You were the best hostel matron/mother to me.

Too many special times but my favourites were you teaching me to drive in your white Chrysler neon that no one else was allowed to drive,

Not being able to speak a word of Afrikaans but you never missed an episode of “noooot for noooot”,

Getting excited to go with you to “liquor land” only to be disappointed that it was an Afrikaans sweet shop called “lekker land”,

Fetching us intoxicated student teachers from wherever we were at any time of the day or night,

Turning a blind eye to prank calls off the hostel tickie box,

Making the sick and lame bunk down with you in your flat if we were sick,

Telling me numerous times to bugger off,

Sneaking me food and yourself food out the hostel kitchen on a Sunday morning while the kitchen matron lost her mind about it,

Afternoons at the tea station eating sandwiches and drinking coffee for hours on end,

Your particular dislike of rat poop (do you know I found rat poop this big in the dorms?!),

If we couldn’t find you we were not surprised to hear you’d disappeared for a few days to go gambling,

Your British terms for everything, your kindness and generosity had no end,

Never telling a soul about our shenanigans but always knowing what mischief we were up to,

The expression on the Defy man’s face when he asked you what size freezer you wanted to buy and you telling him very seriously that it needed to be able to take 10 bodies at least!

Driving me countless times to write exams and then fetching me after and always a treat to make the exam pains better!

A beaut through and through. ❤️