PART 2.

What This Book Will Do for You

Too many people are defeated by everyday problems of life.

They go around whining and struggling through their days with a sense of resentment at what they feel, are the bad breaks life has dealt them.

I have written this book to suggest certain checks and balances I have applied since the dream above, called the 17^th STEERINGWHEEL and to share examples of how not to burn, when your life is a burning car wreck.

I have lived through every one of these 17 elements of survival, and to show you how, Just like Lewis Hamilton I too stepped out of my symbolic, burning car, completely unscathed and victoriously carrying with him, the 17th.Steeringwheel.

I show you exactly, that you too can enjoy peace of mind, an endless flow of core energy and vibrant good health about which, I have no doubt, since I am living proof of its success. If you apply my system of simple procedures that have brought about remarkable benefits in my life. I am including several affirmations which may seem excessive but have been the cornerstone of my success.

Having said this, I am in no way trivializing the tragedies and and hardships life deals us, nor am I allowing them to control my mind to the extent, where they take over and rule my thought patterns.

I have learned a simple method of how to cast them from my mind, by refusing to be dominated by them and to channel spiritual power through my thoughts I was finally able, to like Lewis Hamilton, fearlessly stand up inside the searing flame engulfed cockpit and walk away unscathed.

I was able to do so by not permitting the “flames of doubt and fear,” to destroy my well being and happiness. You are ever only defeated by something, if you are willing to be. I will show you precisely how I “willed” myself, not to be.

The last thing I want from this tutorial, is for you to become flustered by a bunch of confusing and boring crap. I make use of simple and practical actions for my readers to perform, in the shortest possible way, to achieve and maintain a satisfying, happy, and worthwhile life.

I will have achieved my goal, if the reader who was feeling a sense of need will have learned a practical method which he can readily apply with the help of God, to have the kind of life he deeply longs for.

If you read this book carefully, absorbing the tips and practical formulas and principles I have included below, you will soon start to notice an astonishing improvement, welling up inside yourself. You will be able to change whatever the circumstances you find yourself in, taking control over them rather than being ruled by them. You will soon see your relationships improving.

As your self-worth and esteem increases, you will become a better liked person and more popular. Once mastered, these principles will instil an all round aura of well being as you will have reached a level of vibrant health, not previously experienced. You will also become a more assertive and influential individual.

How can you be sure that in practising my principles, they will deliver results? My answer is simple, these are my own life lessons, and my book is the natural culmination of whatsoever calamity I had faced during the past 64 years, and how I chose to deal with them, by applying those exact procedures every time and how those actions had unleashed incredible supernatural inner forces of good, frequently defying medical and social evidentiary“facts”.

A few examples, I want to share with you was when I was diagnosed with emphysema a so called terminal disease but I refused to believe it, it had vanished without trace after applying the same principles I write about in this book and even now, 30 years on, there is still no trace of the emphysema.

On another occasion I had been fired innocently and handed my severance pay check from the paymaster and had said goodbye to the paymaster himself and several of my colleagues.

After telling my wife, who knew about my being regularly harassed by this boss, we both knew I was innocent, I suddenly received an apparent clairvoyant “message” that I was to return the next day, give back the check to the paymaster and to continue working and that the next time that manager tells me I'm fired, he will be fired himself.

Going back and handing back the check to the paymaster which he received as though it was an everyday transaction, was one of the hardest things I had to do but the fact that neither he nor my colleagues remembered anything from the day before, was even more astonishing as it was as though their memories of the day before had been erased.

One month later, after having had several discussions with the same man, since even he seemed to have been reprogrammed, after returning my greeting with a nod, he suddenly stopped dead in his tracks. “Hey you, he shouted.

“Didn't I fire you last month?” he wanted to know. For a brief moment I hesitated then replied that he had. “So what the hell are you doing back here?” I couldn't say that God told me to come back, as he would surely baulk at that.

“I didn't think you were being fair as I am innocent so I started working again.” He glared at me and spoke the words that where to be his undoing, his swansong: “Well, I will show you who is the boss around here, You report to my office at 2:00 pm. And I will personally put you off the property.” he shouted, and continued walking towards his office.

When I later arrived at his office, I noticed his briefcase was gone! Anyone ever looking for him could immediately tell if he was at work or not, as he left the briefcase permanently on top of his desk. His office was a large open plan arrangement, half of which was shared with his boss, the Mill Director.

I asked the director where he was and he asked me why I needed to know. I briefly told him my story and that I was supposed to have been fired. “Well, he asked, do you want to be fired?” No sir.” I replied. “So, carry on with your work then.” he replied..

I remembered what the voice had told me, that if anyone should tell me I'm fired, that same person would be fired instead, so I asked:”Sir, could you tell me when he will be in?” “He won't be in any time soon, cos, I fired him!” No one uses that kind of language on me and gets away with it.

It had happened then! The director fired him, I thought.”Fired him sir?” I asked. “I warned him to stop but he just kept right on swearing like a trouper. “So I told him, “Say one more word like that, and you're fired! And he did, so I fired him...”

