ARTICLES FROM OUR  August EDITION

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@GREATBRAKPOST

GROOT BRAK BRANDWEER

BESOEK KLEUTERS!

Isobel Vermeulen

Die Groot Brak Brandweer het op 10 Julie Little

Einstein Educare Kleuterskool besoek.

Groot opwinding het onder al die kleuters

geheers, veral vir 'n baie spesiale seun Luca

Vermeulen wat op die dag ook sy vierde

verjaarsdag gevier het en 'n groot Brandweer

Partytjie gehou het.

Die brandweerspan het met loeiende sirenes hul

opwagting gemaak en die kleuters mooi vertel

wat hulle moet  doen tydens 'n brand. Elke

kleuter het 'n geleentheid gekry om met die groot

waterslang water te spuit en was dit nou vet

pret!!

Die Skoolhoof van Little Einstein, Isobel

Vermeulen wil baie graag namens die personeel,

kleuters en veral haar seun Luca,wie se

verjaarsdag dit was, hartlik bedank vir hul

besoek en die oulike inkleurboekies en karton

brandweerwaens wat hul vir elke kleuter gegee

het.

Spesiale dankie aan Brandweermanne:  Ayanda

Gxagxisa, Neil Noeth en JC Botha, julle is puik!!!

TAKE NOTE OF THE BERG

ADDER (BRITIS ATROPOS)

Johan Marais One of the first Dwarf Adders was described in 1758 by Carolus Linnaeus in the Cape. Fitzsimons named the Transvaal population Bitis atropos unicolor in 1959, as there is a red phase that occurs high up on the Mpumalanga escarpment. Berg Adders are split into four populations (Cape, Drakensberg, Mpumalanga/Limpopo and eastern highlands of Zimbabwe). The Berg Adder reaches around 60cm, but averages around 30 - 40cm. Colours and markings are variable between each population. In the Cape and Drakensberg, specimens are usually boldly marked with Cape specimens usually being darker grey and Drakensberg individuals more of a brown colour. Specimens from Mpumalanga and Limpopo can be plain or well patterned and occur from red to grey/brown. The Zimbabwe population in the Eastern Highlands are usually well patterned and an orange/brown colour. The venom of the Berg Adder is nasty and a mix of neurotoxins and cytotoxins. The facial and optic nerves are usually affected, with drooping eye lids (ptosis), severe salivation, lack of taste and smell and dilated pupils. Affects can last from weeks to months or even years. At least one victim has lost his sight permanently. Antitoxin is not effective against the venom and bites are treated symptomatically. There are no confirmed deaths to date, but a bite by large Berg Adder of a small child may be severe. The Berg Adder can be identified by a few characteristics. The head is usually not as angled as the other dwarf adders. The blotches down the back are usually paired and triangular often with a pale line bordering the blotches.

21 DEC 2017

19:30

Long Street

WHY NOTHING HAPPENED

From the 4th to the 15th

October 1582

For many centuries the Egyptian calendar was kept a secret. Only in 47 BC Julius Caesar adopted this calendar for the Roman calendar. He gave it 365 days plus a quarter day of 6 hours. Quarter days were withheld from the year until a full day had accumulated which was then added to a common year as a leap year. This happened every 4 years. The true length of a solar year is a trifle less than 365 and a quarter days – it is 365,242199 days, or 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes and 46 seconds, to be exact. Therefore Julius Caesar’s – the Julian calendar – was 11 minutes too long. After a number of centuries the error amounted to several days. The calendar began to drift from the seasons. In 1582 a momentous calendar reform took place. Pope Gregory XIII was determined to adjust the calendar to the seasons. It was found that the error caused by the excessive length of the Julian calendar now amounted to 10 days. To set the year right, they cancelled 10 days from the Julian calendar. This was done in 1582. The 4th October 1582 was followed by 15th October. To avoid further error in the calendar, the leap- year rule was changed. In the case of centurial years (those years ending in “00”) only the ones that were divisible by 400 were to be leap years. Thus, of the centurial years since the establishment of the Gregorian calendar, 1600 was a leap year, while 1700, 1800 and 1900 were not and 2000 was a leap year again. This Gregorian calendar is the one that we use today.

