27 January 2021

27 January 2021

Published every Wednesday by CXpress 2006 (Pty) Ltd - PO Box 1449, Plettenberg Bay 6600 - 6 Park Lane, Plettenberg Bay - Tel: 044 533 1004 - Fax: 044 533 0852 Email: editor@cxpress.co.za / advertising@cxpress.co.za Web page: www.cxpress.co.za Printed by Group Editors

Will gives it wings

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Malawian national William Mwale has been painting in Plett for the past few years, his unique talents having taken flight since school mates in Lilongwe made him draw cartoon characters - turn to page 2 to find out more.

Photo: Sarah Vockins Photography

Voëlklip claims more victims - p3

What the fibre?! - p4 & 5

Bob and Joy can now braai - p7

10 000 FREE COPIES OF CXPRESS DISTRIBUTED ALONG THE GARDEN ROUTE EVERY WEDNESDAY

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CXPRESS

NEWS & VIEWS

27 January 2021

Not scared to live his passion or name his price - William’s art finds a new place to hang ALISTAIR FLOOD chatted to prolific Plett-based artist William Mwale ORN in 1985, William Mwale originally hails from Malawi where his talent in art, among so many others, was first noticed in school by both his teachers, who would have him drawing on the board and his fellow students, who would get him to draw cartoon characters.

At this stage, he was developing his technique by watching online art videos and it was not until he noticed art for sale in local shops in Lilongwe that he realised his passion for art could be developed into a paying career.

William was fortunate that his talent was recognised by the established artist Nyangu Chodola, who worked producing drawings and pictures for their local tourist market.

He channelled William’s talent into a commercial product, creating wildlife pictures that could be sold.

While William was successful and made a living with wildlife art, he knew that he would prefer doing portraits.

His career took a turn when in 2012 he was appointed for a fixed term of two years to the Visual Arts Commission of Malawi to fill a role of developing art in the country. By 2015, he hosted his first solo exhibition at La Galleria in Lilongwe, where the 25 pictures on sale sold out on opening night.

• 2014-2017: William exhibited at the Wildlife and Environmental Society of Malawi’s arts festival.

• 2018: He won the La Galleria award for the best portrait artist in Malawi. Since then, several of his original works have been acquired for private collections in South Africa as well as Europe.

William moved to South Africa in 2108, initially to Cape Town via Mpumalanga and then, like so many of us, he relocated to Plettenberg Bay. On moving to Plett in 2109, he started by selling his works to a dealer in Knysna where they were specifically aimed at the tourist market. However over the years, William’s real interest had moved from tourist work to portraits, and he

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saw his move to Plett as an opportunity to develop this side of his oeuvre.

He works mainly in acrylics and currently on abstract portraits, although still recognisable as the original subject. He of course still paints animals and recently completed a com-

mission for Plett locals Diana and Kirsten.

This is what they had to say: “William is a master at what he does. We lost two of our beloved dogs within a week of each other last October and we had been wanting to remember them in a special way.

ART WORTH REWARDING: After having won the La Galleria award for best portrait artist in Malawi three years ago, several of William’s original works have been bought for private collections on the continent and abroad but the artist, above, remains an amiable local who loves working his magic in Plett, be it in the form of murals or realistic portraiture now hanging at The Market Square Photos: Sarah Vockins Photography

“We saw some work William had done and immediately knew this was how we wanted to commemorate two extraordinary souls. We cannot begin to explain just how perfectly he captured their personalities and features. It literally brought tears to our eyes.”

A selection of his work can also be seen at Lookout Beach, but like all beach-based activates and at a majority of Garden Route businesses, sales have taken a great tumble with the enforced beach closures, curfew restrictions, and the booze ban on restaurants.

So William was delighted to be offered wall space at Love of Linen in The Market Square by owner Inge van Renen.

Inge told CXPRESS that while everyone was suffering, she was delighted to be able to help out and hoped that, if successful, this initiative could be developed further.

She is excited about the fact that William will be in the shop in person on Friday February 29 from 10am onwards, working on a painting and chatting with customers.

