Being in isolation, sheltering at home, confined to lockdown, whatever you wish to call it has allowed me, as with many others, to reconsider and re-evaluate my ‘new’ life.
Until now, I have not been able to fully articulate my reasons for the move, my feelings about it, nor what I have experienced over the last 9 months.
But sitting quietly, very quietly, I can reflect about what I love and value of being here.
I ‘bravely’ gave up my most recent 18-year career and big city life to relocated to Prince Albert, a small rural town in the Great Karoo. South Africa. Here I hope to live a simple, considered, authentic life on my own terms, unencumbered by some personal past difficulties and the rigors of “normality”, a place where I can contribute and perhaps connect to a community and myself. Where I have time and space.
Time to be free, to think, create, learn and write.
Space to adventure.
To walk in the veld, unhindered by time or crime that allows me to feel and be present. Touching and smelling plants, stepping over uneven hard terrain, exploring dry riverbeds, crunching dry mud flakes barefoot on empty dams, climbing steep rocky and yet unexplored gorges, while at all times being aware of the solitude, beauty and subtle opulence that surrounds me.
Cycling, uninhibited by traffic and tarred roads, travelling kilometres on hard-packed dirt roads, jeep racks and animal paths seeking out windmills and reservoirs, scattered through arid sheep country, sometimes hindered, and challenged by corrugations, headwinds, and horse flies! But, with warm wind on my face, fresh unpolluted air carrying a myriad of new fragrances, encouraging me to breathe deeply and slowly – nature’s own meditation.
Adventuring in my very competent 4×4 Jimny, carefully learning the limits of ‘her’ capability, and overcoming my ‘what if’s’. I feel like I can go ‘where no (wo)man has gone before’ I feel tough and fearless, and what’s on the other side is always exciting and constantly fulfills my curiosity!
Endless vistas of undeveloped dry land, dolerite sills, the magnificent Swartberg Mountains and rocky, ancient post-glacial outcrops scattered across the mostly flat landscape – littered with hundreds of species of xerophytic plants and animals that have adapted to this harsh, but beautiful landscape. Strewn with a collection of stones, fossils, rocks and meteorites, a petrologists dream! Hidden caves with rock paintings, ceramic fragments and flint tools of the amazing Bushmen who shared this place.
Finding water in this place has become such a joy for me. Whether it is from an isolated, noisy, rusty windmill pumping up a few drops at a time and slowly filling a reservoir generated from a gentle breeze, to paddling barefoot in the perennial rivers that run through the Swartberg range. Water is life. To quote from a late friend – ‘Water has no enemy’
On the hottest day in the remotest driest of places, where there is water there are a myriad of living creatures, from minuscule unidentifiable creepies, worms, ants, spiders and scorpions, tortoises, birds, snakes, sheep, buck, all manner of flying insects who all survive and thrive in these miniature biomes…. it’s fascinating!
Sounds of utter and complete silence or the gentle rustle of a cooling summer breeze through thin acacia leaves. The deafening frightening tropical thunderstorms, with the frantic rushing sound of flooding rivers after a deluge, the distant call of an evening owl and of a daytime turtle dove – have all become my music – far from the madding crowd.
Visions of magnificent (and ordinary), transitory sunrises and sunsets. Night skies overflowing with stars falling onto distant horizons, all humble me and fill me with gratitude.
Kind, friendly people from every walk of life, hardworking resilient characters, and creatives, with whom I feel I can relate. People who acknowledge and greet on every occasion with a wave or a smile – there is no indifference here.
All of this is my new life. I am living :)
Chapter Six 
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