Saturday, February 28, 2015

Dover Stove

This photo marks my first attempt to cook with "clean energy" (it requires no coal-fired power stations or nuclear plants). It is a "Dover Stove" (this one called a Desert Fire). I can now state with some authority: If you drop that lid into the fire, you're in a jam. And the best place in the oven is the rack in the middle. OBSERVATION: My overall impressions: very slow, yet effective, in fact remarkably smoke-free and needs little wood.

Thursday, February 26, 2015

Bus Terminal

I took this photo a few years ago at Cape Town's central bus terminal. I was waiting on the 5:50 am bus from the east, which arrived at 7:15 am. However, I was well prepared. I sat in the terminal building and revised an article. You may click on the photo to enlarge.

Collateral Damage

Here's one of my more memorable moments in ministry. I walked into a Church hall at the very moment that a boy kicked a soccer ball into a long fluorescent tube on the ceiling. I looked up to see a magnificent shimmer of fine glass floating down. The boy shouted: "Wow! Look at that! It's awesome!" -- then he came up face to face with the minister! OBSERVATION: My attitude is that one's work with youth justifies some losses. Call it collateral damage. One needs to know one's spiritual priorities.

Wednesday, February 25, 2015

Strange Encounter

I had a strange encounter with a past minister in my area. I'll call him Joe. He shouted at me from the other side of the street: "I'm not ashamed of being Joe! I'm not ashamed of being Joe! I'm not ashamed of being Joe"  I crossed the street to speak to him -- but he fled.

Missing Docket

We have all heard of missing dockets. At the time that I resigned from urban ministry, I was criminally charged, twice. Both sets of charges were thrown out by the Senior Public Prosecutor.  But in one of the two cases, the docket went missing following the Senior Public Prosecutor's verdict.  The police officially reported that "the docket investigated by W/O Olivier could not be traced". They did tell me, however, who had opened the case, in everything but name. I said, then go ask them for the statements again. Reconstruct the docket. OBSERVATION: The police do reconstruct dockets. Whether that will happen in this case, I don't know. (The reason why this is topical only so much later is ... the process).

Tuesday, February 24, 2015

Large Donations

I get just a little edgy when anyone talks about a large donation to the Church -- particularly when a name is revealed, or if someone should say: "If it hadn't been for that donation ..." Firstly, if the name of a donor is revealed, even in the relative privacy of a meeting, in my experience the donor may be targeted by mendicants, even by opponents of the Church -- not to speak of the principle that giving should (usually) be done in private (Matt 6:3). With regard to the size of a donation, there are a number of issues. Firstly, a Church is neither rescued nor upheld by windfalls. It is upheld by Jehovah Jireh, who is the Giver behind the giver -- and it is upheld by faithful, God-fearing tithing. That is what the Church wishes both to depend on and to portray. And then, I know as a minister that some people give small amounts which may be all that they have, and this is touching. Then I feel so bad if anyone highlights a large amount in itself -- although the Church is really grateful for large amounts, and they lighten its load. Jesus reminds us that a generous giver may not please God, and likewise a paltry giver may please Him much (Mark 12:41-44). OBSERVATION: These things might seem obvious, but all too often they are not.

Cracks in the Firmament

I was in touch today with the artist Rachel Leibman in Hanoi (she is based in San Francisco). I was seeking her permission to use the image of a collage, Cracks in the Firmament (pictured), for our Society project. She kindly granted her permission. It is, she says, her favourite collage of late. The work takes its inspiration from the Flammarion, a famous engraving.OBSERVATION: I think the collage is beautiful, and very nicely illustrates the concept "metaphysics".

Monday, February 23, 2015

Thomas As A Tot

I visited my aged mother this morning (now in her 80th year). I asked her how she remembered me as a toddler. She said: sweet, docile, shy, and hardy. As for docile, she said that I had requested that she smack me. As for shy, she said that I had stood between a cupboard and a wall at my third birthday party. As for hardy, she said that I had kept running out into a storm on a camping trip. She said that I had preferred dogs to cars / automobiles.

