Eric Clapton and the Kings Concert - Swaziland 1989

A collegue was telling me at lunch time he is going to see Eric Clapton next week at the O2 in Dublin - I thought about seeing him, but honestly there are just too many concerts to see these days, but I was telling him about when I saw Eric Clapton in 1989 in Swaziland.

My BFF had gone to a Rock Concert with her brother the previous year in Zimbabwe to see, Bruce Springsteen, I was very jealous that I was not going with, she also came home with some amazing stories, that I will tell you about some day.  So when another friend of mine invited me to go with them to see Eric Clapton and a host of other bands in Swaziland, I jumped at the opportunity.

My friend and I were going with a mutual ex-boyfriends brother and his friend.  Well the friend that came with was a BIG marujana smoker and smoked in the car all the way up.  We left at about 10 a.m. on the Friday morning 21st of July 1989, the concert was on Saturday evening in Mbabane at the Somhole Stadium, it was the Kings Trust concert, basically a concert to celebrate King Mswatti II 21st birthday - he aparently had a private concert at the palace.

So we drove to Oshoek border and got through relatively easy, aparently that night and the next day there were 5 hour waits.  We had no accommodation, but a tent in the car and a couple of tins of tinned food, my friend had organized with some mates of hers that worked there that we could camp on their property or stay in the house, and this back in 1989 when there were no cell phones or email everything was done on trust and hope.

We eventually found the guys place, well the house that they stayed in was so filthy that we even decided it was not worth using the toilet as we did not know what we would catch, so we really roughed if for the week-end.

I don't remember too much detail but remember it was an awesome week-end, I am going to go and dig up my old photos and scan them in.  While searching the internet for any information about the concert I came across this newspaper article which describes everything to a T.

Travelling back on Sunday, we decided to go through Piggs Peak as again there was a 5-8 hour wait at Oshoek border post, which was probably a wise move.  We got back and I had to have 3 baths to get rids of the dirt, and my husband wants to know why I don't like camping!

 If you can't read the article I have posted here, here is the link which should be a lot clearer: http://samusicheritage.wordpress.com/2012/07/01/swazi-rock/

The Great Bank Tunnel Robbery

In 1977 (42 years ago now) the biggest and bravest bank robberies in South African History was staged in Krugersdorp South Africa, it was over an Easter week-end.  

The Standard Bank in Krugersdorp was robbed of over R400 000, which back in 1977 was a lot of money, considering we bought our house in 1996 for R100,000.    

A shop across the road from the bank was rented, they used a false name (Mr Nightingale) and an address in a Johannesburg Suburb.  Mr Nightingale said he was opening a photographic studio and therefore pasted Newspapers all over the windows of the shop.

In 1977, during the Easter weekend, the Standard Bank in Krugersdorp was robbed in one of the most daring robberies in the history of South Africa. More than R400 000 was taken.

During the day, the robbers dug a tunnel to the bank, placing the soil in bags which were then removed from the premises.

What counted in their favour was that the ground was relatively soft and there were no underground cables or pipes on the route. They even installed wooden props in the tunnel, leading people to believe they had mining experience.

They did their homework very well – they knew that compressors were being used nearby, enabling them to mask any sounds they would make during the excavation – in fact, the bank turned off its trembler alarms for that very reason.

The robbers tunnelled for three months, digging 21 metres under four adjacent shops until they struck the bank’s vault, without anyone knowing about it.

During the Easter weekend, the robbers broke through, took what they wanted and disappeared. No arrests have been made to this day.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1977_Krugersdorp_bank_robbery

The "Big Snow" in 1981

This week was the anniversary 10th of September of the Snow we had in Johannesburg in 1981, majority of us kids had never seen snow in our lives before, so it really was a novelty.

I remember the week so well, the week before we celebrated Spring day and it was starting to get warmer, the blossoms were out.  I remember leaving for College on the morning of the 10th, there was no sign of a cold weather and it was rather warm.

I caught the Nr. 45 bus from Linmeyer to Eloff Street in Johannesburg, and as we drove through Rosettenville the sky was absolutely black!  We got to college, it was situated towards the end of Eloff street towards the station and we were on the 11th floor!


The snow started lightly, we were all looking out the window until it started coming down much heavier, then when it started to settle we took this opportunity to make snowballs and start throwing them down at the people in the street below.

There was absolute Chaos and the Principal said that only the kids whose parents said they could go home could go home, but I think we all just took this opportunity to bolt.

