Big thank you to George Municipality and hospital for great service
Jaap Rabie, George:
Today I want to comment on the services of a provincial and local government department.
As an author of crime and adventure
I have sometimes incorporated fire brigades in a story, with a character sometimes criticising them (never the local municipalities).
Usually, I use personal experience in my novels and yesterday, Sunday 26 January, I was once again on the receiving side of a possible catastrophe.
After some of the heaviest rain for years, the wind was gusting. I was watching the trees swaying in the wind, admiring the resident pair of guinea fowl meandering on the lawn, ignoring the wind and the drizzle. Suddenly there was a crack. At first I thought it was thunder, but Savanah, our border collie, showed no sign of stress. Looking up from the guinea-fowl, I saw our lovely big Penny gum (Eucalyptus cinerea) tree swaying and then falling over - halfway in the road of course! It being a Sunday, and a clearly dangerous position for traffic, I was momentarily at a loss. Where to get a chainsaw after hours? Phoned a friend - a local builder | handyman. "Phone the municipality's emergency number," he advised - which I promptly did.
This is the moral of the story - even though there was no immediate danger, as it was by now clear daylight with Jakkals trou met wolf se vrou, a fire truck with some very friendly staff arrived within 15 minutes, armed with a very sharp chainsaw. The offending branches were soon cut off.
Thank you, George Municipality! My second comment is about service at the provincial hospital. Catastrophes seem to follow me after hours and especially over weekends - this time it was a Friday night when I became very sick. I'm not much aware of what took place, but apparently the ambulance arrived very quickly and I was soon admitted to ICU where I spent a few days for treatment and being stabilised before being transferred to another high risk ward.
My treatment was of the highest quality. Professional, friendly, accommodating and helpful. I don't really want to make an exception of anyone, but the attention from Drs Gould and Arnold was above and beyond the call of duty.
Thanks to all the staff and management for a jewel in health care.