J.A.M.

Recently, I spent a day travelling around the immediate Coastline in the area in which I live. I love the Sea. The horizon has always held a special fascination for me. Just how far is it away from where I stand … What’s on the other side of it … How long will it take me to swim there … all questions I no doubt filled my Grandfathers ears with when he used to take me to the beach as a young boy after reminding me not to call him Grandpa in front of the ‘Nifty Nifties’ – but rather Uncle Ben. Perhaps my love for the Sea comes from him. He was in the Navy in the war and regaled us many times with stories from “Up North” in Italy. How I dreaded them at the time but would give anything to listen to him telling them now. He’s been gone quite a while ……

The Sea has always intrigued me and in particular the coastline itself – that part of it which cheekily dashes up to your feet, swallowing your footprints while you walk along the beach. The Sea – or Ocean as it should be called – is vast! Enormous – and it is only gravity that stops it from flying off into space. Yet we are able to walk right along it’s edge and jump out of it’s way should we wish to play along. Fascinating stuff! I’ve done that many times ……

The Edge Of The Ocean (Photo by Gary Gerber)

The Ocean is full of lessons for us too… Life isn’t always smooth sailing and sometimes things can get pretty stormy and we find ourselves in the middle of a dark, foreign place. The waves crash all around us, the storms rage and sometimes despair can creep in. We’re blown around from side to side, battling the waves of temptation, fear, apprehension,doubt. At other times it’s smooth sailing and everything appears calm and peaceful. It’s at times like these that we sometimes find ourselves standing still. No breeze. No movement. Stagnation as we wait to move on. At other times the winds are just right and we set our sails, define our course and head off with purpose. Then a wave appears out of nowhere that takes us by surprise and once again we tumble along not knowing where the current is going to take us. This is life.

Now any good sailor knows you need a strong anchor when sailing the high seas. Surely this is true too for life itself. We need an anchor! My anchor in life is God. My trust and my faith is in Him. Does this mean the wind never blows? No. At times the gale force winds seem unbearable as they toss us from side to side threatening to capsize our boat and send us tumbling into the choppy Ocean. Some say an anchor is like a crutch and many times I have heard it said that ‘”Christians use Jesus as a crutch beacause they cannot handle real life”. I would, to a certain extent, agree. What is a crutch? It is a support. A ‘helping hand’ in difficult circumstances. I have no problem seeing God as my ‘crutch’ in life. Some use alchohol or drugs or power or money as their crutch. I choose to trust in God to be the support He has promised to be in times good or bad. So – this is when we need to use our anchor or ‘crutch’ to steady us and stop us from aimlessly dfrifting off-course. At other times there is a gentle breeze softly nudging us along as we head for our destination. We need to take heed at times like these when everything seems plain sailing though as it is at such times that those unexpected waves can catch us off guard.

I love the Sea. It teaches me so much about life. Next time you see the edge of the Ocean walk up to it and gently touch it with your toes. Bend down and run your fingers through it and think of it’s vastness and realise that you are actually touching the very edge of it. It’s quite a miracle really.

The Ocean (Photo by Gary Gerber)

Ok! This is just a test. Blogging from my iPad.

Radio is the ‘Theatre of the Mind’ and it is said that the pictures are always better on Radio! This is totally true! Radio is about the imagination. It’s about pictures being created by sound. I grew up in South Africa listening to a Station called Springbok Radio. My love for Radio and all things ‘Audio’ stems from the inspiration I received as a young boy from listening to presenters like David Gresham,  Martin Bailie, Clark McKay, Dennis Smith, Nigel Dawson, Evie Martin, Esme Evruard and Paul Beresford to mention but a few. I escaped into the ‘Theatre of the Mind’ by listening to programmes like Squad Cars, High Adventure, The Navy Lark, Father Dear Father, Test the Team, Jet Jungle, Chappie Chipmunk and many many more. My main inspiration on Springbok though was David Gresham. He presented a wide variety of programmes including Dial A Tune, The 4.30 Special and The Springbok Radio Top 20 – later the Top 30. It was his presentation style which inspired my dream of one day “being in Radio”. When everyone was out and I was alone I would become my favourite presenter and present my imaginary Radio programmes to my imaginary listeners from the comfort of my room – armed with adverts I had taped off of the Radio with my portable Tape Recorder, long lists of made up names of ‘prize winners’ for my imaginary competitions and piles of vinyl records from my Mom and Dad’s collection. The dream never died and although I could not get into the SABC despite many attempts I kept it alive for many years.

