Theft at T&T
It comes to our attention or more to JH attention that more than R2000 is missing from T&T’s till when JH decides to check the books. Unfortunately Marko was off sick and had no idea of the trouble awaiting him.
JH confronts Marko the next day and he’s shocked to find so much money went missing but when he admits to borrowing a few hundreds, JH has no doubts he took more that just that.
After an intense confrontation, Marko is fired and the laan is abuzz with the news of Marko’s firing for stealing. The poor guy could barely show his face in public with all the whisperings going on and all the while the real culprit, his cousin Diederik kept quiet about the whole affair.
Diederik was knee deep in trouble with all his gambling debt and decided to sell his car so that he could put the money back into the till but it was not to be. He sold the car alright for next to nothing but before he could save Marko’s reputation, Brett and his buddies cornered him and beat him up before dashing off with his cash.
As events unfold, Marko is informed of his cousin’s dodgy dealings and before long he puts the pieces of the puzzle together and realizes Diederik is the one who stole the money and framed him. He angrily confronts Diederik who admits to everything but tells Marko he could’nt own up to the truth for he feared being thrown in jail for a second offence. He gives Marko some sob story about a boat robbery which took place when he was younger and a second robbery would definitely have landed him in jail. Marko decides to keep quiet to protect his cousin.
Soon Diederik cannot handle all the stories around him of people thinking Marko is guilty and with Marko threatenting to leave town, Diederik confides in Charmaine about the theft and she advises him to do the right thing. The right thing off course was him going to JH and telling him that he was the guilty one, not Marko. JH is shocked but makes no attempt to contact Marko.
Eventually Marko himself goes over to JH and tells him not to press charges against Diederik as he fears his cousin won’t survive prison. JH promises not to inform the police and offers Marko his job back but Marko refuses saying that his time at T&T has come and gone, its time to move on.
Even Marko’s relationship with San-Mari which must go down as the shortest lived romance in a soap has been destroyed because of the betrayal. San Mari believed that Marko was guilty and Marko could’nt cope with a girlfriend who did’nt believe in him.
Diederik eventually gathered all the young people together at Oppiekoffie and broke it to them that he was the one who stole the money from T&T, not Marko. A relieved Marko is now able to go on with his life after having his reputation restored, he tells Aggie that he will now concentrate on expanding Aggie’s Cleaning Services.
Meanwhile, JH has hired a new guy, Lukas, to help out at T&T.
Saving the Boutique
Since the disaster at the Boutique, the doors have been closed while Dezi works on a plan to rescue the business. JH who’s her partner in the business refuses to invest anymore than he has in the boutique and with all the financial drama of T&T, he tells Dezi she must either close the business or she’s on her own.
Now we all know how stubborn Dezi is and how determined she is to make a success of herself so she works on a plan whereby Felicity Fashions can become hugely successful so that she can use the company as collateral when applying for a loan at the bank.
She calls upon Felicity who’s still in Italy to come up with a few designs and in return she offers her a partnership in the boutique. Soon everything falls into place for Dezi as she hops from place to place showing Felicity’s new designs to new boutiques. Everybody is keen to stock her stuff as she gets more and more boutiques under her belt. Eventually Dezi is ready to approach the bank and seek their approval for a business loan.
Days have passed and Dezi is growing more and more despondent not hearing anything from the bank. She’s almost ready to give up telling Tessa to look for other work when one evening she gets a call from the bank confirming that her loan application has been approved. Dezi is ecstatic and wants to share the news with JH and JH being the pig that he is gives her a watery smile, FAKE FAKE FAKER than that you cannot get. I don’t understand why he’s not supportive of his wife, is he afraid she’ll become more successful than him?
The next day before Dezi could break the news to Tessa, Tessa's on the phone applying for other work when Felicity steps in surprising her. Tessa is happy to see Felicity but tells her that it looks like Dezi's plan backfired. Just then Dezi steps and gives the two the great news, they are all happy as they hug and prepare to celebrate that evening.
Dezi arranges a cocktail party for all the Laan’s folks and breaks the good news that the boutique’s doors will be re-opening. Felicity and Tessa tell Dezi that the boutique needs to open with a bang and the timing is perfect for a fashion show.
T&T’s Financial Troubles
While Dezi is popping open the champagne bottles to celebrate the boutique, JH is moping and walking around with a very long face due to the fiasco at T&T. Having taken a huge knock with the R2 million that Robyn got away with and having Madel in China not knowing what’s going on, JH is carrying a huge burden trying to keep T&T’s doors open.
