Some friends recently returned from a visit to South Africa and very kindly brought back a copy of The Argus for us, one of the main Cape Town newspapers. It was certainly interesting to look through the pages, see the familiar cartoon strips ‘some of us’ have missed (!), and gasp at the grocery prices forgetting that it’s over five years since we lived there!
The supplement for this copy (Tues 21 Feb 2012) focussed on Kalk Bay / Muizenberg area; our first home together was in Kalk Bay, and my husband grew up in Muizenberg – so it was good to page through current news! One article caught my attention :
“Leave the rat race behind”
(Teresa Fischer)
“My wife is getting more boring by the day since I bought her an iPad, I can’t get a word out of her so I ignored her and went to sit next to this grey-haired gentlemen on a bench. I expected him to talk about his investments, but it turned out he is currently completely without abode...”
People’s Post caught up with this wanderer, Piet Smuts, who was still sitting on the same bench at the beach later.
“I love the place, I love when the trains come by,” he says, having taken a bit of convincing to share his story.
He has been travelling for five months, leaving behind his restaurant in Gansbaai to go wherever he feels inclined either on foot or using public transport.
“It’s about thinking differently from normal people. If I get sick, I go to the clinic, wait nine and a half hours to see a doctor and by then I am fine again.”
Smuts (60) used to be a computer programmer and also owned a bakery. He is now retired, but says this is the way he has always liked to spend his holidays. “I never plan a trip, this is more interesting,” he explains.
He spends nights in backpackers or he finds a cosy hideaway behind a tree. Nobody bothers him.
“I am happy on my own. I get to know people, it’s not like I am all alone on earth.”
He lives off a small pension for 25 days of the month. “The other five days I go hungry.”
Sometimes people invite him for dinner.Even if he won the lottery, he says he would keep two months worth and give the rest to shelters and crisis centres. “What must I do with it? Stay in a fancy place, for what?”
“Everybody is so commercial; chasing around. They miss the beauty of life,” he says.
“To live is to look at what God created. To watch the weather and how it changes.
“When it rains everybody rushes inside their houses... why not play outside in the rain?” he asks. Smuts carries no cellphone. “If I need to phone my grown-up children, I put 50c in the tickie box and they phone me back.”
Time for him passes slowly. He still has 24 hours but can savour them.
“Stand still for a while and see what’s going on,” he advises working people.
“At lunchtime, go outside, don’t sit in the cafeteria; make use of your time. Relax, enjoy life.”
“Work in your costume, swim in your clothes,” he quips.
He adds, “It takes a mind-switch.”
(http://www.peoplespost.co.za/14926/news/article/leave-the-rat-race-behind)
And why not!?
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