I continued working for the company and about a year later I was in a local bank when I spotted him. He recognised me and came up to me. “Hello mister Hartslief, he said. “Remember the day I wanted to fire you? He asked. “Off course I do.” I replied.

“Well, that day I was going to fire you but the director fired me.” I told him that I was aware of it. “Yes, he replied, “But what you don't know is how it all went down.” Before I could say anything, he started telling me the details. “I came into the office and was walking past my boss' desk, when I was suddenly compelled to turn and walk up to him. 

Not knowing what was forcing me to do so, I just stood there looking at him and wanted to walk away but stood “frozen” in front of his desk.”

The next moment the director asked what I wanted. I wanted to say that I had forgotten and then simply walk back to my desk but what happened next I cannot fathom to this day...

“Why don't you just f---off!” I said, I had never used those words in my life before, I wanted to apologise profusely but what came from my lips was just another profanity. What on earth is going on with you? He asked. 

The only sound that came out was another curse. I was as shocked as he was. Finally, he warned me that he was going to fire me if I swore at him just once more. “F---you! I said and then he fired me.”

All the time I was listening to his story, I couldn’t believe my own ears. His parting words, were that he had been giving that incident in his life a lot of attention and knew that he was being unreasonable when he had first lent his ears to rumours about me and in spite of having later established that the accusations leveled against me were groundless, he still went ahead and tried to fire me. He then apologised for putting my family and me through such anguish that day. I forgave him and we went our separate ways.

In the light of the above strange events, and hundreds more, whether you believe the above incidents or not and also what you decide to do is entirely up to you, it always is. As much as I would like to be able reach out of the book and grab hold of you and show you the world through my eyes, I cannot force you to learn from my experiences.

I can only try to help and encourage you to follow another path, one, which emanates, not from a place of scarcity and fear but from an inner-place of courage, seasoned competence and hope.

I am free you see. Why? Because I freed myself after I discovered I was in a place I did not want to be in and and had to reach way down deep inside of me, at the very core of my being, and found that secret inner power Jesus had, a power we reach for, only when the chips are really down, for up to that point, you’ve always been doing things your way, only this time around you are failing dismally and there are no more quick fixes available to you. You are in utter spiritual darkness.

I was also driven in desperation to this new place having preferred to learn the hard way, but you don’t have to take the same road as I had, unless you choose to. Many of us, myself included need to learn the hard way until we are ready to travel a new more excellent path.

Whatever you do is up to you of course. I hope my story and these ideas I present to you will inspire you and help you to break your mental chains and live the life you were meant to.

This is your first step.

You need to affirm, that your life's dream starts today !

Do the extraordinary, and banish all despair from your life. Here is a key question to ask yourself, starting today. What can you do, that will make a difference? What can you do during this economic crisis? What positive thing can you in fact, do when everything in your life has gone wrong? What can you do when your money has run out or when you don't feel well and all has gone bad?

I give my broad answer first. History proves, that humans do the most astounding things, regardless of their situation. Humans are incredibly resilient and are able perform unbelievable things, despite the most calamitous situations.

Why can humans do such remarkable things? The answer is simply,because they themselves are remarkable. People are hugely different from other creatures. 

When a dog starts with a bunch of wheat, he usually ends up with wheat, this is because he's a dog. Humans however,can turn wheat into bread. Humans are able, to turn nothing into something, dimes into dollars, and chaos into order. The reason we can do such phenomenal things, is because we are extraordinary.

I challenge you, to reach deep down inside of yourself right now, as I did, and you'll come up with dozens more of those remarkable human gifts or talents.

 They're there for sure, just waiting to be found and put to use. Using those amazing gifts you have gained access to an awesome power with which, you can change anything for yourself.

However, unless you do this, nothing is going to happen to change your life no webinar, video, motivational podcast, or Bestseller can do this for you.

 I know what I'm talking about, I have been where you are now as you have just read in my story above. If you possessed God-like power to make anything you desire appear in an instant, what would you manifest?

• A clean bill of health?
• A new home for you and your family?
• A soul mate?
• Huge financial wealth?

Well… however strange this is going to sound, Sandy Gilad, a Harvard behavioural expert has recently discovered evidence of what I have known to be true for the past 45 years, and many who have tried it, are now describing this as “The Universal God Switch.”

Watch This Awe-Inspiring Video Now…

Why are they calling it a “God Switch?” Because when you flip it… It’s like you’re in control of the entire Universe.

ANYTHING you desire… Health… Wealth… Love… is magically drawn to you like a giant magnet!

What is even more remarkable, is it only takes as little as 60 seconds to flip the Switch. Just 1 minute to bring miracles into your life…

As you can imagine, her discovery is causing quite a stir and is reverberating all across the Internet, as more and more people are reaching inside themselves and flipping the switch.

I even read somewhere where one person declared on social media that this brilliant breakthrough should win a Nobel prize!