In the side road "Post Street" running down to Risi Avenue, some kids had rolled a GIANT snowball in the middle of the road, so no cars could get up or down.    A week later it still hadn't quite thawed out and the Fire Brigade had to use pick axes to smash it and get it to melt.

I would love to hear about your stories from the Snow in 1981 in Johannesburg!


It's amazing how to this day, 38 years later everyone who was around that day have their own stories to tell.   We were lucky living in the South of Johannesburg as we had more snow than anywhere else and it lasted for at least 2 days!  I heard that in the Northern suburbs it didn't even really settle.

I found this really cool website of Snow in South Africa from 1853 - 2014, some really good photos on the website as well.

Highveld Primary School - 1973 Standard 2 (Grade 4)

I was quite surprised that at this stage of my life where this Class photo was taken over 40 years ago that I can remember everyone's names in my class:

Our Teacher at the back was Ms Da Silva but for the life of me I cannot remember her 1st name, then Back Row from Left to Right - Andre Van Tonder, Emilio da Silva, Neil Smith, Gary Palmer, Pieter Van der Spuy, Russell Thompson, Graeme Els, Graham Littleford, Anthony Garbers, Robin ?, George ?, Richard Moore, Glen Coyle

Middle Row: Theresa Divine, Michelle Stadler, Sharon ?, Glynis Tutton, Leora Farber, Bernice Myburgh, Lisa Schoeman, Nicolette Nienaer, Lucia de Olivera, Debbie Hales, Tania Tsangaris, Lesley Norton.

Front Row: Martin Pape, Clinton van der Stadt, Ralph? Me, Melanie Moore, Antoinette van der Heever, Stella Rykaart, Lee Garnett, Shaun Reilly, Alex Loukakis, Steven Brandt.

Front Front:  Robert Levy, Colin Humphries

The Bug House ....

Our main entertainment growing up was going to the "Movies", there were only 2 movie houses in Rosettenville which my father referred to as the "Bug House", mostly we would go to the "Grand" which was in Main street, Rosettenville. 

My mom would take us to the "Bioscope" on a Saturday afternoon, I remember before the movie started they would have "News Reel" which would have news mainly from London and all in black & white, then they would show a short either "Flash Gordon" or a disney short.

Then they would have a 15 minute interval and the movie would start, just enough time to get an ice-cream, my favorite was the Zoom ice-cream that had a collectable disney toy in the bottom of the cone.  It was 3 flavours of ice-cream in the shape of a rocket, strawberry, vanilla and chocolate at the top, covered in a bit of real chocolate.

It was this shape but made from real ice-cream! 

When we were teenagers we were allowed to go to "The Adelphi" which had been revamped and for the life of me I can't remember the name, I just know they had Kinekor Kiddies Club on a Saturday morning, so you would get in to see a movie for less than on any other day and you would get popcorn and a drink with your ticket.

I remember seeing "Grease" there when it first came out, and my friend Morag and I went to see "Mary Poppins" during the school holidays, there was a lady sitting behind us singing to every song, until we told her to Shut up!!!

Later on we were allowed to go to the Kine Centre in Johannesburg to watch movies, it was across the road from the Carlton Centre and the place to go.  When I was at college, I remember going with all the college girls, my friends Heather and Nicole were part of our group, anyway we took up a whole row of seats - but I have no idea what we went to see! 

There was a guy on his own who sat in front of us, anyway we were passing popcorn up and down the row and I remember someone dropped it, and it went all over the guy sitting on his own ... he didn't budge, until the lights went out and then he moved seats, probably because we spent the entire time killing ourselves laughing ... poor guy!

I saw my first "No under 18" movie at the Kine Centre - Heather, Nicole and I would catch the bus to college together, Nicole would always entice us into bunking and it was the time "American Gigolo" came out.  The usher was checking our tickets and I almost didn't get in, he said to me "You're not 18" and I said I am, he said "No you're not, you're only 17", (and I was), he must have seen the shock on my face and just let me go in!  He never queried Heather and Nicole who were the same age as me, but I guess I just never wore as much makeup.

I just found this really interesting web page on Movie Theatres in Johannesburg > https://johannesburg1912.wordpress.com/2013/07/29/theatres-in-early-johannesburg/

My dad owned a Movie house in Yeoville and in this article it talks about the "Bug House" in Yeoville, which must be where he got it from.  ‘Bughouse’ bioscope in Yeoville - My mom and dad lived in Fortesque road in Yeoville when they got married in 1956 and I remember my dad saying he owned a bioscope, we still had the projector when we were kids and loads of Black and white TV shorts from America on film called "My little Margie".

