Green Card

It's been a long wait - ten stressful months that pushed my blood pressure up to dangerous levels. However during the last few days of February I attended my Government Medical Examination and three days later an interview with an official of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Yesterday in the mail I received notification that my permanent residence had been approved and that I should receive my Green Card within two to three weeks. It actually arrived in the mail today, and I can now legally work in the United States.

I've learned a lot since leaving South Africa at the end of April last year, and much of what I have learned you will find in previous postings. My opinion of several airlines has hit rock bottom. Emirates is one of them. They would not even answer my emails, even after advising me that they had found the laptop that went missing in Dubai, and would forward it to me without delay. I also got to fly on Aer Lingus. Their Shannon to Logan flights are little more that cattle wagons, with three ageing flight attendants trying their best to serve nearly 200 single class passengers (there are no Business or First Classes on these money-saving flights).

After 42 years in southern Africa I have been thrown into the deep end of continental American winters. Yesterday the daytime temperature rose above freezing point for only the second time in almost four months. Thankfully this time it looks like staying in the 40's for a few days - not nights though, which will still be below freezing. The 2 - 3 feet of snow lying in our yard (garden) has started its slow thaw, but will probably be at least a couple of weeks before we can next see the grass on the lawn. Another thing I have learned - not to let your central heating furnace run out of oil - likewise the pellet stove out of pellets. And I have learned how best to conserve the two fuels so as to keep down costs.

Now that I am able to look back at my last few years in South Africa, I can see it with a completely refreshed mind. I see a country that has openly practiced reverse-apartheid since it became independent, a country rife with nepotism, corruption and bad management, and a country with a president who apparently needs his head examined. In 1998 I was privileged to meet and shake hands with the late Nelson Mandela, a complete opposite to today's president, and a total gentleman. But we've seen it before, haven't we? Up in Zimbabwe, for example, and in the majority of newly independent states in sub-Saharan Africa. Sadly many of the whites left in South Africa have nowhere else to go. I was lucky - I have a British passport (when I first came to southern Africa in 1972, I vowed never to give it up), and I have an American wife, daughter and grandchildren. My heart, prayers and love reach out to those of you who are now stuck in that country.  At least you have the beautiful countryside, climate and wine to enjoy.

America is vibrant. The economy is back on track, and the price of gas (petrol) has recently been at its lowest for many years. You learn things by just watching television ads though - apart from the fact that the models are better looking than those in SA. It seems that at least 50% of television ads are for drug companies. Ads that market expensive prescribed drugs for heart disease, obesity, shingles,  a variety of vaccinations, COPD and many others. With the buoyant economy, many of the ads are for motor companies such as Nissan, Hyundai, Honda, Chevrolet, Dodge, Ford, GMC, and Jeep (not so many); and there is a dearth of vehicle insurance ads. Naturally, all of the big fast food chains are regularly represented.

Sold the Farm - really did this time

Unlike my post of 11/27/2011, which was written immediately before the South African banks let us down on the first of several occasions, we really have sold the farm this time. Papers are signed and the money's in the bank - not nearly as much as we would have liked, but enough to get significantly more personal possessions across the Pond. Liz will be reunited not just with myself, but with her collection of shoes, clothes, beads and beading, lighthouses and witches. I've been following the New Hampshire weather during their winter - I don't think I've seen the temperature rise above freezing for at least 2 months. I guess that if I miss Africa at all, which is unlikely, it will be at this time of the year. Still - I did spend 8 years living (off and on when not at sea) in the far North of Scotland, so I have been used to those conditions in the past, albeit many years ago. I guess I'll get used to it - I'll have to, won't I?

NH wild turkeys taken 30 minutes ago

What will I not miss about Africa in general, and South Africa in particular? Well, I never wanted to live in SA in the first place anyway, but was forced here by circumstances. Since democratization I have witnessed a country where reverse apartheid is blatantly being practiced - I'm not saying that BEE is a bad thing - far from it, but the way it has worked out in most cases has exposed corruption, nepotism and bad management at their worst. The poor in South Africa are still poor, whereas the well-off have lined their pockets and those of their cronies at the expense of the underprivileged. You only have to look around you at present. As many as 4 years ago the Mail & Guardian exposed the scandal behind the multi-million rand upgrades on Jacob Zuma's Nkandla home - upgrades carried out at the taxpayers' expense (for those who have never heard of him, Zuma is South Africa's multi-wife president). Today, 4 years later, the scandal lives on. 

I will miss none of the above. What I will miss is the bush and the wildlife. The fragrance after that first rain shower after a period of drought. The ability to take a drive of less than an hour and be among a 30-strong herd of elephant, the bush buck that live on my farm, the monkeys that scatter when I drive to Bathurst, the sound of the jackals as they hunt at night, the call of the frogs from our small dam after the year's first rains, and the call of the fiery-necked nightjar - these I will never forget.

Yesterday I took my monthly drive into Grahamstown. The main street showed up mismanagement at its worst. Imagine taking a trash bin - well, probably taking dozens of trash bins - and emptying them along the sidewalk and gutters. The amount of trash just lying there was appalling. The thing is, the ANC have individuals all over the country in local government, mayors and councilors, who have no idea how to run a craft booth let alone a municipality. And they are all riding around in new Mercedes and BMWs. I'm not jealous - just sorry for the many individuals who cannot escape from the situation. Which makes me very glad of the decision I made when I first arrived in Africa - never to give up my British passport.

There is so much to get done during the next 58 or so days. Police Clearance Certificate, hand in Beretta, international driving permit, stop Eskom, stop Telkom, stop DStv, stop Post Box, change of address with various agencies, sell furniture, stop car insurance ... the list goes on. My clients will find my new telephone number on my main website, and I will still be available for work from South Africa. Just remember though, that if you call me the difference is 6 hours in SA winter and 7 in summer.