It’s all revealed inside Sandy Gilad's free video presentation above.

Imagine how ASTONISHED you'll be when you finally realize what the writer meant when he wrote this Bible code in Deuteronomy 30 which only a handful have understood and had prospered by applying it to their lives:

“For the commandment which I command thee this day, it is not hidden from thee, neither is it far off.

12. It is not in heaven that thou should say, who shall go up for us to heaven and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it?
13. Neither is it beyond the sea, that thou should say, who shall go over the sea for us and bring it unto us that we may hear it and do it.
14. But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth and in thy heart that thou may do it

You must reach inside your own heart and flip your own switch to see those same healing Miracles that Jesus wanted humans so desperately to see.

You are in charge of your own soul and your own destiny and cannot hold any Shaman, Pastor or Priest accountable, here is evidence of why I say this:

Deuteronomy Chapter 30 verse: 15 “See, I have set before you this day: life eternal and prosperity or death and evil.”


Life and prosperity or death and evil, your choice entirely!

If that text challenges you to take action, you will soon realize that the full power of the universe, has always been locked up inside of you, waiting for you to change. What I'm saying is, if you don't like how things are going for you right now... reach inside of you and change it.

If something is lacking in your life, change it. If something doesn't suit you; change it. If something makes you unhappy, change it. You don't even have to be the same person after today. Jesus himself had to change from Jesus Christ, to Christ Jesus (Emmanuel, God inside of him, or as Sandy Gilad calls it, (the switch).

There were a few others, who who flipped their switches inside of themselves:

• Abram went up the mountain of sacrifice and instantly he became Abraham,
• Saul arrived at the “crossroads and flipped the switch on persecution and dogma in his life and changed into Paul the Apostle

“The Damascus Road: Saul Converted"

“Then Saul, still breathing threats and


murder against the disciples of the Lord, 


went to the high priest.


and asked letters from him to the synagogues


 of Damascus, so that if he found any who


 were of the Way, whether men or women, he


 might bring them bound to Jerusalem.”

“As he journeyed he came near Damascus, and 

suddenly a light shone around him from 

heaven.” (inside of himself?). (an AHA 

Moment?)

“Then he fell to the ground,” (in supplication?)

 and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul

, why are you persecuting Me?” ( Stop blaming 

others, flip the inner switch man!)

5 And he said, “Who are You, Lord?” (Hey Saul,

 this is your conscience speaking.)

Then the Lord said, “I am Jesus, whom you are

 persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against 

the goads.” (Just reach down into your heart and

 flip the switch right now!)

If you don't like your present address, change it-

you're not a planted tree!

If there is one thing you should get excited about, it's your built-in power, to change things to the results you desire. Turn your negatives into successes, now, wouldn’t that be exciting?

Some positive quotes to memorize:

• "You must always live for today, for yesterday is gone, and tomorrow may never come."

• "Reach for the heavens , look toward the future, be all that you can be, not just what you are, Our dreams are defined by our hearts, our future is designed by our dreams."
  By: John Denver

• Whatever the mind can conceive and believe.. it can achieve.'
  By: Napoleon Hill, (Think & Grow Rich)

In my story, you see frequent reference to dreams. This is because for most of my life, I have come to rely on them as my main source of divine protection.

Although dream exploration is as ancient as recorded history itself, science is only now becoming aware of their significance. They have now reached a conclusion, that the periods during which we dream, is a state called REM sleep. During this state, the entire body becomes paralysed apart from respiration and the eyes which, while in REM, jerk around In rapid motion.

Certain higher animals like dogs and cats exhibit the same rapid eye movements while sleeping. Even though we cannot ask them whether they are dreaming, scientists believe that they are. The strange phenomenon called deja vu' is definitely connected to dreaming. The word De' Javu in French means “Already seen.” Like a preview.

Teaching An Elephant not to Dance

No one will argue that an Elephant is the most powerful land animal we have on earth and is capable of huge physical force and feats of strength. Observe an Elephant in the wild and you will see it has the ability to push down massive trees, just to get the berries from a branch out of its reach. I recall a recent You Tube video where an elephant in the Kruger national park, overturns a car 4x4 RV.

Yet anyone who has been to a circus or a zoo will notice that Adult Elephants are tied down with a simple rope from their leg to a stake in the ground. To the observer this makes no sense. How can a simple rope hold down the world’s most powerful and majestic animal?

The fact is, it does this very successfully. The rope keeps this enormous strength under full control at all times. How is this so? Wouldn’t the rope simply break or the peg leave the ground the instant the elephant applied even the smallest amount of force.

The answer is yes, it would absolutely break with little effort. However, this would only happen if the Elephant was able to break (not the rope), but its years of training and the way it was taught to think: its mental rope.

What most people don’t know is that Elephant trainers could never do this with a wild Elephant. This is only possible with an Elephant they have trained since it was barely able to walk.

They manage this by taking the baby Elephant and tying its leg to a very deep stake with a solid chain that the baby Elephant is incapable of breaking with its relatively limited strength. After con-straining the baby Elephant this way for some years, it begins to realize pulling and trying to escape the chain and stake is impossible.

