Once upon a time HeeHoo was a Gentleman Farmer. We bought our "plot" in 1984 from Gordon and Jean Smith. They were the parents of Mike Smith who was in prison for so long with Kevin Woods. Sadly we heard recently that Mike had been released from prison after 19 years incarceration, only to be involved in a fatal car crash in the first year of his release.
HeeHoo loved to drive to the farm every week in our rattletrap old truck, brand and dip the cattle, watch the maize grow, build and improve things and then off we would go to the Good Hope Country Club to play tennis and cricket and then while away the evening yarning with good friends from the Turk Mine/ Inyathi District.
We had dozens of district friends in those days but sadly with the farm invasions, our friends in that area have dwindled to but a handful. So many loyal, committed farmers, community minded, wonderful people have now been driven off to far off
climes.
There are few folk left to talk cattle with now, no club to while away the pleasant evenings, just miles and miles of
untended empty lands and ruined roads.
We took a day off to visit our small herd of moos which we graze, on land ostensibly owned by folk in Scotland, but we pay
grazing fees to a senior policeman who "appropriated" the farm and yet does not own a spade let alone a single farm
implement...
The road to Turk Mine has been under construction since we bought the farm over twenty years ago. The road progressed slowly
but surely for many years, and now there is still a deviation of a fair number of kilometers which makes interesting
traveling !!
HeeHoo thought for one glorious day that he was Stirling Moss re-incarnated, and we sped to the "Farm" on the muddiest day of
the whole year, driving through incredible rain and churning our way in the best 4 by 4 by far, to liaise with our motley
herd.
The roads were awash, the potholes were glorious, the corrugations were bone jarring, but HeeHoo insisted one has to drive
fast to "keep up the revs" in this sort of soil, and we thundered through what would have been impassable to most cars,
eventually arriving with severe spinal injuries, at our destination.
The countryside was just plain magic. We have had tumultuous rains for several weeks and the grass was as "high as an
elephants eye" as they say ....
We saw few crops apart from some motley fields around the homes of the people who had settled happily on the roadsides. Not
many people were about due to the torrential rains, but there was evidence of "people living there" just like the Athol
Fugard screen play.
The cattle looked glum, I am sure they were bordering on foot rot there was so much mud !! But as the rain lifted and sun
wavered through the dense clouds, suddenly it was like the Matabeleland that we know and love so much.
Drifts of feathery grasses, wide expanses of acacia scrub or gagu swathed either side of the excuse for a road. In the
distance I could see some large trees and I prayed that the giant knob thorn, under which we buried our precious Great Dane so many years ago, was still providing him with some shade.
Was the Curlybean tree still there ? Under which our horse Rocky was buried, that awful scrub we have grown to love so much
was crowding in across the road so the car was being dreadfully scratched. The Curlybean trees were laden with late bloom
like giant bundles of cream worms waving in the breeze.
The sweet grass of the highveld is so nutritious and the cattle were glossy and fat. A mixture of Nkoni, Brahman, Afrikander with some peculiar unknown breeds slowly creeping in.
No fine pedigree herd here like we had in the olden days, just a hotch potch of whatever has been able to survive the last
eight years of violence and mayhem in Zimbabwe.
Our faithful herdsmen Luka and Marco welcomed us with beaming smiles, knowing that our car contained various simple delights
to see them through the days until "month end" which is a big occasion in Zimbabwe.
We pushed on to lunch with some dear friends who welcomed us with open arms and happy hearts and we spoke politics, weather and what not, over a delicious lunch of venison, home grown everything else, washed down with some fine South African white wine.
Then we splashed our merry way home, on much dryer terrain, knowing why Farm Folk are much happier beings than "Townies" and praying that one day, things will come right again for so many special scatterings now living all over the world but with
their hearts still clenched firmly in Africa.
If you would like to leave a condolence message for the Tsvangirai family go to www.zimbabweprimemi nister.org and click on forum. You will have to register by entering your name and choosing a password. You will get a confirmation email back within
a few minutes asking you to click on a link which will activate your account. Once you have done that you can creat a new
thread in the condolences topic and leave your message
Please forward condolence messages to the PM's website -and ask others to do the same
See below...
zimbabweprimeminist er.org.
IN MEMORIUM
ROBERTS Mandy - Passed away peacefully in the UK on the 19th March 2008 after an illness borne with courage and dignity.
Beloved mother of Caroline and the late Mark. Much loved mother-in-law of Craig. Dearly beloved Gran of Sarah, Sianne and Callum. Dear sister of June, Pauline, Rosaleen and Eric and Lillian. Aunt of David, Helen, David, Robert and Patrick and families. Dearest friend of Colleen and family. Remembered with love by John and Sheila Turnbull, Roy and Karen and Angela and family.
It's the hardest thing in life to lose
Someone who means so much
For the special love of a Mother
No-one else can touch.
It was so traumatic to say goodbye
On the day I let you go
And what it meant to lose you
No-one will ever know.
I've cried a sea of tears my Mum
I always will you see
But as in life, my mum you were
So you will always be.
It is one year today that I lost you, my mum. No words can ever say how much you are missed. I can only hope that time will heal the pain of your loss. We will always love you. We will always miss you. We will always remember you. I will carry the memories of you in my heart for all the days of my life.
