Ed Eastwood passed away last week. He told me a story a couple of weeks ago about his time as horticulturist at the local municipality. He became friendly with Erasmus, a massive boer from the mountain, who had to look after a gang of labourers. So Erasmus and Ed started having their lunch together everyday. Ed with a few dainty sandwiches and Erasmus with his pap and vleis.
One day Erasmus came into Ed's office and saw a book, with a humanoid skull on the cover, on the table. Ed was studying archaeology. He raised his voice: "Hoe oud is die aarde?!" Ed stammered and then said he thinks it is about 5 billion years old, give or take..... Erasmus shouted "kak!!" and hit the table with his big paw.
He then told Ed that he worked it all out. It took him about four weeks with his Bible and some notes he made on the back of an old packet of Gunston 30's. He added all the years from Adam to Revelations and came to the conclusion that the earth is exactly 6 432 years old.
On one Sunday he called the Dopper dominee to talk to him behind the strelitzias opposite the konsistorie. He asked the dominee how old he thinks the earth is. When dominee replied with a very unsatisfactory guess of a few billion years, he declared the Doppers as being unfaithful to the Word and joined the AGS. Ed and Erasmus thereafter had their lunches separately.
Ed became a very successful researcher of San paintings and culture in Limpopo and wrote a book about it.