As the Elephant grows and gets used to the idea that the stake and chain is unbreakable, the trainer can attach just about any old flimsy rope to the Elephant’s foot and tie it to a stake of limited strength, relative to the Elephant’s abilities, and the Elephant will be secure. It may be obvious to you by now why I wrote this book.

Elephants are extremely smart if you observe their behaviour. But human beings are even smarter right? We have incredible brains and ability to use logic better than any other animal on earth.

We go to school for 13 years and some onto higher education for 3-6 more years, yet we work our whole lives to make a living because we are told that’s the way to get ahead. “Get a good job, work hard and success will come”, we are told by people we trust and admire.

For some this is true. They will become successful working long hours; however on this road sacrifice their wives husbands, relationships with their children and health, working hard for ’the man’. For the majority it would seem, no matter how much they try, what they hoped they would gain by working hard becomes a lost cause.

Now if you are one of the relative few I congratulate you and wish you continued success. If, however, you are one of the many like me who found themselves wondering where the great promise has lead you, I would like to suggest that perhaps there is another way.

Now is the time for you to escape the mental constraints of the ‘rope’ (your thoughts) that you have around your feet and begin to use your true strength and immense capabilities to live out your full potential.

Only when you realize this and are prepared to break years of limiting beliefs about what you can and can’t do, can you truly be free. If not, you will simply join the growing momentum of those who are frustrated, unhappy and discontent with their current paths, yet still allow themselves to be held back by their constricting beliefs.

You have probably heard the saying: “there has not been one person lying on their death bed that expressed regret about not spending more time in the office”.

In fact, this saying reflects that amongst the many regrets people have at that final period in their lives, working more is not one of them. It’s rather, the regret of not working less that always seems to be mentioned. “

ANDRE' GEORGE HARTSLIEF


TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction – What this book can give you: 

 1. Have Faith in Yourself..........................................
2. A Calm Mind Generates Power............................
3.     How to Have Constant Energy.............................
 4. Try Prayer Power..................................................
5. How to Create Your Own Happiness....................
 6. Stop Raging and Rankling....................................
7. Expect the Best and Get It....................................
8. Never Accept Defeat.............................................
9. How to Smash the Worry Habit.............................
10. Power to Solve Personal Problems.......................
  11.   How to Apply Faith in Healing................................
12.  Try This, When Stamina Sags...............................
13.    Become Re-Made By New Thoughts....................
      14.   Relax for Instant Power......................................... 
15.   How to Get People to Like You.............................
 16.   A Recipe for Heartache.........................................
 17.  How to Tap Into That Higher Power...................... 


      Epilogue............

PART 1 "17th STEERINGWHEEL"

Copyright © 2016 AGHMarketing

All Rights Reserved

 The 17^th Steeringwheel is a German designed Top Secret set of 17 vital checks & balances, to ensure that a person may walk away from a near fatal crash. It is not a formula 1 systems-laden steering wheel, in any sense of the word but rather, it is about saving yourself from hyper-stress burnout, by walking away with all your mental faculties intact, avoiding a complete systems meltdown and able to teach others how to achieve the same.

Andre' is a man who has a dream. A very ordinary dream, mostly involving watching his granddaughter grow, and spending lots more time with his wife and his co-writer dog Anana, and consuming loads of Biltong (beef jerky) and coffee it's his dream nevertheless:

14. “For God speaks once, yea twice, yet man perceives it not.

15. In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls

upon men, in slumbering upon the bed;

16. Then He opens the ears of men, and seals their instruction,

17. That he may withdraw man from his purpose and hide pride

from man,

18. He keeps back his soul from the pit and his life from perishing

by the sword.”

Job: 33

I had a very strange dream recently, in it, I dreamed, that I was required to shoot a film of Lewis Hamilton, the Mercedes formula 1 racing champion, testing a top secret special, German designed steering wheel called the “17^th Steeringwheel.” As I looked on, members of his crew were preparing a raised area at the side of an unfamiliar race track, using what seemed like sand, topped with a white substance like snow.

Hamilton did a single lap around the track then deliberately bore down at full throttle on the mound at the road side. As the car struck it, I saw through the lens of my camera, how the front part of the car disintegrated and burst into flames.

The flames quickly engulfed the entire car, which had suddenly become airborne for a brief moment, then slowly it fell, hitting the mound of sand. As I watched, with the camera rolling as the mangled fireball continued careering headlong along the crest of the mound, Lewis's slightly prostrate figure, was clearly visible through the sheet of fire and thick black smoke coming from the ruptured fuel tank underneath and to the back of the cockpit and the smouldering right front tyre.

As he sat there, inside the flame engulfed cockpit, I saw his gloved hands move upwards towards his helmet and holding it firmly in place. When the mangled and burning wreckage, finally came to rest several meters along the road. I noticed Lewis slowly stand up inside the fiery cockpit, remove the steering wheel and jumping out of the now, fiercely burning wreck, Hamilton was unscathed!

