Lots going on

Today I have not got much work done. TSC is home because some of the students are protesting at UJ. Yesterday his lecturers locked the students who were there to attend lectures (including TSC) into the building for their own safety while the protesters threw their weight around outside. The police eventually arrived with a water cannon and rubber bullets to disperse them.

They are protesting again today because the university has given them tomorrow as a deadline to pay their fees for this year (please note, it's nearly Sept and they haven't yet paid for 2010 studies). What drives TSC wild is that some of these students are just protesting with the others for the fun of it. In fact, one of the guys who tried to smash their classroom windows with a brick is employed part-time by the university while he studies, and he has a bursary to study. It makes me mad too, because it affects TSC and the other students who have paid and who are trying to attend class.

While he's at home, we have the guys here to pour the concrete to level the braai area (we've already ripped up the paving) and take the old, ugly tiles off the veranda. It's hard to work with the constant noise of digging, grinding, and (worst of all) the hammers knocking off the old tiles.

Yesterday TSC found out that a distant relation on his mom's side lost her 14-year old son to a horrible accident. He was knocked off his bicycle by a truck. His parents only found out about it once he was in ICU. He was declared brain dead and they had to switch off the life support. TSC hadn't met the kid, but his whole family's a bit shaken up. Such a horrible thing to happen, especially to someone so young.

My mom was the victim of a smash and grab last night. On her way home from the children's home where she volunteers, someone stuck a spark plug through the passenger window of her bakkie (pick up truck / utility vehicle) in Olifantsfontein and grabbed her handbag off the seat. She'd just taken her phone out and he demanded that too, but she threw it on the floor and he ran off.

Thankfully she's fine. My dad was very upset. They've reported the incident to the police and she spent today trying to get a temporary driver's licence.

The world seems to have gone a bit crazy. I'll be back when the noise and the drama cease for a bit.