I awoke shivering at 2.30am. It’s one week until Winter and exhaustion had dragged me to sleep atop of the blankets (rather than under) in front of an open window. It encouraged me to make strong hot coffee so that the result has been the posting of time-delayed blogs for the next 2 weeks.

May has been a damn tough time in Knysna. For me and the town. The Recession, that monster that takes and doesn’t give, rules our little world with  thorny fists. Businesses continue to close and events gain less attendance or get cancelled.

The Tourism office cancelled my workshop a day before i was to be paid the deposit so i entered the month with zero income, regretting that the day before i’d wasted money on buying a continental pillow and a soap dish. That could have been food for 2 weeks. Instead,  i ate the last apples. Then, due to the graciousness of a mate, i ate curried beans and cabbage for 3 days. The next 2 weeks were supplied by the 2 guava trees in the garden and the storage of black tea i had waiting. Sure that i’ve lost weight but how the hell doesn’t this wedge of fat on my belly not go away? It seems invincible:)

Hunger doesn’t match the dangers of the mind. To keep it intact i focused on writing business proposals and helping people. I helped 2 people with their computers, one of which gave me R150 i wasn’t expecting. I made an awesome website for my neighbour (because they’re real nice, salt-of-the-earth folk, a true rarity nowadays) and i’m helping/teaching a band member how to make the Deity’s Muse site. The latter is one of South Africa’s best rock bands so i highly recommend you downloading this free track (and make your day louder) –‘Broken Scar’. I also got R300 for making a poster and some adverts. R450 ($50) may be little for 3 weeks income but it, importantly, kept my internet connection alive.

On the downside, MTN, my internet provider, has had a problem with their tower. What a nightmare trying to deal with their Help section. My internet is running at about 1-2% of it’s normal speed, ranging from 2-7kbps. That’s slower than dial-up. It takes an enormous amount of time to design one web page. That nightmare has been 6 days long so far!

On the bright side, my dad dropped money into my account 3 days ago. My account was in the red but at least that got covered plus i bought more internet, and phone money. I immediately used that to try find more business as i’ve only a week to find rent and everything else that will be needed for June. The pressure doesn’t stop!

At least i overate the past 3 days:) But now there’s only 1 tin of beans and rice left:( I literally let out a big, involuntary sigh as i wrote that. Hopefully i get my meeting with Tourism this coming week and we get back on track with the social program.

But there is more good news. I finally started formalizing my charity plan. I’m calling it The Keep (Knysna Education & Enabling Project). I wrote the constitution, some project plans and almost have the website ready. Mons helped me with the logo (thanks! – always a star) and i made some adjustments. It’s incredibly beautiful.

I’ve also had a number of bird experiences but i’ll chat about that another day…