Just before waking up from the dream, I heard a voice saying:”Watch carefully, as the steeringwheel has nothing to do with Hamilton surviving certain death but it is really about the 17 urgent lessons you learned and applied in your own burning wreck of a life. 

Hamilton's crash was simply a parable to show you, the similarity of him sitting inside of what looked to you, to be a fatal car crash from which he couldn’t possible escape and then beating the odds by climbing out unaided and unharmed, just as you had done throughout your life. You need to share those 17 steps you took to climb out of your own burning car wreck of a life...

Doomed to crash and burn, that was on the cards for me, well, it had been the case until I started to apply the 17 escape elements. My story is about my wife and I who had been going through what felt like the umpteenth cyclic crisis in our many years of married life. It seemed as though our family were like cursed hamsters, doomed to run on an eternal evil treadmill of mishaps.

Seriously, at the time, we seemed to live from crisis to crisis most days of our marriage. Don't get me wrong, my life wasn't all bad, because, running parallel to and briefly criss crossing our paths intermittently, was always an undeniable inner force of incredible goodness always instilling a smidgen of uncanny optimism in the face of calamity.

It is like a favourite author, Dave Blanchard , writer of [Today, I Begin a New Life], wrote, “Dreams don't just happen, success doesn't just happen. Happiness doesn't just happen. All of these, are intentionally created.”

A good place to start my story, is when several years ago, we were going through a particularly dry spell, I was an insurance salesman based in a farming community which was experiencing a bad drought and one by one our branch's clients were cancelling their policies.

In spite of trying to salvage what business we could , our branch soon closed down and amalgamated with other divisional branches. I had started freelancing for several companies but the drought soon seeped into those businesses as well.

After toughing the ensuing general business slump, I searched further afield. I spoke to my friend about marketing my resume' in his town 1000 miles away when he offered me a job in his own company and was being fetched by him, only to discover, that while we were making our way there, his business had suffered a mysterious fatal financial blow, leaving him practically penniless over night and me jobless and homeless in the same process. I was starting life over, with a total sum of $40 in my pocket and 1000 miles away from family and familiar surroundings.

Yet, that first night we moved into an apartment, less than 200 meters from his company! It cost me our entire cash reserve of $40 which the new landlord had attached as a kind of deposit. “Great!” I thought, “We now had a roof over our heads.”

The next morning, at the crack of dawn, someone was impatiently banging on our front door... It was an irate village local complaining about how his watch needing a battery and him, running late for work because of it.

I was about to ask him how on God's earth, his problem had, had anything to do with me, when it seeped through my foggy brain, that I owned a sizeable quantity of watch batteries and watchmaker -tools, packed away in one of my as yet unpacked boxes. “Who sent you to me?” I asked.

This only served to infuriate my “client” all the more. “Are you drunk?” he asked. This was probably a normal form of salutation, since the town of Roberson was situated slap bang in the middle of several wine estates of the Western Cape.“No one needs to send me to you, Braum.” Braum? who the hell was he? I wondered.

I started ruffling through the dozens of boxes stacked everywhere. “Here”, my wife said and handed me the watch repair kit. “Who told him that you fix watches?” she wanted to know. “Search me”, I replied, walking hurriedly down the passage to where the agitated man stood in the doorway.

I gave the watch a quick lube job, replaced the battery and made my first $1 That day, several other locals mysteriously stopped by for various watch adjustments and repairs. At close of business, I had made the grand total of $10, we now had electricity a hot bath each and a food for the week and more importantly, a better than zero shot at surviving this thing!

Robertson was one of dozens of small towns in the western Cape, dotting the Boland (High country) region's core industry, wine making. Work of any kind was virtually non existent or at the very least, had a serious propensity towards either servicing the farms or supplying of goods to the proliferation of wine estates.

We had to survive by our wits and as such, much of the work that did come along, was grabbed in a heartbeat, the logistics, were largely sorted on the fly. I recall, that first day, my wife was busy tirelessly unpacking what seemed like an endless array of boxes and crates, the sum total of our roller-coaster life together. “I am bushed,'she exclaimed.

“The effort has just been too much for me. You won't be seeing me again before noon.” she remarked. “Good thinking!” I replied: “Take as long as you like, you’ve earned it and you'll be needing your strength as I want you to be fully perceptive and scintillating when we start going over our survival options in this town.”

Typically, It was long before noon, when she came into the kitchen where I was busy repairing several watches, collected that morning. I was still none the wiser as to whom my mysterious, benefactor, mister Braum was, where he now was or what had ultimately become of him.

I was to eventually discover that he had moved to a neighbouring town 50 miles away and that he had done so, about a year before my move into his rented home in Robertson!

I felt divinely blessed by his absence. I'm curious though, what the odds are, that a watchmaker moves out of a house, only to have another one from a 1000 miles away, move in a year later, to continue his legacy. Astounding! I thought.

