The Zimbabwe door was about to
close behind us as another fortunately opened down in KwaZulu-Natal, South
Africa. We were aboard the flight to Johannesburg, literally waiting for the
cabin doors to be locked when a security official walked up the aisle and
stopped at our seats. “Would one of us come and identify our luggage” sent
expressions of alarm; had we even heard correctly. Once Security explained there was something
of interest within one suitcase, George immediately knew it was the hippo tooth
he’d picked up on the shores of Lake Kariba and he left with the official. Lea’s imagination went into overdrive as she
had seen a huge sign at the entrance to the airport that NO plant or animal
parts were to be taken out of the country.
The plane waited and Lea breathed deeply trying to remain calm. Relief was to see George come back down the
aisle and in a casually off-hand manner say Customs had been most interested to
know it was a hippo tooth not a tusk! Further, he kindly told them they could
have it!
We lived in KwaZulu-Natal, a
province of South Africa for twenty years and made wonderful friends. Over the coming weeks we were to be a ‘Begg
parcel’ handed from one set of friends to another – spending two nights with
each to ensure we had quality time without being smelly fish! Originally, we had given the months of June
and July to the province, warning we’d have to remain very flexible during this
period as our son and family would try to fit us into their busy schedule over a
two-week window. This resulted in an
immediate response friends who had prior commitments. Thankfully for us, they
wanted to get in first with definite dates on the calendar.
Over Easter, Lea mentioned to son
Keith that she hoped he would not beckon us to Mozambique during the first two
weeks of June as a busy itinerary had been set in place! The day before we flew
to Africa, Keith confirmed dates and flights for Mozambique were sorted.
Shan Charter collected us from
King Shaka Airport and conversation soon turned to Mana Pools, as she would
shortly be off there on the first stage of her own ‘Africa Adventure’ heading
northwards.
Shan had booked breakfast at the
Mount Edgecombe Clubhouse on the estate after discovering her Bird Course
Lecturer knew George.
And so, we all breakfasted
together with George’s old friend Anthony (“Ticky”) Forbes and his partner
Nicolette (Nicky). Ticky dated back to
Rhodes University days with George in the Zoology Dept and College House. Wonderful conversations flowed fast… A sure sign that we come from a different era
– no one looked at their device or thought to take a photo! Fortunately, Shan kept an eye on the clock as
we needed to ensure visas for Mozambique were actioned. She had kindly set aside the morning
to help us achieve this - taking us to the Mozambique Consulate. What sounded simple turned out to
have hiccups and Shan smoothed and solved them all. We returned home to prepare for an important
event Shan was hosting that night. Her son Craig’s 40th birthday
dinner with a gathering of the Charter Clan to celebrate.
Soon after Lea arrived to live in Durban, she met Mariena Rautenbach who in
turn became the cog for Lea befriending Shan Charter and Ruth Smith. Shan began a weekly tennis morning and Lea
joined, keen to settle and meet people with young children. Saxon was 18 months and Shan had a daughter
the same age. For old times, Shan had arranged lunch for the few left in Durban. Lea had been stunned to learn on landing in
Durban that her long time ‘shamwari’ - Ruth Smith had been diagnosed with
cancer during the time we’d been in Zimbabwe. Ruth had been admitted to
hospital the night we arrived in readiness to undergo oesophageal surgery – all
very frightening. Shan’s lovely relaxed
luncheon on her veranda took place with Marina Rautenbach and Ingrid
Knott joining us. Again, time overtook all the chatter … We not only had to collect
our passports and visas before Consulate closing time; we were expected for
dinner up in the Clifton Hills beyond Kloof. Shan’s daughter and Saxon’s very
close childhood ‘sister’ friend - Keryn and husband, Crispin live in the
forested Everton Conservancy district with their two, Taya and Connor. The
chill factor caught us up there and we refused to sit out on the beautiful
decking – cuddled up in the lounge with a blanket was preferable. The magnificent
slab of sirloin covered in thick salt cooked in the coals of a fire by Crispin.
Served with Keryn’s pumpkin pie, it was utterly delicious.
