JUNE 2010

JUNE 2010

ALLY IS CHOSEN FOR THE PRIMARY SCHOOLS EP HOCKEY TEAM TO PLAY IN OUDSTHOORN IN AUGUST
ALLY IS CHOSEN AS THE CLARENDON PARK HOCKEY TEAM CAPTAIN
NICCI, STEFAN AND FAMILY HOLIDAY IN NAMIBIA
START OF THE FIFA WORLD CUP SOCCER TOURNAMENT
BAFANA BAFANA DRAW THE FIRST MATCH AGAINST MEXICO. THEY LOSE TO URUGUAY AND WIN 2;1 AGAINST FRANCE AND ARE ELIMINATED AFTER ROUND ONE.
PATRICK AND MARIANNE GO TO VENICE AND BULGARIA
CHARLES & INGRID PURCHASE A HOLIDAY HOME IN BUSHMANS
WE DRIVE THE KAREL LANDMAN, AMAKHALA AND ADDO ROUTE
BARBARA AND I WATCH THE GERMANY VS SERBIA GAME IN STYLE
BARBARA LEAVES FOR CALGARY, CANADA WITH GAIL
ALLY AND I WALK THE OTTER TRAIL
JULIA AND LAURA ARRIVE FROM NY







I was in East London this week for work. Travel means that I miss out on the run training which I enjoy so much. I returned home on Wednesday evening. Thursday evening Barbara and I had a meeting at the Gelvandale Astro for the EP Hockey sides to travel to Oudtshoorn in August. We first thought the meeting was at Westering School but later found out it was at Gelvandale so arrived a little late.
Michael moved to a new house in 7th Avenue Walmer. Lene's Mother will also stay here in the Granny Flat.

Wednesday 2nd June is Rachel's Birthday.
Friday 4th June is Isabella's Birthday.

Saturday 5th June.
Ran to the Pier and back with Gerald and Alf Zemkhe. There was a reasonably big group but they are just too fast for myself and Gerald. This afternoon I had my second DBA group meeting in the Hospital at Kirkwood where Nelis works. Barbara came for the drive. I thought that she might want to walk around the Festival that they have here but she chose to stay in the car and read. It is a mental hospital and some of the patients disturbed her.

Friday and Saturday: as part of the build up to the World Cup, Clarendon Park had a soccer derby weekend. Ally and Jessica played in the various teams and made it to the finals before they were finally beaten. They both had a lot of fun. Ally stayed with Michael who later dropped her off at WMC where David Glover was getting married. Ally went to the reception with the Mitchleys who dropped her off close to midnight.

Tis week Ally was chosen to be the captain of Clarendon Park First Team hockey. It is the players who chose their own captain.

Barbara and I visited Michael in the new house in 7th Avenue. We played a bit of bridge and had supper with them.

Sunday 6.06.2010: Only five days to the Fifa World Cup Soccer kick off. During the past week I had been told that we had won a pair of tickets to a game in PE. So Barbara and I will go to the match between Germany and Serbia. In PE the vibe for the soccer had heated up. All over the city people are displaying flags on car windows and rear view mirrors. Shops have flags as to the street lamp posts.
Hockey at Clarendon this afternoon. A good turnout and some good hockey being played.

Monday 7th June: I left for Mthatha early this morning. Then on Tuesday morning left for Mount Frere and Bizana (now called Mbizana). After work I (and work colleague, Julia) drove to Port Edward rather than stay in Bizana. This is a Terrible road at night and I will not do this again. It adds around 60kays to the day's driving. From Mthatha it is about 250kays to Bizana. Wednesday morning was Flagstaff and Lusikisiki and then back to Mthatha. Thursday morning I drove through to Idutywa (Now Dutywa) and then back home for an Otter trail meeting with Hannes, Maryna and Fred. Maryna looks like she will not be able to hike as she has a foot injury and came to the meeting on crutches.

Friday morning: All abuz with the prospect of the Kick Off of the FIFA world cup this afternoon. I left work early and Barbara, Ally and I spent the afternoon at Charles' where we had a Braai and watched the first of 64 games of soccer that would be played in RSA. At the Braai: Barbara & I (& Ally), Charles & Ingrid (& Jamie), Ant & Lana (Plus two children and boy friend), Gordon & Megan (Plus two boys), Brenda, Jaco Viljoen, Sean & Diane, The opening game was between Bafana Bafana and Mexico. We scored the first goal and then Mexico returned with an equaliser. The game ended as a draw. Later that evening we heard that Cathy was in the Fan Park in CT and she went to the France vs Uraguay game. She seemed to really enjoy her evening.

