I miss it terribly . Johannesburg
was the greatest place to grow up in beautiful, exotic and fabulous, you would
have loved it then. We had this house on a cliff called a kopje very
rocky. The natives used to party every night drinking" Kaffir beer" that
they made as they were prohibited to buy regular alcohol. I bet even then they
had better lives than today. They danced, sang, played the "squeeze harmonica"
and were very happy, every single one of them I assure you. As we were happy.
Today they are just killing each other.
Our house looked over
a Bezuidenhout Valley, it wasn`t even a posh suburb, rather ordinary. But life
was good. The house girl taking care of the house, the garden boy, they were
our extended family. Life was comfortable we didn`t have to do a thing. We were
never rich, but were comfortable, safe and very happy. Once a week we used to
go to the "bioscope" the movies at the Apollo or up in Hillbrow at
the Curzon or the Clarendon. Great films. When I was younger, we lived in
Hillbrow then-it was Saturday matinees with a serial before the main event -and
we used to swap comics before the show. Admission was 6 pence. We still had
pounds, shillings and pence at the time. You could get a fish and chips for a
shilling :-)with vinegar I have to add! Yep, for money to spend at the
"tuck shop" in school I used to get a "tickey",that was 3
pennies, sixpence if I was lucky.
We used to go and see
my grandfather every week--then the whole family would go to the Sanremo
coffee shop, sitting on the verandah, or the Florian or Doney and stay all
Saturday evening talking and meeting friends of my parents-they would talk
politics and about the "old country". It was at the Doney that
we met Leslie, my husband, I was with my parents. He heard we were talking
Hungarian and asked if he could sit down
and the rest is history:-) I was 17 had just started college that
month , I had just returned from Europe two months before .
Yes--then there were
my friends in school--Muriel, Elvira and Lynn. Out of school; Alison , she was
crazy about Elvis, she had organized a fan club called "Flaming Star Club" after
one of his hits. I used to like Cliff Richard, then she used to call me a
hypocrite as I said I liked Elvis as well. :-) Then there was little Jewish
Alice and Beverly and of course Sandra-all great girls. Everyday in summer we
used to go swimming in Ellis Park, we were black as the natives from all the
Sun. Or we used to spend all day across the road there was a private school
with a corner field. We used to sit and talk there for hours. We called the
place "the weeds" as it was full of them.
Every odd summer we
would go to Durban for a week or two, we would stop at Howick Falls--also quite
often to the Kruger Park or on Sundays to the Union Buildings in Pretoria or
the Voortrekker Monument. Wow you should see Pretoria when the Jacarandas are
in bloom, -pure magic. Or go to Hartebeespoort Dam and have lunch at the
tea-room the here with all the monkeys running free in the garden. In
Johannesburg we used to spend lots of time at Zoo Lake and The Wilds. Or go
down to the Vaal River and have a picnic--or to the Lido and have lunch or visit
our friends in Vereeniging, Orlai family. Or go horse back riding on Sundays.
My parents had many
friends, lots of card playing, friend over at the house. Dezso crying
into his beer or whatever my dad had. he used to distill his own booze--:-) and
no TV of course :-). I had a little portable radio and I had a huge record
collection. Yes later came Cliff, Elvis, Beatles, Troggs, Turtles, Rolling Stones
and the whole gang of the "British invasion". Then the
parities, school dances and the "dance sessions" every Sunday
afternoon at the "505 club", this was for teenagers only! No alcohol,
cigarettes or drugs. We didn`t even know what that was. How great was that? And
all the fabulous Christmases -with Magdineni and Nagypapa and Daisy their
dachshund always with them. The tree went up only on Christmas eve! The fish
soup, potato salad and the fried fish. I can still smell it. I loved it! Our
beautiful dogs; Danny, was first. Then came Tinike and Lassie. They weren`t
dogs but our family. We brought the last two to Canada. Tinike is buried under
the huge maple tree in the garden in Montreal!! Feel like I am ancient, but
not quite! :-)
Then after these
days, a year or two later came the boys--:-) On birthdays --16, 17, 18--I got a
bouquet from a different one. From G-on my 16th I got 16 yellow roses, on 17
from Steve, a huge bouquet of Proteas, 18 a huge one from Dennis he
sent from New York. He had already graduated from Louis Botha Naval Academy and
was an assistant officer, I forget what rank on a ship. It was the
merchant marines. Yes Admiral Sir Garth, that was going to have a house on
Green Point in Cape Town. His dreams went to ashes also. Steve is in New
Zealand, Julius in California, Dennis in Cape Town/Rio de Janeiro and G-Well I
wonder where he is? Ah, and Richard from college?And all the girls?
It is different
now, everything in life changes as we see! I believe this is the first time
ever really admitted to it, but I do. maybe I miss my youth—don`t we all? The
fun, the freedom and the wonderful life and childhood I had, but it was great.
Every single moment growing up was happy. I was really one that never wanted to
grow up. I remember when I was 16--I was at a school dance and the girls in the
cloakroom were saying how they wished they were older. I remember the moment of
looking into the mirror and seeing my reflection and thinking," I want to
stay like this at 16 forever" . How weird is this? I was always happy with
myself, the way I looked and the way I felt.
When I was 13, I got
a 5 year diary leather bound diary, with a lock and key, one Christmas- and
I wrote in it every single day can you imagine? For 5 years! Always happy,
good stuff. Sure some sad, but very little. There were no great secrets in
it, yet-I was such an idiot as when I got engaged to Leslie at 18, I burnt it in a bonfire. Why? Because I was
stupid! It had a few things about a few boys, but nothing else. Yes, I was a
virgin when I got married-well not when I got married, but Leslie was the first
man I was ever with. Actually I am sorry about it now, it would have bee great to
be with some of the people I loved-well they weren`t men, they were boys
at the time, really only 3 come to mind:-) Yes, such is life.
I wonder if I shall
ever see you. I pray you don`t have to leave the US, I hope it never comes to
that! Not because of me but because you have your family there--though you say
your sister and parents would come back-. But I still wonder; what if you do
have to? What would you do back here? You know one never knows what God has up
her sleeve-do we? Life is often quite bizarre. At least now you have the boys, they
shall grow up probably you being their dad more than Luis, that is different
also. But, good. Would you ever in your wildest dream think this when you
were 18 ? :-) Even 28? Or 38? Wow!
I think time to wrap
this up or I shall go on forever. Enough of the crappy nostalgia and I am not
even going to read it, it can all stay with mistakes and all. I shall read it
one day-maybe.
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