In the last hours before Garth
and Trish Macartney came to collect us, we took an early morning 6 km walk
around the Country Club Estate with Shan. Mostly, our walk took us along the
beautifully laid out golf course with its impala, bird life and plants,
reminding ourselves this had all once been a sugar cane plantation.
Garth and Trish Macartney duly
collected us and took us to their home in Ballito, up the North Coast from
Durban. On our way, Garth drove down to
Westbrook Beach for us to see all the changes that have taken place around our
old home ‘Deeseven’. The quiet little
beach road of old-fashioned little holiday houses has been transformed into mansions
with secure walls that we scarcely recognised the place. In Ballito we settled
into the delightful beach side apartment Garth and Trish call home. In cold windy conditions, we took a walk along
the promenade before settling down to drinks and a curry supper while we caught
up on all the years. Joan Macartney was Lea’s ‘Other Mother’ during her years
at Teacher’s College in Bulawayo. Many Saturday afternoons were spent watching
Garth play schoolboy rugby. Garth too,
became a teacher and headmaster up in Zimbabwe and we kept in sporadic touch
through his mother. Now a grand old lady of almost 97 living outside
Johannesburg.
After breakfast we took a walk in
a northerly direction along the promenade (recently damaged by a storm) which
lies below what is now little more than a ghastly sea of concrete
buildings. Later, Garth and Trish took
us to The Market – an amazing array of shops and restaurants, all very busy and
in an immaculate condition. Where were
all the ominous signs we’d been warned about of the wheels falling off in South
Africa? To us, as returning ex residents
and after our trip to Zimbabwe, we found places like Umhlanga Rock surrounds
and now Ballito simply exuded wealth, progress and an exceptionally high
standard of living. We ended up having
lunch at the uMhlali Country Club. Well
into the afternoon rain came and we settled to watch a semi-final tennis match
being played at Roland-Garros – Djokovic going down after 5 sets to a young
Austrian by name of Thiem. Before
showing Garth and Trish something of our ‘Life
on the Road’ and photos from our Kariba trip.
Early Sunday morning we walked
the promenade in a southerly direction as far as the shopping centre and heard
about white-bearded Barry, a homeless man (formerly from Kalk Bay in the Cape)
and fisherman who lived under the deck (protected by the umbrella shown below)
and fishes for a living.
On the return, Lea was able to
enjoy a telephone conversation with her
dearest Joan Macartney before Garth drove us further north as far as Sheffield Beach; before
returning to walk through a patch of
dune forest on the edge of Ballito cared for by Water-berry, an attractive
home industries tea room. Comrades Marathon weekend and we were able to
a little of the race on TV before “pass the parcel” once more. Like the Macartney’s,
Bob & Alison Cassells were soon to take off for the UK for time with their
daughters. The Cassells took us back to Durban and their enormous old house with
high ceilings on the Berea. Bob had much
to tell us about the situation in South Africa – the collapse of
Tongaat-Huletts group with sugar mills closing and the industry being at an
all-time low; Escom being in dire straits due the corruption and incompetence
of the government; South African Airways in the same boat (currently requiring
a 4 billion rand bale out) and the local municipalities all unable to cope any
longer. For all the outward appearances of a wealthy country – underground,
corruption and incompetence were “white anting” the South African economy.
10 June – the second anniversary
of daughter leaving this life. We’d asked Alison and Bob to take us down to the
Durban Beach front around Joe Cools in Justy’s memory. Justine regularly met up with her school mates
and members of her many basketball teams at this particularly stretch on
Durban’s North beach. We had scavenged bougainvillea petals during our drives at
Ballito in readiness to mark this day. Opposite Joe Cools is one of many
beachfront groynes jutting out to sea. A perfect site to recall the many
pleasures our daughter had brought us in her lifetime as we tossed the petals.
We followed the moments of contemplation out on the groyne by taking Bob &
Alison to lunch inside Joe Cool with its panoramic sea views. The place was
alive with Comrades Marathon runners and their entourages. Some still stiff and
sore. After lunch we drove the length of
Durban beachfront in a southerly direction as far as the harbour entrance and found
derelict Point Road undergoing some rehabilitation.
