Never walk alone- Walk on - 34. Chapter 34

With new years eve and it's associated festivities just a day away, Andrew was keen to get an update on arrange-ments at Blue Bay, The Cameron and the Drakensberg Resort. He had, very deliberately, not communicated with any of the properties while at the game lodge knowing that if anything pressing came up they would contact him. Not that he micro managed - much - but he just wanted to be up to speed. They would be at Blue Bay this year and were looking forward to it, so while Ryan was on 'baby sitting duty', Andrew had visits to the two Cape Town
lodges on the agenda for the day after they got back home, as well as a Skype call with Larry at The Drakensberg. First stop was Blue Bay where he had breakfast with Claude.

In a complete contrast to previous years where the event had been more formal, Claude and his team had rung the changes this year and decided that the new year event would be more casual.
The theme they had opted for was 'Island Style', using Claude's Mauritius experience as inspiration and had evolved into a fairly large event, with almost double the number of guests as compared to previous years. This had come about after receiving feedback from several in-house guests who were not able to be accommodated at the previous years event. And so, at both Blue Bay and The Cameron, any guest who made a reservation for the new year period directly to the lodge would be asked whether they would be attending the new years eve event, advised of the additional surcharge, and if agreeable immediately added to the guest list. Fortunately almost all the guests over the Christmas and new year period made reservations months in advance and in many cases, when they checked out after their stay. Only once the lodges had a fairly good idea of how many in-house guests would be attending, was reservations opened to the general public. However, demand had been such that both lodges had enlarged the scope of the event
.
Taking a huge gamble, Claude had decided to not only have guests seated in the restaurant and on the patio, but in the garden as well. To achieve this, ten cabana type gazebos had been set up around the pool and the garden each able to accommodate a table of eight or ten. The cabanas had proved to be extremely popular and were sold out within days of reservations opening. Now he just had to pray for good weather.
And it seemed he prayers were being answered, with a clear, almost windless evening predicted.

The Cameron had also expanded its event into the garden to accommodate more guests. The Hogmanay celebration at the lodge had become very popular and even with the provision of more tables, they were, once again, sold out. The event had not been billed as Hogmanay this year, but was instead themed as Scottish Baronial Feast, although Richard and James referred to it as an Afro-Scottish feast, and as usual guests were encouraged to wear something tartan. The normal tables in the restaurant and on the patio had been replaced with long tables stretching the full width of the venues. A second buffet area was set up under a marquee on the pool deck just below the patio with two stations on either side for the meats which were being spit - roasted. Runners would keep the chafing dishes on the buffet supplied with sliced meat, or guests could be served by the chef who would carve the meat directly onto their plates which were wooden trenches that the maintenance department had spent weeks crafting in their basement workshop.
It would be a vegetarian nightmare as there was huge haunches of beef, whole lamb, whole porkers and chicken available. Whole fresh Scottish salmon would be baked over the coals as well, although James had ensured that any vegetarians were well catered for as well with Baked Butternut Squash filled with lentils, spinach and tofu, a soya based lasagne and many other options.

Back home, Andrew skyped with Larry who advised that their usual event was also fully booked and extra tables had been provided on the patio leading off the restaurant. As the resort operated on a dinner, bed and breakfast rate, all the guests were in-house which made life a little easier. Dinner would be a slightly expanded buffet, that would open at 6.30pm as usual for those guests who wanted to get young children fed early. Housekeeping was providing babysitters, either in their rooms or in the resorts kiddies playroom, for anyone who required them, at a small fee, so that the parents could attend the dinner dance knowing the children were being supervised.
So all in all, it seemed the properties were all headed for successful events.

The evening at Blue Bay was a complete success. Everyone arrived looking suitably 'Island Style', but slightly upmarket as Andrew did not see one pair of rubber thongs. All their guests wore sensible footwear - sandals, deck shoes, moccasins. Some even kicked off their footwear as the evening wore on.
Claude had shipped in a couple of loads of beach sand which had been spread over the grass from just below the pool level to the beach road boundary, and it was here where the ten cabanas had been set up, surrounded by flaming torches.

Fifty palm trees, large and small had been loaned from one of the local nurseries and positioned around the property, really lending a tropical feel to the setting and dozens of citronella gel torches flamed all around the property.

