The cloud of smoke coming from a guy’s mouth almost freezes. He takes another draw. I’m sure that his cheeks are touching inside his mouth. He exhales. It’s as if the smoke is now coming from everywhere. He tosses the butt to the side as the train enters the station.
As we enter the carriage and the train leaves the station 10 minutes delayed, two middle-aged ladies are having a chat.
“Ek sien djy het nuwe neighbours,” the lady wearing glasses says to her friend.
“Oh yes, very polite and decent; no complaints whatsoever,” she replies.
“Issit? Het hulle nog niks lawaai gemaak of in jou drive-way ge-park ‘ie?” the friend asks.
“No, not at all; they are very much to themselves, very private people. They greet politely in the morning and the evening. They even invited me over for a cup of tea.”
“Not like my previous neighbours. They were real snobs; didn’t even look our way. The wife’s nose was always in the air,” the lady explains seeming to get upset all over again.
The lady with the glasses looks at her in disbelief then continues to ask: “Waa’ kô hulle vandaan sê djy?”
The friend seems to become a bit impatient, takes a moment, then replies: “The wife is from Pretoria and the husband from Gugulethu. A real gentleman, I must add”.
She then goes quiet with a ‘don’t-ask- me-anything-else-again’ expression on her face.
Meanwhile we have entered Woltemade station. The name still remains intact after all these years. This is the station where very few people get onto the train and where no-one ever seems to get off.
Is it because some are afraid that they might drown in their sorrows with no Wolraad Woltemade to rescue them? I think quietly.
Just as the train is about to leave the station, a blind keyboard player assisted by a vendor steps aboard the carriage.
“Trap mooi Pa. Kap safe,” the vendor says to the blind man as he helps him to settle in.
“People of the south, make a donation. Kom nou mooi. Ôs ry saam, ôs staan saam,” the vendor appeals to commuters as he shakes the tin cup with a few coins rattling inside.
The guy is placing the needs of the blind musician above his own, which is really admirable.
The musician’s fingers caress a tune from the keyboard that for a moment didn’t quite look the part; showing signs of having had many knocks and bumps.
The vendor launches the sales pitch for his produce: “Ek het jou sweets, jou chips en jou peanuts hiesa. The man of the morning and the man of the moment… Kom support my oek!” he says almost shouting above the noise of the keyboard.
The thought that while trying to make a living for himself, he still finds the time to assist his fellow man in his endeavour to make ends meet, is still fresh in my mind.
My hand almost automatically reaches for my pocket where a R5 coin has been resting for a while…
To some a little means a lot … To others it means nothing.
I step off the train inspired … filled with a new appreciation for the things which at times seem insignificant.
“Trein-ry is not for the faint-hearted,” I think to myself almost saying it out loud.
Urban Dictionary
lawaai – The Afrikaaps word for “noise”.
issit? – The Afrikaaps way of asking “I that so?”.
kô – The Afrikaaps version of “kom”
trap – The Afrikaans word for “step” or “tread” which in Afrikaaps is used as a form of saying “go” or refers to the action of “going / leaving”.
kap – The Afrikaans word for “hit / knock” as in “hit with a hammer” but in Afrikaaps it is also used as a form of saying “go” or refers to the action of “going / leaving”.
ôs – The Afrikaaps word for “ons” which is Afrikaans for “us / we”.
hiesa – The Afrikaaps version of “hierso” which is the Afrikaans word “right here”.
trein-ry – Afrikaans for the act of “riding on a train”.
“Ek sien djy het nuwe neighbours.”
“I see that you have new neighbours.”
“Issit? Het hulle nog niks lawaai gemaak of in jou driveway ge-park ‘ie?”
“Is that so? Have they not made any noise as yet and have they not parked in your driveway as yet?”
“Waa’ kô hulle vandaan sê djy?”
“Where do you say they come from?”
“Trap mooi Pa. Kap safe.”
“Go well old chap. Keep safe.”
“Kom nou mooi. Ôs ry saam, ôs staan saam.”
“Come now nicely. We ride together, we stand together.”
“Trap mooi Pa. Kap safe.”
“Go well old chap. Keep safe.”