Like all artists, his work varies in price and is dependent on such things as size and detail but a reasonably-sized piece currently sells in the region of R4,000 to R6,000.

Unlike many artists, William is not hesitant about naming his price, and believes a tradesman is worthy of his hire.

He can be contacted via Love of Linen or on the William Mwale Art Facebook page, where he is available for commission work.

NEWS & VIEWS

27 January 2021

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CXPRESS

Road of death to Herold’s Bay claims at least two more victims T first light on Friday January 22, the search for a missing girl resumed with the deployment of police divers and George emergency personnel on

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land and sea in the vicinity of Voëlklip, as well as the Herold’s Bay beach area.

The search and rescue operation commenced on Thursday January 21 at

about noon after authorities were alerted of a vehicle that went over a cliff at Voëlklip the scene of several fatalities over the past couple of year.

“Preliminary investigation

Arrest of illegal liquor merchants sends clear zero-tolerance message NDEAVOURS to safeguard communities and the enforcement of Level 3 lockdown regulations led to a clampdown on liquor outlets during crime prevention operations in the Southern Cape over the weekend, after information on the illegal sale of liquor was received.

On Friday January 22, members attached to the Eden Cluster Crime Combatting Team conducted an operation in the CBD of Knysna. The police received

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a tipoff about a Toyota Hilux bakkie with a business sticker on the door, which transports liquor after orders had been placed for delivery on social media.

The bakkie in question was later spotted in Hedge Street, where it was stopped by police. A search of the vehicle resulted in the discovery of a few bottles of liquor and the driver was arrested for contravention of Disaster Management Act (DMA) regulations.

This operation proceeded ALCOHOLIC BOOTY BUST: Some of the liquor confiscated from an illegal vendor in Knysna, who allegedly delivered alcohol to local clients

to his residence as well as a storage facility in Knysna Industria, where more liquor was discovered.

Alcohol with an estimated value of R17,000 was confiscated during the course of the operation, and the 48-year-old suspect is facing charges of transportation of liquor and selling liquor without a licence.

Meanwhile, on Saturday evening, members of the George and Conville police conducted a sting operation at the Lavalia section of Knysna Road in George after information was received.

The members confiscated 10 bottles of whiskey and vodka, and arrested two suspects on charges of selling liquor without a licence.

These suspects, aged 22 and 24, are also facing charges relating to DMA regulations for the transportation of liquor. They will appear in court once charged.

Fit and fast team of local responders nab wannabe robbers on Plett’s Millionaires Row Local crime fighters stopped a suspected burglar in his tracks and recovered stolen goods after two homes in Plett’s Beachyhead Drive were burgled last week - YOLANDÉ STANDER reports ISA Nagel from local neighbourhood watch group PlettWatch said around 6:40pm on Tuesday, they received an alert on their WhatsApp group about a burglary that had taken place at a home in the Beachyhead area, often referred to as the town’s own Millionaires Row. She said their response team, along with members from Fidelity ADT, reacted immediately. “While we were responding, we were made aware of another

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property, two doors down from the first, which had also been burgled.”

Nagel added that the responders managed to track down and apprehend a suspect less than an hour after the initial report had been received. Along with the arrest, the team also recovered some of the property that had been taken during the incidents.

“The rest of the stolen goods were retrieved after the remaining two suspects dumped the goods and fled

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ing this incident are under investigation and an inquest docket was opened by the George police for further investigation,” said Pojie, who confirmed on Monday that the search for the missing toddler was ongoing.

No news on the eightyear-old’s condition was available by going to print.

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the water far below.”

Police divers were joined by members of the NSRI, Metro Emergency Services, ER24, SAPS and K9 units, and an AMS rescue helicopter were dispatched to the scene. The body of the mother was later retrieved from the ocean.

“Circumstances surround-

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The stolen items were returned to their owners and a case was opened with local police.

“Exceptional teamwork, good communication, and physically fit responders made this happen,” Nagel concluded.