Xander advised him to fight back, to appeal against the bank’s application to declare them bankrupt. Only thing is that JH needed to come up with an idea to increase T&T's profit by at least R20 000, the amount they needed to pay the bank back on the R2 million loan. The task proved quite challenging as suppliers were shutting their doors on T&T and demanding they pay up front for stock.
The situation for JH worsens when a promising deal for the sale of the semis falls though the mat and things are looking bleak for his court appeal.
As time goes on, we hear several people complaining about the gym in Hillside, all of course in JH presence. When Ryno mentions it for a second time and even Felicity asks San Mari to be her personal trainer, JH gets an idea in his head and heads up to the loft to check out the space.
The next day he asks San Mari how she will feel about earning extra money being a fitness instructor as he intends opening a fitness centre. Another gym has apparently closed down and he will be getting equipment for cheap from them. San Mari is excited about this new venture.
So it seems you guys were right about the whole gym thing, wonder what sweaty bodies we’ll be exposed to, hopefully not Cousin Gert.
So now it seems T&T will be saved by the income generated from this so-called fitness centre.
Love, Love Triangles, Forbidden Love
Love…. A simple four letter word but damn does it can cause major havoc in people’s lives, like the people from 7de Laan…
Take Dezi and JH, an old married couple by soapie standards but boy do they make war rather than love. We’ve seen the obstacles in their way and the latest one where JH is not supportive or rather he gives her false support with regards to her business and poor Dezi does’nt even realize it. She thinks her husband is this genuine guy who’s as determined as her to see her succeed, little does she know. We’ll wait and see how this one pans out.
Then there’s Aggie, I’m really happy that they decided to show Aggie inlove rather than the PA always cleaning up after Paula. There’s a new guy in town, a hot shot lawyer by the name of Themba and he conveniently works with Xander at Notnagel.
Now Themba strikes me as ladies man and this is obvious when he checks them out as Xander introduces him. The one that catches his eye off course is the lovely Alyce and we all know how Alyce loves exploiting a guy wanting to be showered with gifts and being taken to fancy restaurants, poor Simphiwe had a tough time with her.
Nevertheless, Themba has his work cut out for him with Alyce as she plays mind games with him. On the other side, there’s Beyonce aka Aggie, the cleaner who cleans Notnagel’s offices early in the morning. When Aggie lays eyes on Themba, one could literally see the hearts dancing in them. So when she bumps into him at Notnagel and he asks her name, she stutters and stumbles and blurts out Beyonce, since then Themba has called her Bee.
The two have a regular thing going in the morning, he comes in early, she prepares his coffee and with Maria’s advice, she provides him with homemade cookies, Moekie’s recipe nogal! Themba quite likes talking to Bee, she’s different and she does’nt play games with him (or so he thinks), he believes he can totally be himself when he’s in her company.
Things get more difficult for Aggie and she hides away from Themba not wanting him to see her and especially when he’s with Alyce. She bares her soul to Vanessa and San Mari how her heart is breaking whenever she’s in his company co’s she cannot compete for his affections especially against the likes of Alyce and because Themba only sees her as the cleaner.
Unknown to Aggie, Themba is starting to develop feelings for her as well as he asks Xander about Bee, off course Bee does’nt really exist and he asks Aggie about this cleaner but Aggie covers well. Themba tells Xander how shallow his parents are, how status and social standing mean more to them and he cannot picture Bee fitting into his family.
When Themba sees Aggie in Oppiekoffie he asks her to meet him the next day at the offices since he urgently needs to speak to her. They meet the next day and Themba blurts out his true feelings but Aggie, unable to handle the lie she finds herself in, runs out mumbling something about things being too complicated.
I can’t wait to see these two together and especially to see the look on Alyce’s face when Aggie steals her man from right under her nose. Only problem is how Themba will react when he finds out that Bee has really been lying to him…
Another sickening love story that has suddenly unfolded is the one between Xander and Vanessa. I’m really disappointed that the writers decided to put Felicity in another love triangle, does this girl not deserve a guy that loves her and only her?
