She's 89 and says - with a beautiful smile lightening up a brown, wizened face - that she's stayed young because she doesn't hang around with old people.
"I never get lonely and spend a lot of time reading, mostly the lighter stuff.. what they call 'lekker leestof' in Afrikaans,'" she says.
She was born in the George district and was a nursing sister (verpleegster) when she was younger. "We didn't even have penicillin and had to make a plan." She's been a widow for 20 years. She's also lived in this cottage for almost 20 years... it was built in the late 1940s!
We're sitting on the stoep (veranda) in the winter sun. There's a red flowering geranium on her table and lots of sea shells. The tide is coming in and the sea, right now, is at the most 20m away. I could live here...and happily spend time getting to know Tannie Anka
I've had lame excuses for not posting to the blog, what with deadline pressures and walking 15km on the first day, 12 yesterday and 16km ahead of us today. But I'm now adamant to post from my mobile.......
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