Jane Ballot

Being me in the world

Monday 20th April

Everything, I think, has some kind of equivalent monetary value, if you look hard enough. And everyone has very individual expectations and a very different understanding of money. Today on the radio, there was a regular call-in ‘survey’, where the question that was posed was something to do with the appropriate remuneration for a ‘home…

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Sunday 19th April

I think everyone is allowed some of ‘those’ moments – when things overwhelm you and the tears flow, or the emotions just need to be given their vent. Dani, Sarah and I went paddling this afternoon. It was great fun, especially after a day of ‘iffy’ weather and things that had just seemed to get…

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Saturday 18th April

There truly is no place like home. In amongst the semi-chaos that is the space we occupy and the mundanity of checking if there is enough bread and the demands of making sure everyone is in the right place at the right time (and has to be woken up in order to be so), lies…

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Friday 17th April

‘Hurry up and wait’. That’s how my colleague described what happens at an airport. And it is so true. This evening we flew back to Joburg. After the workshop, it was a matter of travelling through the Friday evening traffic in Bloem to get to the airport. We arrived a good hour before boarding time….

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Thursday 16th April

There are so many lessons that we learn from everyone all the time. Some of these are lessons that we learn from what happens to us; some are from who we meet along the way. There are so many lessons that we should be learning, but we don’t always look to see what it is…

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Wednesday 15th April

Sometimes we find ourselves in the presence of really great people – either by chance or by design. Sometimes, too, by invitation. Today I had tea with Jonathan Jansen. Literally. What a great man. What a powerful, impressive, influential, humble, ordinary man. He’s an educator, so what does one expect, I suppose?! But then again,…

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Tuesday 14th April

Today I entered another world. I am in Bloem because I am co-facilitating a workshop at the university. I am also staying in a really lovely hotel. Not something I do very often! Really lovely and really (as Jayne would say) ‘spoily’. At the same time that it feels so alien in many ways, it…

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Monday 13th April

It’s funny how often we anticipate something with a degree of trepidation, but the reality turns out to be not quite so bad, ordinary even. On Sunday afternoon, I wasn’t looking forward to this week. Dani and Mike were going back to school, which meant the beginning of getting up early, cooking breakfast, making school…

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Sunday 12th April

Last night was Doug’s 21st. So much preparation, so much attention to detail, so much fun. It was like being the privileged, captive audience/participant in a very special production. And Doug had the greatest fun of all, which is the way it should be. There are times like at the party when the only thing…

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Saturday 11th April

There are always lessons to learn around us, if we only take the time to look. In the last week I have been in direct contact with one 88-year-old woman and seen a video interview with another (well, she’s actually 87, but likes to give her age as one year older). Both of these women…

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