Sunday, February 22, 2015

C.E.M. Joad

I have left my mark though not my signature on an upcoming journal essay on the philosopher C.E.M. Joad (pictured). Core to his thinking was this:  When one asks after our motives, one can keep pushing back the question. Yet one reaches a point where one throws up one's hands and says, you're not serious are you? That's just how it is!  (His example:  Why do you take quinine?  To reduce fever.  Why reduce fever?  And so on).  At the final question, some would say that we have discovered the baselessness of ethics.  Joad says that, at this point, we have discovered the true axioms of ethics.  Then the task is to sift ultimate from penultimate axioms, over which he takes great care. OBSERVATION: Shortly before his death in 1953, he wrote The Recovery of Belief, about his return to Christian faith. Joad, today, has gone out of fashion.

Sacrificial Pig

In my experience, one of the problems of corruption is that the corrupt official not seldom has to decide who will be the sacrificial pig: the honest person, or the corrupt one? It's a decision which is rooted in the official's sense of his or her own shrewdness. That is, which choice is the more shrewd? OBSERVATION: It seems to me to be akin to works and faith in the Bible: to follow my own ability to be shrewd, or to do the right thing in faith. Yet to live by one's own shrewdness surely complicates things greatly.

Saturday, February 21, 2015

Comparing Solar

Having designed several small solar systems, I study existing ones with interest. Here's a fairly typical example I saw today. It costs R1 000. It lights up three globes, and by the looks of the full advertisement, it charges small devices, too. But when one does the sums on the specifications shown, the system, on a full charge, will be completely flat after little more than an hour, using only the bulbs (5W each). For me, I would want something robust, that really does the job: a full evening's light, including small devices. And that would not cost as much.

Olive Branch

I wrote to someone this week: "People are fallible, so one needs to understand that and offer them grace and a way to mend things." Not to do so, I think, is not to take people's nature into account. At the same time, in my experience, most people don't want the olive branch. OBSERVATION: I had been revisiting Kant for my Society project (here abridged): “Act only according to that which could be a universal law". Yet one needs to ask what Kant did with compassion. The Bible says: "In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you" (New American Standard Bible) -- which seems a lot more human than the philosopher.

Friday, February 20, 2015

Bar Mitzvah

I took this photo last month at a Jewish bar mitzvah. This is just one of the dishes which was offered through several courses: a fruit salad. The catering was lavish -- or perhaps rather, wholehearted.

Linux vs. Windows Again

Last night wife E. really wanted to see a Youtube video, but it kept freezing on her computer. I thought it was a waste of time trying to make her Windows behave better. Within about five minutes, I had converted her computer to Linux, connected to the Internet, and called up the video. And it played without freezing. She said: "Who taught you to do that?" Well, it's that easy (almost). But the world still doesn't know it.

Thursday, February 19, 2015

Writing With Promise

In faith, I have dedicated a substantial amount of time to writing a metaphysic. "Supposing that I could demonstrate it," I said -- namely, that it is possible in our day to create a new metaphysic. There were early signs of God's blessing on my work. Firstly, I was invited to do it. Then a well known editor wrote to me: "This young project may yet become a mighty oak." From then on, it was a determined effort, chasing forty deadlines, and for months writing "in the dark", with neither praise nor detraction. There was also the question as to whether I could break through major conceptual blocks. I could. I wrote nearly 200 000 words in all, of which nearly 30 000 are now published in draft (the rest are discarded). This week I received comments-which-matter on the whole of my work: "Your new publication is worth making something of." I met the last of my deadlines today, to finish a complete draft.

Delight In Death

I discovered something early on in ministry:  People lose someone who is close to them -- say a mother or a brother -- and their reaction is one of delight. Yet the deceased was truly precious to them. They are not any less shocked, nor did they appreciate their loved ones any less. Usually, in such a case, it means that they had a windfall. OBSERVATION: In the first case which I experienced, a young man had lost his father. When I went to see him in his home, he was counting out Kruger Rands on the dining room table. I have rarely seen such a pile of coins, let alone a pile of Kruger Rands.

Wednesday, February 18, 2015

Representing God

In my experience, in an important sense, a minister does represent God. As an example, a minister may speak to a dying person and at his/her word, panic turns to peace. Or, to add some examples, depression turns to joy, or a sense of condemnation turns to liberty. The power does not of course lie in the minister -- not at all. Perhaps these are examples of what, in theology, one calls "the means of grace" -- God's using a number of means to transfer his grace to people.

