Build a summer palace

Vloog Theron. Anyone who read a newspaper in the seventies and eighties will remember the name. Especially those who were looking to make a quick buck…

Think of Vloog what you will and call him all the names you want – there’s no getting away from the fact that he was a fascinating character. The things he got up to had people talking. He was a flamboyant man with a singular lust for life. Something that never made the headlines was the fact that as a child he lived in a Swartland village, where he led a carefree life but also experienced great hardship. We’re talking about Koringberg, of course, the village where we have put down roots for the past 15 years and where Platteland magazine is put together. (Read more about this and other coincidences on page 40.)

It is also in Koringberg that we, in early spring, experienced what so many other South Africans have first-hand knowledge of: a burglary and attack in our house. We don’t want to go into details, but would like to say we were overwhelmed by the support from Platteland readers. A sincere thank you for every message. To reassure everyone, we are fine, both physically and mentally, and we still think it is a privilege to live in the platteland, even if you have to be as vigilant here as you have to be anywhere else in South Africa… and, in fact, the world.

One of the messages we received included a poem by cartoonist Leunig:

The Summer Palace

Make a little garden in your pocket Plant your cuffs with radishes and rocket Let a passion fruit crawl up your thigh Grow some oregano in your fly.

Make a steamy compost of your fears Trickle irrigate your life with tears Let your troubled mind become a trellis Turn your heart into a summer palace.

Be vigilant. Keep a cool head. And enjoy the summer break. May 2021 hold only good things.