Garden Route Media • Read ‘Don’t let opportunistic criminals mar your holiday’ on the Editor’s Desk at www.cxpress.co.za for an overview of seasonal crime in Plettenberg Bay.

reveals that the driver of a white Fiat, with two occupants, drove over the cliff,” said SAPS spokesman captain Malcolm Pojie. “While an eight-year-old boy managed to disembark from the vehicle, the 34-year-old driver and mother of both occupants, as well as the twoyear-old girl disappeared in

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CXPRESS

NEWS & VIEWS

27 January 2021

Why are our driveways being chopped up? Light shed on broadband in Plett…

2017 to connected areas.

Smartlight is actively taking pre-bookings in newly-completed areas and installs will be rolled out hopefully in late February/early March, in the order received (register at www.smartlight.co.za).

Alistair Flood

URPRISING as it may seem to many, Plettenberg Bay already boasts fibre broadband - in fact, it has the latest type, Fibre To The Premises (FTTP) and it has been rolling out since way back in 2017.

It was brought to estates such as Whale Rock Ridge and Gardens, River Club, Whale Rock Beach and Robberg Beach End by local company Samarlink, based in The Crags.

They were responsible for installing the fibre cables in these areas and connecting them back to a secret location in Plett for connection to the internet.

End-user services are offered in these locations by locally-owned Internet Service Provider (ISP) Smartlight Solutions.

The technology industry is fast-moving by nature, with many mergers and acquisitions, and late last year saw the getting together of Samarlink with Octotel of Cape Town, who then took responsibility for the installation and maintenance of the physical fibre cables.

Since late November, we have seen holes being dug in many parts of Plett but mainly around Longships and more recently in the areas east of Marine Way. New manhole covers and grey boxes mounted at the boundaries of properties mark the route of the fibre installation - or rather, at this stage, the installation of the conduit designed to take the cables.

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MAPPING THE FUTURE: The map shows plans for the Plett fibre rollout, with ‘existing’ areas in red, ‘in progress’ bits in blue, and ‘planned’ locations in grey (www.octotel.co.za)

Once the conduit’s integrity has been tested, the fibre is blown into place.

While the appearance of a small grey box on the boundary of your property means that you will be offered fibre broadband, the lack of a box does NOT mean that you won’t, as each box can serve more than one property.

Octotel has invested in the tie-up with Samarlink, and are continuing to lay cables all over Plett.

But even a company from the Cape, with around 100,000 premises connect-

ed to its network, needs to earn a return on investment so will be driving towards end-user connections to get money rolling in as soon as possible.

Forget the rest of this, all you are interested in is when you are going to get fast fibre broadband.

Well this is Africa and that’s not an easy question to answer!

Local entrepreneur Ian Crawford Brunt is the man behind the only local ISP; Smartlight Solutions has been offering fibre in Plett since those early days of

ISPs and providers of goods and services in general When the actual rollout is about to begin in hopefully a few short weeks, you’ll be approached by your current internet provider with an offer to upgrade to fibre. In all likelihood, this provider will be a faceless possibly multinational corporation who will take your money, make a profit and distribute those profits to shareholders around the world.

They may offer some special incentive to get you to upgrade and they can do this by subsidising from one part of the country or even another part of the world to get you signed up.

It’s in your best long-term interests to spend your hard-earned cash in your own community - spending it with a local person, one with routes in Plett, perhaps with children at the same schools, one that will make sure you are offered the best possible customer service.

Chances are that, like you, this person cares about the future of Plett and like you will still be here offering great service once those special offers are but a distant memory.

We should apply this to all buying decisions: use it or lose it.

Fibre broadband: does it work and do we need it?

HE term broadband has become interchangeable with what we expect fast internet access to be. But what is it really, and what speeds do we need?

Historically, telephone lines came into our homes made of copper. They were designed for and intended to deliver voice calls. As the internet developed and our demand for data became ever greater, novel technologies had to be devised.

From its early development in 1988 as a means of exchanging messages between universities (email), the internet quickly progressed mainly down to

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the invention of what has become known as the World Wide Web (WWW), invented in 1989 by British scientist Tim Berners-Lee. It was designed to merge the evolving technologies of computers, data networks and hypertext into an easy to use global information system.