Cape Law Society

I spent more than an hour this morning with the Office of the Public Protector, gently arguing a case. I had submitted a serious complaint against an attorney, to the Cape Law Society. However, the Cape Law Society had refused to admit the complaint. I requested that the Cape Law Society show me the statutes on which they would admit a case (or not). This is basic. This is where it all begins. But the Cape Law Society absolutely, completely refused to show me the statutes, all the way up to the Director. I said to the Office of the Public Protector this morning: If they don't have any statutes, and if everything is judged on a personal basis, then I must accept that -- but then they need to be transparent and up front about it. OBSERVATION: Much of my argument this morning was: This is not about a complaint against an attorney. Put that aside. This is about my right to know, therefore it is about the Cape Law Society. It is about whether people who serve in the area of law are accountable on the basis of statutes, or on a personal basis. I said: Ordinarily, a democracy runs on the basis of a constitution, a bill of rights, statutes. The Office of the Public Protector wondered: Supposing that they don't have the statutes, but they work on professional opinion? I said: Then we need to know that.

Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Not The Saviour

We invited a guest preacher to preach once. He planted Churches in informal settlements. He told the story how his boss kept saying to him: "Jesus is the Saviour!" Eventually he said to his boss: "I know that Jesus is the Saviour! Why do you keep telling me?" His boss said: "I keep telling you because you are not the Saviour, yet you act as though you are!" His message, therefore, was that one needs to be guided by one's calling and purpose from God, not the needs that swamp our world. And one needs to know His calling and purpose.

Additional Chapter

I inserted an additional chapter into my metaphysic this morning: Part XVI. This brings it up to a total of twenty parts, or chapters.  The new chapter is written merely as a draft, and deals with an uncommon subject, which however is crucial to the metaphysic. We trace relations in this world, in the midst of an infinity of relations -- yet some of the concepts we so form, we prioritise. They carry a greater weight than others. How is this?

Monday, February 16, 2015

Praise, Literally

I attended a Bible study group on “praise” -- a very diverse group. One of the members of the group, who recently was severely tested, said: “If you don’t praise, you lose hope.” OBSERVATION: Afterwards, the Bible study leader told me that Europeans tend to qualify praise: we praise in appropriate circumstances, or we praise when we feel so disposed. Africans tend to take it literally: if the Bible says praise, then of course, that’s just what I’ll do.

PO Tesselaarsdal

The old post office on Tesselaarsdal's main road (pictured), a ruin until recently, has been lovingly and thoughtfully restored. That which could possibly be kept has been kept, while the rest has been renewed. OBSERVATION: The last postal worker in Tesselaarsdal, apparently tired of her job, threw a bag of mail into the attic without having it delivered. This was found during restoration. The old post office promises to become a thriving cafe, and there's a possibility that it will get its post office license back.

Sunday, February 15, 2015

Silver Lining (Not)

I blogged a while back that every cloud has a silver lining. Well here's a silver lining on which the sun has set. Our property in Tesselaarsdal was hit by a massive flood. This left us with heaps of wood on the property (the silver lining). Someone in the know estimated the value at R36 000 (then $3 200), as firewood. However, we were not the only ones to have the bright idea. People moved in with power saws (see the photo), and helped themselves to a huge amount of wood. The photo suggests that it was a speed job -- they took what they could take fast. I'm surprised they got away with it. OBSERVATION: We now have someone sleeping over on the property.

Back Yard Banter

I have previously blogged to the effect that, if people knew how much talk (both positive and negative) returns to a minister, they might be astonished. Often it is tough for a minister to know what to do with it. Anyway, the point of this post is that such talk tends to return through a few characteristic channels -- and here is one that stands out:  A minister tends to move easily among all classes: upper, middle, and working classes. The working classes have eyes in the workshop, ears in the kitchen, and so on. A great deal of talk (not a small amount), in my own experience, returns to a minister through the working classes.

Biesieskraal

Yesterday wife E. and I visited Biesieskraal. It is a hamlet which falls within a "magic two hours" of Cape Town, along with places like Saldanha and Hermanus. That's approaching the outer radius for city dwellers' weekend getaways, and the point beyond which property prices fall. I do not think that Biesieskraal appears on any map. Google Maps shows the hamlet as well as its two main roads as "Unnamed". On Google Maps, it's at -34.378363, 19.552829.

Friday, February 13, 2015

Ministerial Service

Once in a while, I take my vehicles (four wheels and three) to a minister for a service. Every Friday, he services cars. Here, this morning, he is making a new bracket for my battery, which came off on a rough road. It's also a time for catching up on (Congregational Church) news, and discussing ministry.