Before the Kine Center, we would sometimes go to His Majesty's or The Colosseum in town to see movies, at one stage they were showing all Elvis's movies at His Majesty's and my mom love Elvis so we were dragged along to see them, however I grew very fond of Elvis!!!

If you have read a lot of my blog, my father was in construction and had his own construction company, he helped build his Majesty's in the 40's and I have a photo somewhere of him shaking hands with General Smuts.

Would love to hear your memories of the Movie houses in Johannesburg.


 

Southern Suburbs Sports Club

Do you remember the SSSC - I have fond memories from my teenage years of spending a lot of time at the club.

We played Squash often at the club, I think it was the closest Squash club to where we lived!   We would go and watch cricket there, I think my friends dad was the chairman of the Cricket club back in the late 70's.

Cyril Mitchley the umpire was a member of the Cricket Club and his son Cyril Mitchley played for the club, but please correct me if I am wrong, my memory is not as great as what it used to be.

I just researched the SSSC to see if it still there and they mentioned the public pool??? When did that happen, it looks like the club has gone from strength to strength.

There used to be disco's every now and then at the club and of course when we got to the "drinking" age, if the pubs weren't open on a Sunday at least the Clubs would sell alcohol!

The tennis courts were superb and I would sometimes go with a friend as her parents played tennis.  I only really got back into tennis a few years ago and now lead the tennis club at my work.  It's not great playing on outdoor courts in Ireland as most of the time it would rain, or just generally be bloody cold out there, I have photos of us playing in our winter rain gear ... lol.

Anyway back to the SSSC - I think almost every kid who lived in the South would at sometime have been to the club, would love to hear your memories. 

There were also the koppies behind the club, where we used to go and climb over the rocks or take a short cut to the club, even though our parents forbid us from ever going to the koppies! 

Facebook .... ugh

The more and more I think about Facebook, the more and more I want to delete my profile, but I have so many friends that I keep in touch with that I just don't have the heart to delete it. 

On Friday it was a late friends birthday, I have known him since I was about 5, he lived in the same street as me, went to the same school and I had the hugest crush on him! 

Because no one has deleted his profile he is still up on Facebook and I get the reminder for his birthday as do his other 1000+ friends, Marc passed away in October last year and after his passing there were so many messages on his Facebook page in regards to his passing, it was very sad.  So come this year on his birthday, people were posting FB messages wishing him a very happy birthday and many more????  I ask you!

Seriously, some of the messages read "Happy birthday. I hope you have a great and blessed day. May GOD bless you with many more wonderful and blessed years to come. Enjoy" - 

If people only use Facebook to post messages when it's someone's birthday, I don't understand the logic for having Facebook?
 

de Villiers

I have been researching my Mothers ancestors, her mother was born a de Villiers whose forefathers came to the Cape as part of the French Huguenots, here is some information on the de Villiers wine

The de Villiers family of ancient Franco- Norman descent defended and saved Europe against the Saracen invasion in 778 A.D. together with the last Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire Charlemagne.

At the end of the eleventh century 1096 A.D. They embarked on the first Holy Crusade in defense of their faith and quest for land where they conquered Palestine, Lebanon and Syria from whence their coat of arms originates. (Note the curved scimitar on top of the coat of arms).

Three Centuries later the Crusaders were driven from the Holy Land, however it is reputed that Jean de Villiers the Grand master of Acron and First Grand Master of Crete of the order of St. John of Jerusalem took with him certain vine cuttings the Noble Syrah (Shiraz) red grape which came from Syria (originally from ancient Babylonia) and the white cultivar chardonnay which originates from Lebanon.

Hence these noble cultivars were introduced to the European wine regions and subsequently world-wide.

In 1688 the de Villiers Vignerons fled France from persecution to retain man’s God given rights of religious freedom independence and the pursuit of happiness.

The de Villiers family arrived at the Cape of Good Hope South Africa in 1689 in defense of their faith and quest for land and introduced their firsthand knowledge and experience in the art of winemaking to South Africa more than three centuries ago. They were the first Pioneers arriving in South Africa with wine making knowledge and skills hence the south African wine industry was born.

For more than Three Hundred years the forefathers of “de Villiers wines” were the proud owners and cultivated world renowned wine estates such as “la bri”, ”de Leeuwenjaght”, “Lekkerwijn”, ”Boschendal”, ”Coetzenburg”, “Zonnebloem”, ”Babylonstoren”, ”Zorgvliet”, ”Bethlehem”, ”la Provence”, ”Hondswijk”, ”Estherdal”, ”de Goede Hoop” and “Nantes”.

