Daily Archives: May 21, 2015

There are always miscellaneous photos…

We are having a quiet week and we seem to have needed it. Mary fought through a sore throat – nagging more than anything else and we were both tired. Here are some of our experiences for the last 3 days…

When we drive out of our complex and stop at a 4-way corner we often find the man standing in the middle of the intersection selling newspapers. Since we do not read Afrikaans we smile at him or wave and go on through. Today I stopped and talked to him for a while to find out more about him and his job. Gladwin’s wife passed last year leaving him with two daughters 8 and 13. He has been selling newspapers for a living for 15 years.  He sells papers 4 days a week – Thursday through Sunday and makes between 170 and 220 rand a day – that comes out to about 300 US dollars a month on which to raise a family. That is pretty good wages for four days of work when many men and women get that for six days work.

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The car wash I go to has a senior – or here we are pensioners – discount Monday through Thursday. They completely clean the outside and inside of the car for about $2.60 – 300 rand. The place is usually very busy and it takes about an hour. It is not an experience for an impatient person because there is no way to speed things up. It gets a through washing – first with a power cleaner and then hand soaped over every inch at least twice. Then a crew of 4 or 5 people wipes up and cleans up inside and out. They even clean the hinges on the boot. IMG_0085 IMG_0089 IMG_0087 IMG_0091 Besides the standard carwash they have a detailing area where – if possible – they take the seats out of the cars and clean the underside of them. Many of the car dealerships bring their used cars here to get them ready for the sales lot. One of these days I am going to talk to one of the people who work there and find out how long they work and how much they are paid.

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We are going to go to Kruger National Park for our anniversary next month so we went to a local business that specializes in Safaris – sightseeing and  hunting  – as well as other tours around the area or about anywhere in Africa you would like to go. They arrange drive yourself tours but specialize in ones where they drive. We are doing our own driving. In their yard are four big char pei were very friendly and a Russell that was not. This big boy was resting on the patio as we came out of the house. He is an orphan they rescued. IMG_0095