Thursday, February 12, 2015

State Of The Nation

I am listening to the State of the Nation Address in Cape Town, which is looking like a worst case scenario for the President. In the Church, one has such worst case scenarios, too, although thankfully they are very rare. At the moment, the Speaker is seeking to apply her authority. Here is how I have handled such moments in Church Meetings. On the turn, I have handed it over to the members for a (blockbusting) vote, which may on occasion include a vote of (no) confidence. OBSERVATION: I do believe we have a problem with what is called political legitimacy in this country. Without it, a government suffers legislative deadlocks and collapse. I have a section on it in my "new book" in Part XI. Basically, I think that people are weary of being stymied here.

Received English

When I started in ministry in the early 1980's, Received English was used throughout South Africa. I first noticed this "eroding" among the poorer classes: words like sneakers and diapers coming in. Today that erosion is widespread, as one sees on this billboard near my home (sneakers are plimsolls, or in South Africa, tackies). Spellings, too, are departing from Received English: tire instead of tyre, for instance. And pronunciations: vase, for instance. While educational institutions ask for Received English, nobody seems to know what it is any more, and one's school work is ... dare one say, addled with American citations anyway.

Wednesday, February 11, 2015

Hard Revision

Someone said to me tonight: "I've been reading your book!" That would be nice -- if it were a book, but at the moment it is a work in progress. I'm pleased this was someone at the level it is pitched at, namely the educated public. I first created the content, one chapter a week. Now I am revising each chapter for readability, one chapter a day. With the latest chapter, though, I ran into conceptual blocks. It set me back a week -- until today. This chapter asks the most difficult question, I think, that could be lobbed at my metaphysic, and this is my answer: Part XIII. It is important, I think, to address the hard parts, and not to fudge them.

Tuesday, February 10, 2015

Coming Up For Air

Here's a photo I took on Sunday of a lass swimming. She was swimming whole lengths of a pool underwater, then coming up for air. It was at such a moment that I took this photo. You may click on the image to enlarge.

Opening A Case

Following my departure from full-time urban ministry, I was greatly conflicted as to whether I should act on police matters or not. Recent events finally made up my mind. This morning the police opened a case, which they immediately referred to a special unit. There was some pandemonium in the police station, particularly with officers reversing the chain of command. As I usually do with things out of keeping, I placed this on record with the station commander. After two hours, a case had been opened.

Monday, February 9, 2015

Fine Thank You

Someone called me on my cell-phone tonight, asking me in Xhosa how I was. I replied in Xhosa: "I'm well thank you." The caller exclaimed: "Yoooow!" and killed the call. I said to wife E.: "So what exactly was the matter with my Xhosa?" to which she had a hearty laugh.

Missions Supplies

For many years, I have had an interest, with my congregations, in sending Christian materials to the Kiribati Uniting Church in the Central Pacific. It began when I visited the Church a generation after the missionaries had left. They had received no new supplies of Bibles, in an inhospitable environment. The General Secretary told me that half of the Church (the people) still had Bibles, although "on the ground" it looked to me that he meant half of the extended families. Some new hymn books had been printed, yet apart from that, supplies of Christian materials (even for pastors) were by and large non-existent. There weren't even the basic "tools", such as Bible Commentary or Bible Dictionary. This morning, more than 20 years after my efforts began, I received the first clear indication that they had yielded a result: from Bridgeway Publications in Australia. Twelve islands were supplied with new Christian materials in this time (mostly Island Church Councils), and eight Church institutions. OBSERVATION: I know that other new supplies resulted, yet don't have details, other than that they were sent.

Sunday, February 8, 2015

Another Kiddo

For good measure, here's another kiddo I photographed today (in this case, I do know who he is). This photo reveals something I have often witnessed in our Coloured and Black communities, which is quite striking: he is listening intently to the adults. I do not notice this in European culture. As an example, try Google Images for, say, "child listening" (mostly European images). You won't find this kind of listening there. For a similar photo, see Sotho Girl. You may click on the photo to enlarge to 160k.

Some Kiddo

There aren't any posts with any gravitas today. I was invited to lunch this afternoon, where I snapped the future Miss South Africa (pictured) sitting at the side of the pool. She claimed that she was washing her hair. To my surprise, she spoke perfect English. Later, looking at thumbnails on my laptop, she asked me which app I would use to display her face. I don't know who she is, so my photo is simply named "Some Kiddo". You may click on the photo to enlarge to 400k.

