I prised her off and I think he worked at double quick time after that to make sure he could leave as soon as possible. A different slant on a guard dog.

The week has drawn to an end and with it, at last, these interminable public holidays - 7 in a month - which contributes so much to the lack of productivity here. It's poor at the best of times, but any excuse to get paid for doing nothing... The worst part about them was never knowing whether it was the weekend or just another holiday.

The elections are finally over and hopefully the posters will be removed from our street lights so that we don't have to look at those faces any more. It all gets rather tedious. The only good thing about the results is that it looks like the ANC are on the downhill trail, which can only be of benefit to South Africa in the long run. I will leave it at that.