The three de Villiers brothers were the only pioneers arriving at the Cape of Good Hope with a letter of recommendation from the Heeren Sewentien in May 1689, of the Dutch east India company at that time the biggest mercantile company in the world informing Simon van der Stel; the Governor of the Cape, that the brothers Pierre, Abraham and Jacques de Villiers had a good knowledge of viticulture and that he should assist them on their arrival.

“Ideal climate-Unique terroirs-Choicest vineyards-Superior wines.”

In 1770 fortified sweet wine was shipped via the Dutch east India company to Hong Kong Beijing and Shang Hai-China Malaysia and Singapore. There the wine was traded for exotic Chinese silk crockery and pottery and it is reputed an oak barrel of cape Muscatel was presented as a gift to the Chinese emperor Qianlong of the Qing dynasty to the Court at the Forbidden City in Beijing 1795, by Isaac Titsingh representative of the Dutch Embassy to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Qianlong Emperor’s reign.

In 1805 Vignerons began to export fortified wine and brandy to Great Britain and her dominions.

From 1812 a barrel of sweet wine was sent to the island of St. Helena every year to the Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte and his aide de camp First Lieutenant Yon(the only French companion allowed during his banishment) until his death. It was reputed to be Napoleon’s favourite wine! Still unto today 200 years later, de Villiers Wines of the Cape exports wines to Dean Yon Weinimporte via Hanover to European Wine merchant and direct descendant of First Lieutenant Yon.

 In 1867 under their flagship “Paarl Rock Brandy” and other fortified wines they were of the first distributors to the diamond fields of Kimberley to the various towns of the Orange-Free-State and in 1873 further north to Pretoria and the goldfields of Johannesburg: the Zuid-Afrikaanse Republiek (Z.A.R -South African republic known as the Transvaal/Gauteng).

The present.

The continuation and fruition of these principles and more than three-hundred year old tradition is perpetuated by our Company today.

Villiers de Villiers the tenth generation in South Africa and present shareholder and brand Ambassador of the Company himself once a Vigneron for twenty years in the Paarl wine region.

Today “de Villiers Wines “under the personal supervision of Mr. de Villiers, personally tastes, selects and blends hand chosen grapes from the Choicest Vineyards with their Unique Terroirs culminating into a Superb Quality range of wines which also offers exceptional value to satisfy all the needs of the discerning customer under the flagship National and International brand-names “de Villiers wines” comprising three ranges : the normal superior-quality-value de Villiers Range the superb de Villiers Reserve range as well as the Dutch “Heeren Van Oranje-Nassau range.”

 The company’s head office is situated in Paarl – in the heart of the cape wine lands of the Western Cape region

DNA - My Heritage

So about a year ago, Em and I did our DNA tests and got the results, which to me were a bit of a shock as I always thought that I had Scottish and Irish DNA and a lot of French from my mothers side.   I still don't know how these things work but it turned out I have:

English                                                     71% (No Irish, Scottish or Welsh, just English)
North and Western Europe                    10.1% Includes French, German, Dutch
Italian                                                      9.4% 
Ashkenazi Jewish                                      4% Who even knew that was a thing
North African                                          3.6%
West African                                            1.9%  And no they didn't know I was born in South Africa

The best comment I got from People was - "So you don't have ANY South African DNA" (Ugghhh Facepalm emoticon here) .... lol

Among my mothers stuff from when she passed away, were a lot of family photographs, which I have managed to find out who the people in the photos were, which is absolutely amazing, I will include that in a new post. 

I do recommend getting your DNA done because it is amazing how much you find out about yourself and your family! 

Happy New Year 2019

What a year 2018 was, I discovered so much about my Family History and D's Family History by doing our DNA.

I've spoken to 2nd cousins I never knew existed and to D's 2nd Cousins too.   I'm still not 100% sure I have my father's family tree correct, but we can only hope.

I have learnt some really interesting stuff about my tree and discovered who those people in the old black & white photo's that my mother had among her belongings when she passed away!

It has become so interesting, especially when there are famous people among my family tree, but I will add all that information here. 

Harold (James) Kemp - WW1 Veteran

Armistice day 2018 - 100 years since the end of WW1

My father was 68 when I was born, he was Harold James Kemp born in 1896 in England (I think), he moved to South Africa between 1911 and 1914 as he fought in the 1st World War on the South African Infantry side, I guess because South Africa was a British Colony after the Anglo Boer war, it would have been very easy for British people to emigrate to South Africa in those days.

