Driving around the Cape makes listening to the radio very difficult, for more than one reason. Firstly – and this happens most, you lose reception very easily. Just a hint of a mountain, and the radio becomes white noise. The other reason, of course is, that I have yet to find a radio station down here that I like. After very many years of being a Classic FM listener, sadly Classic FM no longer broadcasts. Somehow, the local regional stations just do not work for me. Instead, I download all sorts of topics from YouTube to listen to in the car. Pod Casts, Documentaries, Life Coaches – whatever I think may be interesting. This morning, I was listening to a talk on happiness, and how to become happy. OK. I can do happiness.

The moment the chap started talking, I thought: Oh! What a lovely Scottish accent he has. I like Scottish accents. Somehow a Scottish accent always makes me think of either Shrek, or Billy Connolly. My own Scot, the one I married, sadly did not come with that quintessential accent. Anyway, Mr. Cute Accent was talking about how he had to sink to the depths of despair before he discovered what true happiness was. I was trying very hard to stay in the moment, and focus on his talk, which had become rather difficult, as I was experiencing overwhelmingly my own feelings of despair. You see, the moment I cross the little bridge over the Bot River, the road curves to the right, and it is at that point that I slow down, knowing that my favourite Ladies will be leaving the dairy, on their way to pasture. But not this morning. There were no ladies, they were nowhere to be seen. I have no idea why, but I do know that my day is not complete without my Brown Girls.

Oh well. One cannot dwell on misfortune too long, Mr. Cute was saying. So, I pulled myself together and drove on. By now, he had moved onto overcoming obstacles. My morning drive of late has acquired quite a few moving obstacles. They are the type of obstacles you would rather not want to hit with your car, because small as they are, they can do a lot of damage. Yup. Guinea Fowl. It must be Guinea Fowl season because there are just so many of them around. The only other reason I can imagine would be that the Guineas are having their regional conference this year on the Karweiderskraal road, and roll call coincides with my daily trip. Unlike pigeons, Guinea Fowl do not move out the way when a car approaches. No way, Hosé. They remain firmly in the middle of the road, where they are soon joined by more. I believe my car weighs a bit over a ton. Trust me, 5 kilograms of bird can bring one ton of car to a dead halt. Often.

Embrace the unexpected, Mr. Cute piped in the background. See it as an opportunity to happiness. Oh wow. I did not see this coming. Aliens. It must be an alien invasion. That can be the only explanation for the herd of white sheep with black heads I came across. Yes, Silly. I know you get black-headed sheep, but not in my valley! Seriously. I spend a lot of time checking out sheep. By now I have named most of them. These ones are not part of our village. Some rouge farmers must be trying out new stock. One that I was not ready for.

At some point in his talk, Mr. Cute promised 7 points of happiness. I missed a few. By the time I dragged my attention back to the talk, Mr. Cute had moved on, and I was now listening to the next talk on the play list. I have no idea who it was, or what he was trying to say. I can tell you this. He did sound like Eeyore talking about ditching emotional baggage. There are a few things you do not do to yourself, and this is one of them. It was while I was contemplating whether to re-listen to Mr. Cute, that I looked out the window. There it was. The most beautiful disk of silver moon, suspended over the sea, set against a pale pink dawn, misty mountains off to the side. Oh wow! Mr. Cute. You left out point number 8. Make the most of fleeting moments of happiness. The moon hovered for just a short moment, before it dipped into the water.

On a completely different note: Jimmy Soul advised that if you want to be happy for the rest of your life, never make a pretty woman your wife. It’s a good thing Colin did not follow this advice. But Colin is looking a little worse for wear at the moment. Pale, Scottish skins were not made for our climate, and every so often Colin must have a few skin lesions removed. The easy ones get frozen off, but the nasty ones are surgically removed. He had a very big nasty on his ear, that required a bit of reconstructive surgery. So not only do I have to come to terms with black headed sheep, but I also have a purple eared Scott without a cute accent to contend with.

Happiness is defined as a positive and pleasant emotion. It can range between feelings of contentment to intense joy. Sometimes it can arise from no obvious cause. Different things make different people happy. Sometimes it can be explained, sometimes not. I guess some people find happiness in winning the lotto. This week, Colin and I found happiness in a bit more of our plan coming together. Colin lives by the motto: Forward in Faith. It is a tough call. But one, that has increased our happiness barometer tenfold.

Watch this space!

(PS: How do you keep a fool in suspense? I will tell you next week!)