It happened while Felicity was in Italy. Xander was doing so well making all the right noises, missing her, phoning her everyday,etc. Then the dance competition happened where he and Vanessa partnered up and won the whole darn thing. Off course they were still friends through it all but then suddenly one day, Vanessa started seeing Xander in a whole new light, a light that had better remained dark but it was not to be. She became all tense and jittery around Xander and he picked up on this, suddenly he too looked at Vanessa differently, might have been her new mop on her head but he too saw her in a different light, a forbidden light.
Unable to keep what they were feeling to themselves, Xander being the lawyer that he is confronted Vanessa about her feelings and no matter how she tried to deny it, it was obvious she was hopelessly inlove with him and he admitted his own feelings to her. What to do what to do, with Felicity returning home soon, the two decide to put their feelings on ice, hoping it would disappear.
Off course they could’nt hide their feelings and we saw the exact same thing which happened with Wilmien and George resurface between Xander and Vanessa. With Felicity back in town, Xander tries to be happy but its clear that he’s mind is on someone else. He and Vanessa decide its time to come clean about their feelings but before they can do that, Felicity catches them in a not so innocent clinch.
The truth is out and Felicity, unable to handle the deception from her boyfriend and Vanessa who’s more like a sister to her, decide to move out of Charmaine’s pad. Poor Charmaine is torn in two between her daughter who’s clearly in the wrong and Felicity who’s really been more like a daughter to her.
Dezi offers to let Felicity come stay with them in the Terreblanche house since all the rooms are vacant and Felicity accepts. Xander tries to explain to Felicity what happened and to express his sorrow but naturally Felicity does not want to hear why Vanessa is a better catch than her, I mean even we don’t get it Felicity.
What’s the use you break someone’s heart if it causes you such unhappiness? When Xander and Vanessa were having dinner, they both looked so depressed about what they’d done, how can you ever be happy in such a relationship? I don’t think this will last very long not with Vanessa’s lips hanging most of the time on the floor and getting lots of flack from her mother.
Xander tries his best to explain his feelings to his dad even using his own father’s unhappy marriage as an example but Neville refuses to buy it saying Xander should’ve controlled his feelings and waited for Felicity.
Over at the Deli, Vince blames his brother for all the unhappiness he has caused and warns Vanessa that Xander could possibly dump her in the future as well, there’s nothing stopping him if he could hurt Felicity like that. Doubt starts creeping into Vanessa’s mop errr I mean mind.
A very tense confrontation takes place when Vanessa bumps into Felicity at the Boekwinkel. Felicity refuses to hear anything that Vanessa has to say only emphasising the trust the two shared but Vanessa had a trump card up her sleeve and she played it for all its worth.
She dredged up the past when Felicity seduced Vanessa’s boyfriend, Aubrey and got herself pregnant with his child. A shocked Felicity tells her she was young and stupid at the time but Vanessa is hearing none of it, she goes on about how it tore her up seeing Felicity everyday living in the same house, pregnant with her boyfriends child.
One evening while Charmaine was in a very deep discussion with Diederik about the stolen money, a knock came on the door and unable to wait, who should enter, none other than Neville Meintjies. He took a break in his lectures and flew all the way back to SA to declare his love for Charmaine and he was determined to do it right then and there.
Unfortunately for him, Charmaine was in a heavy discussion with Diederik and Neville said he’ll speak to her the next day. The next day came and Hilda invited both Charmaine and Neville to dinner, something about ostrich stew.
That evening the two met in front of Hilda’s flat and before they entered, Neville took a stance right there and then and professed his undying love to Charmaine asking for her hand in marriage. We all waited with bated breath the next evening thinking Charmaine would turn him down again but how sweet it all turned out.
Through Neville’s constant mutterings, Charmaine looked him squarely in the eye and said the magic word, not please man ,she said YES! Yippee! Hooray! Finally!
At that moment Hilda came out and Paula came out of her flat and they looked in awe as Charmine and Neville kissed and kissed and kissed….aaaaah aint love shweet?
The next day Charmaine is in very good spirits and everyone wonders why. She tells them she’s throwing a party to welcome Neville back and invites everybody to Oppiekoffie that evening.
Everyone is at the party that evening and Oom Oubaas said a few winged words to welcome Nellie back but it’s at that moment that Nellie took over. In a very romantic gesture, he takes the ring out of his pocket and amongst oohs and aahs from the others, he places the ring on Charmaine’s finger and announces that they are now officially engaged. Applause breaks out as the two kiss.