Saturday morning: I was up early for a run and then off to work. We heard from Nicci who is in Namibia on a holiday with Stefan's sister Lynette and a friend (three cars). They seem to be having an adventure of a lifetime. Lots of struggles and car problems etc. But still seeing the real wilderness. This afternoon there is a Soccer match in PE: Greece play North Korea at the NMM stadium (NK2, Greece 0). And then later this afternoon Argentina play Nigeria. Also Rugby today as France Play Springboks at Newlands. Sprinboks played a strong game and beat the French 42 - 20.

This evening we drove out to Draaifontein road where we loaned the old Mercedes to Debbie Gordon (mother of Shimone). They are having car problems. And as we arrived at their nieghbours it seems that the Merc developed a petrol leak. We drove back to the petrol station where we bought a can of petrol but the car again gave trouble.

Sunday morning we went to church where Ally played on the drums in the music group. Barbara and I went to Builders Warehouse where we purchased the Curtain Rails for the Main Lounge. Lene had some spare curtains that she gave us to use. We spent the afternoon mounting the racks after taking down the old holders. Then it was time for hockey at Clarendon. The afternoon was cold and windy with some drizzle so only three girls turned up. We had a good work out.

Then it was time to drop Mark off at the Greyhound Bus where he would leave for Pretoria for a three week break to stay with Crystal and Samantha.

NEWS FROM PATRICK AND MARIANNE FROM VENICE AND BULGARIA
This makes very interesting reading but you will need a map of Europe to understand where they are traveling.

Well here we are ensconced at the embassador's residence, Embassy of the Republic of South Africa, Sofia, Bulgaria, which comes along with a driver for Sheila who resembles a weight lifter (very nice guy), chef Ivo, and KGB look-alike Vinnie who is the housekeeper.

Drove the long route from north Italy through Slovakia, Croatia, Serbia, the road getting increasingly bumpy and narrow as one went further east, dilapidated houses alongside, to arrive here in a city which is pretty poor but they are trying - one can see the money has gone into nuclear plants or the pockets of ministers, but the history is really interesting and the people, although never smiling, rather pleasant.

Met a Cape Townian last night who met and then married a Bulgarian at the conference on racism at Durban, and who edits the english weekly here. The function was a South Africa day at the library and our flown in rep a certain Mr Tsebe gave the most depressing address on the role of the national library in South Africa! His own original contribution was his prediction of the final score of the World Cup final. Which was his kind of joke. He accompanied us today to Rila Monastery, and I found out we knew people in common, university people.

Sheila of course is perfect for the job, i'm sure Pretoria has no idea of what she's achieving in a difficult country.

Venice was fantastic, such a pity St John wasn't with us. And the conference a lot of fun too. They had given me a room to share with a black cassocked Russian orthodox prienst Dmitri with a long black beard, so I quickly took the decision to join Marianne at her flat, rather.

Spoke to St John this evening on skype phone and he's excited about getting to the US, the first weekend they're taking the train to NY, I suppose to stay with Rachel, for four days, he says. It appears increasingly likely he'll be a day scholar from next year in Durban, quite a change for us all, I'm very much looking forward to it, although he had a romance about Michaelhouse - it's just too difficult to get into it, perhaps if his marks had been a lot higher. So there it is.

We're skipping the function at the Italian embassy tonight, tomorrow night it's a dinner party here, I'm glad the C.T./bulgarian couple are coming, she's very interesting. And we're off to the Black Sea some time and then also visiting Thessalonika next week, so we're busy enough.


Bulgaria on the Black Sea is very different to Sofia, much more like tourist cities, smart, lots of restaurants, masses of beach umbrellas already pitched on the beaches, with cafes on boardwalks; hotels for families; and of course all the ancient orthodox churches ready for tourists, some of them built sunken because of the law during the 500 years of Turkish (Ottoman) moslem rule which stipulated no churches could be seen above root-tops.

We stayed in a holiday hotel in Sozopol the first night (near the city of Burgos), swam in the sea early morning (Sozopol used to be Polis Appolonia when it was a Greek city, the ancient Greek philosopher Anaximander came from there; renamed the "polis of the saved" around 800 when Bulgaria became Christian). (Sozopol was sacked by the Romans when they took over from the Greeks, but Nesobar nearby where we had lunch) capitulated first. Of course no real waves.

