WE HAVE A HOUSE! NOW GET DOWN AND STAY THERE UNTIL THE SHOOTIN’ STOPS

A part of our package to relocate to South Africa, was the provision of an allowance, for the cost of a fully furnished rental home. The catch was that we had to find the suitable home. Once again, as described in earlier posts, on arrival, we spent a great deal of time in pursuit of a home. There were not a great deal of homes available in proximity to our office and preferred school. We were basically competing in a small, exclusive, market with others from our company who were arriving at the same time. Our company tried to help, however we quickly found that we would have to rely on our own devices.

Deysi was key in this process. She spent endless hours tracking down leads and scouting out areas where we preferred to live. Each property that became available was immediately pounced upon by her and everybody else. The competition was fierce. It might be said, at this point, that although Hotel life was exciting, it quickly became very hard to “live” in two rooms. The glow soon wore off and finding accommodation became our priority. I think we were starting to feel that we were going to have to expand our search to a larger area.

We continued our housing search until we had a stroke of luck. A new listing became available in a perfect location for us. Deysi pounced, along with three or four others. It had about 1 acre of walled garden with a huge pool and house. Exactly what we wanted! It included, both indoor and outdoor living areas. There were 4 bedrooms, three bathrooms, a dining room, family room, formal living room, two bars, separate maid’s quarters and a separate quarters for the gardener. The pool patio was covered and provided enough space for receptions. It was connected to the family room by patio doors. It was truly an entertainment type house. The girl’s, were immediately sold! No other house would do.

As it turned out, the owner was a General Manager of a South African company, involved on the same Project as us, in Peru. The house was perfect for us. It was located near our offices and the school in Sandown, (a suburb) of Sandton, SA, in the perfect neighbourhood for us. When he heard that both Deysi and I, had mutual friends that worked for him in Johannesburg, and they had provided good recommendations about us. The house was ours! This was an amazing stroke of good luck. It was beautiful!

Now the fun started, Deysi had to furnish it, purchase beds and bedding, everything for the kitchen and make it liveable. In South Africa at that time, there were no department stores where you could go in and buy furnishings. You basically went in, generally picked out styles, materials and colours and then the furniture people came over, measured your rooms and custom built everything to fit.

Same thing for drapes, all custom fitted and made specifically for your house. I mention the drapes again because they were the single most expensive and time consuming item of all. Deysi was having the time of her life. Unlimited shopping and a big budget. She selected each and every item with great care and made sure she received the ultimate value for each rand spent. During this exciting period we remained in the hotel in Sandton. Everything was right with the world. Little by little our furnishings started to arrive, our shipment of personal effects made it from the US and we were ready to move in.

Not so fast! Wait a minute what security have you hired for your property? Well “none” I said, who needs security with an 8 foot high, razor wire topped wall surrounding the property, bars on every window and door, and a steel gate at the entrance of the driveway topped with spikes that resembled war spears. It just so happened that the owner was going to let his private security lapse when we took possession and turn the responsibility over to us. Enter Sandton Security, 24 hour armed response with 1-2 minute response time to any of their customers in Sandton.

They sent a representative to see us and sell us a program. Like with everything, else once the previous company left, they took all of their security equipment. Then a new company had to replace it all. The wiring was still there but that was all.The SS (Sandton Security) representative makes an appointment to meet us at the house and appears on time and in all his splendour. He had a uniform that would make a general cry. I expected a big blond Afrikaner type and instead met a small 5’4″ swarthy looking latin type. He swaggered in, badges jangling, looped ropes flopping and a big pistola hanging from his bet and strapped onto his leg, extending from hip to knee. An impressive sight to say the least.

He got busy and notebook in hand he scurried from corner to corner, mumbling and grunting and taking copious amounts of notes. After what seemed like a long time, he came back to us and said “let’s show you what we have”. We went through each and every room. In the bedrooms he pointed at positions on the wall on each side of beds, inside doors, near windows and them told us. “We will install sensors in each and every one of these places!” “At night you close and lock the steel bars” (that closed off the bedroom area from the rest of the house and along with all the windows being barred), “you will effectively be , locked you into a prison cell with four bedrooms and two baths”.

He hooked his thumbs in his belt, puffed out his chest and made this profound pronunciation “IF YOU OR YOUR GIRLS HEAR ANYTHING OR ANY NOISE WHATSOEVER AT NIGHT YOU PUSH ONE OF THESE BUTTONS AND THEN GET DOWN ON THE FLOOR AND STAY THERE UNTIL THE SHOOTING STOPS!” Well, I might say that certainly focuses you. I felt a little shake in my knees and avoided looking at Deysi, who I know was just waiting to hear the details of the shooting part, so she could pack up and head home. Interesting thing was, he meant it. It was the first time ever, that I had heard his next proclamation, which came out as a John Wayne type slow drawl, and was “And I’m serious as a heart attack”! Hmmmmmm. Thus marked our arrival in Johannesburg, South Africa.