In 1996 I was afforded the opportunity by Kevin Potter of getting involved as a volunteer presenter on a Community Radio Station which was being planned for East London – Link FM 97.1. I grabbed that opportunity and began by doing the Weekend lunch time slots in February 1996. In September of that year I resigned from my full-time job at Standard Bank to join Link FM full-time as daytime presenter as well as Production Manager. Over the years that followed I got more and more involved in the life of the Station and eventually went on to head the Station up as Station Manager for a period of 2 years. I left the Station for a two year period in 2003 and rejoined again in 2005 before leaving permanently in 2007 (although I have been back as a relief Presenter). Over that period I was privileged to interview a large number of people from the ‘guy next door’ to those who had made a name for themselves. A few international interviews that come to mind from the CCM world are Steven Curtis Chapman, Avalon, Toby Mac, DC Talk, Nicole Nordeman, Jennifer Knapp, Eli, Tree63 and Carman. South African CCM artists were always popping into the Studio when in town and great fun was had by all. Well known politicians like Tony Leon, Dullah Omar and Evita Bezuidenhout (lol) were really interesting to chat to. My biggest letdown on the ‘Interview’ front was an Interview I had booked which sadly fell through at the last minute. It was to be with Nelson Mandela and Oprah Winfrey – at the same time – in Nelson Mandela’s lounge at Qunu in the Transkei during his annual Christmas Party for children. Oprah was staying with him while in the area and I was to interview them both. I duly arrived, recorder in hand, and got as far as his front lawn when the interview was canceled due to the crowds surrounding the house becoming out of control. It was a huge disappointment. I did get to see them both and have an interesting story to tell about my communication with Oprah which I won’t commit to ‘print’ here ….. The day holds very special memories though.

During my time on air I presented a wide variety of programmes including Breakfast, Lunch, Afternoon Drive, Top 40, Request Programmes, Chat Shows and the Youth Program – The Gap! This program was definitely the highlight for me. The Station was a Christian Community Radio Station and as such the programming and music was very Christian focused. It was a privilege to be in a position to minister while on air through the music and spoken word – and in particular was a joy to be able to do so through ‘The Gap!’. This was a Youth Program broadcast each afternoon for the young people of East London. The program tackled real life issues that young people face and practically no subject was off limits. The Studio was always full of young people who popped in to watch or be part of the program and soon there were ‘Gappers’ all over East London. I will never forget those days and the impact that program had on so many young people – and their parents who also got involved. Many of them are adults today – some married – and I still get comments about what it meant to them back then. Blessed times! I have returned to the Station and currently present The LunchBox on Link from from 12-3pm Weekday’s.

From a Journalistic angle, two particular programmes will always stay etched in my memory. I was on the air, presenting ‘The Gap!’ one afternoon when a listener called to ask if I had seen what was happening on TV. Apparently a Jet Liner had smashed into a building in New York. That story went on to develop throughout the afternoon into what we now know as ‘911’. It was quite a ‘thing’ to be in the position to report on it while it was happening. Another program which was equally as dramatic and very moving in a way was while I was still a weekend presenter. It was a Sunday – 31 August 1997. The day Princess Diana died. I counted times like this as a privilege to have been afforded the opportunity of being on air. I will never forget those days.

I lectured Theory of Radio and Versatile Broadcasting under contract to The Radio Academy at Walter Sisulu University in East London until December 2010 and also do a lot of Production work (Radio Ad’s etc) for local and National Radio through TheGapMedia – my home based Production Studio.

Over my time at Link I  have collected a wide variety of Sound Files, newspaper clippings, photographs and general odds and ends from, in particular, the early days of the Station’s history – mainly from when we were still situated in the Orient Mall on the beachfront. I would now like to share these memories with you through this Web Page as a way of preserving those important days in the Station’s history and also as a record of my own personal scrapbook. Every now and then I will upload a few more sound files (I have literally hundreds of them).

OK – let’s get started then. Below is a slide show featuring some pictures highlighting those early days at Orient Mall with the soundtrack featuring a lot of the old Jingles and to the right a Media Player with  a collection of Sound Files. There are many more to follow ……….

Please bear in mind that  this is my own personal record from my own Scrapbook so I do not have photo’s and sound files of everyone that was involved. This is by no means a concise history of the Station! On that note – should you have been involved in any way with Link FM back in the early days and you have any sound files or photo’s you would like to see published here – please get in touch! If you would like to read the Newspaper Articles or have a closer look at the photographs in the slide show they are all available on my Facebook page in the following albums