Next day we moved on to Andy and
Loraine Tribe. Not only was Andy
recovering from having had all his toes amputated from his left foot (with a
‘bolt cutter’ as poor circulation had led to gangrene, according to him) His much
loved car was with panel beaters, after it slid on wet leaves covering their
steep driveway and landed down in the neighbouring yard. The Cassell’s kindly
took us over to the Tribe home in Westville.
They too had a difficult time getting out of the steep drive.
Lunch was ready almost immediately and we sat down to enjoy Loraine’s
meal. There we sat for the next 8 hours straight as we caught up of the ‘drama’
of Tribal life and their plans to hopefully sell their home. It has become a real burden on them both.
Their age and health, fast making life impossible for them. Next day, George needed some physical exercise
and began to skim the mass of fallen leaves and debris off the surface of their
bright green swimming pool in order to see the fish that apparently lived
there! He also swept up lethal leaves
covering the steep driveway. Having no
car presents problems for Lorraine and Andy.
Consequently, when our friends caught an Uber to the Westville shopping centre,
we had a few hours to ourselves and reflected on the trials and tribulations of
our dear friends, the Tribes. The only solution was to pack up and move back to
Australia – that too, is a very daunting task.
The original arrangement had been
for the four of us to drive inland to Howick to see Rob & Heather Finlay’s
new home. With Andy’s problems he’d made
alternative plans - the Finlay’s drove down to collect us and at Andy insistence
we all squeezed into Rob’s Land Rover (Freelander) and went to a restaurant
undergoing alterations. We all enjoyed a good lunch but again eye on the clock,
as Rob wisely did not want to be caught in rush-hour heading inland or drive
into the blinding sun, as it set. There was a huge number of heavy trucks using
the N3 between Durban, Pietermaritzburg and beyond. There are awful problems of
trucks being set alight on the N3 highway by members of the Transport Union who
object strongly to the drivers being non-South Africans. There are horrible issues of xenophobia
occurring in this country.
As soon as we had our bags down in
the bedroom, Rob and Heather took us on a brisk walk around the small, bush
like estate to get our bearings and see other houses under construction. Thankfully their newly built home had double glazed
windows. Rob lit a fire, further ensuring a very snug night for us all. Heather
had been George’s secretary for all the years he ran EAS. Friday morning, Rob
drove along the familiar road we’d used so often during Keith’s school days and
part of the Midlands Meander. We called in at Michaelhouse as Heather and Rob
had never seen this beautiful school. We found preparations underway for a big
event on the sporting calendar - the Hilton / Michaelhouse rugby match next
day. George popped up to the school office to find Paul Fleischack – until
recently the acting headmaster. He was in a board meeting. We began a tour of
the school only to get no further than the school rugby field where began a
banter with a Hilton parent, Kit Bottriell busy securing a ringside seat for
the match. We landed up finding much in common and conversations flew in all
directions. He had spent years in Zimbabwe (ex-PATU, Bindura) and expressed
great interest in our grey nomad way of life in Australia. Before we knew time had passed and there was
Paul Fleischack! Meeting over, he’d heard we were around and found us!
Paul, Lea, Heather and Rob in
winter gear! George????
On the way home, Finlay’s dropped
us off at Elizabeth Gardens Village in Howick to visit with our dear old
friends (ex-Kariba), Hilary and Chris Thorne.
‘Stoffel’ still plays tennis and
is a most sprightly octogenarian. Although Hilary has difficulty with mobility,
she keeps herself physically busy to the best of her ability. She is always a stimulating
conversationalist and her insightful messages were of immeasurable support
during Justine’s terminal illness. As we
Chris brought out the tea-tray a woolly necked stork landed on the lawn
immediately in front of us, closely followed by another.