Unfortunately their happiness is shortlived when the whole drama about Xander, Felicity and Vanessa is exposed. Charmaine finds herself in the middle and does’nt know what to do. This causes frustration on Nellie’s part when he pushes her for a wedding date but Charmaine is unable to commit saying she can’t think about getting married when their children’s lives are in turmoil. Neville angrily bites back that all he hears are excuses from her and that they deserve happiness for a change, their children need to sort out their own lives.
I hope that Charmaine will listen to Neville and not let the children’s problems push her and Nellie apart again. Its time we had another wedding in the laan.
I remember a few weeks back when Hilda received a call from her cousin Mynie who told her that her daughter Gertie (or something to that effect) is in Johannesburg doing a course and asked if the daughter can stay with Hilda. We never did get to see Hilda’s niece but maybe that is still to come.
The guests that we really did’nt expect to see so soon was Gert and Cheryl. They came full force back into Hillside and again made themselves at home in Hilda’s flat. This time however they were loaded with cash and they paid their way even being generous enough to take Hilda and Oom Oubaas out on a number of occasions.
At first we thought they were just passing by on their way to Sun City but then Cheryl felt she loved living in Hillside and with there being a vacant flat in the Heights, Cheryl decided its time to settle in her own little love nest.
She goes way out with the interior decorating, only the best will do for her and all the stuff she has ordered must be kept in Hilda’s flat. The flat becomes overcrowded with all Cheryl’s things that even Maria can’t cook and this results in them eating out night after night. Poor Gert has to just foot the bill. Just how much did these people win for them to splurge like this?
Naturally Cheryl is too occupied with materials, tiles, beds, etc that she fails to see how she’s neglecting poor Gert. Gert is like a little kid who needs ample attention and when he doesn’t get it, he looks for a new toy to occupy himself with.
The new toy in this case happened to be Flooze. Flooze you ask, well she’s that blonde chick from Witbank, Manie’s girlfriend. Remember Manie? He’s the guy that Paula had an affair with when she was still with Altus and he is the main reason Altus broke off the relationship with Paula.
Nevertheless we were all surprised to see Flooze back in Hillside and she was determined to get her fingernails into Paula’s delicate neck. Paula tried to dodge her as best she could but Flooze eventually got hold of her at Laura Lees where Paula was having a massage. Her reason for wanting to kill Paula? Well she thought that Paula had stolen Manie away from her again but Paula convinced her that Manie has never been in Hillside since that day when Flooze punched Paula in the arcade.
It’s at that moment that Flooze turns to jelly as she starts bawling her eyes out and plants herself right in Paula’s arms and from that day onwards she believes that she and Paula are bosom buddies. No matter how Paula tries to get away from her, Flooze is always there and one day as the two of them are sitting in Oppiekoffie, Flooze starts telling Paula they need to go out and meet some guys.
Just then Gert walks in, goes to the counter, bends down to tie his laces and in that pose right there with Gert’s behind facing us, Flooze falls in love or is it lust? Well it might’ve been Gert’s calves that turned her on but when she approached him and Gert being as vulnerable as he is since he’s not getting any from Cheryl, the two very quickly disappeared into the storeroom.
It soon becomes a daily occurrence, Gert and Flooze humping away like rabbits in the storeroom. Wonder if they had condoms on them?
Cheryl is quite a clever cookie, she suspected that Gert was up to no good and she planned how she was gonna trap him. She arranges to go out with Hilda and Oubaas that evening and Gert pretends to be sick so Cheryl encourages him to stay home. The moment their backs are turned, Gert starts preparing himself for his rendezvous with Flooze.
He had a bunch of roses in the vase, poured them both schnapps and soon
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Flooze was at the door and before long in Gert’s arms. For a brief moment there when Gert was pouring water in the vase I almost thought he was gonna wash his armpits in the kitchen sink.
Just then a knock came at the door and Gert pushed Flooze into the bedroom. It was Maria who noticed the pink sandals on the floor but Gert made as if he was coming down with a deathly virus and coughed in her direction sending Maria on her way.
Flooze was so confused and asked Gert what was going on but he spun her a story and soon the two were kissing again and making all sorts of grunting noises. Not sure why they didn’t lock the door but no sooner had Maria left when Cheryl came barging in, catching Gert in the act.
To say Cheryl was furious is an understatement. She tackled Gert, and Flooze, not knowing what was happening, tried to attack Cheryl for hitting “her” man but it was she, Flooze who got a good punch in the face when Cheryl knocked her lights out.