Data was to be stored on servers and viewed in browsers. As soon as 1990, the first web server was up and running; the first-ever web page can still be viewed at http:// info.cren.ch/hypertext/ WWW/The Project.html.

--In our virus-ridden world of 2021, a little over 30

years since the birth of the internet, there are an estimated 6-billion indexed web pages and an estimated 1.7-billion websites, with an average of 575,000 new pages being added daily.

If that’s not mindboggling enough, there are an estimated 35-billion Internet of things (IoT) devices connected to the ‘net. IoT is used to describe such things as light fittings, fridges, washing machines, cars, pacemakers (the list goes on and on) connected to and controlled by our smartphones and other internet connected devices.

It is clear that in a few years’ time, there will be

very little left in our lives that is not connected to the internet, and they will all require rapid access.

The three main types of broadband connections • ADSL (asymmetric digital subscriber line) uses copper cables to a street cabinet, then on to a junction box on the house.

This is the main type of connection being offered and can achieve speeds in optimal conditions of up to 66Mbps.

• FTTC (fibre to the cabinet) uses fibre optic cable to the cabinet then relies on the existing copper wires to get the final distance into the house.

To page 5

NEWS & VIEWS

27 January 2021

CXPRESS

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Your participation essential to dispel fake news and Covid-19 rumours HE Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) - together with research partners Epicentre, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), the National Health Laboratory Service (NHLS), and the SA Medical Research Council (SAMRC) - is currently continuing with the implementation of Wave 1 of the National Covid-19 Antibody Survey (NCAS).

The participation of South Africans in this survey is crucial to being able to understand and generate a national estimate of what proportion of citizens may have been infected with the SARS-CoV-2 (or Covid-19) virus, including those who may have been infected without knowing, either due to being asymptomatic, having mild symptoms,

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or not being able to access testing facilities.

South Africans are therefore requested to participate in this study – a plea repeated by the HSRC in a press release last week, which claimed that there had been misperceptions and false information about the survey.

“One of these is that this is an attempt to vaccinate respondents, and cause harm to them.”

The research team wishes to unequivocally state that the survey is only aimed at understanding the extent of C-19 infections in SA. “There is no attempt to vaccinate respondents. Participation in the survey is also entirely voluntary after information about the survey is presented to those who are eligible to participate.

“Most importantly, a vac-

cine against C-19 is not yet available in South Africa.

When supplies of the vaccine arrive in the country, it will be rolled out according to the national vaccination strategy which will be managed by the national and provincial health departments.

“Supplies will also be controlled and safeguarded in line with pre-determined protocols,” according to the statement.

“The HSRC-led research consortium reiterates that the participation of South Africans is crucial to the success of the survey and accuracy of the results which will be used to assist the government in any further planning and refinement of the national response to the Covid-19 epidemic in the country,” it concluded.

Research methodology

OBITUARY

• 19,000 interviews with people over 12 years of age in each of the nine provinces.

• Trained field teams will visit selected households and conduct interviews aimed at assessing the history of infection, exposure to contacts, co-morbidities, and practices such as handwashing and social distancing. The interviews will not be longer than 20 minutes.

• A qualified nurse (phle-

botomist) will request a small blood sample from each respondent that will be tested for C-19 antibodies.

• 10% of the participants who live in Cape Town, Durban, Johannesburg, and Pretoria will be asked to provide an additional blood sample to be tested to ascertain how the body responds to the C-19 virus.

• The results will be linked to the information pro-

vided in the questionnaires to understand how C-19 is spread in communities.

The blood samples and data from the questionnaires will subsequently be analysed following which the results will be publicly released to the nation.

Contact Manusha Pillai on 082 389 3587 or at mpillai@ hsrc.ac.za to find out when survey teams are likely to be in your neighbourhood.

We are pleased to announce that The Second Watercourse History Festival in Plettenberg Bay will take place on Thursday 25th and Friday 26th February, 2021 Developed on the theme “War and Peace”, we have lined up a fine set of academics and popular historians, as well as experienced peace-workers, to share something of their insights in the field of human conflict in Southern Africa and elsewhere on the African Continent.