DID YOU KNOW

René de Kock 1912 South Western District Cricket Team Did you know, the museum has an interesting photograph of the 1912 Cricket Team which toured the Western Districts? What is of real interest is the dress. They are all wearing formal suits of the period. Today they would be photographed in their cricket outfits. The origins of cricket lie somewhere in the Dark Ages - probably after the Roman Empire, almost certainly before the Normans invaded England, and almost certainly somewhere in Northern Europe. Early cricketers played in their everyday clothes and had no protective equipment such as gloves or pads. 1912 was the first and only triangular Test series played in England, involving England, Australia and South Africa. Find out much more at the museum. Also when cricket came to Mossel Bay?

DIE SKONE….WASGOED!

Laurinda Smit Dit is op pad na joga dat ek vir die soveelste keer verby die bekende bakens van TOTAL, De DEKKE, en SPAR ry. Een van hierdie bakens is die “Laundromat- De Dekke wassery”. Ek doen vinnig daar aan. Ek herken oom Diffie, diep in die tagtigs en inwoner van ons plaaslike aftreeoord wat sy wasgoed kom afhaal. My hart word sag. Meteens besef ek watter waardevolle diens hierdie wassery aan die gemeenskap lewer, miskien soveel te meer as gevolg van ʼn groter bewustheid in myself hoe ouderdom ons almal se vermoëns begin raak. Ek besef ook dat bewondering vir individue op verskillende vlakke lê. Ek onthou die jong lenige donkerkopskoolseun wat elke middag in Langstraat afgestap het. Ek het hom dikwels in die wassery gesien, kop onderstebo besig om wasgoed te sorteer of agter die strykplank, vaardig met die Russell Hobbs yster in die hand. Sy moeder besig om bondels wasgoed in te weeg en notas te maak. Ek skryf oor hierdie besigheid, omdat ek eerstehandse ervaring van Irene en Timothy se saamstaan deur dik en dun voor my sien ontvou het. Die swart plastieksakke vol bondels vuil wasgoed wat soggens sonder ophou opdaag en etlike ure later getransformeer word tot ʼn kunswerk. Netjies toegevou in deursigtige plastiek, met die lakens, handdoeke, hemde en los kledingstukke, gevou en gestryk, wat die wasgoedtorings afrond. Alle take word met deursetting verrig, want dit sit brood op die tafel, stuur ʼn kind universiteit toe, verskaf werk aan ander wat hul gesinne voed. Intussen staan tyd nooit stil. Hierdie besigheid het in 2002 ʼn klein begin in Langstraat gehad, met ʼn enkelouer moeder en skoolseun (7 jaar oud). So gaan 16 jaar verby, ʼn lewensreis, afgemeet in dagreistreë. Irene is nou  ʼn volwaardige sakevrou, bygestaan deur Lucy, Maggie en Tembisa. Die skoolseun doen nou sy finale jaar LLB en is ook sedert 2014 eienaar van ʼn tweede wasserytak in Danabaai. Vakansiegangers raak later soos vriende, plaaslike inwoners deel die vreugdes van kleinkinders se kuier. Die ure is lank – vroegwinter kos dit soggens donker opstaan tot soms laatnag werk om almal te help. Oor die verleentheid van bondels wasgoed se inhoud word nie uitgepraat nie. Wenke word wel gedeel oor watter waspoeier om te gebruik, die siklus waarop jy jou wasmasjien moet stel en hoe om wynvlekke uit die damasktafeldoek te haal. Irene sê dit is niks anders as die gemeenskap se getroue ondersteuning wat haar en Timmy tot hier gebring het nie . En natuurlik, ʼn groot stuk genade!

GOLF CLUB SHAFT

FLEXIBILITY

Vaughn Tucker.   Having the correct golf club shafts will make a huge difference to your enjoyment of the game. Too stiff a shaft the ball will go very straight but cover shorter distances. The correct flex will create kick back or recoil to square the clubface at impact. Weight makes a difference as well. Too heavy creates minimal or no lift, too light gives too much lift. Flex-point matched to your swing is crucial as well. Some are low flex-point which means near the club head, mid - in the middle and high flex-point - near your hands. Torque means the twist in the shaft, which more experienced golfers do not generally need, but ladies cannot do without. Pricing of shafts can vary from $10 to a thousand USD, so quality does make a difference. Steel is for younger golfers and graphite for seniors. Get advice on you clubs and play better golf.