Nothing can ever prepare you for it: waking up in the pitch-dark night with the realisation that there are people in your house. Strangers.
In that moment, even through the fog of a deep sleep, you know the whispers and the swinging beam of a torch in the next room don’t signal anything good. You jump out of bed – relieved that you had the foresight to put on pyjamas – assess the situation double-quick, and make half a dozen decisions in a split second: Is this a dream? What can I use as a weapon to defend myself? Your eyes scan through the dark. Not the hand-carved knobkierie a friend gave you as a present. Not the leaden statue of the Virgin Mary that you bought in Croatia. You see three figures…What if they have a knife? No, they’re too small, children even.
You surprise them as they’re hunched over your desk with your laptops, cameras and other essential tools on it with a polite, “So, what’s going on here?”
And then you’re caught off-guard by the wild chase that ensues. Shouting from the homeowners, the burglars panting. Seconds of complete chaos that feel like a lifetime, even centuries. They aim for the window that they had entered through, but you manage to catch one of them by the ankles. More shouting and yelling and swearing, but you hold on for all you’re worth. Tonight, you are personally handing this hooligan over to the police. But you don’t hear the repeated, “Get him with the knife!” and you don’t see the blood. You’re in pit-bull mode. And then, suddenly, you start feeling dizzy and your hands let go. They’re gone. When you turn around, you see the bloodbath in front of you. And you’re the one who’s wounded.
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Esta historia es de la edición Summer 2021/2022 de go! Platteland.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
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There are few secrets in Verlorenvallei
All platteland towns have that one famous (or infamous) character who knows everyone's business. Meet Livia Hoogenboezem, the keeper of every piece of gossip in Verlorenvallei...
Make magic with winter's abundance
This winter menu is our invitation to look beyond the bewildered herb garden, move out of your comfort zone and bake a loaf of bread, appreciate the beauty of a head of cabbage, and invite the rain gods to the table to feast with you on venison pie, pudding and cake.
It takes a family
Christian Fry and his fiancé, Pippa de Lange, arrived at Dombeya with just a day to spare before the Covid-19 hard lockdown commenced in 2020. Their purpose was to save the Fry family farm from being sold. They've settled into life in their Elands River Valley haven now but continue to dream big and work hard.
For the love of birds...
They may be called birdwatchers but they are in fact using their ears. As Johan van Zyl discovered on his maiden outing as an \"avian tourist\" with BirdLife South Africa to find the 450 bird species that live in the Garden Route and Little Karoo.
To the babbling brooks of Sabie
Roughly every five years, Jaco and Jens Reverchon get itchy feet. They hopped around Cape Town, moved up north to the Greater Kruger and then, recently, put down roots next to the Sabie River where they live a peaceful life with their animals.
Creativity & community in Dinokeng
The driving force behind the successful Makers Village in Irene has now implemented the same concept in Cullinan, creating an incubator and exhibition space for entrepreneurs and artists. Platteland dropped in at this budding creative hub to find out what it's all about and came away impressed.
Willie Strauss Never an idle moment
A variety concert... that is how to approach your life and career when you want to survive as an artist living in the platteland. So says singer, lyricist and radio food expert Willie Strauss, who entices visitors to Die Sinkstoor in Cullinan with traditional offal and his mother's Bushmanland boerekos.
To die for
How do you avoid the tourist avalanche if you live in an Afromontane forest where holidaymakers descend in December? You drive to lonely outposts in the mountains of the Cape, says photographer Obie Oberholzer, and you make pictures rather than take them.
1 Fiat 500 2ha 4 boys...19000 miles!
When the go-cart that an engineer father had built for his four sons couldn't handle the tufty terrain on their 2-hectare plot in Montana, Pretoria, they hunted down a Fiat 500 in a salvage yard. They only wanted its suspension system, but Mom intervened, the car was saved, and those little daredevils clocked up an impressive 19000 miles - all without leaving the plot.
SUTHERLAND Cold town, warm hearts
Life in Sutherland in the Northern Cape isn't always easy, but even those who leave tend to return. Come with us to find out why.