“Braum, wake up! I must talk to you.” Wake up, man, wake up, are you drunk! It was one of the native labourers again. Braum must have been a serious imbiber of fermented grape juice, to be frequently so addressed. The irate summoner, stood there clutching a yellow Caterpillar brand shoebox.

“Hey man, where did you disappear to?” He asked. “I'm sorry?” I stammered, “I was, um... in hospital with my appendix. I lied.” “Shit”, he remarked. “Were there complications?” “Um.., not really.” I replied. “Why do you ask?” “Do you realize that you have been gone for over a year?” “I have been running backwards and forwards like a frisky young squirrel on Cocaine, dodging my watch repair customers around every turn.” 

“Well, I'm back and more than ready to start working again.” I replied. “What do you need?” I asked. “I need for you to fix these damn watches, and wall clocks, is what I need.” he replied. And so, Robertson Watchmakers was re-born!

The really puzzling thing to me, was that no one questioned my apparent identity change! It was as though I somehow either resembled the enigmatic mister Braum or maybe it just didn't matter. I continued delivering my best work, as though my life depended on it, which of course it did.

I repaired from the daintiest of ladies watches, Patek Philippe  to some large pendulum grandfather clocks. Such were the standards and business practice I had set for myself,  of perpetual over-delivery, that I was once asked to service the huge 2 meter town steeple clock which had strangely missed its “Westminster” noon chime, the day before.

Always up for a challenge, that was one situation I did not relish for a second. The plan was to begin my ascent up the spire at 1 minute before noon. I had exhausted all possible avenues of escape, having already explained to the town Mayor that I had never tackled a steeple clock before and would not know where to start. He on the other hand was expecting to be re-elected and the first stopping of the 100 year old clock while on his “watch”, just wouldn’t fly.

I was halfway up the almost vertical spire stairs, counting off the seconds to the noon chime, just past the halfway mark, I was suddenly greeted by the deafening noon chime... The old clock was spot-on as always and matching my super accurate Seiko quartz wristwatch perfectly, quite literally saving me by the bell, which had mysteriously started running without any action from me, apart from my prayers. I am not aware of any other such similar incident anywhere else in the world.

Suffice it to say, that its start-up caused more than just my own relieved sigh, that day...

The saying, that any publicity is good, held true for me that day, for besides my family and a very nervous mayor, the town's folk were never quite sure what had gone down that noonday.

I had parried every probing question like a world class fencing champ in the days and months that followed. The patter of feet, crossing my threshold in the wake of that enigmatic day, soon lead to my renting a tiny room with a shop frontage in the downtown business part of our village.

My business neighbour, Jerry, an ex government Telecom technician, had newly started the first mobile sales and repair company in town. To supplement my watchmaker business, I took in used household items for sale, marking up the products by an agreed on percentage.

Fate again smiled broadly on us one day, as my best customer, Jerry from the mobile shop next door, came up to where I was busy oiling the wheels of a gleaming red “Rocket” toy cart. In his hand he held a Siemens S6 phone. “Andre' old buddy, do you know anything at all about electronics?” he asked, holding out the huge 5 inch long phone.

I remember it as if it were yesterday, and not all of 16 years ago. Although I didn't know it at the time, it was to be the day, my life was about to  shift into fast forward once again.“I know a little.” I replied. fixing electronic watches, clocks as well as the occasional TV, why?” I asked.

He explained that he had been sitting the entire morning trying to see why the phone wouldn’t switch on. His customer was from a neighbouring town and was picking it up in a few hours time and he was trying desperately to get that town's mobile business, since the farming community, from there, usually do the bulk of their business shopping in the sprawling metropolis of the South African "Mother City", Cape town, 150 miles away.

This single job cold change that for him. “Sure, I said. “I'll give it a go, you may just be missing the obvious.” Sitting at my work bench and looking at what was probably the first “modern” mobile phone I had ever seen up close. “Lord,” I prayed, You found it fit for Jerry to bring me this phone to fix, please guide my hands and eyes to the problem, amen.”

I soon located the battery release catch and removed the battery from the phone. I then gingerly, started cleaning the brass battery terminals and contacts using the fine wire brush from my watch repair kit and reassembled the phone. Nothing...

“Remove the battery and look again.” I heard a voice inside my head say. I looked again and found nothing out of the ordinary and was about to give it up as a bad job when I noticed, that one of the battery contacts was bent very slightly out of alignment. As I assembled the phone once more I just knew it was going to work! I switched it on and the screen lit up. “Thank you so much Lord.” I said and got up to return the phone to Jerry.

“So, did you give up on the phone? He asked, as I walked in. “Nope,” I said, It's working fine.” He could hardly contain his joy. “So, what was wrong with it?” he asked: “Oh, I replied, “I just did a bit of this and a bit of that, is all.” He immediately handed me three other phones and asked:”Would you like to give these a quick try, they were brought in by the same out of town farmer.”

I managed to get two more repaired, the remaining one had structural damage and I later learned, that the farmer had accidentally run over it with his John Deere combine harvester.