According to the Military records that I acquired from the South African Military record department in Pretoria, he first signed up for the Military in 1914 (24.10.1914), his military record says, he was enrolled as a Trooper in Regiment No4 Troop - and then on the 16.11.1914 was transferred to the Machine Gun Section.

Date Month Year Date Comments: 24 10 1914 16.11.1914 Pte #159 1st Military Rifles Enrolment 17 11 1914 23.6.1915 Pte #131  1st Military Machine Guns 23 6 1915 4 7 1917 Left Zomba for Union  16 7 1917 Arrived at Potchefstroom Military Hospital  18 7 1917 Pochefstroom Military Hospital - Malaria 19 7 1917 Pochefstroom Military Hospital - Malaria 27 7 1917 Robert Heights Nr 4 Gen Hospital - Malaria 8 9 1917 Robert Heights Nr 4 Gen Hospital - Malaria 10 09 1917 9.10.1917 Granted leave  26 09 1917 Taken on Strength 9 10 1917 Discharged at Roberts Heights -Permanently unfit for service in G.E.A. Address c/o  Mrs Hall 135a Jules Street, Johannesburg 17 10 1917 Disability / Casualty - Roberts Heights Nr. 4 Gen 25 10 1917 Reported in from Hospital 26 10 1917 Disability / Casualty - Roberts Heights Nr. 4 Gen - Discharged to duty.  17 11 1917 Acting Corporal 02 12 1917 Left Roberts Heights (Voortrekker Hoogte) for Beira (Mozambique)  on route to Nyasaland (Malawi) 14 12 1917 Ceased to hold acting rank 16 1 1918 Left Zomba for Union  16 2 1918 Left Zomba(Malawi) and was admitted to Hospital 17 02 1918 Disability / Casualty - Roberts Heights Nr. 4 Gen 07 03 1918 Disability / Casualty - Roberts Heights Nr. 4 Gen 13 03 1918 Disability / Casualty - Roberts Heights Nr. 4 Gen 16 03 1918 15.04.1918 Granted leave E. London 04 04 1918 Disability / Casualty - Roberts Heights Nr. 4 Gen - Eyesight 15 04 1918 Failed to report at Robert Heights after expiration of leave 17 04 1918 Returned to Duty 17 04 1918 Reported in from Hospital  24 4 1918 Left Roberts Heights (Voortrekker Hoogte) for Beira (Mozambique)  on route to Nyasaland (Malawi) by sail 21 05 1918 Left for Fort Johnstone  24 05 1918 Reported into camp (Zomba) from Fort Johnstone (Malawi)  26 05 1918 Left for Fort Johnstone  27 05 1918 Left for Fort Johnstone  30 05 1918 Reported into camp (Zomba) from Fort Johnstone (Malawi)  31 05 1918 Left for Fort Johnstone  15 07 1918 Arrived at Zombafrom Fort Johnston 15 07 1918 Reported into camp (Zomba) from Fort Johnstone (Malawi)  17 07 1918 Left for Duty Fort Johnstone 09 08 1918 Appointed Mechanic - Zomba 28 09 1918 Reported into camp (Zomba) from Fort Johnstone (Malawi)  30 09 1918 Arrived in Zombafrom Fort Johnstone 14 10 1918 Reported into camp (Zomba) from Fort Johnstone (Malawi)  03 12 1918 Left Zomba (Malawi) for Salsbury (Rhodesia) on Special Duty 08 12 1918 Arrived in Zomba ex Limbe 10 01 1919 Left Limbe (Malawi) 18 01 1919 Arrived Roberts Heights 22 01 1919 Declared an Absentee 28 01 1919 Returned 29 01 1919 Disability / Casualty - Roberts Heights Nr. 4 Gen - Malaria 30 01 1919 Declared an Absentee - Address Hamma House Buenos Aires 02 02 1919 Declared an Absentee - Address Hamma House Buenos Aires 15 02 1919 Robert Heights - Nr 4 Gen Hospital Discharged 30 days under "C" 15 2 1919 Arrived at Phe and Eaton 17 02 1919 Decared an absentee - Discharged 17 2 1919 16.04.1919 Dischared on demobilization and granted leave - Destination Cape Town 16 04 1919 Discharged at Roberts Heights on Demob - Address Poste Restante Cape Town 20 2 1922 Poste Restante Durban

This photo was taken in Zomba, Nyasaland (current day Malawi) in 1917 - He is the man in the middle.

