My weekend - Boeremag and Bikers

Well, another weekend has come and gone, and quite an eventful one at that. There were quite a few defining moments, which I will cover as I go along.

Friday:-
The Princess was away for here ladies weekend. The 6 of them didn't have a chance to book at any resort or other exotic location, so decided to spend the weekend together at one of the ladies homes, who's husband happened to be away.
So, at 5.30pm I dropped the boys off at the local mall / movies. GMan was meeting with some friends for a movie, and LuckyL had been invited to movies for a friends birthday. Both also had a lift back home after, and Queenie would be there to check on them.

Manneaand:-
I was off to a "manneaand"! (Translated this is Mens night, or "boys night out"). A friends son attends a school that has a manneaand twice a year as fund raising event. I have been going for the past 4 years, and it's great. For a fixed fee, (starting at ZAR100 then, and ZAR200 on Friday) (look it up) you get a big meal, eat as much as you want, and all drinks are for free!!! Added to this is excellent entertainment (this time an Afrikaans rock band - quite good too), and it always includes an auction, which raises a lot of money. Mostly it's always the same people bidding, spending obscene amounts of money and overpaying for stuff they don't want or need, but such is the support for this school. And there are always rugby jerseys from the South African Provincial teams, signed by the relevant team members. This year the Blue Bulls shirt went for ZAR12500!! I need to stress that most of the people attending are Afrikaaners, and many of these are Boers (Farmers). These are staunch, culturally proud people, and NOT necessarily racist. During one of the band breaks, a request was made for a specific Afrikaaner song to be played. A middle aged guy went up front and started to sing along with the piece of music. He was gradually joined by about 30 others upfront, and vocally by about 70% of the rest of the gathering. Hand on heart, singing with tears streaming down many faces, a song I had never heard before! "Generaal De La Rey" (look it up), was the person addressed, and leading the Boers was the subject. I will look it up and see if I can find a) the words, and b) the relevance of De La Rey. Truly, the Boeremag (look it up) is alive, well, and strong! An eye opener for me.

Saturday:-
GMan was playing cricket in Pretoria against Affies (Afrikaans Boys High), LuckyL was sleeping in, and I had some contractors coming around to put the poles in place for shadeport (look it up) we are having erected for Queenies car. Just before lunch, LuckyL and I drove to PTA to watch Gman's team playing. They were batting first, and we got there in time to watch GMan bat.

Biking at 270km/h:-
Anyway, they lost the game, and we left. On the way home two guys on two bikes came screaming past us on the highway, doing (my estimate) in excesss of 220km / hour! Dangerous
driving, white lining on what was a relatively busy highway. I used this opp. to lecture the boys on safety, when you can ride fast, and when you shouldn't. Responsibility....
Both are keen to get motorbikes as soon as they are old enough to, and I'm a long time biker myself, so it's going to be a given that they will ride. 4 Km later I had to pull over and park the car. I told the boys to stay put, and walked back 30m to help. One of the speeding bikers had been involved in an accident! Seems that a car had moved into his lane as he came up to it. He took the Honda Ballade's boot right off!! And threw the car up an embankment about 6 meters! The motor bike had self destructed, and he had stopped falling / rolling about 150m from point of impact!! There was a guy and a lady with the biker. I checked to see he was breathing, and then ran on, to start showing the on coming traffic to move to the left hand lane, and to start throwing bike and car bits off the roadway.
I found the bikes rev counter. It had been smashed, and was frozen on 11000rpm! The bike was either a Kawasaki ZX9 or ZX10, so at 11000rpm, in top gear he was doing between 250 and 270km/h when he hit the car. With the roadway now clean, I went back to assist with the biker. Passing the car which was also involved in the accident, I stopped to see if anyone there needed help. The driver of the car, an African lady, was laying on the grass next to the car, and her two friends were on the cellphone to someone. I asked the driver if she was ok.
No response. One of her two friends said they had checked her, and she was not injured, but so shocked that she was non-responsive! Well, I'm not surprised. She never saw the bike coming, and will only know that in one second she probably heard and almighty bank, and then felt herself, and her car being thrown 4 - 6 meters up an embankment! I'd say she was in shock!

Back at the biker a nursing sister had stopped and was also giving assistance. She asked for a knife, and I promptly produced mine, (always keep one in my pocket. Never know when you going to meet someone with a piece of biltong (look it up) and who needs a knife!). Then she asked me to cut away all his clothing so she could assess the damage. The biker was lying on his stomach. Between me another helper we cut off the "armour" jacket which was shredded. This
exposed a broken left elbow, severely broken left wrist, and dislocated left shoulder. I held my hand on his back and felt he was breathing strong, and holding my ear to his back I could not hear any "gurgling" so this seemed to indicate that he did not injure his lungs at least. Then we cut off his jeans. There were two big holes in his knee caps. This was bleeding quite a bit, so we made this "secure" to slow / stop the bleeding as much as possible. Bad tar grazing to his thighs, and some on his back.
We didn't take off his helmet - RULE No 1 - NEVER take off a bikers helmet after an accident!! He was concious, and continued to breath quite strong. After having been there for about an hour, and with enough support in place for the injured biker, and the paramedics and ambulance on the way, I decided it was time to leave and take my boys home. Needless to say, the lecture from there followed on from the preaccident lecture with regards biking, safety, responsibility, when you can and when you shouldn't. I hope the lesson made
it's mark.

Salagatle!