TV in South Africa - 1976

I was looking at the Stat's on my Blog, to see which posts have attracted the most attention, and it seems it is all the one's in which I reminisce about the old days.   

I think a lot of us look over those days with fond memories, and by reading about someone else's memories, they think of their own and where they were and what they were doing at the time.

This reminds me of a post in a blog SA IN THE OLD DAYS from 2011, which triggered so many memories for me.  So, I thought I would write something similar about my own memories. 

1976 - TV was introduced to South Africa with the first Broadcast on the 5th of January 1976, we did not get our TV set until much later that year or the following year. 

However, to start the programs were short, I think they only broadcast for a few hours every evening. 

My Aunt and Uncle who lived on a small farm in Roodepoort had TV, we would go visit them on a Saturday with my mom and swim in the dam when it was hot, it was like a round reservoir with corrugated iron sides and it was slimy with all kinds of stuff floating in it.  But we did not care it was wet and cooling.   
Then when they got their TV, we were allowed to watch re-runs of "The Brady Bunch" that were aired on a Saturday at 1 PM. 
We didn't even realise that the show was almost 10 years old at that stage.   But we didn't care, we were actually watching a box with moving pictures, in someone's house without having to go to the Cinema. 

There was only 1 Channel to start and if I remember correctly each alternate day it would start with a different language, so for instance on a Monday you would have English from 6 - 8 and the news in Afrikaans, and then Afrikaans for the rest of the broadcast.   
On Tues you would start with Afrikaans and go onto English with the news in English. 
I destinctly remember Tuesday, as my mother would make us watch the programme "The World at War" which started at about 9 PM and had some horrific scenes of Hitler and how he killed the Jews.  They even showed someone being shot in the head and the brains splattering on Hitler's shoes. 

The sad thing about getting TV was that we no longer listened to our favourite stories on Springbok Radio.   This was the start of the end of Springbok Radio and the many shows we would listen to in the evening, like "Squad Cars" & "The men from the Ministry", so many different ones. Wikipedia has a list of all the different shows here.  But I think Springbok Radio probably deserves a post of its own, so watch this space. Oh, actually I did one previously ... Springbok Radio.

Mostly we listened to the Springbok top 20 which was late on a Friday night with David Gresham and then repeated on a Saturday.   They eventually made Pop Shop which was shown on TV on a Friday evening with the latest top hits and music videos. 

My best friend's brother "Alex Jay" (name dropping) eventually took over Pop Shop and hosted it for many years. Although now that I googled it, I think Alex's show was called "Fast Forward" and not Pop Shop.  Check it out ... 

That was also the start of all the shows that we became hooked on e.g. Dynasty, Rich Man Poor Man, Dallas, and I could go on and on for 40 years, but I will leave that post here and we can reminisce about something else tomorrow. 

Keep your feet on the ground and reach for the start until next time.  Adios Amigos

South African diaspora

Have you ever wondered how many South Africans have left South Africa in the last 30+ years?

Please don't bother googling it because the numbers they give you, is far less than what the real number is, that have left. 

We never officially emigrated from South Africa and still have bank accounts, tax numbers etc.  therefore, we are not classed in the number they give.   To see the ridiculous number they do give you need to check out Wikipedia.  One website put the number up to 2020 as 915,000 - cannot be, unless they are not counting those who have dual citizenship with another country?

Firstly, the ones who were able to leave first were those who had the insight to see that the country would eventually fall into disrepair and could find work in another country quite easily, along with some who had a foreign passport.

However, I have found that majority of my friends who still live in South Africa have foreign passports, so why aren't they leaving?  Well as my really good friend once told me, South Africa is a beautiful country, and you can live there really cheaply and also employ people to do things for you without costing you a huge amount of money. (But if you are white, you need to own your own company or have some kind of income) -  And ... then came the and, if something bad happens in this country, then the government of the United Kingdom will expatriate us immediately, because we have a British passport.

So hence the need to Emigrate and find another passport!  

