Retirement For Sale

Kyk Noord.

In a newsletter in December Mieke called me a patriarch. Imagine this bearded old Omie with a walking stick in his hand, pointing to the future, or the past. Lording over his little world. Ai.

So, what happened? Most of you know. I was diagnosed with Myeloma, had an op on my neck to fix some disintegrating vertebrae before the treatment could start. The neck operation was a success, but my kidneys packed up. For a month I was on my back in ICU.

We talk to our children, to friends, to professionals, start looking for a vrekplek. Looking for little things to help guide us.

There is something to be said for going on, to kyk Noord and just fok voort.

In ICU I would lie in bed and talk farming with Anro on the phone. Six o’clock in the morning. I would talk to Sue and to Lereen regularly. Elodie came up with an idea that will push us into the next century. Marelise, who had her own challenges, devised a plan for the harvest.

In days of trauma, you overreact. I remember my mother giving away half her inheritance after my father’s death. Widows dish out the money of a little pension fund that their late husbands contributed to.

Just being out of the hospital was wonderful. But the treatment goes on. Four days a week I still need to go to Hermanus where doctors stare at you, and sadistic old tannies poke holes in your body to take things out or put things back. Twenty-two pills on empty stomach or after meals or whenever. Injections after this and before that. And Panado for the pain. Without my wife it would have been a disaster.

The irony is that the bedside farming turned out okay. Very okay. Thanks to everyone involved. The grapes look good and the olives more than promising.

So how traumatic was it? Which part of my inheritance did I give away?

Two years ago, we bought a newish blue tractor. It still had its original number plates and it worked. But eventually spent more time in the workshop than working. I will not take sole responsibility for making the call. Check out Anro and the six o’clock bedside farming. Remember, I had trauma.

So, we sold the blue one and bought the orange one. Brand new. A lot of money. It has been on the farm a while now. Three days ago, I forgot about my appointments in Hermanus. I went to say hallo to the tractor. The Kyk Noord tractor. This morning it dawned on me, I did the same thing fifteen years ago, I bought a farm while still in ICU. Unseen.  Koop die fokken ding I told the brother. So, it seems it’s more in the genes than I would want to admit.
 
That was the beginning of Anysbos.

Now my wife reminds me that her car is a bit old and her birthday is coming up. Ai.