Thankfully on the Road

I drive exactly 50 km to work every day. This week I tried Pollyanna's glad game on my way to work:
I don't complain about the long road to work: At least I have a job and thereby one that I really love. (I blog all about it in homeschoolingaspecialchild. It's listed in my bloglist in the sidebar.) Just think about all the people who hate their jobs and worse, all the people who do not have jobs...

Thankfully not all days start like this....However, on cold days like this, I am grateful for the car heater and my gloves - and especially for Jan who always opens the gate before breakfast! Come to think of it, I am extremely grateful for the breakfast that either he or Hendrik makes every morning. They are keepers for sure!

My departure scene: the red reflector tape cross we put in the garden Christmas 2008. Like the big cross on the koppie, it is a comforting sight. I especially like this one, because it is so very close to home - a personal thing.

The sun is rising... a sign that I should have left at least 5 minutes earlier...! But what a glorious sight!


The T-junction with the Moloto road. I was once in a nasty accident here - on my way home from work. Today I just enjoy the view. The car lights in dawn are actually pretty.

Now is also the time to drink my "coffee" - a mug of boiling water. Jan fills it for me every morning - I am a spoilt woman! If you look carefully you can see in which varsity hostel Jan was and what radio station I listen to. I am not so much an early morning music person; I prefer discussions on current issues. Radio Impact has a message this time of morning and I like to listen to that too.

The infamous Moloto Road... but look at the view through my back window!


(If you wonder why you see more car than view, it's because I am driving and just clicking away without having an idea of what the camera is capturing!)

Some of the many buses on the road. I am very thankful for my little car and that I do not have to go to work in one of those... Let's spare a thought for the millions of people who have to get up in the middle of the night to get into one of those to get to work in time!


Here I just had to get out of the car to snap the sunrise. Hendrik passed me here and I got a very concerned phone call of a late-on-his-way-to-work son. "Is Ma O.K.?"

Passengers next to the road. Broken down buses are a common sight and then there are these hords of people desperately trying to get a lift. All the other buses are full and do not stop. They have to wait until doomsday for a substitute bus.

The radio (and Thelwyn) warned that there was an accident on the high way, but seeing that the street through East Lynne is often blocked when there is a jam on the high way, I decided to risk it... waiting at the toll gate, I realised I had made a mistake - but there's no turning back of course. I am thankful today that my car does not have funny rubber burning smells as it has had before in such traffic jams.
I hope the accident is not as bad as the one I encountered yesterday (Thursday) afternoon on my way home on the Atterbury bridge. (There a truck trailer had overturned - in the hour after I had crossed same bridge to go to Menlo Park and before I came back again!)
I am very, very grateful that a) I was not in that accident and b) that I did not see it happen! The photos of that accident are horrific - miraculously the woman in the squashed car escaped with only a cut hand!

To while the time on the road, I play games with number plates: see how long it takes me to go through the alphabet starting with the car in front of me... This black car has one of the "newest" number plates i.e. YFW. I have yet to find a YG... Gauteng car.

Finally the scene of the "accident" - it looks like just another "broken down truck". There are broken down trucks, or trucks that have lost their load, somewhere on the N1 nearly every single day - especially a little further South between Atterbury and Rigel Avenues. The economic impact they have in terms of lost man hours - and increased stress levels- must be enornmous!

The flow of traffic improves, but it is still slow - the road works on the N1 ask for patience, patience, patience! But.... think of the improvement once the road works are completed!

Near Menlyn and the temperature has increasead significantly - I switch off the heater.

Properly late, I am glad that there are no trucks on this hill close to Mooikloof - the posh residential area where I work. Atterbury Road is narrow here and it is impossible to overtake - there is a loooong solid line.

Once inside Mooikloof, I relish the splendour of the area: the houses and the views are magnificent - and the crisp, blue sky is a treasure.

The temperature on arriving at the Tamerin's house. Unfortunately I am now too late for us to go to our water aerobics class. We'll go again on Monday. I am grateful that Tamerin's cold is better and that she can swim and do water aerobics again. I am thankful that I can exercise in work hours - I have lost 4 1/2 kg since February!

Homeward bound: I am glad I can go home early. Hardly any traffic on the N1 North - but look at the opposite side!

Thank heaven for E-tag. The toll gate costs me R13.20 per day, but fortunately I do not have to queue.

Back on the Moloto road and a late afternoon magnificent sky - I feel God's presence in that light. Can't stop to take a photo and point the camera through the dirty window in the right direction, but then the road turns.

Again pedestrians next to the road.

Winter on Malperthuis. I pray that the grass will not burn down. One sees veld fires nearly every day. We have just spent R3000 on fire breaks, but they will not really help if there is a wind blowing.

The garden cross as seen driving up to the house - it is visible all the way as you drive up the farm road and gives me a warm, fuzzy feeling.

Thank you for a welcome by Farao and Jakkie!

Look at all the leaves in the road....! Thank you for cleanly swept and watered lawns.

I get out of the car and there is the moon already.

Last but not least, I am thankful for a cleanly swept "agterplaas." Herzberg said that good environment factors like an empty dustbin do not make one happy - merely satisfied - but that poor environmental factors - like a dirty dustbin - made one seriously unhappy! I am determined to notice environment factors more and to be grateful for the small stuff.