The first of the habituated
Woolly Neck Storks we were to meet during our sojourn in KwaZulu-Natal. These
pair would eat the Thorne’s out of house and home if they had their way! Chris
has trained them to come for a few tit-bits at this time only. A cat sauntered down
the path and neither cat nor bird took the slightest notice of each other. Later, daughter Berenice and granddaughter
arrived from Joburg, enabling us to have a brief chat with Berenice before
Chris took us back to Falls Downe Estate.
In the gloaming, Findlay’s took us on a speedy
stride across the fields overlooking the distant Howick Falls, hoping to see
some of the game living around Falls Downe. We returned to find a power outage
in the Howick area! Heather, well organised managed to put her dinner together and
we ate by candle-light – the lights only came on after 9.30. The men had talked
knives so with the light, Rob brought out his knife collection for George to
see. (Rob is the owner of one of George’s trout knives) – among them was a
dagger, beautifully made - George unexpectedly recognised as the work of his friend
Mohammedy. They had learned to make knives together at the Durban Knife-making
Club.
As we’d never seen the Karkloof
and the Woodhouse Falls, Rob and Heather took us up there that Saturday morning
before delivering us to Wedgewood Estate outside Hilton, where we were to stay
with John & Maureen Pattrick especially to catch up with their son Sean,
Sue and their two children.
Another beautiful home
overlooking open grassland with Oribi and reedbuck in the vlei below, duiker
coming up to feed on the grain Maureen put out on the front lawn – even a few
crowned cranes passed overhead. Pattrick’s also have Woolly necked storks pop
in to find a meal.
No sooner had we settled with
John and Maureen than Sean and Sue Pattrick arrived with Ross, Ella and Bailey
the Labrador – to join us for a long-awaited lunch. Sean has always been our
‘other’ son – a close friend to Keith. Long years have passed since we’ve had
time with Sean and Sue. Meeting their two kids was an absolute joy. Wonderful
to hear their excitement over big brother Ben flying out from England to join
his African family for a few weeks.
Knives came up again! Sean, who’d
had learnt his early skills from George in the workshop; had brought examples
of the knives he is now forging – one a replica of Wolhuter’s famous knife (the
one Wolhuter killed a lion with). Another made from a piece of Damascus steel
that Sean had forged himself, as was the hardening and tempering. George was
more than impressed.
Monday morning, we awoke to the
awful news from Saxon our beloved long dog Harley dog had died over in
Australia. We had arranged to go across to our next home later in the afternoon,
having discovered we could briefly catch up with Pattrick son number 2 as the
family passed through Hilton on their way home from a long weekend away. We attempted to go and see a Gallery in
Hilton that morning only to find it closed for the long weekend. We spotted the
historic Crossways Hotel and on the spur of the moment decided it was a good
place to lunch together before making sure we were back at Wedgewood to see Neil
and meet his wife Samantha and three kids -Luke, Georgie and Annabel as they
passed through before Maureen delivered us to Horse and Sue Davies, a
short distance away.
Henry Horse and Lea go right back
to childhood as their father’ were close friends. Horse and George were at
Peterhouse together – and despite passing years we always pick up where we left
off… that night we shared the family news.
Next day, the men sat in a sunny spot in the lower garden and immersed themselves in deep discussion over
the South African Crane Foundation and ‘Horse’s’ involvement with a property up in the Tuli Block (Limpopo River)
while Sue and Lea found themselves an
equally warm spot in another corner of
the garden and shared tears. After
lunch, George accompanied Horse and Pete Thompson (former regional ecologist
with Natal Parks Board on an outing to see the degraded wetland area that lies
between the black township of Mpopomeni and Midmar Dam. The plan being to
restore its cleansing function and reduce the severity of pollution occurring
from the sewage works in the township.
Pete and Horse look at one of the
structures and deflection berms put in place to spread contaminated water into
the wetland area.
Yet again the subject of knives
arose that evening. This time it focused on the badly worn bone handled knives
that Sue & Horse use. Generations of use had us wondering about the stories
these knives could tell and their strangely artistic shapes; recently, one had cut
Horse so badly while he trimmed leaves off some aloes – that was a dramatic
story in itself! All led to Sue to giving
George a most unusual, tiny Corn Knife folder she had among her collection of
drawing instruments!