White South Africans were all immigrants into the country, those fleeing persecution would have left in their home countries in the 1600's up until the 1800's, the newer immigrants probably came to South Africa in the late 19th Century - 20th Century at the time of the Gold rush, and they were clever to hold onto their heritage and passport from their birth country.   A bit like what we did when we came to Ireland and applied for dual citizenship before applying for Irish Citizenship, so that we could have both passports - should we ever need them. 

The immigrants who came to South Africa after the 1960's would have been all the Rhodesians due to the war, who either came to SA or went to the UK, Australia, or other destinations.  Then in the 70's when Mozambique was fighting for their independence, a lot of the White Portuguese settlers, either went back to Portugal or came down to South Africa.

In La Rochelle which was nicknamed "Little Portugal" a lot of the refugee families settled there with other relatives and integrated into the area. 

If I take a look at the list of my friends on the "Book of Face" who still live in SA, majority of them would be privileged to have these Foreign Passports, British, Portuguese, Spanish, Greek to name a few and the rest, well a lot have done what we have and made a life for themselves somewhere else, others have ensured that their kids have been given a good education so that they can get jobs in another country.  

Why, I am sure that most of "you" who regularly read my blog are part of the "South African diaspora", I don't think there are many who still live in SA who do read it.    I write my blog to hold onto those memories that we had in SA and to share my experiences and thoughts since leaving.  

Since 2020 not only White South Africans have left but a huge number of Black South African's have left too. This year alone I have met and spoken to so many New South African Immigrants in Ireland, working in Deli's, pet shops, coffee shops, concert venues etc. etc. and majority have been here less than a year.   They are stating that the infrastructure is falling apart, just look at the load shedding - if you google the stats since 2015,  2022 is the highest by far on record, however 2023 has already overtaken 2022, people cannot live like that. 

Where are you from?  

Bring Back the Past ... #91.9 FM

A few weeks ago a friend had a post on Facebook, how amazing is Facebook I wouldn't know half the sh!t I do if it wasn't for Mr. Mark Zuckerberg.  Anyway to get back to the Post, she was listening to a new Rock station in South Africa called Hot 91.9 FM so I followed the link and decided to listen, well what a blast from the past, all our old DJ's for Radio 5 in the 80's and 90's - Kevin Savage, Sasha Martaningo, Jeremy Mansfield etc. so definitely worth a listen.  I really need one of those Radios that picks up the internet ... on my Christmas wish list :)

It's probably the same kind of thrill our parents got when listening to "Call back the Past" on a sunday afternoon on Radio Highveld back in the 60's and 70's.

The "Road House"

Which "Road House" do you remember?

It's nice to get together with other South Africans who lived in the same City as you growing up, the other night we started talking about Road houses, and trying to remember the names.

I remember my mom taking us to a Road House every now and again growing up, mainly for milkshakes.

Uncle Charlies in the South which was a big petrol station, also had a restaurant and Road House attached to it.

But seriously - when we were teenagers, growing up the worst date was being taken to a road house, but when a guy had a car it was all he could afford when he said he was taking you out for dinner.

Are there still road houses left in Johannesburg?

Okay so these are the Roadhouses I remember:

• Uncle Charlies
• Chicken Licken (close to Uncle Charlies)
• Doll House on Louis Botha Avenue
• Casablanca in Hilbrow
• Cas Bar in Alberton
• Americano Road House on Eloff Street Ext.
• The one in Brackpan
• The one opposite Smugglers in Randburg
• The one down Hendrik Verwoerd Drive in Randburg - I think there were a few.
• Another one in Alrode near Alberton

I don't think any of them made particularly good food worth remembering, but most of them had good milkshakes, although the best milk shake was the Blue Bubblegum milkshakes from Chicken Licken.

In the 70's and 80's Road houses just like Drive-Inn's were everywhere in the Jo'burg area, South, West, North and East of Jo'burg.

What great memories, I will have to do a post on the drive-inn's we frequented, now alas I don't think there are any left in Gauteng. 