Then we drove up the coast to Varna, the other very big city on the coast, biggest harbour of the country, nothing like Durban of course, but a history of trading by ship since ancient times. There we stayed at Eukixonagrad - which means (grad = city) nice sea city/town which is a most peculiar institution, the hotel next to the president's palace, in the same grounds, but restricted to diplomats and their families now; used to be the king's palace and then was for the communist bosses, and since the fall of communism has been in limbo, really, now it's falling apart! terrible beds, flaky paint, no one staying there, about 70 tables laid on the beautiful terrace and we were the only ones eating!

For each item (blob of butter, slice of bread) there is a price, and you have to order each separately, very much communist accounting I think; and for the privilege of being allowed to stay there you get shouted at by various officials at the pool telling you to shower before coming in, stuff like that; large private beach but I was the only one who swam in the sea (it's a bit colder than further south at Sozopol), no waves, it is a bit black looking.

These coastal towns are the holiday destinations for Russians and for Romanians and others.

On the way there we stopped off at Kazalak for the annual rose festival ceremony, quite amazing, I really enjoyed it, the president was there getting garlands of roses thrown around him (around us too), then the girls in traditional dresses served us rose brandy, and everyone danced on large circles while hundreds of people in the rose fields plucked the petals and collected them.

Big parade through the town after that, with children and grandparents and sports people parading their trophies.

Nice drive back through the mountains, the road a bit better than the one we took to get to the coast, more like we're used to, although as soon as you leave the main road you'll find dirt tracks, so development has a long way to go; the villages are cute but the roofs caving in of the houses and the population growth rate is negative so lots of old people in the villages doing nothing.

Keep you up to date later, got to do marking, Marianne has a meeting in town so a driver is coming out here to pick her up for lunch.



Wednesday 16 June 2010
Today is a public holiday in South Africa. We remember the day as Soweto Day or Youth Day. On 16 June 1976 the black pupils of South African Schools in Soweto protested for improved education. And they protested against the compulsory language requirement of being taught Afrikaans by teachers who themselves could not speak Afrikaans. The result of this protest is that SA police used teargas and live bullets to stop the protest.

This morning I started the day off with a run. It was a cold and windy morning. It had been raining the previous day when the NM stadium was host to the World Cup Soccer match between Portugal and --- which ended in a goaless draw. Then we collected Charles and Ingrid from their home and we drove through to Bushmans River where they met an Estate Agent to make an offer on a house that they had seen there. The Price that they offered was R770 000.

This is a five bedroom house with two kitchens and two bathrooms. There is a permanent tenant in the house at present. The house is not in wonderful condition but is certainly livable. We picked up a few problems such as the design of the bathrooms, the stoep, the middle kitchen, the septic tank, the unusual front door etc. But the house has a huge potential for making it into a comfortable home. The house stands on 800SqM and is located at the entrance to Bushmans in a cul de sac.

From here we drove to a new coffee shop that has been established on the main road between Alexandria and Nanaga. We had a coffee and pancake and chatted to the owner, Isabelle Mc Donald. She gave us a bit of the background of the shop and their life on the farm. Her husband makes furniture and farms (Cattle I think).

Isabelle told us of her project to plant 1000 indigenous trees. This has been thwarted to some extent by vandals and nasty neighbours but she now plans to continue the project at the stall. Isabelle gave us some Tree Seeds which Charles & I will try to plant.

Isabelle then told us of an interesting monument nearby. We had the day to spare and so decided to take the detour to the monument. Probably about 9kays (West) of their stall or about 20kays East of Nanaga is a turn off the the Karel Landman monument. We have driven past this many times. But today we turned up the, reasonable quality, dirt road. As we reached the top of the hill and a sort of T junction, Barbara spotted the monument. It is a Globe or World about 3meters diameter and is a tribute to Karel Landman who was a local farmer and headed up a Trek of local farmers to Natal.

"In 1837/8, people of Dutch decent, referred to as the Boers, decided to move away from British rule and trek northwards. In doing this they founded the old Transvaal and the Free State as part of the Great Trek. This monument was erected in 1938 (during the centenary celebrations of the Great Trek) honouring Karel Landman who farmed in this area until 1837. He became a leader in the Great Trek and took a party of about 180 trekkers and their servants on a trek of 885 kilometres into Natal. Landman became prominent in several battles with the Zulus and was the second in command of the Boer forces at the pivotal battle of Blood River."