The next day, Horse took George to
see bird hides (designed by Mike Excelby) on the farm Garthmore where the
Karkloof Conservancy had set up an information centre and walking trail.
After lunch, George accompanied
Horse to the dentist in Howick just in case the tooth, he had to have removed,
did not stop bleeding.
While the men were out, Lea
accompanied Sue to the local shopping centre in her 1982 bright yellow ‘matchbox’
Mini 1275! Lea barely able to get into
the seat that had seen better days or had taken so much strain from tall folk
exiting, it lurched backwards! Little
did she realise she was in for the most exhilarating and scary ride of her
life. Two old ladies giggling their heads off as they took a strange somewhat magical
‘carpet ride’… Clothes pegs required to get this vintage girl going- They held
the choke out! Therefore, the revving noise made flying out the gate onto the
road, seem even speedier. Bear in mind,
Lea is used to the height of a 4X4 – Here she was virtually lying backwards in
a car just inches off the ground as Sue madly accelerated for take-off. We
literally flew up the steep hill, swerving violently around speed humps as if
the ‘box’ was out of control as it sent leaves airborne. All so unexpected for Lea
– the shock of it all only added further hilarity. We arrived at destination and a struggle to
get out ensued for Lea. A man of our era, returned to his car parked beside us,
at that moment and recounted his memories of mini’s as he laughed with us. Both
Horse and Sue own little old cars that are well-known in and around Hilton and
Howick. Both receive constant pleas to sell their respective vehicles every
time they go out in them, too!
Eventually we were done in the
supermarket – bit slow as folk greeted ‘Mrs Hat’! SO, Lea learned Sue’s Hilton name – Sue never
goes without a hat anywhere since her skin cancers. We popped into an Op-shop to check for old
picture frames - something artist Sue regularly does - no frames, but a
beautiful big hat caught our eyes. Just Perfect!
Pattrick’s collected us from
Horse and Sue that evening and returned us to Wedgewood Estate. While we were
away, Maureen had booked a visit to Marcus Kruger’s Arusha Designs Gallery. Marcus, a self-taught cabinet maker showed us
around. Of great interest was the delicately carved flowers (petals) made from
poplar wood by another local artist - Avanesh Datadin. Marcus made mention of the dangers of working
with spalted timber - the dust arising known to cause lung cancer. George loves
working with spalted wood and takes no precautions! Marcus took George around his workshop to see
the wooden, foot-powered lathe he made and still uses as it controls both the
speed and direction in which it turns.
Sean had collected his son Ben,
from the airport that morning and the family were coming up to Hilton to have
lunch and spend the afternoon with us all – more welcome time with this family.
Pattrick’s had kindly offered to
return us to Durban. Next day, as we packed the car, Sean arrived with Ben and
surprised us with a copy of his book Game
Ranger in a Backpack. We were
thrilled to bits and so enjoy the many unusual snippets contained within the
pages of this great handbook. We arrived in good time at The Pavilion Centre
and enjoyed a farewell coffee at the Mugg & Bean with John and Maureen
while we waited for Jan de Waal to arrive from Scottburgh. Hello’s and goodbye’s happen
so fast that there is a topsy-turvy sense of neglect – Before we knew we’d transferred cars and were on our
way down the south coast of Durban to Jan and Jean’s new home in Lakeview Village, Freeland Park on the edge of Scottburgh for past 6 months. Jean was excitedly waiting for us - our close
friendship dates to Kariba when she was the terrible typist for the terrible
biologist at Fisheries Research. A new bride at the time, she and Jan would
often give the terrible teachers a ride into Salisbury.
