Birthday!

Ninety Seven in the shade.

I didn’t take a pic so this one will have to do – taken by Sheila when he was a mere 96. He was very restrained today: he waited a good few minutes before mentioning the H word. Then he relented: ‘When people say Hau! Ninety Seven!? I say, Just three years and I’ll be a hundred,’ he said.

And then he told the tale of the old man at Pick n Pay: He was bragging about how old he was, with his white hair and white beard. How old are you, kehla? I said to him. He puffed his chest out and said dramatically, SEVENTY SEVEN! I said Sit Down Umfaan. I’m NINETY seven. Hau! Hau! Hau! he said, shaking my hand a hundred times.

~~~oo0oo~~~

hau – goodness gracious me; gosh

kehla – old man

umfaan – little boy

hau – swear!? that’s amazing! you don’t look a day over eighty seven

~~~oo0oo~~~

Here’s a more recent pic – in Azalea Gardens Pietermaritzburg, going through Sheila’s old photo albums.