Life by Numbers

END:VCARD

Waking up – running a full system check to see if I have finished sleeping – still undecided I become aware of the loud thunking of small feet on the tin roof. The monkeys are back! Up and down the roof they race – turning at the ends like Olympic swimmers. No no stop. I try unsuccessfuly to ignore them then realise with a start that I have an early appointment in town anyhow. Reluctantly, but speedily, I throw myself out of bed, beating off the mosquito net, and into the day.

Bath, dress, clock watch, make coffee in a go cup, load the car with all I need to take then pause….there is a group of ten giraffe at the end of the driveway. My leaving will disturb them and its just so so nice when the giraffe are hanging about the place.

Not to worry though as Rayson – our trusty man about the place – strode confidently into their midst to turn on the borehole pump.

Set off for town. Notice that the dam near the gate is shrinking fast – only a cluster of small pools remain. At the gate check for tracks, wrestle with the lock – these days we have to be more vigilant about locking gates – and head out into the morning traffic.

It's a clear bright day and the road is clear. Sweeping over rolling hills that present views of granite boulders and green tree canopies stretching to the blue Drakensberg Mountains, I arrive in town ahead of the crowd.

I head straight to the licencing department. They open at 730 and its best to get there as early as possible to avoid interminable queues. So far so good. I run a mental checklist – ID docs..yup; vehicle registration papaers..yup…cheque..yup….total file of every bit of relevant paper ever collected on the subject…yup; surely this cant go wrong. And look ma, no queue!! If I was a labrador my tail would be wagging.

But not so fast ….. are all the vehicles in my name? no. Well the owner has to sign the form here – marks a big cross with her pen on an open spot on the form. Nowhere does it say 'sign here' how was I to know?. Rats. Plead and beg and grovel to no avail. I have to go home again to collect the missing signatures. No worries – its only half an hour each way and increases my daily footprint on the planet by a lot.

How much of life is spent pursuing an endless papertrail that allows us to define ourselves by numbers? So far it has been a recurring theme for 2009. hurrmph.

Second time around and a small waiting period in the queue, and at last I was back in the sunshine. Vehicles licenced for another whole year. Perhaps next year I will get it right. Must remember the form signing bit!