africa blog: SEPT 8 2014 - Oops…I DIDN’T buy a house!!! OR When Things Go Wrong!

SEPT 8 2014 Oops…I DIDN’T buy a house OR When Things Go Wrong!

Well, as they say in Hollywood, “it was set, but it wasn’t set-set.” In other words, the house went away. My dream house, the cowboy house with the lap loop fell through. I was shattered. It all came down last Monday. The loan/bond broker called to say the banks consider me a foreigner and won’t give me a bond without a Temporary Residency Card, which I could get if I win my appeal, but then it would take another 4-8 weeks to get from Home Affairs, maybe. Then, 2 hours after the call from Tess, Avril the seller called in a panic! “david, I’m homeless, I can’t sleep, I can’t eat, where am I going to live, you don’t know what it’s like!” etc. I told her my situation had changed and I’d get back to her in a few days. I called back within the hour. “Avril baby, I have no bond, I’m not a player, this isn’t going to happen, you stay put. Adios.” Peaceout.

And just like that, before you can Jiminy Cricket, the deal was off. The home that represented so many things: the present, the housing solution I would need in the future next January, a place to live in, a project, a purpose, permanence, fitness with the pool, community in Stanford, everything that was good. I had already started it on Sketch-Up, a CAD type program. Then poof, it was over. I was gutted. Free-fall. Into the abyss of the blues. Why God? You meanie! I saw 5 signs that house was mine! The horseshoe hanging over a doorway, the bird of paradise plant by the pool like I had at the house I grew up in, there was this inlaid wooden plate with 2 turtles…sea turtles! And it was cowboy and it had a blinking lap pool! 5 things confirmed it was mine! But not so much. All those who think this house is yours take one step forward…not so fast COTW. So…this Citizen Of The World was stymied. Shut down. Rejected. Not meant to be. I was truly floored. But why so depressed over the loss? why the long face???

I figured out why on my morning walk today. Since 1996, I have moved 15 times in the last 18 years. No more than 2 years in any one place, most much less. That’s a lot of moving folks. Maybe that’s why it was easier for me than most to move to Africa in the first place. I had no roots. So yes, Avril, I’ve probably been more homeless than you since you’ve been in your home for 24 years. i do know what it's like.

So…there was a reason i wanted her cowboy house so badly I’ve been a vagrant vagabond gypsy for almost 2 decades. A semi-nomad. Not like the Massai or anything, but think how long you’ve lived where you live? And before that? 15 moves in 18 years is pretty hectic. No wonder I’m dying for a home. My home. A permanent home. But not meant to be. Not yet anyway. So, next January 28^th, I’ll be looking for something new. Again. Aren’t I too old for this stuff? Really? Another new place? Well, it is the life I’ve chosen. I can’t complain. It’s the bed I’ve made. But the wind isn’t always blowing in my hair on the top of some camel as you might imagine. That’s why HOME has been such a recurring theme moving here. Remember…the sign “Welcome Home”, then the Dept. of Home Affairs deciding my visa, Homeland is shooting here, I actually found a Home I wanted to buy. It’s been a big theme, feeling like ZA is my home. So yes, losing that home was devastating. Way more than usual. Now I’m back to square one on so many questions…what am I doing here? Why am I here? Where will I live? What will I do? The house resolved those pesky questions. So, time to buck up and start again. Deal with it and the bigger questions.

My neighbor shared this…”Solvitur ambulando: it is solved by walking.” – St. Augustine. And as I have lots of questions, I have taken St. Auggie to heart and started walking everyday for hours at a whack. I also joined Stellenbosch gym & pool. “Swimming is fun!” – Flipper. He was right. It is fun. So, I got my pool after all at the local Uni and the surrounding vineyards in my hood are the perfect walking place. I’m in a great place. Yes I was disappointed, but it’s all for a reason. Like the song says “god will make a way”, and he will. It’s just not always the way we want!