Thursday 25th February

A sense of elegance and care always trailed in gentle Fiona’s wake

Piesang Valley Community Hall (entrance per session R150)

A Plett resident for over 20 years, Fiona Woods passed away suddenly on January 4 - this tribute was submitted by RYAN CURRIE

09h00: Professor Ruben Richards will talk about early Khoikhoi resistance to colonisation by the Dutch East India Company.

IONA (née Lowenthal) was born in Kimberly in 1934 and studied medicine at UCT. She graduated as a general practitioner while in her mid-20s.

She married Guy Currie in 1958 and they had three sons. The family lived in Cape Town for many years; Guy died in 1983.

Fiona wed Doug Woods from Johannesburg in 1987, and their union culminated in a large and ever-growing, happy Woods/ Currie family. Fiona and Doug relocated to Knysna.

After Doug’s passing away, Fiona continued to live in Knysna for 10 years and then moved to Plettenberg Bay. She made a home in Glen Eden Village, locat-

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FIONA WOODS: 14.09.1934 - 4.01.2021

ed in Muller Street, where she was extremely happy for many years.

Fiona was the volunteer GP for Knysna Hospice for six years while she lived

in Knysna; since settling in Plett, she was keenly involved in the Plettenberg Bay community, serving Plett Rotary and the Rotary Anns. She was also a member of Plett Bowling Club.

Fiona was well known for her elegance and grace, leaving a fragrance of happiness, gentleness, and care wherever she went.

A small funeral was held, following current strict Covid-19 protocols, for family and friends at St Thomas Methodist Church on Friday January 15.

Fiona will be sorely missed by her loving family and the residents of Plettenberg Bay, all of whom were honoured to know her.

Fibre broadband: does it work and do we need it?

From page 4 It has the advantage of being cheaper to install and makes less mess, although ultimately speeds will suffer.

FTTC is capable of achieving stable speeds in the region of 80Mbps.

• FTTP (fibre to the premises) is the current gold standard of fixed connections. Even when technology improves, it should be possible to replace the hardware in the house and in the cabinet for whatever comes next. Currently local services should be able to offer around 100Mbps with the potential of full gigabit in the near future.

How much data do I need?

Internet bills for fixed lines and to a degree for mobiles are normally calculated using both connection speed and the quantity of data used.

Data speeds - or ‘band-

width’ - is one of the considerations when selecting a package. Think of bandwidth as a water hose: if we have a 1,000-litre tank to fill and our garden hose delivers 10 litres per minute, it will take 100 minutes to fill the tank.

However, if we had access to a fire hose that could deliver 500 litres a minute, then our tank would be full in just two minutes.

--As I write I’m on a 40Mbps contract and a speed test shows me to be actually getting download speed of 45Mbps and an upload of 23Mbps. But how fast do we really need?

Netflix, which is the gold standard for movies, advises a minimum data download speed of 3Mbps for standard definition viewing and 5Mbps for high definition.

So a dysfunctional family

of four with a data package of 20Mbps would all be able to watch a separate movie, download email, and surf the net at the same time.

Bandwidths quoted are often a little bit ambitious and are subject to wild fluctuations depending on time of day and how many people in each area are trying to use the same resources.

So perhaps a family of four may want to consider a 40Mbps package, just to ensure they never need to meet… except over Zoom, that is!

Most data consumed today is done via streaming, e.g. a full movie does not need to be downloaded before you can start watching it; all you need with a stable internet is the next few seconds. When the internet isn’t working well, we get the dreaded ‘buffering’ message.

10h30: Former editor of Getaway magazine, David Bristow, will talk about “War or Peace: From Free Burghers to Trekboers”.

11h30: TEA 12h00: David Hilton-Barber will talk about the 1820 Settlers and conflict in the Eastern Cape.

13h00: LUNCH 14h00: “Finding Each Other Again”: a workshop hosted by Fatima Swartz of the Institute for the Healing of Memories.

