CHRISTMAS IN HAENERTSBURG
With the Festive Season coming up, I thought it may be appropriate to give some useful information and advice. Of course, very few people ever ask me for my advice but, as the writer of this blog, I reckon I am quite entitled to give it.
Firstly, I have been told that many individuals and organizations in and around Haenertsburg have been busily planning to make this Christmas a very exciting and special time in the village. The plan is to decorate, light up and encourage a variety of festive events to be available from 13 to 16 December.
This has been a true community-driven project and, weather permitting, it promises to be a fun time for local residents of the Mountain and our visitors.
Excellent recent rains have brought renewed vitality to our grasslands and it also seems to have livened up the spirits of our local citizens. Although they are generally a very friendly and happy bunch, I seem to sense more smiles and a new vibrancy in the steps of the locals – even the oldies! There couldn’t be a better time to lock your front door and come and enjoy the hospitality of Magoebaskloof.
The festive season brings additional traffic up and down the R71, the main road between Polokwane and Tzaneen. Wet roads and whisps of our famous ‘Silver Mist’ do make most drivers more careful, but there are always some who are in a big hurry and who treat speed limits, signage and road markings as a mere nuisance. And this applies, in many instances, to the three-way stop at the turn off into Haenertsburg from the R71.
Some time ago, a friend of mine sat and observed the traffic at this spot for a whole day and he calculated that if we could fine every motorist for disregarding the rules of the road at this intersection, the money earned from these fines could cover the rates and taxes of all village residents for upwards of six months!
That would be a welcome bonus, especially for the pensioners but, unfortunately, it is not going to happen.
The purpose of my blog is simply to ask all members of our community to be extra careful when entering the R71 or turning off it into Rissik Street at the T-junction. Don’t assume that the vehicles speeding up and down the hill will stop just because there is a stop sign.
That’s all for now and I wish you all a very happy and safe holiday break. It also behoves me thank all those who have read my blogs over recent months and who have given them little thumbs-ups. It warms my old heart and encourages me to perhaps continue with my offbeat ideas again next year. You don’t have to give that one a thumbs-up but, as it’s the season to be jolly, just a small heart will do!
Be safe, and them’s my sentiments!
Fred Bullock