And while the house drama was on so was the waiting game on the work visa. Which seemed to loom so large with the house in play, but now in the aftermath I’m much more chill. ZA is on the altar, fully surrendered, and if I’m meant to be here, then so be it. Something will work out. If not, then COTW will find somewhere else I suppose. I do like living here, as much as anywhere else or more, and the new thinking at the minute is if we lose the appeal (the collective “we” of all you supporting me), then we have to leave the country before sept 26 on the current tourist visa. I’ve been told I need to go back to my country of origin or residency, so that means USA. So I would fly cape town – London, then London-phoenix, and head to Tucson to stay with my brother for 3 weeks with a short junket to dallas, phoenix, and maybe LA. Return to ZA @ oct 14^th. So that’s the present plan. If the collective we wins the appeal, then we can stay here for 5 years. And apply for a permanent residency card. Zen.

That house was such a major fork in the road. Huge. I get it and I become a Stanfordian for life. Game over. Fix it up and folks come to visit. The end. Not getting it means anything is possible. Maybe I’m a bona fide Capetonian at the end of the day. Or a professor in Stellenbsoch, or is it Dubai? Who knows? But if I fly home for a few weeks, then when I get back, I should be able to apply for another 90 day extension on the new tourist visa and that puts me from oct 14 thru april 14^th. But maybe by jan 28^th when my lease is up, it makes sense for us to come back to LA and apply for retiree visa. That could take a while. IDK folks!

Have had a nibble on the turtle doco! Yay! From the UK, a company called Electric Sky Productions. Hopefully they keep pursuing. That would be very sweet to get that off my plate and onto broadcast television somehow. Fingers crossed, I’m running out of leads!

The biggest thing is crossing the threshold to let go of this place if it’s not meant for me. it’s beautiful for sure, and the scenery and weather and people are great. But as I’ve learned from the house, it’s not always in my hands, or my call. hold it with an open hand. ommm.

I don’t get cable or satellite TV but a friend gave me the first 3 seasons of Homeland and I am hooked. Superb TV. Great production. Brilliant acting and story. I’m almost done watching it a second time thru. And then maybe again. It’s that good! I had some fun working with some ZA actors last night, we had a play reading of my first play, something I started in 2010. I say my first play because I really enjoy playwriting. The flow of the dialogue is easier, not “show it don’t tell it” like in screenplays. Plays you can ramble a bit. Be more expository. Blah blah blah. Kinda fun. And there’s even a chance “The Note In The Freezer” will make it to the SSW Playhouse lineup for 2015 in Somerset West. With me attached to direct. That would be hectic. So good. And we had such fun yesterday. Great to be working with good actors again. Had a few in NBO and have found some new ones here. Wow, never suspected live theatre would be so exciting to me, but it is. It’s fun. With immediate feedback, like a sitcom taping. If the joke works, it works, you hear the laugh.

Aside from that, I did meet a person of interest of the opposite sex who lives on a cabin on the lake at my farm. She’s an artist. Blonde. Is a boogie-boarder, a water-bug (read: fit? beach bunny? hey, she's cute, okay? at least from 10 meters!) she paints and does ceramics and we’ve had 2 just conversations as she walks past my flat on the neighboring path some 10 meters away. She’s good from far. And I’m intrigued. Let’s call her Lady Di. And we’re not friends on Facebook yet so I can write about her. Have to say, papyrus lodge is really an incredible place. So lucky to end up here. So peaceful and so beautiful. In fact, the pics on this blog are meant to give you an idea of what real wine country looks like. What real vineyards look like, and these were all taken within an hour’s walk. Incredible.

So that’s about all the news that’s fit to print. No house, then gutted, bummed, angry, felt the loss, let it go, bounced back, and back on my feet, relieved, happy, and grateful again. Never thought I’d get there! But here I am, COTW, happy to be here or anywhere. What do they say, enjoy growing old, it’s not awarded to everyone.

(i also got a full refund on a second hand mac tower today, i thought i was stuck with it! it never worked!! so that's very nice!)

Now for some pics!