15h30: TEA 16h00: Convenor of the Watercourse History Festival and long-standing anti-nuclear activist Mike Kantey will talk about the history of the South African Nuclear Bomb Programme.

Friday 26th February Piesang Valley Community Hall (entrance per session R150) 09h00: Kevin Vos will speak on the topic “Salute the Eagle: My National Service as a Paratrooper during Operation Savannah in Angola, 1975-76”.

10h00: TEA 10h30: Knysna military historian and former Councillor Ian Uys will talk about some citations and honours among SADF combatants in Angola.

11h30: TEA 12h30: Dr Anthony Turton will speak on the topic, Understanding the Battle of Cuito Cuanavale in its Strategic Context”.

13h00: LUNCH 14h00: “False Promises, Wasted Opportunities – Reflections on South Africa’s Truth & Reconciliation Commission (the TRC)” – former participants Piers Pigou and Zenzile Khoisan in dialogue.

15h30: TEA 16h00: Well-known Anthropology Professor and author Mike de Jongh will discuss ”The Human, the Humane, and even the Humorous – Untold stories from the Anglo-Boer War in the Karoo” – and reflect on what drives humans to war and how we might find each other again in peacetime.

Excerpt from Thomas Baines’ “Attack on Maqoma’s Stronghold at Fuller’s Hoek in October 1851” (William Fehr Collection)

CXPRESS

INTERVAL

27 January 2021

THE THIRD WISH

disappeared forever, “that was your first wish, too!”

Joe was at home one night when a genie popped up out of the blue.

“And what will your third wish be?”

Joe looked at the genie and said: “Huh? How can I be getting a third wish when I haven’t had a first or second wish yet?”

“You have had two wishes already,” the genie said, “but your second wish was for me to put everything back the way it was before you made your first wish. Thus, you remember nothing, because everything is the way it was before you made any wishes. You now have one wish left.”

“Okay,” said Joe, “I don’t believe this, but what the heck. I’ve always wanted to understand women. I’d love to know what’s going on inside their heads.”

“Funny,” said the genie as it granted Joe’s wish and

THE REAL MEANING OF HOTEL SLOGANS

position was surprised to hear the HR manager say he was looking for someone “to do the work of

six men”.

The lady replied: “That’s a shame. I was looking for a full-time job.”

• Old world charm - No bathroom.

• Options galore - Nothing included in the itinerary.

• No extra fees charged No extras.

• Nominal fee - Outrageous charge.

• Standard room - Substandard.

• Deluxe - Standard.

• Superior - One free shower cap.

• Cozy - Small.

• All the amenities - Two free shower caps.

• Plush - Top and bottom bed sheets.

THE WORK OF SIX MEN During an interview, the young lady vying for the

Die juffrou gee ‘n opdrag aan haar graad 3 klas: “Maak ‘n sin met die woord ‘enjin’.”

Sannie skryf: “My ma hou van wyn enjin.”

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— narcotic

C ON T E S T O U Y I L I D I O T O S N L U T A R GU E R N R O C T A V O P E N L OR C A F E E F L T A L L Y HO I E S U C OA S T E R

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DH O W I N R E I V S E R O

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ON THE SOAPBOX

27 January 2021

Letters to the Editor

Email: editor@cxpress.co.za - Fax: 044 533 0852 - PO Box 1449, Plett 6600

Thanks from KAWS I am the secretary of Knysna Animal Welfare (KAWS) and have learnt that CXPRESS very kindly offered to place six photos per week of either dogs or cats looking to be adopted.

We cannot thank you enough for your assistance, as it is extremely difficult homing adult animals and in particular cats.

Thank you so much for doing this. I am told that people come into the shelter carrying your publication saying, “we have seen this dog in CXPRESS and would like to adopt”.

Here’s hoping we have some success with our adult cats. We have an overwhelming amount of

beautiful kittens also waiting for their forever homes.

Debbie Davies, Knysna (See the back page for animals now ready for adoption at both KAWS’s shelter and its Plett counterpart, PAWS. - Eds.)