After the WW1 he married his 1st wife in 1919 and they had a daughter in May, 1920, sometime in the 1920's he moved to Australia, I am not sure how long he was in Australia for but then moved back to South Africa at some stage. Him and his wife Grace Caroline Kemp (nee Metcalfe) divorce in 1947. He then remarried to an ELUNED KEMP (BORN RAYNER), and they divorced in 1956 when he married my mother Ann Kemp (Born Anna Johanna Marais), they married in December, 1956 in Mbabane Swaziland, and were together up until his death in 1991.

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Tobries / Tobies Ridgeway

Does anyone remember the pub Tobries or Toby's in Ridgeway in the South of Johannesburg?  I remember back in the day when I was working for Metro Cash & Carry, probably about 1989, it was our local hangout from work.

There were a few places in the South that were good, and mostly Tobries was good because of the music.   Shaun Liebenberg who was also ex Hill High would play his music there every Friday and Saturday night.   A brilliant guitarist and singer and I became a groupie.

Shaun was married to another ex Hill High pupil Beverley who lived up the road from us, one of the most beautiful girls I have ever known both inside and out.   Tragically Shaun and Beverley were killed in a car accident on the 14th of July, 2001 coming home from a gig.   Not long after we left South Africa.

I always believed that when Shaun sage "Kiss from a Rose" by Seal he was singing it just for me. 

We frequented Tobries from about 1989 until about 1992 when it just went downhill from then on.  It was a great pub and you would always bump into someone you knew there.

I do believe I was even kicked out of the pub one night, some friends and I were playing a sambuca game with black sambuc and we ended up setting the table on fire.

I could tell you a hundred stories from Tobries, but I think we will leave it there for now.

Commune parties in Jo'burgs Northern Suburbs

I think it must have been around 1987 or so, I was living in Randburg in a cottage and there were lots of young 20 somethings in the area sharing houses or as we called them "communes".  

A lot of the guys who rented these houses would have commune parties to help pay the rent, a commune party was an open house party, some charged entrance fee and sold booze, where as others had free entry and sold booze.   The booze was cheap, the music was loud and there was loads of fun. 

I do however rememer one night I think it was a party on Republic road or somewhere around there, the neighbors got really upset and you can't blame them.   The police would be called, they would come and tell them to turn the music down, but as soon as they were gone, the music would go up again!  This particular night the neighbor took matters into his own hands and threw a canister of tear gas over the wall.

It was the first time I had experienced tear gas, and I remember running with my friends to the garage over the road and splashing water on our faces, only for someone to tell as after that, that is the worst thing you can do.   I don't remember what happened after but it is possible we went to Bimbo's for a schwarma, we often did that after leaving Smugglers on a Friday night on our way home, more often than not still with a glass of wine or a beer taken from the pub.

There were so many communes in those days, a lot of times run by varsity students and needing to make some money for the electricity or some other utility.  I do remember going to these commune parties in Illovo, Parktown, Sandton, Rosebank and more often than not these were beautiful old houses, that by the time the students left were asolutely wrecked.

I'd love to hear your memories on commune parties round the late 80's early 90's.

Childhood Memories #1 - Green Mielies Missie

I was just telling someone here in the office about a childhood memory, I think it was round the autumn time but I could be wrong, when the local ladies with their big bag of "Green Mielies" would come walking past the house, shouting "Green Mielies Missie" at the top of their voices, and we would come running out to select our sweet corn, from their big hessian bag.

Those were the days!  

Facebook School Friends

Barely 20 years ago the only way you had to stay in touch with your school friends was if you still lived in the area and you were in contact with these friends from the time you left school.

The first time I had access to the World wide web was probably when I worked at the SABC back in 1996, the first thing I remember doing was looking for old friends, and at that stage there was a site called SAreunited, where I managed to get in touch with some old school friends.

Welcome 2004 and the birth of Facebook, which is now 13 years ago and has made Mark Zuckerburg into a multi billionaire.   I must say Facebook has been the most wonderful internet web site to find old friends that had moved away and you had lost touch with.   I always consider someone a friend regardless of what has happened in the past, however when my husband started using facebook he did make me realize that Facebook is not always "real".

He would say, this guy couldn't give me the time of day at school, so why does he want to be my friend on Facebook?   and I realized, yea a whole heap of my "facebook friends" didn't want to know me at school, in some cases they bullied me.

A lot of people will only post good stuff on Facebook, they never tell you about the hardships they have been through, and I guess people don't really want to know.   For instance, you don't want to know that the guy in your class you thought was so nice, actually beat up his girlfriend. 