Several bars had been set up in the garden as well for guest to go directly to or for the waiters to collect orders. The island cocktails served in pineapple shells, coconuts and a variety of suitable glassware were also popular, especially as each guest had three tokens attached to their garlands with which to 'purchase' cocktails - all included in the price of course.
A group of Sega dancers and musicians met the guests in the lobby and presented each guest with garlands of frangipani or flamboyant blossoms. Once everyone was seated, the dancers joined other groups in the gardens and roved around, entertaining the guests who were not on the dance floor that was placed over the centre of the pool.

A full buffet had been set up with a carvery and there were sub - stations that were grilling fish, prawns and crayfish which, as expected, proved very popular.
All in all the evening was a roaring success, rounded off by a stunning fireworks display at midnight, that rivalled the one at The Cameron and the Waterfront. Little did any of the happy revellers know the disaster that lay ahead of them.

The events at The Cameron and Drakensberg Resort were equally successful and the Devlin-Major Major Portfolio was once again able to report a record and extremely profitable festive season.

As January progressed everyone gradually returned to their offices and workplaces and it seemed like just another year. On the second weekend of January the whole family, along with Darren and Kerry were on the dockside to send 'Lady Janice' on her way to her Mauritius base. She had charter guests on board for the leg up the coast to Durban with stops in Port Elizabeth, East London, Port St. Johns and finally, Durban. There she would pick up three American couple's, who had once again been referred to Devlin-Major Charters by the Kinleys. They had chartered 'Lady Janice' for a full month for the cruise to Mauritius via Madagascar and a further two weeks cruising around the islands before disembarking in the Seychelles. After a two night replenishment stop, 'Lady Janice' would again sail south back to Mauritius with two German and one Dutch couple, thereby getting her season off to a very good start and future charters were looking extremely positive.

'Belle Catherine ' was equally busy right up until after the Easter holidays when things slowed down with the onset of the Cape autumn and the inevitable north westerly cold fronts that would come rolling in to make sailing unpleasant. As usual she would be hauled out over the winter for her annual keel cleaning and spruce up in preparation for the new summer season.

Then came disturbing reports of a new virus rearing its head in China and, within weeks, all over the world, and on 23 March 2020, the President proclaimed a national state of emergency.
Four days later, the first case was confirmed in the country, and all tourism and business travel died when the country went into lockdown. Literally overnight, the lodges emptied out and the staff were left looking at one another with concern written on their faces. Covid 19 had arrived and it's effect was dramatic for the entire globe.

Over the next three days the lodges were put into hibernation. It was a monumental task. All bedding was stripped off the beds, laundered and packed away. In the kitchens, anything that could be frozen was packed into the deep freezers while any perishables was carefully divided up amongst the staff to take home.

Then a further three days into the lockdown period, The Cameron was thrown a lifeline by the Department of Health, being one of the establishments selected as quarantine centres, mainly due to its self catering capabilities, for any citizens being repatriated from abroad. Both staff compliments, were given the choice of being rostered at The Cameron, or to stay at home. Andrew and Ryan made it clear that it was totally voluntary, and to their utter amazement, every single one of them volunteered to do shifts, just reinforcing Andrew's faith in his staff. It meant a great deal of planning from him, Ryan, Claude and Richard, but it was done. Drivers were arranged to shuttle the staff members to and from their homes every day, with all the required permits to allow their free movement.

Naturally, strict sanitary precautions were put in place and rigidly enforced, with sanitising stations around every corner and, of course, the wearing of masks was mandatory. There was virtually no contact with any of the repatriated guests, except at check-in and check-out. The 'guests' were expected to clean their own rooms - cleaning materials were provided, and bedding was changed twice a week when the used bedding was sealed in plastic bags and taken to the laundry where they had the bejeezus washed out of them. Refuse was placed in large wheeled bins at the end of each corridor and taken away for disposal.

A choice of two dishes were on the menu for each mealtime and these were delivered to the rooms on trays left in the corridor where guests collected them once the waiters had left the area. The used crockery and cutlery were the placed back in the corridor by the guests when they had finished their meal and the trays were thoroughly sanitised by the waiters before being taken down to the dishwasher to be washed at a higher temperature than normal.

It was an extremely anxious time for everyone, but Andrew found it particularly difficult. He hated the inactivity, he hated the insecurity he felt, so different to that which he felt after his parents had been killed. Not for the first time he admitted to being somewhat of a control freak and he now found himself, his family and his company in a situation that he had almost zero control over. And he hated every minute of it. It also brought home, very forcefully, just how fortunate they were. They were reasonably safe and secure in their immediate environment at home but there were millions of people out there who did not have that security, and had to live in fear of this dreaded lurgy that lurked around every corner just waiting to strike any unsuspecting victim.

