I have pondered the subject of this week’s column and decided that if it saves just one person from a terrible experience, like the one I had, then it’s worth it.
This week isn’t about a great place on the Garden Route or a worthy person, quite the opposite actually.
It’s an elegy about a really lousy experience in Knysna that has made me wish I could run away to New Zealand or Australia, somewhere where there is no crime.
I was attacked again last week and it is the second time in two months.
A sense of real discouragement and fear has settled over me, like a heavy blanket.
What on earth has happened to the town of Knysna?
And what now because my “happy place”, which is walking/jogging along the estuary, has been properly violated.
On Wednesday last week, I was mugged in broad daylight while I was jogging/walking along a route that should absolutely have been safe.
Locals call this pathway, that runs along the estuary and past Costa Sarda until it meets up with George Rex Drive, the orange brick road.
I wasn’t looking for trouble on this walkway because it’s not as though it is deserted.
On this route, I usually meet other walkers, holidaymakers strolling along the picturesque lagoon, cyclists and people from a nearby grocery store who sit on the grass here to have lunch or take their breaks.
It’s not usually deserted.
The perpetrator came out of nowhere, he appeared that quickly, and I could see he meant business.
He wanted my phone which was in my waist-pack and, brandishing a red screwdriver, repeatedly said, “I will use this.”
He came at me and I tried to fight him off.
I begged him to leave me alone,
I kicked and screamed so loudly my throat was sore for a couple days.
When I didn’t just give him my phone, he pushed me off the path into the bush where I fell and I could feel his weight on top of me.
At that point I realised that my strength pitted against his was pathetic.
I prayed out loud and when I realised there was nothing I could do, I gave him my phone, and thank God for keeping me physically safe, he ran away.
I gapped it back to where my car was parked in record time and a friend called the police.
I am shaken by it and considering counselling since I feel like a deflated balloon with no air or fight left in me.
I learnt my lesson along this popular walking route and that it’s simply not safe anymore.
There have been some isolated incidents here in the past. It’s just not worth the risk.
When we moved here, we thought the Garden Route was going to be different to the rest of the country, but increasingly over the 10 years, Knysna has become just like any other crime-ridden little hotspot in SA.
The only saving grace here is that violent crime is still unusual.
But then I was attacked by a man with a weapon so I figure that qualifies as a notch up from just plain opportunistic crime.
In November last year, I had gone to our local pharmacy in the Main Road in broad daylight and the chain I wore, which belonged to my late mom, was ripped off my neck in seconds.
My necklace was never recovered, but the police caught the criminal that same day and he has been in jail all this time.
Later this week, I have to make the second court appearance for his trial — and apparently there are four complainants/victims of just this one person.
I have had pepper spray at home, but hadn’t carried it with me.
A running friend of mine jogs with a taser.
When I next put my running shoes on to face the outside world, it will be with pepper spray at very least.
I will walk along the N2 towards George so I still get to see the estuary and I will not complain about the traffic noise.
Then quite apart from the mental and emotional damage, a thing like this does, there are all the practical steps that need to be followed to get your life back to normal.
My replacement phone was delivered by the insurance company some days later and only now do I again have a banking app on it because after the attack it was frozen along with all my bank cards.
It’s a real blow, the loss of my phone with contacts I have no idea how I will find again.
There were treasured photos on it, important screenshots.
One good thing was I still had my old device, so Mark was able to transfer some of my information — and I will have to just plug away at restoring contacts.
I should not have put a bank card in the phone holder.
It’s a good idea to keep two bank cards in different places in case something like this happens, but I think not with a phone.
I will never ever use a money app to tap with my phone.
Call me old and fuddy duddy if you like.
It’s bad enough that he could have tapped and used my credit card in the short space before the bank cancelled all my cards and profile, but it would have been even easier to tap with the phone.
I should have backed up my life in that phone to the Cloud.
I will do this in future so that if my phone is ever taken again all I lose is a shell, not my world of people.
Save your old phone.
I was able to get a new sim card from my service provider and thank goodness I had my last old phone stored, so at least I was able to recover some numbers and just have a phone while I waited for our insurance company to deliver my replacement phone.
For heaven’s sake, here’s another word of advice: Write all your passwords for the various apps and things down somewhere safe.
Every single thing that is on a phone from Spotify, to online shopping and Facebook requires a password.
The process of getting all these things back on a phone is a damned nightmare.
I was so blessed that I had Mark patiently help me restore my phone, the apps and so on.
A couple days without Facebook and social media, have actually been very interesting.
A while ago a very dear friend and I worked out how much time we were spending on our phone and I was shocked to see that mine was nearly two hours a day and her usage even more.
The last couple days, I have only used my phone for basic WhatsApp calls and this has actually given me a sense of freedom.
Maybe joining a gently Amish community is the way to go.
They avoid modern technology including cars, televisions, radio and computer, definitely no internet or smartphones.
And, certainly no internet banking.
They have nothing to steal that others want.
One more thing, while I think about it, is say “goodbye and I love you,” to your person when you go out. A simple outing like a walk can go sideways in seconds.
The Herald