October 30

We have a booking for the weekend.  It is one of our regular visitors, Everton.  Everton is a Zimbabwean who lives in South Africa, as well as having a farm in Filabusi.  As he runs his own business, he is able to pop up here for a couple of days a month to oversee the running of the farm. At one time, he was here for at least three nights at the end of each month, but this year his visits have been a little more sporadic.

When he first started staying with us, Rolo was quite young and a handful in terms of behaviour.  I

was at a friend's house when I got a phone call from Everton to say that Rolo had run out the gate while he was leaving and he had struggled to get him back inside.  When he did, he locked the gate immediately and then discovered that he had left his key behind.  I told him not to worry, I would leave the gate unlocked for him so he could get back in.  However, I did not bank on our other guests - at the time we used to rent out both our cottages - coming back late and locking the gate.  Everton ended up spending the night somewhere else and I ended up giving him a discount on the room.

Another time, very early in the morning, I reversed into Everton's truck.  I don't know who got the bigger shock, me or the person who was asleep on the front seat and who shot up like a firecracker.  Luckily, his truck was not damaged and my conscience was assuaged by the fact that he had brought some random person onto the property, even if they did not sleep inside the cottage.