Boys Will Be Boys

Spot the errant Sunday School kid. I took this photo at Church this morning. Some looked on with admiration, some with amusement, some with horror as this boy scrambled up the tree. You may click on the photo to enlarge to VGA.

Saturday, February 7, 2015

Video Essays

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I have been working today on publishing (maybe) some of my essays on YouTube. Which is not as easy as it seems. A few of my essays at the moment are ahead of Encyclopaedia Britannica, which might make it worth my while converting them. Here (above) are the opening words of one of my mere experiments. OBSERVATION: With regard to this particular clip, I do not believe in karma, nor am I a devotee of Aristotle. My words introduce a fundamental problem. See whether you can spot what it is. (I usually wear rimless spectacles).

Friday, February 6, 2015

2 + 2 = 5

Here's a simple principle for ministry which one might easily overlook. I often say to myself:  2 + 2 = 4.  Which means that, ordinarily, things add up. But sometimes they don't.  Then you have 2 + 2 = 5. Then I ask myself, what's this with the extra 1? Where is it? What is it? If one fails to ask the question, then one may miss something big. Someone acts out of character: 2 + 2 = 5. Someone does something that wasn't planned. 2 + 2 = 5. And so on. What then is the extra 1? Sometimes there may be a plain and simple answer. Sometimes there may be none. Sometimes the question may be of crucial importance to ministry.

Odometer (Half A Million)

I took this photo of my brother-in-law's odometer in his Opel sedan. It has registered 524 258 kilometres (325 758 miles), or thirteen times the circumference of the earth. He claims that the car / automobile is still going strong.

Thursday, February 5, 2015

Intellectual Theft

Full-time inventors are rare. I count among my friends and acquaintances three full-time inventors. They have very different approaches to intellectual property theft. One, an Englishman, patents his designs and defends the patents. Another, a Taiwanese, says that as fast as people steal his designs, he comes up with new ones. He doesn't waste time defending intellectual property. The third, an Australian, is employed by a company full-time to invent. The company deals with intellectual property theft.

Starting At Fuller

This is the strange story of how I started an MA degree at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, a story of God's grace. A minister friend (a former Adjunct Professor at Fuller) dropped me on Fuller campus one day to spend a day there. I was visiting Fuller on behalf of Tangintebu Theological College, to explore a partnership between the two. But ultimately I applied to Fuller myself. I didn't think that I would be accepted, and was surprised when I was. Only then did I ask after the fees. Today, those fees are in excess of R300 000 for the tuition alone (about the same as then). Then add mandatory visits to LA, piles of books, and the best Internet connection in Africa (together, at least R100 000 more), and I said to wife Mirjam that I had to decline, it was impossible. She said that I could have all her savings. Then a member of the famous Vermeer family offered to pay a third (I hadn't asked). Then we recovered some money from a wood-frame house which had been seized in an invasion. And I sold copyrights, asking publishers to pay directly to Fuller (it was a help, although only a fraction of the total cost). Half way through Fuller, I paused, and completed an MTh in South Africa (less than 10% of the cost of Fuller). Fuller took me back after four years, now with one-third of my courses credited to me, which meant two-thirds off the remaining fees. In the end, I spent all of my savings on Fuller. I couldn't have done one more course. I wasn't able to attend graduation. I called it "the pearl of great price". OBSERVATION: I was reminded of all this because Fuller contacted me yesterday to inform me that I had $82.19 in their account, which was about to be claimed by the State of California. I had enormous trouble transferring money from South Africa to Fuller, so by and large kept a large credit balance there, and didn't quite spend up. In a rank-based grading system, I finished Fuller in the top 7% of students. Under a new scheme, I now have free courses for life.

Wednesday, February 4, 2015

† Temeeti Teiaa

I learned this morning, sadly, that my guardian in the mission, Temeeti (the son of) Teiaa died. He is pictured here on the right, in front of our home on Tarawa, which is now the headquarters of the Kiribati Uniting Church. I am the boy in the centre. A European family in those remote islands could not survive without help such as that which Temeeti gave. My father, too, was itinerant (a travelling missionary), so that I (and we) depended much on Temeeti. OBSERVATION: He was like a father to me. Without Teemeti, I have said that I would always have been the English boy. Although nobody saw it, he lay behind the cultural transformation of my urban ministry, and he lay behind my marriage into another culture. He lay behind my writing, too, as the one who showed me the treasures of other ways of doing and thinking. As young as I was then.