In an effort to safeguard those closest to the immediate family , he had David and Janice move in with them, as well as Yvonne , her husband Jeremy, and her son Nathan.
Similar sanitary measures to those at the lodges were put in place at the house and nobody ventured out unless it was absolutely necessary, usually to go shopping for supplies.
Unfortunately, they did not come through the crisis unscathed.

The first piece of bad news came from Canada, where Marie's mother had passed away. She had been asthmatic all her life and the virus attacked where she was most vulnerable. For three long weeks she lay in a coma before finally succumbing.
Then came two deaths within days of each other that hit Andrew and Ryan hard.
The first was Thomas, their beloved doorman at Blue Bay. The first indication that something was awry was when he did not report for his shift at The Cameron as usual. A day later his wife called to advise that he was not well and they were all going to be tested for Covid 19. The following day she called to confirmed that they were all positive, but that Thomas was not doing well and had been admitted into hospital. Two days later they received the news that he had died. Within hours, Andrew was on his way to Thomas's home with a car load of supplies to assist his family. He also left a handsome cheque to help pay for the funeral and show his appreciation for his loyal and caring service. He stayed just long enough to sympathise, have a cup of tea and unload the supplies.

With Thomas testing positive, it set off alarm bells at The Cameron and everyone was watched closely. Two days after driving to Thomas's home, Andrew woke up and knew he had contracted the virus. His head ached, his joints were sore and he generally felt grim. The entire house went into crisis mode while he went to be tested. When he got back, Yvonne and Janice were just finishing sanitising the entire house. Every surface, door handle and doorknob, tap (faucet) and the tiled floor had been doused with sanitiser and cleaned. No one wore a mask, reasoning that, if Andrew was positive, then they had all already been exposed, although to be safe, David and Janice hunkered down in their suite.
Just before dinner that evening, Andrew got an SMS to confirm that he was indeed positive for Covid 19.

As it turned out, he was one of the lucky ones. Being young, and in good health, his symptoms were very mild. As he put it,"It feels like a heavy bout of flu". The difference being that his sinuses were very infected and caused some discomfort. But strong pain killers was all he needed for relief. Less than a full week later and he was feeling a lot better, if a little tired and the feeling of tiredness would persist for several months more before that too disappeared. The biggest blessing, however, was that somehow, by some miracle no one else in the house had become ill.
It was while Andrew was ill that they received the next bad news, this time from Australia. Ben and Emma Davidson were both dead. Ben had contracted Covid 19 and had passed away as a result. Emma had joined him less than two weeks later, apparently from a broken heart.
Andrew and Ryan were devastated. All the more so that they had not been able to attend their funerals. They also had the difficult task of advising all the Blue Bay staff of the passing of their beloved previous employers.

By now, everyone was experiencing a bad case of cabin fever. As the Easter weekend approached with no end to the lockdown in sight, in fact there was talk of it being extended, Ryan suggested they provision 'Belle Catherine' and sail off into the wild blue yonder for the weekend. The weather was forecast to be sunny and mild with a fairly good winds. The one advantage of being out at sea on your own yacht was that contact with strangers would be minimal and it was a perfect way to break the monotony of lockdown.

Andrew advised Darren and Kerry of the plan and invited the young couple to join them. On the Tuesday and Wednesday before the long weekend they drove to the marina to get 'Belle Catherine' spruced up and prepared for the short trip. Yvonne joined them, along with Darren and Kerry for the preparations, and as 'Belle Catherine' had been left pretty much clean anyway after lockdown, it did not take much to get her pristine once again, with Andrew, Kerry and Yvonne handling all the cleaning while Ryan and Darren made all the technical checks.

Fortunately their go-to suppliers were still operating as the provided stevedoring for the harbour, so getting supplies was no problem and the order was delivered to the dockside on Thursday morning. Once it had all been stowed away, Darren motored over to the refuelling dock to fill the diesel tanks and then had the water tanks filled as well. Everyone came aboard on Thursday evening to get settled and be ready for an early morning sail away.
As the yacht came alive around him, with all the familiar aromas and noises, and the chatter of children over the deeper hum of adult conversation, Andrew could not help smiling. It all felt so right and he realised he had missed it a lot. Rarely had 'Belle Catherine' had as many guests on board, for the first time in a very long while all six cabins were in use, but it just felt right! The only problem had been to find a secure hiding place for the Easter eggs!