The following placques are on all four sides of the Globe or Monument.
Monument onthul deur Ds. W.A.Landman. 16 December 1939
Feesterrein Geskenk deur Mnr J. A. Scheepers, J. C. Seun.
Opgerig deur inwooners van Olifansthoek (Alexandria Distrik) met Dankbaarheid Teenoor sy stoere Voortrekkers
Argitek G. Moerdyk. Boumeeters Lupini Broers

ENGLISH TRANSLATION:
Monument unveiled by Dominee (Pastor) W.A. Landman. 16 December 1939
Showgrounds or arena donated by Mr. J.A. Scheepers, J.C Seun.
Erected by the inhabitants of Olifansthoek out of gratitude to the staunch Voortrekkers , or committed forefathers.
Architect: G Moerdyk. Materbuilder Lupini Brothers.




Charles pointed out that this was the time when the nationalist party was trying to establish itself. Hendrik Verwoed erected a series of monuments to the Voortrekkers to establish an Afrikaaner Nationalism while the English were in Europe fighting the war. The Nationalist Party wanted to overthrow the United Party that was predominanty English speaking with an Afrikaaner political party.

This road continues into the Amakhala Game Reserve. (Amakhala is named after the Xhosa word meaning Aloes) (7500ha reserve)(Resident African wildlife includes the Big Five animals, Lion, Leopard, Elephant, Rhino and Buffalo). However as it is part of a throughway there is no entry fee. As we drove through the road we came across large herds of Red Hartebees and a large group of Wildebees; and Charles spotted a group of Four Rhinoserous. We had an interesting time as we drove slowly through the reserve enjoying the game spotting but feeling a little guilty for taking advantage of this freebee. Amakhala Game Reserve visitors can explore the many wonders of the bush on Big Five safaris, river cruises. We had experienced the River Cruise from the small river boat that Charles has at Bushmans river mouth. We has seen both Rhino and Cheetah at close range on that occasion.


The Red Hartebeest is a large, reddish-fawn antelope with sloping back and long narrow face. Both sexes have heavily ringed horns. Of the 12 subspecies described in Africa, the Red Hartebeest is the only one which occurs in South Africa. Due to its re-introduction onto game farms and nature reserves, it has a wider distribution today. Adult bulls weigh 150 kg and measure 1.3 m at the shoulders, while cows only weigh 120 kg.
Territorial bulls often present themselves on prominent mounds and mark their territories with dung piles. The Red Hartebeest is swift on foot and gregarious, occurring in herds of up to 30.

The Amakhala Game Reserve began in 1999 as a joint conservation venture. Today, six independently owned lodges of The Heritage Collection, are all TGCSA Star Lodge accredited. The lodges are owner managed by the descendants of the original families who arrived here with the British settlers of 1820. The lodges offer various styles of accommodation, which include two gracious colonial homesteads, two classic bush lodges, an historic inn and a Settler farmhouse.

Amakhala Game Reserve is a unique conservation initiative that allows animals to be re-introduced to the area where they once roamed freely and so making a contribution to the conservation of our natural heritage. The land was used to ranch sheep and cattle up to the turn of the century. The challenge has been to re-establish the original flora and fauna species to the area and to return the land to nature.

We exitted the reserve about 60kays from PE on the N2 and soon afterwards came to a turn off to the Shamwari Game reserve and Patterson. Normally we rush past this turn but as Isabelle had given us directions we turned right and drove past the very famous Shamwari. Here we did not see any game but soon arrived at Patterson from a completely different direction to that which we know.

We stopped at the crossing that would take us to the Olifants Pass if we turned right and PE if we turned left. Here we bought some organges before crossing and driving on to the Addo Park area. And to our delight we saw herd of Elephant and Zebra to our right. This had been a real treat and all thanks to a really friendly lady at the padstalletjie. This road leads to the Addo main entrance. By now my passengers (Charles and Ingrid) had become quite sleepy and we soon heard the low breathing of sleeping beauties.