Local Church History

Here is some local Church history which I obtained through my aged mother. Some of it I remember personally, as I sometimes joined my father on his rounds as a boy. Rev. David Williams started the Camps Bay and Llandudno Churches as outstations of Sea Point Congregational Church, and ministered in all three Churches -- however his health was destroyed.  My father then, Rev. Charles Scarborough, took over these three ministries. Not long after, the Camps Bay Church decided to unite with the Presbyterians, and to use their Church building.  The ministry was then shared between my father and Rev. Douglas Bax. Later, under Rev. Dr. Peter Schoonraad's ministry, the Church united with the Methodists, and called themselves Camps Bay United Church -- becoming a separate work, and moving to the Methodist Farquar Road Church premises, where they still are today. Llandudno, too, decided to "fly the nest", and had a strong and capable lay leader in Cliff Johnson. OBSERVATION: The photo shows the lesser known Llandudno Church today -- possibly the only photo of this Church on the Internet. You may click on it to enlarge.

Tuesday, February 3, 2015

Pacific Influences

My father had a colleague in the mission called Teroroko.  I myself saw much of Teroroko, in Antebuka, Tarawa. This week I was surprised to discover that Reewi Teroroko -- which is, Reewi (son of) Teroroko -- has been appointed Moderator of the vast Kiribati Uniting (Protestant) Church. Reewi may well have been (I don't know) a play-mate of mine. I would not be surprised if my father's influence is somehow still felt in this appointment. He himself served as the first Moderator of the Kiribati Uniting Church (then the Gilbert Island Protestant Church).

As Far As Anyone Knows

A member of my old urban Church said last week that she continued to be distressed by the loss of my ministry. She had asked people she thought should know: "Why, what was ever the matter with Rev. Scarborough?" They responded: "You know nothing!" OBSERVATION: Well, I hope they know something. See also Secret Reports.

Monday, February 2, 2015

Tightening Up Standards

In my Church in Port Elizabeth, the original 1964 constitution was amended four times. Amendments in 1991, under my ministry, were crucial, and these same amendments entered the Constitution in my next Church. What interests me here is that, following my departure from my Church in Port Elizabeth, it went a great deal further in tightening up membership standards. The 1991 amendments, under my ministry, required that members' conduct should be in keeping with Scripture and Constitution, or they would be removed from membership. After 1991, divisive and disrespectful behaviour were added as reasons for removal, meetings behind meetings were banned, removal became far more efficient, and reinstatement was subject to more stringent conditions.

Peer Review

I spent part of yesterday doing (blind) peer review on a Society paper. It was an interesting paper, but as so often happens with papers, the author couldn't "feel" its shortcomings himself. The editor sent it back to the author, not as a rejection but to make something good even better. OBSERVATION: "Blind" peer review means that you don't know who you are reviewing. It could make a big difference (probably not for good) if you did know.

Sunday, February 1, 2015

Bakoven Beach

Wife E. and I went walking on Bakoven beach this evening (pictured). "Bakoven" means "Baking Oven". It is one of Cape Town's smallest beaches -- almost certainly named after a large rock which looks like a baking oven. The water is very cold, originating in the Antarctic. You may click on the image to enlarge to 200k.

What Was Taken?

Two months ago, I reported that thousands of my personal papers were stolen, in a (possibly professional) heist. A few people have since asked me: what was in those papers? They were mostly  related to urban ministry -- among other things my call, salary negotiations, financial statements, audits, lists of donations, minutes, resignations, denominational relations, policing, international contacts, photographs. It is more than thirty categories in all (too much to list here). See Searched.

Masterpiece Mystery

Above, one sees three paintings. The one on the left is October Landscape by Peter Clarke. The one in the middle is Landscape with Sheep by Peter Clarke. This one recently sold for R700 000. The one on the right, I saw it on a wall when I walked into a Church basement this morning. Could it be a Peter Clarke? You may click on the images to enlarge.
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NOTE:  I asked a certain artist her opinion. She said, make them a R20 offer for that piece of rubbish. My guess: it is a Peter Clarke, because the mountains in the background are Tesselaarsdal, where he loved to paint.