Sunday Morning

Sunday morning, 07:00am. A wailing and gnashing of teeth from the gentlemen in the flat next door. So loud, in fact, that I assumed they were talking to someone in Nigeria without using a phone. And the person in Nigeria was probably saying, "not so loud!" Eventually I had to go to their door to ask them to shut up.

It transpires that they had just been robbed. One of the gentlemen, the loud one (louder one, that is, even under normal circumstances - he speaks like someone with a naturally loud voice who is also deaf and doesn't believe it) had been "overseas" and had just arrived back that morning. As they got to the building, they were followed into the garage and robbed of R18000,00.

Had they called the police, I asked? The woman with them looked at me with the utmost pity and explained that all the police would do, would be to promise to keep their eyes open. (I guess they've had previous experience.) She went on to explain that it is a syndicate at work. They hang around the airport and then follow people home, where they rob them. I sympathised and asked if he could keep his voice down anyway. "He has something to shout about," she said. " He is really battling and they took all his money."

A question pops up in my naive mind: How does someone go overseas for a short period and come back with R18,000.00 in his pocket? And why in his pocket instead of a bank transfer? And how does this "syndicate" know who to follow?

I guess if he's a foreigner, he may not have a bank account.

2:30pm, Sunday afternoon. My young (13-year old) daughter suddenly gets up and marches to the front door, the line of her lips grim. "Daddy, please forgive me," she says quietly, "but now I am going to F--- them up!" And she marches straight out of the door to do just that.

Dilemma. Join her or stop her? I catch her at their front door and persuade her "not today - they are still traumatised. Tomorrow I'll help you if they don't shut up. Just give them today."

I really must find a hobby that gets us out more. Preferably one that pays R18,000.00 a week .......