Counting Down!

One week to go before we move into our place in Chartwell and start living our lives!

The flat we’ve been renting from our friends for the last month and a half is fine; walking distance to Sandton Mall, spacious enough and pleasant.

But it has come with a couple of challenges. The complex sits huddled between hotels and other tall buildings. Apparently it should have been bought up by developers, but a couple of the residents refused, and so nobody is doing renovations or updating because the units will inevitably be sold, probably in the reasonably near future. Our ceiling is peeling and the scorching heat seems to have forced all the ants in existence from their nests. But the big issue is the noise from the hotel next door. At weekend, the thud of music seems to bounce directly in our direction from early morning to late at night. We think it’s a ploy to get the stalwarts to sign over and sell!!

So despite it having been a very welcome haven after our unsuccessful attempts to rent a property short-term, and, other than the noise, a comfortable place to rest our heads, we’ll be glad to move ‘home’.

Poor Kurt has had all the pressure and aggro of sorting out movers and internet and alarms, while I’ve just spent my time planning the garden and investigating bee-keeping! We will inherit a flock of chickens and possibly some bees, so I need a vague idea of how to start!

It’s an age since I did any gardening, and we didn’t really touch the land last time we were here. But now we’re going to be working from home, hopefully we’ll have time to spend making the place as beautiful as it deserves. I’m starting to list the food plants I want to cultivate and to consider what should go where in terms of colour. I love bulbs: tulips, daffodils, snowdrops, bluebells, so it’ll be interesting to see which ones will grow here. And roses. At the moment we have white ones at the front of the house, and a couple of climbing pink ones and a couple of rambling yellow ones round the back. They’ve been a bit neglected, so we’ll see what a bit of tlc can do. We’re moving and starting all this during Summer, so there is time to see and nurture what is already there, and to plan and gen up on possibilities for the next season. There will be trees to fell and trees to plant, which I’m guessing is a winter job. Apple and plum trees are a must, to go with the citruses, apricots, mulberries and passionfruits we already have, and I’d like some nuts; walnut and maybe pecans.

And we have some grander plans! Let’s call them dreams for now. One is to convert the swimming pool near the patio and use it to house the koi our tenant said they would leave for us. There are seven of them, currently residing in the pond further down the garden, but it’s a bit small and shallow, so they are in danger from birds, whereas the deep end of the pool might give them a degree of protection. I’d like to keep the old pond, and maybe enlarge it; it’s a beautiful, peaceful area of the garden with established plants, and when we were last there, a couple of ducks chose to stay for a while. It would be lovely if we could attract more wildlife to it, and have a wilder, less manicured area to enjoy.

But we also want a lap pool, for our fitness. In all likelihood, at some point, we’ll hire a digger for a day. We need a trench in front of the property to drain water away before it reaches us, and there’s work to do on the river at the back, so that would probably be a good time to do the  pool and pond digging! All that’s now needed is the money to do it!

Ironically, at the time when money was no object, it all had to be spent on repairs to the house. When we first moved in, we found that just about everything needed fixing. The thatched roof leaked and the house flooded under the doors when it rained. I got electric shocks every time I used the shower – I ended up having to wear flip-flops to avoid them! And there were problems with the borehole and problems with the electric fence. So it was highly frustrating but the bullet had to be bitten.

This time, most of these problems have been fixed, so we have the potential to do the improvements we want to the house and garden, but we’re on a much more limited income, so patience and prioritizing will be required.

First stop is likely to be vegetables and the herb garden. Our tenant is leaving some of what he is growing in the vegetable patch, and I reckon we could get salad stuff and maybe potatoes before things start to cool down. The herb garden was looking a bit bedraggled last time we went to the property so it’ll need a bit of a tidy, but the lavender and rosemary looked to be thriving, which was good to see.

As I write, the memories of the guinea fowl and peacocks and the weaver birds and lapwings come to mind. And the hares which used to live behind the pond. All the pics are from when we were last here. It will be interesting to see what is still there. Eight days to go!