That day Jerry was beaming, as he handed me a sizeable wadd of cash. “Not only, was the farmer going to send his town's folks to us, he was also notifying friends and family in other neighbouring towns as well.

Within a few days, the farmer arrived at Jerry's shop, he had stayed true to his word,  Jerry and I were suddenly inundated with broken mobile phones, new phone purchases and loads of watch repairs and sales for me .

One afternoon, while I was working late, getting a batch of watches and phones ready for collection the next day. Jerry came in, he had an unusually worried look on his face. “Andre', he said. “I've been doing some serious thinking, he said. "why don't you become my business partner?” For starters, we would be saving on the rent and besides, we both know, that you brought that certain“magic touch” to my business."

” Thank you”, I said. But, I will have to decline your generous offer, since you invested 1000's in your shop and I don't have any cash to buy into it. I said. He replied, saying:“I have been taught all about Ohm's law, resistors, transistors, stuff like that, spending several years learning about all of that, and the one thing I just don't have, is that “gut feel” you regularly rely on.

I accepted and Jerry's Lawyer drew up the partnership agreement which included that he would finance the partnership and my part was to bring my watch/cellphone repair expertise to the table.

Robertson Communications soon reached micro—iconic status in the Boland region and regularly appeared in local business newspapers.

 Things were going great for us, business wise,

except for one niggling thing, Jerry who was an occasional drinker when I first met him, was upping the drinking and entertainment pace and soon, I had to make weekly trips to a local brandy distiller to buy Jerry's 12 bottle case of the best.

 His drinking started clashing with our business as customers were returning shoddy work, stock orders weren't placed on time and Jerry was involved with a young, out of town woman which crippled his marriage, ending in a sordid divorce.

Even my watch customers chose to take their business to the competition. I frequently spoke about the dwindling business and that we had a good thing going which we could rekindle if we set our minds to it.

Mercifully, one day, Jerry approached me suggesting we part our ways and that we should do a 50% split which I declined settling for only a 10% share of stock and no goodwill. 

I was focusing on the two up and coming mobile service providers not covered by his business licence and my watch business. I also suggested, I start up on the opposite side of town and after a cordial handshake, the business was resolved.

$20,000 FROM HEAVEN

I managed to find a tiny shop in a recently built mall and was busy scrubbing down some stained floor tiles, while my wife and our kids were washing down the walls and windows. As I scrubbed away, I became aware of a pair of bare feet next to me. I looked up at the person standing there motionless. “Can I help you?” I asked. “Are you enjoying what you’re doing?” He asked.

It was 40°Celsius and there was no ventilation, I thought. “Yes it's amazing work, I replied. “You should try it.” I remarked, and continued scrubbing the tiles. I was completely gob-smacked when he picked up a scrubbing brush and started scrubbing away at a nearby stain.

On hands and knees, we scrubbed away for about 5 minutes, in total silence, when suddenly he threw down the brush and stood up. “This is a pot of crap kind of job!” he remarked. “Why are you doing this anyway?" he asked. I told him briefly what had happened and that I wanted to start up a mobile/watch repair and sales service.

Reaching for a pack of cigarettes in his shirt pocket, he asked:”Mind if I smoke?” he asked. “Not at all, I replied, but mind if we step outside please”. I said, and went outside.

Nothing on earth could ever have prepared me for what happened next!

“See that video shop”, he asked as he pointed to the nearby familiar Robertson landmark called “Vee's Videos”. I said that I did and with a serious expression and looking directly at me, he asked: “Would you like to own it?” The shop was a local landmark. I thought, the guy has to be a nut case! “Yes, thank you, and while we are at it, why not throw in the anchor store as well, I remarked jokingly. "I'm dead serious, it has become a liability to me through fraud and gross mismanagement and I need someone to turn it around fast, can you do it?"

Wow! I thought, who the hell is this guy anyway? “I reckon I can!” I replied confidently. “Well, that's settled then.” he replied “You must go and see this guy in Worcester, before noon today” he said.“offer him $20,000 for the business”. “$20,000!” I stammered. “Man I'm sure the price is great, but I don't even own $20 right now. I replied.

Just then he took a check book from his shirt pocket, started filling it out and handing it to me, asked what my name was. “I'm Andre' Hartslief.” I replied, offering my hand. “Altus Malherbe,” he replied as he shook my hand firmly. 

He walked into the shop where my wife and kids were still busy cleaning, and one by one he smilingly shook hands with each one and left.

It took a few moments for everything to sink into my brain before I could start to explain what had actually gone down in the preceding few minutes. In my hand was a cash check for $20,000. I flipped it over and scrutinized the back of it.

There was a name and address of a person in the town of Worcester 45 kilometres away, as well as a telephone number. Glancing at the default check usage instructions, I read:”This check guarantees to pay the bearer, any amount stipulated! 

It was the real deal! In the space of 10 minutes, I had been handed a guaranteed cash check from a complete stranger for $20,000 to buy a large video shop!