Back home that afternoon we dropped Charles and Ingrid off. Ally had spent the day with Michael and then Lara O. The temperature remained low and we fired up the gas heater. I paid a short visit to Adrienne Wilson to meet Gavin Cameron who is Adrienne's brother visiting from West Canada (Vancouver). This evening, Bafana soccer team virtually put paid to their World Cup round two aspirations as they lost dismally to Uruguay 3-0. The Soccer tournament enters it's second week as the last of the first round games were played today and the first of the second sessions begin.

Friday 18th June:
I had won an inter-company competition and the prize was two tickets to the World Cup Soccer Match. I won two tickets to the Germany vs Serbia match. I took the day off today and while Barbara was running her Holiday School I lit a braai and grilled sausages on the braai for the little children. This was a huge hit with them as they loved the Wors Rolls and kept coming back for more.

Then I dropped Ally off at Hockey Practice with Dean Gower at Clarendon and Michael took Barbara and I to a point close to the stadium. We were given special "Hospitality Suite" tickets. It was awesome. We walked to the stadium and soon found our way to the Suite. We were ushered around the suites area like royalty and each of us had a pre-numbered chair that resembled an airplane seat. Ours was in the back row of the suite area which allowed us to move around as we wished. Here we found that each patron was given a packet which contained a free blanket and a souvenier booklet.

Drinks were free. Barbara and I had a Budwieser. There was more than enough to eat with a full meal on offer as well as abundant snacks. Security was excellent as was the service in this area. I was surprised to find Jaco and Abe were in the same suite area. I had thought that they were going to be in the "cheap seats".

The game itself was a lot of fun. Unfortunately a lot of yellow cards and one red card issued. The Serbs won the game 1;0 much to the dissapointment of the many Germans in the stadium. 48 000 people watched the game. Barbara and I were really impressed with the organisation. Security and service was world class.

After the game Michael collected us in Mount Road. I then had to collect my car from service at Maritime. I also had to go to the office briefly and on the way up Russell Road we gave a lift to 5 German Students who had been at the game and were on their way to the Fan Park at St Georges Park.

We collected Ally after a really worthwhile day. On our way home Charles phoned to say that their offer for the Bushmans House had been accepted. This is a very exciting time for them.

Now it was time for us to prepare for our Otter Trail and for Barbara to pack up for her Canada Trip.

Monday morning 21.06.2010
I dropped Barbara off at the airport. I collected Geralds Trailer that we would take with us on the trip. Ally and I did our last bit of shopping for the trail. We were in bed early and the next morning I was up and packing by about 5.00am.

OTTER TRAIL STORY
See separate post for the Otter Trail story.

After we returned from the Otter Trail Ally and I had a late sleep in on the Sunday morning. I think that it was partly the influence of the American Cousins as well as the fact that I was now finally able to finish my book.

This afternoon Ally's Sunday Hockey attracts only a few takers. It is a bit cool and windy.

Monday morning it is back to work for me. Ally visits a friend to work on their Entrepreneurs Day at school next term. Barbara phones from Canada. All seems to be well and they appear to be having a good and busy time. They saw a couple of bears; Black Bear, Silver Bear and a Grisly Bear.

Ally goes to the Fan Fest with the Zeelies. Julia and Laura are having a blast, Debby Dean is showing them around including a trip to the Lion Park where they are able to pick up cubs. They go to the Fan Fest a couple of times. And they meet up with their friend Betina who takes them out. The Manager of the Costa Rica reserve is in PE for the Soccer. he no longer works on the Reserve. They all plan to be in Wildcliff sometime early in July. Then off to CT where they hope to stay with Nicci before Laura flies back to NY.

29th June 2010
It is Ena's Birthday today. 94. She has 16 people for lunch and bridge but cannot play herself as she simply cannot see the cards. It is also Marianne's Birthday (Plus twin sister).

30TH June
The weather is cooler than it has been recently. I run in the morning. Not far and not fast but at least I am out there. Adrienne Wilson has a Drinks evening for Gavin. Julia and Laura are also invited. As is Ally. At this little get together are Gavin, Peter & Adrienne, Jean is a work friend of Adrienne, Val is an old friend from Diving I think, Wayne is Adrienne's god child who is now living in West Canada, they knew him from Zim Days, Suzanne Gendall, Paula and boyfriend, Sean, Danielle, Matthew, Dee and Ray Kemp who run the B & B the Lemon Tree Lane opposite us. They make really delicious eats and snacks. L & J love the evening. Peter W makes a fuss of them. An enjoyable evening all round.