With Flooze lying on the floor, Cheryl went inside to pack her bags and demanded Gert give her some money. She emptied out his wallet and told him he’s not touching her body again, wriggling her body while saying it and with that Cheryl made her exit.
A very unhappy Gert helps Flooze up and when she comes to and demands to know who that woman was, Gert is quick to reassure her that it was his cousin who’s full of aches and pains. Flooze doesn’t buy the story for one minute and questions Gert’s fidelity but he tries to reassure her that she’s the only one for him.
With Cheryl gone, Gert is heartbroken and broke on top of it. All the invoices are stacking up for all the things that Cheryl bought. On top of it Maria went to tell Flooze that Gert is a married man and she’s out for blood.
When she eventually gets a hold of Gert and want to attack him for lying to her, he again spins her story and she falls for it. Before long, the two are back in each other’s arms.
Bruynwaves
After Robyn made her get-away with millions, she left poor Danny and Altus in quite a desperate situation. They were like lost little puppies not knowing what to tell their clients. Then Xander came to the rescue when he suggested Altus open his own business.
Altus followed his advice and got all his paperwork together with Danny’s help off course and off he went to the bank to request a loan. Unlike Dezi, the bank was quick to grant Altus the loan seeing as he had so many contracts lined up.
Danny quickly stumbled upon a catchy name for the business calling it Bruynwaves for Altus De Bruyn who will be making waves in the laan. Soon the two of them were on a roll, organising furniture for the place and trying to get in more contracts.
However things took a turning point for them when KDL’s biggest client Metrosure, pulled out. They became desperate for a new, big contract and along came Strumph and something (can’t recall what the name is now) and Altus decided to pitch for them. When he heard nothing back from them he became despondent saying he knew he was’nt creative enough and he obviously did not impress them that much.
While they were twiddling their thumbs, Dezi gave them the modelling show as a function they could organise for her. Still being down about the contract he lost out on, Altus pours his heart out to Marko and tells him abit about the company.
Marko comes back to Altus the next day telling him about dragon boat racing he saw on the telly which could possibly be an idea he could pitch to the company since their big boss is from China and its all the rage there . This totally excites Altus and he and Danny jump into action getting all their facts together.
With all Marko’s bright ideas, is it possible that he will soon join Danny and Altus at Bruynwaves?
Matrone’s bestseller
Matrone somehow got it into her head that her life is so interesting and exciting that she decides to write a book about it. Mandla put the idea in her head that people’s lives are turned into Hollywood blockbusters making them rich and famous.
Since then Matone has enlisted Mandla and Paula’s help in giving her computer lessons but eventually Mandla wanting his laptop back tells Matrone that the best person to assist her is Ryno, since he’s a writer.
Now with Emma being in Spain, we all know that Ryno isn’t eating cooked meals so Matrone uses her favourite weapon, food, and approaches Ryno tempting him with all sorts of home-made delicacies.
Now Ryno is not a stupid man and he knows exactly how to get the upper hand with Matrone. He tells her that for each meal Matrone brings him can amount to so many hours that he will spare her. The two come to an arrangement and soon we are hearing everything about Matone’s childhood and Ryno puts pen to paper.
Ryno seems to be enthralled by Matron’e upbringing especially when its clear how much Matrone idolised her father. Apparently he was an engineer at the Gariep Dam and he spent most of his time away from home even over the Christmas period. This puzzles Ryno and he starts investigating even speaking to Karien about it.
Karien comes clean with both Ryno and Hilda over the reason why Matrone is so keen on writing this book. She tells them it was the only way to get Matrone away from Oppiekoffie during the time that Charmaine was injured so she told a little white lie to Matrone about Hilda and Tannie Rademan also writing books. This spurred Matrone on to beat Ans Rademan at all costs.
Now Tannie Rademan has made an appearance in the Laan and Matrone got it into her head that the tannie is there to spy on her, poor Tannie Rademan does’nt know what Matrone is on about.
So what do you guys think about Matrone’s dad, I immediately thought that he was living a double life, maybe having an affair or even another family.
What will Ryno find out about Matrone’s past, will Vanessa and Xander have a happy and fulfilled relationship, will Neville and Charmaine tie the knot and will JH succeed in his court appeal?
Tune in to find out all this and more.
7de Laan
Mondays – Fridays
SABC 2
18:30