Va-va-Voom!

Call me a drama queen, but exciting moments in life adds spice to the existence of an adventure-adrenalin-craving but shit-scared ordinary person like me.

Those moments add up to waving at helicopters.

First things first however. I am very sad to announce that I don’t have any pics available to show how loony our Cape doctor gets from time to time. Must be male, as it ravished, scooped, ripped, sprayed and did everything else it could do on the dock and over the decks of big old boats. A good wind clears the cluttered brain, I agree, but it is also very good at making one look like a filth-wit growing stubborn dandruff on the head and nostrils. I was quite brave visiting our rather deserted desert-looking Dunes after work. But hardly had the gust or guts to return to my car in the face of a manic tantrum exhausting itself on the beach. There was a mad dog and his half-senile owner playing along though…

Driving home, I saw billowing smoke further up the valley. Oh dear! And suddenly all the cars in front of me seemed to slow down and drive rather pathetically slow and directionless. I swear I’d drive over them to get home, should a fire ever threaten to destroy my lavender and pets. Turned out it was not at our place, but one can’t help to be nervous about these things. There’s Lourensford in Somerset-West as an example. A hundred fire-fighters are right now as I speak, battling a fire that may be destroying the vinyards together with those of Vergelegen, to ashes.

Sewende Laan time on telly, kitten fed, dogs fed and human beings not fed, I heard the rotors of a heli battling the waves of the wind. Rushed out to wave at it as it circled over the garden and back the way it had come. Strange. The next instant, more by the sound of it, we realized they planned a landing. Right there outside our walled garden, on the main road of our valley! I sprinted out of the gates, first grabbing keys to unlock it and saw the following: two police vehicles parked by the side of the road, a panzer-police lorry heading their way and our heli landing right next to them on a strip of open field.

This may be a state secret so don’t tell anyone: There were only one or two cars passing at the time – maybe other motorists have been blocked further up and down the road. The one heli guy jumped out with a box in his hands and handed it to one of the other car-chaps. Neatly got back into the heli and as they started leaving, they saw us. Frantically and not really dressed for the occasion, waving our arms off in the driveway outside our big gate. Hmm. So the thrill of the story is that he spotted us and waved back. Really cool. Very satisfactory, don’t you agree? These police people so often take flak and there’s two gorgeous chics falling over their bare feet to show our gratitude for the work they do.

Back at the cottage, we came to a verdict with two possibilities:

Either we will be eliminated early this morning for witnessing something secret. To which I replied “With love!”. But nothing happened this morning. And I doubt they know where I work…

The next thing that could happen is that we’ll wait there by the gate after work. A little suitcase packed and when the heli pitch up, ask why they are so bloody late.

Don’t you find it terribly frustrating when things happen at your doorstep and you have not a blinking idea what it is all about?

PS: People, I just caught a wiff and sound of a low-flying helicopter!!!