George and Lea had both been forewarned
about the two dogs; a black Labrador Kola in his first year of preparation,
prior to formal training as a Guide dog and a golden retriever Daisy, who is
the working dog face of newly formed Natal Guide Dog Association. Jean had remained at home to be with the dogs
while Jan fetched us. Jan had previously been a dog trainer up in Johannesburg
for the Guide Dog Association and was now helping set up a unit in Kwa
Zulu-Natal. We had to ignore the dogs
unless told otherwise, so as not to upset early training routines. Kola still very much a puppy wanting to play
within the small confines of house and garden – It was most interesting to
watch dog and trainer interaction. That
evening, with Kola wearing her jacket emblazoned ‘working puppy in training’ or
words to that effect – he sat in the front passenger well of the car, at Jean’s
feet. We were going out to meet up with Jan’s sister Marijke and husband Hugh Stringer
at Stones Pub & Grill a very popular joint, this Friday night with live
music. Kola the Labrador was told to
‘vanish’ – he did just that - under the table.
Our first morning began with a 4km
walk through the Lakeview Estate for George. He joined Jan taking Kola on a
training exercise. There was much talking going on that it was only after lunch
that we managed to get going … En route to the Somerset Mall, we stopped at the
Scottburgh Cemetery to visit the Memorial Wall where George’s parents ashes lie. We were all deeply shocked to
find the Wall of Remembrance had been vandalized, many of the marble plaques
and boxes containing ashes scattered everywhere.
Fortunately, George and Molly’s
tiny vault had not been smashed open or tampered with. Lea found a security
guard on duty and learnt that possibly the persons responsible had either been
drunk with no respect for cemeteries or drugs hoping to find something of value
inside the wall. More depraved was an
opinion that by adding ashes of the dead into mixture used to inhale through
“whoonga straws”. On returning home we Googled
Scottburgh Cemetery and found this damage had occurred three years ago, May
2016. No one had cleared up the mess! The report spoke about looters looking
for gold teeth in the ashes; tell-tale signs of rituals having taken place; the
possibility of teenagers being the culprits (from the sweet papers left
behind); or the vagrants known to sleep / take shelter at the site.
Jan decided to take both dogs on
the walk through the village next day, putting George in charge of Daisy with
instructions on how to manage her! So much for that - Daisy pulled like a Husky
in the Antarctic, nearly pulling George off his feet a few times especially
down the steep slopes of the hillside. Eldest
daughter, Lynne Phipson and her house mate Bruce and her daughter Janine
arrived from north Durban for a braai lunch with us. We watched vervet monkeys
raiding the banana trees next door!
George and Jean with Geo’s fridge
Caramel
Cheers Girls!
The following day -
Morning tea and scones/pancakes
at “Scotties” in the Scottburgh caravan park with Hugh, Jan, Marijke and Jean.
Afterwards we took a walk along
the beach recalling places before taking a drive to the mouth of the Mkomazi
estuary. Also drove past Bramley Lodge where George’s Dad lived for a couple of
years – it’s changed its name to Summerhill Lodge. So many familiar places from time spent around
here. On returning home Jan and George spent the rest of the afternoon collecting
and carrying flowerpots, both large and small, from the garden of a man leaving
the village. We were supposed to join Marijke and Hugh for tea to see their
home in the village. All held up by George and Jan still too busy to stop their
work. We ended up going to their place for drinks and a light supper. Their
house, beautifully designed and finished, looked directly onto a thickly
forested area with stream below them. Having lived in Malawi, Marijke knew John
Tarbit and David Eccles.
Jan left early the next day, on
Guide Dog’s Association business. Kola and
Daisy in the car as the ambassadors at a Golf Day fund raiser in Durban.
Marijke and Hugh collected the three of us a bit later and we drove to
Pennington to have breakfast in the historic Botha House – a palatial Cape
Dutch building, named after Louis Botha, the first Prime Minister of SA, who’d
had this “beach cottage” built for his wife, on the coast of Natal.
A huge, gracious homestead,
looking across rolling lawns with panoramic views was recently renovated by the
Umdoni Trust and now runs as a Bed and Breakfast.
Breakfast was mediocre at best – it somehow lacked the panache of its
setting.
Come afternoon, Marijke drove us down to the Blue Marlin hotel – a most beautiful setting. The hotel has recently undergone a massive face lift and built
a a most elegant undercover bar at the bottom of the property, overlooking the beach.
