Monday in Grahamstown

Monday in Grahamstown
Good afternoon all. Happy Lockdown Day 25 and greetings from Johannesburg! Explanation to follow.
This post – unlike previous editions focussed on Covid-19 – unashamedly punts our new business, Buck in a Box. The economy is toast and like all small businesses we are peddling hard to make ends meet.
Vanessa and I have just delivered the first Buck in a Box home deliveries to 20 clients in Johannesburg. Equipped with the requisite “essential supplies” permits and 400kg of frozen product on board, we broke free of Lockdown and raced up to Jozi on empty roads. Our permits passed intense scrutiny at three police road-blocks and we drove into Jhb behind a classic highveld thunderstorm.
The timing of the delivery was perfect. Our clients – many of whom hadn’t laid eyes on other humans in weeks – greeted us as warmly as social distancing allows, and some got immediately stuck into our delicious biltong and droewors. Potjie pots and braai fires were loaded up with Springbok for Sunday lunch and it was heart-warming to receive their feedback.
“Dry wors delicious”
“Just had some boerewors!! It’s amazing. Possibly best venison boerewors ever!!!”
“This is AMAZING xxx thanks” – commenting on the Buck in a Box (Springbok) contents. Refer photo.
“We all tasted, all loved it!! Funny that the beef (biltong) won 4-1????”
These comments are testament to the high quality, healthy, organic products supplied by Keith Morgan and his team at The Farm Butchery. First-class job, well done!
We are grateful for the support of our first batch of clients and look forward to many more deliveries to them.
A fascinating side-story was the discovery by one of our clients of a Rhombic Night Adder in his driveway following our delivery. A common resident of the Eastern Cape and well-known “Hitchhiker” we surmised the little fella climbed up into the engine compartment and ran the Lockdown gauntlet with us. Unfortunately the beautiful snake had his head cut-off by the automatic gate closing. Sad the journey ended in such tragic fashion for him. For us it has been a marvelous trip and we are looking forward to the return trip Grahamstown.
Next delivery is into Grahamstown, Port Alfred and Kenton is on Thursday 23 April and Joburg on 28 April. Please go to The Grahamstown Project website to place your online order!
That’s it for this week. Make the most of Lockdown. Yes, the economy is on its knees but it will find its feet again. Make sure you find yours. G
 
 
 
 
 

GRAEME HOLMES

Before moving back to Grahamstown in Oct 2017, Graeme was a bank executive based in the big smoke and craziness of Joburg. He has 20 years’ experience in the Payments Industry. He is a Chartered Accountant, has a Masters in Management by Research (MMR) from Wits Business School, and attended an Advanced Management Programme (AMP) offered by INSEAD (The Business School for the World!) in France.  

Graeme is the founder of The Grahamstown Project. It’s simple. He says, “Grahamstown is a microcosm of South Africa. If we can’t get this place to function properly then the whole country is stuffed. Many of the troubles we experience as a country today have their roots here in Grahamstown. it is here where black and white people first engaged in conflict on the African continent. It is here where 9 wars of dispossession over 100 years took place and virtually destroyed the amaXhosa nation. But we are where we are. I don’t have a British passport and the boat-trip back to where my ancestors came from is exorbitantly expensive. Furthermore, this is my home. I am a son of Africa. We must work together to redress the injustices of the past and move as one into a brighter future.”

Graeme is an avid historian, writer, vlogger and public speaker. Like and follow the Facebook page. Join him on a tour. Contact him. He would love that.