South African English

Another E-mail I received about South African English, brings back some memories:

South African English... let it not be said that we're not unique!

How do you explain the word "sommer" to someone who is not South African? It's not only a foreign word, it's a foreign concept. Perhaps the English never do anything "just sommer". There really is no equivalent.... "Why are you laughing? Just sommer."

"Bakkie" is another one, very useful around this house for all sizes and shapes of containers and dishes. Also used for what they call "utes" in OZ or "pickup" in England. I find it an indispensable word.

We all know "voetstoots" of course. It's been officially adopted into South African English. There's no concise, one-word equivalent in English. "As is" just doesn't hack it. And it's such a humorous word, conjuring up images of pushing that brand new car home...

There's no good English word for "dwaal". It doesn't mean dream, or daze. It's close to absent-mindedness, but that's not quite it. Being in one so often myself, I'm not likely to stop using it.

I think "gogga" is the most delightful word for insect I've ever heard. Children all over the world should use it. "Insect" just doesn't stand a chance.

And I think "moffie" is a far better word than all those embarrassed English attempts at defining a homosexual: gay, queer, poofter... none of them are half as expressive. Somehow "moffie" doesn't sound as derogatory either.

And then there's "gatvol". OK, I know it's very rude. But it's so very expressive, nê?
"Fed up" doesn't have half the impact. "Gatvol" is a word used more frequently than ever in the workplace these days, with increasing intensity.

While we're on the subject, another phrase which outstrips any English attempt is "Hy sal sy gat sien". "He'll get his come-uppance" definitely lacks the relish in comparison.

"Donder" is another very useful word, used as an all-purpose swearword, which again has no good English translation. Used as a verb, it can express any degree of roughing up. As a noun, it is a pejorative, as they politely say in dictionaries, to mean whatever you want it to mean. And there's no good translation for "skiet-en-donder" either.

It says something about the English that they have no word for "jol". Probably the dictionary compilers regard it as slang, but it's widely used for "Going out on the town, kicking up your heels, enjoying yourself”.    Although curiously, the word "Yule" in Yuletide is related to "jol" and derived from Old English. So somewhere along the line, the English forgot how to "jol". 

How do you explain the passion of "lekker!"? "Wow last night was a "lekker jol".

I've yet to meet a South African over the age of two who doesn't use the word "muti". Translation is impossible - "witches potion" is about the nearest I can get. It needs a long cultural historical explanation. Between "muti" and the pedantic "medication", there's simply no contest.

And of course, my personal favourite "Kak en betaal" , which just says it all, doesn't it? A bland English translation would be "Cough and pay", or "Breathe and pay". But it just doesn't cut it, does it? Not by a long drop.

Other words that come to mind: "jou bliksem", "wag 'n bietjie", "nie so haastig nie", "just now", "sakkie-sakkie music", "ou swaer", "Ya, nee", and one of my personal favourites, "Poephol".

"Dudu". Telling your infant to "go to bed" is just not the same as, "Go dudu now, my baby!"

How about “bliksem"? "I'm going to bliksem you!". Both wonderful Afrikaans expressions with nothing to compare in the English language, at least nothing that gives the same satisfaction.

"Mielie pap" - there is no word like "pap", here. They have porridge, and when they say porridge, they mean oats. There's no Maltabela, no Tasty Wheat, No Creemy Meal... in other words, there's no "pap"!

"Mislik" - such a 'lekker' word. "Why are you so mislik, you little skelm?"
Which brings us to "skelm" - here you just get "baddies", but that doesn't have the same sneaky connotation of a proper skelm, does it?!

And "snot-klap"... fabulous word! "Do you want a snot-klap?" How would you say that in English? "I'll slap you so hard the snot will fly!"? It's just not the same.

"Loskop" is another favourite. The English just don't understand when I say, "Sorry, I forgot - I'm such a loskop!"

And finally..... "moer". There simply isn't a word here that denotes the feeling of dread behind the phrase "If you don't clean your room, I'll moer you!"