Living with Lockdown - 17

On the second from top rung of the ladder (climbing mountains cured me of a fear of heights), putting the third coat of paint around the window before tomorrow's rain. A loud bang. I look up from under the gutter into the face of a curious baboon. She bobs back out of sight and I go inside with the paint pot in case it is snatched from me as a hopeful snack. Can you imagine all our hard work being ruined by a pot of white paint splattered across the walls by a runaway baboon?
Next thing she is down on the rail and jumping across to the neighbour, along the wall and across the field. So back up the ladder and on with the painting. Dogs barking in the background, so more baboons on the way. Sure enough, the regular female with baby on back is on the fence, being chased my way. She drops down into the garden and heads straight for the gazanias, just coming into flower with their bright and so beautiful orange petals - a very rewarding and easy to grow plant - and promptly picks all the flowers off one, devouring them with gusto. Another young adult joins her and sits calmly eating the small green tomatoes that self-seed all over the garden. I bang on the railing and request firmly that they desist. This is met with an insolent sideways glance as they continue to pick every single flower head off the gazanias, shred a few plants for good measure and then head for greener pastures.
It seems nothing is safe to grow. Flowers, proteas, fruit - I hope they will leave the lemons, but don't hold out much hope for the huge gooseberry bush that is flourishing around the lemon tree. The rest of the garden is a shambles, covered in fine sawdust and splinters from planks levered out and thrown down, flakes of old paint, broken branches from moving the scaffold and particularly from baboon activity. I'm hoping for a spell of heavy rain to wash the leaves clean, rinse the debris into the furthest corner of the garden and give me a rest from climbing ladders!

The birds are not put off by our activity