Apart from Andrew, Ryan, the children and Rascal, the remaining members of the party were David and Janice, Darren and Kerry, Claude, François and Toby, and Yvonne with her husband Jeremy and son Nathan.
Rascal was sooooo happy to have his little friend on board and the two of them promptly got comfortable on Rascals bed in its nook in the master cabin.

Dinner that evening was a lazy affair, Andrew having opted to just get some family size lasagne from Woolworths along with salad and cheesy garlic bread with ice cream for dessert.

Ryan, Andrew and Darren got them underway just before dawn on Good Friday with Darren at the helm. As he pointed the yachts bows through the harbour mouth and out into the expanse of Table Bay, the two young owners stood, arms around waists, on the trampoline and felt the bows rise to meet the swells. They heard the mainsail being raised above and behind them and the muted throb of the engines died as Darren cut them. The brisk breeze caught the sail, it snapped taught, and they were sailing. Andrew could not resist lifting his face and inhaling deeply.
Ryan keyed his small lapel radio.

"Captain, do you want to fly the spinnaker?", he spoke with a grin. The reply came back with more grins,

"Captain to deck hands. Raise the spinnaker!" They both turned to glare at Darren, but grinning at the same time, then opened the sail locker and manhandled the spinnaker sausage into position before pulling it clear of its cocoon. The impressive white and blue chevronned sail billowed out over the bows and 'Belle Catherine' leapt away, heading for the channel between Bloubergstrand and Robben Island. They cruised past The Cameron, still bathed in shadow and shortly after, Blue Bay Lodge, that gleamed in the early morning light, the flags fluttering on her flagpoles at the foot of the garden. Andrew wondered when it would all be back to normal. The pandemic had cost them. Not only in lives lost and changed, but financially as well. Even though they were secure, he was very aware that there was very little income, 'The Cameron' being the lifesaver on that front, but at the same time they were hemorrhaging money. Every member of the staff were being paid full salaries and the basic services for the three properties had to be maintained and paid for. The shining light was the game lodge that was almost totally self-sufficient, needing only diesel fuel as a backup to keep the services operational.

They had decided to sail up the West Coast as it was more secluded and more interesting. One of the plans was to find a nice quiet cove that they could anchor in and pull some fresh crayfishout of the water. Ryan had checked that the yachts crayfish permit was valid and and on board, and Jeremy had brought his own permit as well. As they were only permitted four per day per permit, they would need to spread their fishing over two days to have sufficient for everyone.

The southeaster had 'Belle Catherine' clipping along at a good rate of knots and the slowly coasted to stop and dropped the anchor off the small fishing village of Paternoster in the late afternoon, alarmingly close to some rocks in Andrew's opinion. But Ryan and Jeremy wanted to see if they could pull their first crayfish out of the pools between the rocks.
Darren and Ryan made sure that 'Belle Catherine' was one hundred percent secure before the dinghy was lowered so that Ryan and Jeremy could go exploring. They did not go far, only using the dinghy to get even closer to the rock pools. The method of catching the crayfish was actually quite simple.

First, limpets were pried off the rocks and the meat threaded onto straightened wire coat hangers, the hook left as is. Then a rope was attached to the coat hanger which was then dropped into the rock pool. To Ryan's amaze-ment, within minutes the rope in his hand was jerking madly.
On instruction from Jeremy, he gently pulled the rope in and, using a large net, Jeremy swept in underneath the water and lifted out about a dozen crayfish, all refusing steadfastly to relinquish their grip on the limpet meat. Some were hopelessly undersize and those Jeremy gently prised off and dropped back into the water. The larger ones, four in total, were collected and dropped into to cooler box filled with sea water. It took less than forty-five minutes for them to pull their daily allocation, and could quite easily have pulled enough for everyone. But, mindful that they may be under observation, they puttered back to the yacht. They would repeat the process in the morning before departure.

