Chillies that John grew in his garden.

In 2007 I started writing and blogging on the LitNet forum, an Afrikaans literary website. It was because of a need to express myself in an anonymous environment. It was addictive. We had discussions, arguments, some really brilliant writing and many fights. It was a smallish community of contrary people, who had one thing in common; they needed to express themselves in Afrikaans. When Facebook started becoming the place for people to connect in the virtual environment, quite a few of us became FB friends.

Yesterday one of my blog- and FB friends came to visit us at Over The Mountain. Trisa and John Hugo own self catering accommodation in Kleinmond and she is an editor and publisher of e-books. We enjoyed their company as if we’ve been friends for years.

Just before they arrived, our neighbour John brought us some chillies from his garden. He asked Gerrit to keep an eye on our water reservoir because he’d be away for a few hours to collect wood on the other side of the farm. He was one of the first people we met and we have started to rely on him, because he had a wealth of information and helped us in so many areas to find our feet here. He often brought us vegetables from his garden and just popped in for coffee on his walk to the church next door. Besides being in charge of the farm water reservoir, he was also caretaker at the church.

Last night the dominee (pastor) of the church called and said John had passed away.

We have known him for 74 days, but he will be sorely missed like an old friend who has become an indispensable and appreciated part of our adventure. John we will miss you every single day and we pray that God will comfort your family and give them peace.

Trisa my FB friend, and I.