You lived your life with courage and you were an inspiration to me in so many ways. I will always remember your indomitable spirit, your talent and your beauty. Rest in peace now and be happy with Mark, until the day we meet again.
Love always
Your daughter, Caroline.
Death Notice
Kenny, Mairead
It is with regret that we inform all friends of the Kenny family that Mairead passed away on Sat 14th March 2009 after a long
illness bravely borne.
E-mail: Fergus@phoenixpark. co.za
Condolence Notice
Kenny, Mairead
Fergus, Colm, Brenda and family
Our heartfelt sympathy and prayerful remembrance for a very special and precious wife and mother.
Our memories are ones which we will always treasure - a warm, compassionate and loving friend and indeed surrogate mother. The void created by her passing will only be fully known to you, we can only imagine it.
All our warmest love
Sean, Judy, Barry, Siobhan and Sinead
BERNARD WALSH. A devoted husband, father and friend - after a tragic illness in Auckland. Deepest sympathy to Marian,
Heather, Amy and Gavin. Our thoughts are with you at this sad time. Fondest love. Michele, Scott, Kyle and Jemma.
Marian's e-mail : marian@walshlaw. co.nz
Memoriam
Jimmy McGroarty
Its two years since you died but we know you are watching over us and miss you so much.
Love from Theresa, Jack, Jimmy and Anne, Donald and Ethel and grandchildren Sandy, Amy, Kyle, Fern and Jodie.
The wonderful memories linger on.
SUSAN TSVANGIRAI
It was with great sadness, that I learned of Susan's untimely and tragic death.
My most heartfelt condolences to Morgan Tsvangirai, his children and all family.
R.I.P. Susan
Ruth
4 THINGS YOU PROBABLY NEVER KNEW YOUR MOBILE PHONE COULD DO
There are a few things that can be done in times of emergencies.
Your mobile phone can actually be a lifesaver or an emergency tool for
survival.
Check out the things that you can do with it:
FIRST
Emergency
The Emergency Number worldwide for Mobile is 112.
If you find yourself out of the coverage area of your mobile; network
and there is an emergency,
dial 112 and the mobile will search any existing network to establish
the emergency number for you,
and interestingly this number 112 can be dialed even if the keypad is
locked. Try it out.
SECOND
Have you locked your keys in the car? Does your car have remote
keyless entry?
This may come in handy some day. Good reason to own a cellphone: If you
lock your
keys in the car and the spare keys are at home, call someone at home on
their mobile phone
from your cellphone.
Hold your cell phone about a foot from your car door and have the
person at your home press the unlock button,
holding it near the mobile phone on their end. Your car will unlock!
Saves someone from having to drive your keys to you.
Distance is no object. You could be hundreds of miles away, and if you
can reach someone who has the other 'remote' for your car, you can
unlock the doors (or the boot).
Editor's Note: It works fine! We tried it out and it unlocked our car
over a mobile phone!'
THIRD
Hidden Battery Power
Imagine your mobile battery runs out. To re-activate it, press the
keys *3370#
Your mobile will restart with this reserve and the instrument will show
a 50% increase in battery.
This reserve will get charged when you charge your mobile next time.
FOURTH
How to disable a STOLEN mobile phone?
Before it gets stolen (like NOW!), first check and record safely your
Mobile phone's SERIAL number. To do this, key in the following digits
on your phone: * # 0 6 # A 15 digit code will appear on the screen.
This number is unique to your handset.
Write it down and keep it somewhere safe.
When your phone get stolen, you can phone your service provider and
give them this code. They will then be able to block your handset so
even if the thief changes the SIM card, your phone will be totally
useless.
You probably won't get your phone back, but at least you know that
whoever stole it can't use/sell it either. If everybody does this,
there would be no point in people stealing mobile phones.
AND ONE MORE POTENTIALLY USEFUL THING TO KNOW . .
ATM - PIN Number Reversal
If you should ever be forced by a robber to withdraw money from an ATM
machine, you can notify the police by entering your PIN # in reverse.
For example, if your pin number is 1234, then you would put in 4321.
The ATM system recognizes that your PIN number is backwards from the
ATM card you placed in the machine.
The machine will still give you (& the robber) the money you
requested, but unknown to the robber, the police will be
immediately alerted, and dispatched to the location (if you are lucky).
Also, the robbers will only know your PIN backwards, so if they take
your card and try to use it again with the reversed number, the ATM
will again alert the police.
This information was recently broadcast on CTV by Crime Stoppers.
However it is seldom used because people just don't know about it.
Please pass this along to everyone. This is the kind of information
people don't mind receiving, so pass it on to your family and friends.
Its not stress that kills us, it is our reaction to it. --Hans Selye
The essence of nonviolence is love. Out of love and the willingness to act selflessly, strategies, tactics, and techniques
for a nonviolent struggle arise naturally. Nonviolence is not a dogma; it is a process. --Thich Nhat Hanh
PLEASE NOTE THAT THE MIRROR CAN ONLY DEAL WITH E MAIL QUERIES, PLEASE DO NOT PHONE IN YOUR ADVERTS AND QUERIES... ONLY E-MAILS WILL BE CONSIDERED