And if you are destitute, don't ask for help from your facebook friends, because they wouldn't give you brass farthing.    I sometimes wonder why I keep up my profile on Facebook, but I guess it is like anything you don't want to lose touch again with those you have found, but is it really that important?

Are we just nosey individuals wanting to know about everyone's lives?  And do we really know the people we make friends with?  .... I don't think so!!!!   I have proved this, I created a ficticious Facebook profile, with a ficticious name but with Genuine schools and universities, I then requessted about 100 people to become my friend, I even had a profile photo - only 1 person out of all of them asked the question - "Where do you know me from?", the rest just blindly accepted my friend request!   So here I am a complete stranger to you, and yet you are sharing all your personal information with me, not very safe is it!

So I guess now you will be a lot more careful on who you choose to be Facebook Friends with!  Right?

The Citizen Band Radio Era in Johannesburg ... 1977 ... 80 onwards

I think it was 1980 or it could have been 1979 when I first got my CB Radio, Citizen Band Radio for those novices who don't know what it is.

With the Movie "Smokey and the Bandit" on circuit in 1977 there were those people in South Africa who had Ham Radio's which back in the 70's was an expensive hobby, the CB radio would have been a cheaper version on Ham Radio and would not have had the capacity to reach destinations as far a field as the Ham Radio.


CB Radio was a phase that all the kids in the South went through, we all had our own radio's that we could put in our car or friends car and then go driving round the streets and "eyeball" other CB radio people.  It had it's own Language, and it was so cool to be able to spell out using the NATO phonetic Alphabet so for instance, we needed a licence for your CB Radio and mine was ZRAM3498 and if anyone asked me what my licence number was I would call it out as "Zulu, Romeo, Alpha, Mike - 3 - 4 - 9 - 8".

My friend C was probably the first person I knew with a CB Radio and when she got it we all sat around deciding what our "handles" would be - She was "Twinkle Toes", Carol was "Golden Earning" after the band, so we decided I would be "Kiss" after another Rock Bank of the 70's.

I met some really nice people over the CB Radio and for the life of me I can't remember their handles, there was "Michael Van Wyk" who lived in La Rochelle - he went to Help Mekaar hoerskool and drove a Brown Datsun, with his CB licence number in big letters on the back of his window.   Although he was dating me, I think I was being cheated on with "Silver Leaf".

Then there was Ivan or "Stretch" I think his handle was, who introduced me to "Dubba & Audrey", lovely poeple.  And I met Clifford who was very much into his electronics and put up my arial at home for me, mostly so that I could talk to him because there was a lot of static interference between his house and mine.

I don't remember when the whole CB radio died out, but it did!  probably when we all started "jolling" and going to night clubs and not worrying about talking to someone 24 hours a day, I guess in those days it was our kind of cell phone.

The Good Old Days.

Johannesburg and The Hill High School ...

Although I attended The Hill High School in the Apartheid Era, of course which we were very ignorant about "Apartheid", did not even know the word.   I feel privileged to have had the upbringing in the South of Johannesburg and attended this school.

In South Africa in the "White" areas, we had "English speaking" schools, where English was the first language that you were taught in, and "Afrikaans" was a 2nd language that you had to learn, due to the fact that the "Boer" Government was "Afrikaans" and run by the Dutch Reformed church.  There were also Afrikaans speaking schools, that were very strict and every subject except of course English was taught in the Afrikaans language.


There was the "South" side of Johannesburg, which consisted of area's like Rosettenville, The Hill, Linmeyer, Oakdene, Glenvista, Townsview, Forest Hill, Turffontein and many others.  The South side was always looked upon as the "Poor" side of Johannesburg and the older working class, it was also close to the Western suburbs mining towns like Roodepoort etc.

And the the North would have been more upmarket bigger houses with bigger grounds, it incorporated wealthier suburbs such us Parktown, Rosebank, Hyde Park, Craighall Park, Illovo, Melrose and many other suburbs.

Living in the South you did not venture over to the North that much!

So getting back to the South and the Hill High School, The South was like a melting pot of all different nationalities, thinking back on it now it was a bit like a multi-national school, we had kids who were foreign nationals and some who were first generation South African, almost every single child was from parents who each would have come from different nationalities.

