A Delightfully Chilli Start To My Day.

...Shooting the breeze...

As you know, most mornings I do my walk in and amid the vineyards. Not only because I want to be fit, but also because I can walk on my own night & day, without any danger associated with it. Slightly different from South Africa!

After only about a hundred meters I happened to see my neighbour tending to his vegetable garden. He was hard to miss as he still had on his work clothes with the unmistakable bright orange of his safety overalls. I stopped and we had a chat about this and that while he planted some new crops.

He must have just planted his chilli peppers, when he asked me:

" Biggi, do you and Bob like chilli? "

" Yes, actually we do. "

and that was all it took for him to pass a chilli seedling over the fence to me. That is what I love about living here. The unexpected bits of kindness.

It might just be a little seedling for some, but to me it means a lot. Acceptance, kindness and being a part of the village. But, where to put it while I was on my way to walk?

" Herbert, if you don't mind, I'll just put it on the side of the road and I'll take it home on my way back. "

" Just hide it a bit, in case someone might take it. "

Well, that won't happen here, but I could see he was a bit uneasy. Anyway, I set off and communed with the various highlights of nature in our area, and as luck would have it, he was still in his garden when I returned about an hour later.

" Biggi, I've put some onion seeds there too, under the tree. "

Gosh, I was floored and thanked him profusely. Getting to the spot where I'd put the chilli plant, in order to pick it up, I saw that he'd pushed it a bit more behind the fir tree's branches out of sight...

Village life, delightful, charming, heartwarming, relaxing and oh so recommendable.

Biggi