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Back home I got quite a shock to the old system when Trienkie informed me casually that she had met the man of her dreams, and that she and the previous boyfriend were out, and that she was getting married the next year, February. It was now November, and right away my throat constricted, and my heart fibrillated, as then she would indeed be out of the house for good! But Stephan was a nice man, and after watching his treatment of my child with eagles eyes for a while, I could see that he was of good stock, so I wished them luck, and promptly sent a txt to Joe that I would be back come April!
The kids were all at my back to sell the house and move to George, where I would be closer to Irma, but it took quite a serious incident to make me realize that it might be the best for me, as Trienkie and Stephan would settle in Port Elizabeth, and George is just about three hundred and a bit kilometers from there.
On the Sunday after I came back, Trienkie and self were both still in bed, when we heard gun shots outside, and not knowing what was going on, we rushed to the front gate to have a look! On the corner, about a hundred and fifty meters down the road, we saw a lot of policemen scurrelling around, so we went to stand in the road to have a better view, at which a policeman came up and told us that it was a dangerous situation, and we should go back inside, and lock our doors, which we promptly did, but still wondering what was going on!
It later came out that the owner of the Seven Eleven shop was busy getting things ready for opening later, when he was assailed by four men, but he managed to raise the alarm, at which the men took him hostage, and demanded to be left to leave without interference from the police, otherwise they would kill him. As they were weaponed, the police had to be very careful, but it was agreed to let them leave, but they would keep the owner hostage until they were away far enough.
In the meantime the police had managed to find another door, and pryed it open, and before the thieves got over their shock of suddenly being confronted with a whole bunch of police, they were handcuffed and driven away. The owner was unscathed, if a bit bruised, but all went well, but that incident just fired up my kids's insistence that I moved to a flat, where I would be safer.
So I sold my lovely old house and bought a nice enough flat in George.
I started painting again, and went to the craft markets around the aeria, of which there was quite a few, and that brought in a nice sum that I could use for going back to Scotland.
February came, and Trienkie and Stephan got married, and we had a lovely party afterwards, and danced till the early hours of the morning, and I cried a wee bit, as now my birdies had all flown for good!

The beginning of April saw me back in Scotland, where I was welcomed so exuberantly that I knew I had done the right thing to come back. As the Scottish way of welcoming one back was of course by plying them with booze, and as there was no Anna to push it over to, I got seriously sozzled, and had to almost crawl up the stairs to the cottage that I was now going to share with Joe, as Rosanne and Ged had moved to their own house they had built.