Cutting the ties On October 22nd 1995, at the ripe old age of 53 and following a two week cheap package holiday in Malta, I left England’s green and pleasant land for a new life. My destination was Cape Town, a city I had grown to love over the preceding four years on several short … Read more
Sea of change The thought of leaving England for Durban in February, for the third time, to soak in the balmy Indian Ocean was pleasing enough. Equally exciting was the thought that I could be involved in some of the many changes that would envelope South Africa post-apartheid. For many years South Africans had been … Read more
Preparing For England Within minutes of our arrival I was on the beach and wallowing in the warm, shark-infested, waters of the Indian Ocean. Cape Town beaches are great; with wide open expanses of sand and dunes on the West Coast you can walk for miles and often hardly see another soul. But even brass … Read more
No need for alarm clocks here. Inquisitive penguins were playing round the boat before dawn broke. Seagulls, cormorants and oyster catchers added their voices to the cacophony of the morning chorus long before we rose and set sail north, along the Western Coastline to Langebaan. Most of the other yachts had sailed on to Langebaan … Read more
Out of Transkei As Umtata disappeared behind us in the early morning mist I breathed a sigh of relief at escaping the rawness of this part of Africa. It was, indeed, a short and unique experience and a vastly different environment from the Durban I had left a week ago. At the time I wondered … Read more
Score-a-lot Mvezo village, Umtata, is the birthplace of Nelson Mandela who was only released from prison in February 1990. Nine months later the main square in the centre of Umtata had been decked out with gazebos, a massive stage had been erected, loads of bunting and enough plastic chairs to seat the nation were in … Read more
The real worth of Castle lager I didn’t realise the significance of the case of lager we were carrying nor did I know its real worth until we hit a ‘road block’ after crossing the Natal border with Transkei. The border post was manned by a handful of soldiers, each of whom was brandishing an … Read more
Shattered dreams When I heard the news, on 11th November 1965, that Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) had declared UDI I was devastated. I had just been selected to represent the combined British tobacco companies in a party of cricketers to tour Rhodesia for six weeks. We were to be the guests of the Rhodesian tobacco farmers … Read more