2005 South Africa – Johannesburg
Working for British Airways, David was able to get us a cheap flight on Christmas day so after a traditional lunch with my parents we made our way to Heathrow Airport. It was a weird flight with the air stewards dressed in reindeer antlers and Father Christmas hats. David and Laura met us at Jan Smuts airport and took us back to their lovely house in a private estate in Northcliffe which by a weird coincidence was the area where I used to live in 1975. It was a large house with a swimming pool built on a hill with a spectacular view of the surrounding countryside. There was even a self-contained apartment where we would stay and a maid who came daily to clean. As soon as we drove through the electric gates we were greeted by two great Danes thundering up to us like horses and what magnificent creatures they were. Abby was the mother and as fearsome as they come while her son Boris was as soppy as they come. We loved dogs and made a big fuss of them although it was a little overpowering at times when they forgot their weight and strength. Being boxing day when we arrived, there was lots of food left over from Christmas lunch so we were treated to a splendid meal of bubble and squeak and an afternoon lounging by the pool in the hot sunshine.
Next morning we were driven to the local shopping mall and had a pleasant time strolling around the shops which included a Marks and Spencer which they called Woolworths. Everything was so cheap compared to England. After lunch, we returned to the house and lazed by the pool gain. Just outside the side door of the property were fields where we took the dogs for a walk. To be more accurate, they ran around frantically chasing grouse while we strolled around until they decided they had had enough. There was never any question as to who was in charge.
There was a lot of crime in Johannesburg but the house was in a gated community with armed guards that alerted a private security if there were any problems. There was an electrified barbed wire on top of the property walls and being security conscious David and Laura had even been on an awareness course where they were told what to look and how to avoid dangerous situations. They also had two guns kept in a safe and were well-trained on how to use them. Living in that environment is not for everyone but they loved it and I can’t say I felt threatened at any time. It was ironic thought that in 1975 when I lived there most white people lived in the Centre which was a protected while most black people lived outside. When apartheid ended, black people flocked to the centre where it became a no-go area because of crime and the white people moved to the outside in protected areas.
I hadn’t seen David for five years so it was great to catch up and play some tennis with him which was amusing. I was such an awkward opponent as I tended to play squash on a tennis court. I was incapable of hitting the ball hard or using top spin and served like a donkey but I often beat much better players than myself. I could place the ball with pinpoint accuracy and was good at anticipating where the ball was going which is second nature on a squash court. David even took lessons from a professional on how to beat a squash player but despite me not having played tennis in the previous ten years I still beat him. I was eight years older so taught him to play when we were young. Mum used to tell me off for not letting him win now and again but that was the last thing David wanted as when the inevitable day came when he did beat me, he could be sure it was because he played better than me.
They had some pretty big storms in Johannesburg which I suppose had a lot to do with it being at an altitude of 1700 metres. When there was thunder it felt like you were right in the middle of the thunderclap. One day while playing doubles with David’s friends we saw storm clouds coming but continued to play as they often pass without incident. There was still no rain when suddenly there was a massive flash and thunder almost at the same time and the metal fencing around the tennis court made a hissing noise. I was enjoying the game and quite prepared to play on which was pretty stupid so it was just as well that David insisted we abandoned the game and it wasn’t long before the rain came crashing down.
A major event of that holiday was the end of the ponytail I had worn for the previous fifteen years. I started wearing it when I went back to the music business in 1989. At 37 at years old it was the closest I could get to a cool image. Despite giving up music for a second time in 1998 I still kept the ponytail although I had no idea why because I didn’t even like it. David talked me into cutting it off and we went to his swanky hairdresser where I had the full works, including a head massage. After the haircut, my hair was still an inch long but it wasn’t long before I bought a hair trimmer and cut it even shorter myself. It cost me nothing and I enjoyed doing it. How nice it was to have short hair. It dried in seconds and no more tangles.
One morning we went to the Apartheid Museum which we enjoyed although it very hard going at times and at one point Federika became so upset she had to leave. It was mainly centred around the Soweto riots of 1975. Despite me working in the centre of Johannesburg at the time, I knew less about what was going on than people around the world who were reading about it in the free press.
New Year’s Eve 2004
When I worked as a musician, New Year’s Eve was always the worst night of the year for me. It was great money but often involved driving long distances and hard work while everyone was enjoying themselves. At 2 am I would go to the car and scrape ice off the windscreen before driving home with my clothes stinking of cigarette smoke. After quitting the music business, New Year’s Eve was better but it was too expensive to go out so Federika always organised something at home with the kids which was good fun. That night in Johannesburg was the best-ever New Year’s Eve ever for me. It was a warm evening with a barbecue and David’s friends who all brought something to eat. Federika made a splendid trifle. After dinner we all sat around the fire pit, watching the flames, and waiting for the New Year to arrive.
2nd January 2005
We spent the morning at the Johannesburg Art Gallery which was located in an area that the City Municipality was attempting to revamp. I can’t say it did much for me but I rate an art gallery by the number of benches it has to sit on and if it has a coffee shop so I might not be the best person to judge. Next stop was the top of the Carlton Centre for a spectacular 360-degree view of Johannesburg. It was opposite the Carlton Hotel which had been abandoned many years earlier which surprised me as it always had international status meaning there were no racial restrictions. I would have liked to have gone to Hillbrow where I lived for a few months in 1975 but it was impossible. The city centre in general was so dangerous that when David and Laura took a private tour they were accompanied by an armed guard but even he refused to take them to Hillbrow saying it was a no-go area.
After lunch we all went to the African craft market at Hartebeesport Dam. There were so many interesting things to buy at such reasonable prices it was difficult to know where to stop. On the side of the road, there were Africans selling wooden chairs with intricate carvings on a high back. I loved them and one in particular took my eye. I wanted to buy it but it was big and heavy so it would have been difficult to take home with us. There were lots of people selling things and not many tourists so when the man selling the chair saw I was interested he was desperate to make a sale. I asked him the price and was surprised at how cheap it was but I didn’t have enough cash with me and of course, he didn’t take credit cards. I showed him what I had in my pocket and he ended up settling for that. I felt quite bad about paying so little for it but it was either that or not buying it. David was able to ship it through his friend at British Airways. I hate bargaining and I think it bothers me more if I have paid less than a fair price for something than if I have been ripped off.
The temperature was in the 30s and during the drive home a big storm was brewing which thankfully didn’t start until we got home. The power went out for a couple of hours and by the time it came back on, the storm was and 38 millimetres of rain had fallen.
My Christmas holiday at work had officially finished so the day came for me to tell them I would be a week late getting back to work due to pressing personal matters. The children were still on holiday so it was only support staff that would be affected by my absence. Having worked for British Airways I knew how important remote access was so it was one of the first things I implemented when I started working at the college. On the one occasion that something did go wrong while I was away, I sat under a tree in the garden 8000 miles away and fixed it remotely.
2005 South Africa