PICK ME! Pixie, a two-yearold girl, is one of the many cats up for adoption at Knysna Animal Welfare

CXPRESS

Read CXPRESS online @ www.cxpress.co.za

Stalag 17* I must go down to the beach again To the lonely beach and sky With a wire fence to prevent me And an idle guard standing by The only footsteps in the sand A fisherman casting a line I’d love to plunge in the rolling waves But I can’t afford the fine When will the madness Come to an end And the joy of life begin With Plett becoming a dream once more Before we all go round the bend (With apologies to John Masefield…)

Paul Deans, Plett

* In Germany, stalag was a term used for prisoner-of-war camps.

The term is a contraction of ‘Stammlager’, itself short for Kriegsgefangenen-Mannschaftsstammlager - a literal translation of which is ‘war-prisoner’ (i.e. POW) ‘enlisted’, and ‘main camp’.

Therefore, technically ‘stalag’ simply means ‘main camp’.

Stalag 17 is also a 1953 comedy-drama war film which tells the story of a group of American airmen held in a German World War II prisoner of war camp, who come to suspect that one of their number is an informant.

Letter from Panama: Last box ticked, now we braai and watch birds Former CXPRESS correspondent BOB HOPKIN and his wife Joyce emigrated from Wilderness to Panama last year to make a new home in the town of Boquete… and then Covid-19 struck the planet, presenting them with a wholly-unexpected range of obstacles (find out more on page 2 of the April 8 edition at www.cxpress.co.za); 10 months down the line, however, most of these obstacles have been happily conquered

VIEW FROM THE STOEP: A panoramic shot of the Sierra Talamanca range dominated by Panama’s highest mountain

Bearing in mind the general depression that seems to permeate South African society, I wondered if it would be insensitive to write a letter that might smack of a “we’re all right over here” kind of attitude.

But in the hope that better times are on the horizon for our former countrymen, I decided to pen this update of our Panama experience.

One of the last tickthe-box items required to complete our installation here was to obtain local driving licences, as overseas ones are only accepted up to three months after date of arrival.

The most laborious way to go about it - and the method mainly used

by American expats over here who (surprisingly) are not treated very well by their embassy - is attending a local driving school, taking a driving test, and then completing a written exam where the questions are in Spanish!

Our attorneys (bless

their hearts) found an alternative whereby, if our SA licences were endorsed by the local South African High Commission, then they would be considered as proof of competence to drive.

Amazingly, the SAHC did just that without us having to travel the 400km to Panama City.

However, in addition to that as over 70s, we were required to have health and mental stability examinations conducted by an accredited doctor.

This involved getting our blood type checked, enduring hearing and vision tests, and then paying for our new Panamanian licences to be issued. This we completed on a December Friday, which happened to be my birthday!

On a sterner note: I was horrified to read on News24 about the SA government missing its payment deadline for the Covid vaccine order, albeit for just 10% of the population… and then

private enterprise having to pick up the tab!

Your ruling party never ceases to amaze me with their incompetence and greed. Thanks to a reasonably competent government here, they have already committed and paid for 4-million doses of vaccine, which is enough for the entire population.

Having moved into our new house mid-2020, we are pretty well settled now and making a few changes

PARADISE OF BIRDS: A lineated woodpecker snapped by Bob recently

to suit ourselves, such as extending the outside terrace and eventually building a small gazebo in the garden for relaxing within nature and cooking (viz: braaiing) informal meals.

Our house is within a sparsely-populated secure gated community overlooking the central mountain range of the country called the Sierra Talamanca, dominated by Panama’s highest mountain, Volcán Baru at 3,475 metres above sea level, which is an extinct volcano.

On our side of the range, the rivers flow south into the Pacific and on the other side, north into the Caribbean. We have the most incredible birdlife here, more than I’ve ever seen, and apparently it is because Panama is a natural land bridge between the Americas and consequently on the main north/south migration routes.

Here’s wishing CXPRESS readers the very best for 2021.

Bob & Joyce, Panama

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27 January 2021

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