After arriving at the Worcester address which Altus had written on the back of the check, It turned out to be an Attorney tasked with the sale of Vee's Videos in Robertson. 

After getting over his initial indignation of me arriving at his door without an appointment, and with the critical time constraints, as I had minutes to spare, in stopping the impending 12 pm. Auction.

The second shock, was about my cash offer of $20,000 which as it turned out was only about a third of the value of the business. “What's that you said there? The lawyer wanted to know. “I said, that I'm offering you $20,000 for the shop.” “The shelving alone costs $30,000, there are 3400 titles, 10 video players 90 active contracts, I cannot accept your offer under any circumstances, period.” he sternly replied.

“Well, maybe you can't accept an offer from me, I remarked:”but what if Altus Malherbe is offering the $20,000?” I asked. The blood drained noticeably from his face at the mention of Altus' name.

He picked up his phone, hastily dialled a number while carefully scrutinizing the check I had handed him. After a brief exchange of words with the person on the other end, in what took less than 5 minutes, I was the proud new owner of Vee's Videos.

When he handed me the title deeds to sign, I asked him:”Who exactly is this Altus Malherbe anyhow?” There were a few more facial tics and rolling eyeballs before he answered:”You mean to say, that you don't even know him?" He asked.

“That's right,” I said.”I only met him a few hours ago.” “But that's so out of character for him, I have known him for 25 years and he has never done anything like this, ever.

” He paused briefly then continued, saying: “Altus Malherbe owns this office building we are sitting in and several shopping malls, dotted around the western Cape, including the one your new business is in, then there are 2 wine estates and a fruit farm he owns as well.”

The video business had grown by leaps and bounds, giving us a good life for several years when, with my kids all grown up and having gone their separate ways and with the advent of the DVD era, it was becoming hard to keep up with the weekly new releases, nothing kills a video shop, like old stock does.

Video shops throughout South Africa were either closing down or being replaced by DVD shops in droves. I had kept Altus in the loop throughout our association and he said that several Video shops in his malls were going the same route. He suggested I gear up for DVD's or consider selling.

In all this time, Altus had regularly popped in for a chat and a light lunch and spent many hours of his time with us, making many incredibly innovative suggestions, often gleaned from the video shop tenants in his other malls.

 I recall one such suggestion, was to advertise a pack of free instant soup to enjoy with a video in the cold rainy Cape winters. Free soup remained a winner for many years. At other times we ran free off season family holiday specials, free Easter eggs or a free Valentine rose with a romantic movie . The list was endless and more importantly they delivered results.

Throughout this time we were covering our rent from the proceeds of the shop and lived a good life. Every time I asked Altus about drawing up an agreement to repay the $20,000 loan, he would say:”Buy stock, we'll talk about that later.”

One day a young man arrived from out of town and by the way he was sizing up the business, moving from the video shelves then to the watch display and on to the mobile phone display, I just knew he was up to something other than shopping for a product.

I walked up to him and introduced myself . It turned out, that he was visiting his parents in the neighbouring town of Riviersonderend (Endless river) and that he was working on the railroad in Kwazulu Natal where I hailed from. His hobby was watch and cellphone repair!

He ended up making us a generous offer which we accepted as my wife and I both wanted to return to Durban, where most of our family and friends were living.

The day I went to Altus Malherbe to settle up, I had no idea what figure he was expecting as repayment for the loan. My wife and I both agreed that we would pay whatever he wanted because of his benevolence throughout the past years. 

 At his Lawyer's office, while we waited for Altus to arrive, I asked the Lawyer what the figure was and he replied that he had drawn up an estimate which turned out be a whole lot more than I had expected.

Just then Altus walked in, his usual jovial self: “So, Andre' my friend, you're leaving Robertson! he said. I confirmed this and said that my family owe him a huge debt of gratitude and that surely there could not be many others like him in the world.

He simply shrugged this off by saying that he inherited one distinct quality from his late dad which was that he was a pretty good judge of character and had surely not been wrong in my case.

After reminiscing about our association, I finally asked him what I owed him. He asked me, what the amount was that he had lent me and I said $20,000 to which he replied:”So there, that's it.” Puzzled, I asked:"But what are you saying Altus?”

He looked genuinely surprised: “Unless you want to hang on to the $20,000 until you have settled in Durban, $20,000 is what I will accept.” Suddenly his Lawyer interjected, saying:”But Altus I have drawn up a more realistic settlement figure I am certain, mister Hartslief won't object to paying.” “On whose authority did you draw it up?” He asked. “Oh, I just thought it standard practice to do so.

” Well”, said Altus: “I'm the dog and you're the tail, I wag you, not the other way around, get your secretary to write out a receipt for mister Hartslief for $20,000, marked paid in full!”

And so ended a remarkable and unique friendship based on mutual trust and also an association with my most unforgettable character. I never heard from my enigmatic benefactor again but in my heart there is a very special place for my dear friend Altus Malherbe from Robertson.