4 August 1975 – 4 August 2015 From UK to SA – 6000 miles and 40 years - a trip down memory lane
40 Years ago today, we stepped onto South African soil for the very first time, and in an instant went from being English to being “Immigrants” (Rooineks).
The year was 1975. Air Travel was expensive, and not nearly as commonplace as it is today. When we said goodbye to our family we honestly did not know if we would ever see them again.
In 1975 there was no fax or email.
An airmail letter took two weeks to deliver from SA to UK. A surface/sea-mail letter took 6 weeks!
There was no such thing as cellphones.
It cost about R70 to make a 15 minute phone call to the UK.
£1 was the equivalent of R2.
South African currency included 1c, 2c and 5c coins, and R1, R2 and R5 Rand Notes.
In 1975 there was no TV. (Although there were a couple of hours of test TV in one or two major cities in South Africa, official broadcasting only began in January 1976. – I know this because my Dad was a TV technician and it was one of the reasons we ended up emigrating to South Africa.) And flat screen TVs simply did not exist.
Our first week in PE (The Friendly/Windy City) we spent living in the Marine Hotel (now the Marine Protea). The next 3 weeks we lived like gypsies, in caravan on Brookes Hill, where we slept fitfully as the wind howled outside, threatening to roll us over the cliff and send us crashing onto the road below. (It never happened).
It was here we saw our first real African wildlife – a troop of wild monkeys, living in the trees of Happy Valley.
Every morning we would slip-slide and swim in the open pools at Mc Arthurs Bath – in August!
Every afternoon, we watched the Dolphin Show from our campsite which overlooked Bay World (can’t even remember what it was called in 1975).
After a month we moved into a rental property where we lived for a year with makeshift furniture, blankets doubling as curtains and treading washing in the bathtub while we waited for the furniture company to relocate our furniture, lost in storage for over a year.
For entertainment we discovered reel to reel movies, played from a projector onto a wall or a white sheet.
We listened to Springbok Radio and Radio 5.
We ate at Roadhouses and went to Drive-In Movies (75c for a newsreel, cartoon and double bill movie, new release – if I recall correctly).
The Red Windmill was a landmark and there was no McDonalds in SA.
We collected Springbok Hits LPs. No-one had ever heard of a “CD”
Our first TV Games consisted of 2 white blips and a white “ball” on a black background, batted, back and forth across a screen.
Digital watches and calculators were groundbreaking, and using a calculator at school was considered to be cheating.
Video machines were the latest in home entertainment.
Saturday Night Fever didn’t exist and neither did DISCO.
Being openly gay or out of the closet was almost unthinkable.
HIV & Aids had never been heard of.
The Soweto riots had not yet happened.
A necklace was not (and still is not) something you would ever want to wear.
We’d never heard of Global warming or Sunscreen with SPF Protection factors – in fact, our favourite suntan lotion was a coconut based oil called – what was it called? I know you know!
Another Brick in The Wall was banned, (as was Spanish Train).
Beetles and Kombis were common place.
I met my first South African friend and Bestie, Yvonne Mandy, and her sister, (my High School BFF), Vanessa Mandy, not knowing then that they and their family would become lifelong family friends – 40 years on! (No offence to my BFF UK/Immigrant friends, (You know who you are J) who are also still lifelong friends BTW).
I took “Extra-Afrikaans”.
I had not yet met the man of my dreams.
My Dad was still alive.
My children were not even a distant twinkle in my eye.
40 years ago today, I took my first step away from being English to becoming South African.
Today I am proud to say that I am both English and South African.
I was born in England. English is my home language. My parents and ancestors are English.
I have lived in South Africa for more than 3/4 of my life. My husband and all his family is South African.
My children and "adopted" children & families are all South African.
I wonder where I will be and what I will reminisce over 40 years from now?
Where were you, and what do you remember from 1975? Were you even a twinkle?
(To be revised & revisited)!
(And to All My beautiful family and friends who are not literally included in this blogpost, you are with me in spirit and within my heart. I thank you all for being a part of my life.xxxx)