We had coffee there- and really enjoyed the whole ambiance.
With the ghastly scene at the
cemetery playing on George’s mind – the decision has been taken to go and
remove the plaque and ashes from the Wall of Remembrance. Jan drove him there
with screwdrivers at the ready. The
container his Dad had kept Molly’s ashes in, had disintegrated. The two men shot into town to find a suitable
container. A shop called Poor-man’s
Paradise, run by an Indian couple produced a little box with a broken latch. George bought it for R10 ($1). Upon asking
what the box was for, George answered soil! Ah, said the shopkeeper rushed
around looking for two stones he’d picked up in Namibia, for George to add… The
two little stones accepted and subsequently labelled Molly and George before lid
was sealed with silicon. They were put into George’s bag for the journey to the
Cape in time.
The Social Centre in the village has
a Wednesday Roast Lunch and we duly went down and joined Marijke and Hugh for a
last meal altogether. We were leaving in the morning.
Wonderful days with Jan and Jean
had come to an end. They drove us back to Sherwood in Durban. The dogs came
too, as we were moving on to Bronwyn and Mike Brett in their ‘Strawberry
Fields” home. de Waal's had known Bronwyn as a little girl in Kariba and were
staying for lunch. We found Bronwyn and
Yoga the ginger cat waiting for us. Yoga, severely mauled by dogs six months
ago took one look at the dogs and disappeared upstairs. Bronwyn took us down to
the Oval to give Kola and Daisy a good run on the ‘Oval’ before we all settled
on the veranda. Mike returned home later
that night. He is very busy on an upgrade of the Durban oil refinery.
Nursing Sister Brett took Lea
across to Glen Anil to see Sister Ruth!
Barely three weeks since this dear friend had her massive surgery. She
was now home, beginning the long slow process of convalescing. Ruth had lost a
great deal of weight but not her spark or sense of humour for all she had been
through. It was good to be with her.
Pieter took the opportunity to get out of the house and do some jobs and I felt
comforted having Bronwyn with her knowledge and experience close at hand
especially when Ruth had a bad turn. Smell of Bronwyn’s soup? We’d brought some
lunch for ourselves…
We went to dinner with Bronwyn
and Mike’s second daughter, Justine, her husband Michiel and their little sons
James and Daniel. They live in a splendid home high up on the hillside of La
Lucia, in a new and secure Estate. Michiel, with his particularly delightful
Afrikaans accent is a most interesting character. He travels the world
inspecting the structural integrity of boats, yachts, oil rigs and barges (in
other words anything that floats!) on behalf of a Norwegian based company. He’d just come back from Pemba in Mozambique
and Nosy Be, Madagascar doing just that.
Bronwyn gave George a haircut
before Lea’s cousin, Ruth Matthews arrived for lunch with her new partner,
Larry Rodgers and his dog. Ruth has lived in Cape Town for the last forty odd
years. She brought up a family single-handed and in the last year, found
romance with Larry. Mid July, Ruth finally retired as a Community Nurse. The
two of them travelled up from the Cape to attend a family 70th
Birthday before heading to Limpopo region where Larry farms. Amazingly, Ruth’s
sister Helen turned out to be married to Rob Dyer, Mike Brett’s cardiologist!
Another month came to an end and
being a Sunday morning, Bronwyn decided brunch on the beach front would be
good. We walked along the esplanade on the main beachfront. Places were packed
and when we reached Joe Cools, we decided the view from the top would be most ideal
on such a glorious day. After ordering
our breakfast – horrible music began blasting out and we almost up and left until the kindly manager stepped up and found us a quieter place.
Unreal to be back at Joe Cool twice in a month, never having set foot
there during our life in Durban.
Once back at Strawberry Fields, George
noticed a neighbouring lady come out of her house with what looked like a
bazooka to chase the monkeys away. Bronwyn remarked, she used a tazer! To which
George rudely retorted “Why can’t you people learn to live with wildlife”
Despite Mike considering us Bronwyn’s surrogate parents – she takes pays little
notice!
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