A Small Inkling Of Apprehension.

 Long forgotten but still dormant in my mind.

We live in such a safe area, which I can't stress enough. When we first moved here it took us several months not to constantly look over our shoulder, close all window and  double lock our door. Yes, we had been conditioned by the constant fear of being attacked in South Africa. 

Living in South Africa takes a certain kind of strength. Actually it takes a lot of it. Break-inns, attacks, robberies and murders are almost a constant thread running through the news. What it is like now, I can't say but when we lived there we were constantly aware of our surroundings, escape routes and naturally had our car serviced routinely. Breaking down at night was not an option.

Anyway, the years living here have been wonderful and safe in that perspective. Forgetting to lock the door at night? Not a problem. Leaving windows open, ditto. Idling the car ( on its own ) outside the local shop for ten minutes, not a problem. You can see the theme....a wonderful place to live.

Last night Bob read me a group text he received on his Whatsapp. A local woman was making everyone aware that two strangers had been spying on our village and slowly driving around it in their car. Seeing that her husband is a policeman, we took note of her warning.

Somehow too much of it. Taking Maxi for his walk this morning, I double locked our front door and shut the gate as it should be and walked with one eye out front (not to miss the dog's business ) and the other eye behind in case anyone leapt out of the bushes. What nonsense indeed! My mind had visualized the various outcomes of encountering danger and same for escape routes.

How silly of me. Living with constant fear of falling foul of these men is a waste of time. If by an outside chance it would be the case, there wouldn't be much more than perhaps a theft of garden equipment or clothes on the line... not forgetting that we now are the proud owners of a guard dog, who can bark with the best of them. Only a few moments ago I was watching a dog whisperer video and once Maxi heard a dog barking, there was no stopping him. He came and wanted to protect me, just how it should be...

Biggi