Darren then moved 'Belle Catherine' to a safer location off the main beach, puting her bows into the soft sand just before low tide and got her secure. The decision about what to do for dinner was taken out of their hands when a group of the local fisherman came down the beach offering fresh snoek for sale. They had thoughtfully brought with them small bags of sweet potatoes, a traditional side dish, so dinner was quickly organised.
The potatoes were par boiled then wrapped in foil to be finished over the coals with the fish which was basted with a mixture of garlic, butter, mustard and apricot preserve. Yvonne and Janice rustled up a large green salad while Kerry mixed a self-saucing chocolate pudding to bake for dessert. It certainly wasn't the gourmet catering that 'Belle Catherine' was accustomed to, but it was homely and satisfying and more than enough for everyone. While they waited for the fish to cook, they sat round the table in the aft cockpit chatting, enjoying some wine and beer and salivating at the aromas wafting from the BBQ.

Andrew and Yvonne spend some time laboriously pulling as many bones as they could from the fish - the only downside to snoek is its bones- and then everyone piled in with a warning to be aware of any remaining bones.
The fish was lipsmacking, fingerlicking good. Smokey, succulent and piquant with its glaze and the slightly creamy sweet potatoes and salad were a perfect accompaniment. Kerry served the warm chocolate pudding with a choice of ice cream or custard. One or two had both. Then it was just sit and relax with good coffee and some liqueurs.

As the tide came in again, 'Belle Catherine' lifted off the sand and Darren allowed her to drift back into the bay before securing her again. The underwater hull lights were turned on and she floated serenely in her pool of greenish water.
Janice and Yvonne got the children bathed and ready for bed once they were down for the night, the adults remained in the cockpit enjoying the balmy autumn weather.

"I still cannot believe how quiet it is", Andrew murmured, gazing at the lights winking on the shore. "It's the Easter weekend! Normally, these spots along the coast would be buzzing with visitors for the weekend. Yet, it is so eerily quiet. I sometimes wonder if things will ever be the same again", he added wistfully. Ryan put his arm over his husbands shoulder and pulled him close.

"We humans, and especially South Africans, are a very resilient species, my love. We got through two World Wars, we got through the transition from apartheid to a democratic government, and we will get through this as well. Sure, it will take time to fully recover, although to be fair, some might not. That is the reality of the times we live in"
Andrew rested his head on Ryan's chest.

"That's the part that really bothers me. What will be left when it is all over? I know, without a doubt, that Devlin-Major will be fine, albeit just a little bit poorer. But I also know that there are at least four lodges in the portfolio that will not be around when things open up again. And while I know it has nothing to do with anything we have done, I still feel guilty for allowing it to happen. Can you understand that?"

"Andrew", Claude replied, "You surely cannot believe that. I suspect I know of the lodges you refer to. And you did everything you could for them. You bent over backwards for them. But they refused to accept the Devlin-Major way of doing things and now it will come back to bite them"

"I don't care about the business per ce. My concern is what will happen to the workers. The owners will just go their merry way, happy with what they have in their bank accounts and blaming Covid for their failures. They have very little in place to help those who will no longer have jobs. And the thought of that just kills me. I feel like throwing up when I think of it", Andrew replied passionately, tears swimming in his eyes.

"Drew, don't go upsetting yourself over this. It is not worth it. Let's wait and see what eventually happens and then you and I can sit down and try to find a solution", Ryan said firmly. "Okay, no more morbid business talk. I'm ready for bed. Darren, I don't think there is any need for watches. Can I leave it to you to close her up for the night and set the intruder and proximity alarms?"

He waited for Darrens nod of confirmation before standing and pulling Andrew to his feet. He looked around the remaining group.

"Good night everyone. See you in the morning. I'm going to snuggle with my husband and give him some TLC"

As they moved towards the stairs to the master cabin, the others were all rising and moving as well. In their cabin they checked on the children who were all asleep in the midships cabin with Rascal and Toby nestled under the foot locker. They could hear his tail thumping when he became aware of them and both bent down to pet him and give him a scratch. Andrew checked his water and litter box and then quietly slid the communicating door to the master cabin closed. They moved around one another with the ease of familiarity, taking turns in the head and shower, before sliding between the cool sheets. Andrew scooted back against Ryan and sighed deeply as he felt his husbands arms wrap around him. He lifted Ryan's hands to his lips and kissed them and then held their hands together on the sheets.

"Night my love. Thank you. I love you", he whispered softly, feeling suddenly very weary. He burrowed deeper into Ryan's arms.

"Night Drew. Love you too. Everything will be alright, I promise". He felt Andrew's head nodding against his chest.

"If you say so my love", he heard Andrew murmur before they were both fast asleep.