To list bit a few here, there were children whose parents would have come from Portugal and then those that would have been refugee's from the war in Mozambique.  Majority of Portuguese as well as Greek and Italian would have gone to a government or private school and then after school they would have attended a few hours at the relevent country schools e.g. Portugese School which was held in Rosettenville I cannot remember the name now but will find it out!  So most of these kids would also not really date outside of their culture and would end up marrying into the culture.

Whereas for example with myself, my father was born in Austalia, so we believe but would have come from mixed Irish / Scottish protestant parents.  My mother was born to a father and mother who were both of French descent "Marais & De Villiers" but would also have been of mixed origion somewhere along the line, I think on my Mother's side there was some Dutch mixed in as well. 

So the Nations in our school were all very mixed, French, Dutch, Irish, British, Scottish, Hungarian, Polish, Lebanese, Portugese, Spanish, Italian, Greek, Chinese, Mauritian, Afrikaans, Canadian and that is probably naming a few, at Hill High we came from all walks of life, Poor, Rich, Orphaned, many many single parents, and a lot of divorced parents who were re-married.  Some parents were very young and some like mine pretty old.   And of course from various different Suburbs, South Hills, The Hill, Rosettenville, Rewlatch, Regents Park, Linmeyer, Oakdene, La Rochelle and various other suburbs.

In Standard 6, I was in probably one of the worst behaved classes in the whole school, Ms Harvey was our school teacher and she was strict, so strict that she did not hesitate to give us detenetion.  One day she gave us detention, locked us all in the classroom and then went home, she apparently fell asleep and did not get back to the school before 6, by which time most of the kids had climbed out of the class room windows (including myself) and had gone home.

In the year I started we had 11 classes of Std 6 and almost 40 students in each class - that was a record number of over 400 standard 6 students - in total in the school there were about 1,800 of us.

A lot of kids looked like they had crossed the colour line somewhere a long the line and many would have been re-classified in an instant were the government that hell bent on colour.  But I think in majority of cases they just turned a blind eye.

The Hill was a very disciplined school, with lots of Rules - which a lot of kids were just hell bent on seeing how many rules they could break.  The guys wore striped ties and would put a mark on the back in pen whenever they received a "cut" from the principal.  A cut was performed with a long think cane.

There were quite a few incidents at school with Drugs, violence, gang fights, a lot of kids were expelled, in most cases kids that were expelled either ended up at Forest High, Damelin or those that were just not able to conform ended up in Boys Town which was like a kind of reformatory.

Teachers:

Well where do I start there were those teachers that came to the school and just stayed there until they retired ... Mr Tobias, Miss Katz, Ms Teper, Mr Krueger, Ms Sacks, with some of us they taught our parents and probably more recently our grandparents.  But they were Good teachers and they had a calling.  Not like some of the teachers today!

Wow I have rambled on about School and probably not even touched the surface of some of the wonderful moments we had at school and of course some of the really bad times, but I will save those for future posts. 

David's Blog about the Communal House Scene in Johannesburg during the 1970's....

So I received a comment by email from my "Other" blog, David who lives in Oz now and previously live in South Africa during the 70's.  Here is the comment:

Do you want to link to my Blog about the communal house scene in Johannesburg between 1975 and 1978?
It would be nice to do so from your Blog "It's My Life" since I read a very interesting article about people's memories about growing up there in the 1970's.
Here is the link:
http://thetyroneyearsjohannesburg1975to1978.blogspot.com.au/

So David I have linked it under "Blogs I follow" let me know if there is somewhere else you would like me to put it. 

It's quite interesting reading an expat's perspective on life in "Apartheid" South Africa, it's a fresh view on how things actually were.   Having been born in South Africa and growing up, you just never questioned anything that was going on, and of course there was a ban on broadcasting or writing anything that was happening in the country, so most of the time only the people overseas knew what was happening and not us.

My Kiwi Director, tells me how they learnt about South African history in New Zealand, which seemed a bit odd, and of course they would learn it in a totally different view to how we would have learned it. 

I was brought up by English speaking parents and of course my father was born in "Australia", so even though we had a maid living in the back room, she was treated with respect and dignity and especially as our parents would have been around from before "Apartheid" was introduced into South Africa.  In fact my "other mum" as I call her, is the first person on my list to visit whenever I return to South Africa.

I started off wanting to post about Communes, but it turned into more of a racial post, so I will have to create another post about communes. 

Friday Night Disco at St. Mary's Home Rosettenville

Almost 40 years since I attending the Disco at St. Mary's Home in Rosettenville, but this morning I was listening to a song by the Bee Gee's and it was the first thing that came to mind.   Did any of you attend those disco's?  Would love to hear your memories?

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.