Escaping the rat-race
My husband and I couldn't have made a better decision than moving out of the city. Parys is a small town in the countryside in the Free State province. It is just over an hour's drive from Johannesburg, with a population of almost 11,000 (according to the 2001 census). Coming from Randburg, with its population of 133,000, this is honest small-town living for us. What makes Parys special? I guess the most important thing is that we now own a house. After 16 years of renting, during which time we could have almost settled a bond, we were lucky to have found a dwelling we could call our own. Living in the countryside means we get to see the night sky. No city lights to dim the beauty of planets, stars and other heavenly bodies. Before moving here, the last time I saw the Milky Way was when I visited the Johannesburg Planetarium as a child. On Monday, I watched squirrels quarrel over something next to the ...