ALBUM 1

ALBUM 2

ALBUM 3

ALBUM 4

Taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_unreleased_ABBA_songs

ABBA - Just Like That

• Just Like That” is the title of one of Swedish pop group ABBA’s last songs, and has caused a lot of interest and hype among ABBA fans as it has not yet been released in its entirety.
  ABBAs composers Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus wrote “Just Like That” sometime in the springtime of 1982, and the group started recording sessions with this and a handful of other new songs in the beginning of May that year. The composers however lost interest in the track after several attempts at recording it, and decided in early June to put the “Just Like That” tapes aside. Journalists visiting ABBA in their studio during these sessions wrote about the new material, and fans thus heard of the new ABBA songs to come. Two titles were mentioned: “Just Like That” and “I Am The City”. Just Like That was also mentioned in an official Polar Music Press release in the summer of 1982. It stated that the song was completed and would be released on the next studio album. However, the outcome of these last recording sessions during the summer months of 1982 was two singles released in August and November 1982 respectively: “The Day Before You Came”/”Cassandra”, and “Under Attack”/”You Owe Me One”. The a-sides were included in the new ABBA release The Singles: The First Ten Years, a double LP celebrating ABBA’s singles from 1973 until 1982. Although the foursome stated the group would continue work in 1983, this eventually did not happen.
  During 1983, demo versions of later unreleased ABBA songs were circulating amongst London’s theatreworld as being possible melodies for the up-coming Rice/Andersson/Ulvaeus musical Chess. These then became bootleg versions circulating among fans during the 1980s, and as such there has been a growing interest for their official release. Benny and Björn allowed for a snippet of “Just Like That” to be released in a ‘medley’ track in a box set released in 1994: Thank You For The Music, but this became nothing but a teaser for the avid ABBA fan. The “Just Like That” ‘snippet’ released in 1994 revealed the chorus of the track only, and not only did it include an unmistakenly shared vocal by Agnetha and Anni-Frid, but also a saxophone solo by Raphael Ravenscroft, who worked on Gerry Rafferty‘s hit “Baker Street” in 1978 (one of the few times that ABBA used a musician outside the usual ABBA circle).
  In June 1982 the song was shelved, but after ABBA split up, Benny and Björn looked at the song again, and in 1984 decided to rework both composition and lyrics and ended up with two new songs. The first, which kept the original “Just Like That” chorus, was recorded by Swedish duo Gemini when Benny and Björn wrote songs and produced their first album in 1985. “Just Like That” was even released as a Gemini single in the UK. The other part of the song, composed around the original “Just Like That” verses, had the demo title “When the Waves Roll out to Sea”, and as such was one of the songs tried out (by both Elaine Paige and Tommy Körberg) as “With The Stars Shine In The Sky” during sessions for Benny and Björn’s work with Tim Rice for the Chess musical, but it was once again put aside.
  The ABBA version, with its composition of verse and chorus, was left unsatisfactory by Benny and Björn in June 1982. They have stated this first version sounded ‘wrong’: verse and chorus did not fit together, and that is why it was scrapped, and the two admit this happens regularly in their way of writing music: a mediocre song can become a bridge or a riff in another song, and a good melody line can lie around for years until it surfaces in a composition.
  “When the Waves Roll out to Sea” surfaced when Benny was working on the Swedish staging of Chess – Chess På Svenska – in 2002, as the 1984 musical by now had a new libretto and new material was needed. The verses to the old “Just Like That” were added to a new chorus in 1984, and now it found its place in Chess – almost 20 years later – as the number “Glöm Mig Om Du Kan”, a ballad sung by the Russian character Molokov, with Swedish lyrics by Björn.
  There are at least two known bootleg demo versions of ABBA’s original version of “Just Like That”. The first attempt at recording the song has become known as the ‘slow’ version, or ‘dream’ version. This version has a simple instrumental melody in between the verses and the choruses. Also apparent is a guitar riff that eventually made its way into the verse melody of ABBA’s last official single release, “Under Attack” (“Don’t know how to take it/don’t know where to go/my resistance’s running low…”).
  The second version of the song is known as the ‘na na na’ (or ‘la la la’) version. The song is essentially the same as the first; the same backing track and arrangement, but this time, with Agnetha singing emotional ‘na na na na’s on top of the instrumental melody.
  The final and completed version of the song has become known as the ‘saxophone’ version. This is the official ‘final mix’ of “Just Like That”. This version is very different to the first two, with a different arrangement and a new backing track. In place of the previous instrumental melodies/’na na na’ vocal overdubs, there are lengthy saxophone riffs (courtesy of Raphael Ravenscroft). This version of the song is the only version to be released, albeit not in its entirety.
  Michael B. Tretow, ABBA’s recording engineer throughout their whole career, did the editing of the released version of the track for the 1994 box set, and did a fine job in cutting and pasting the track, leaving the chorus to repeat in a loop (and thus not ‘releasing’ the melody in the verses).
  Carl Magnus Palm, author of the ABBA biography Bright Lights, Dark Shadows” in 2001, states in his 1994 book ABBA -The Complete Recording Sessions on this last version that this “…is what would have reached the listener’s ears had the track been released”.
  Agnetha said in 1994: “I haven’t heard it in several years, but I remember it as a very good song and recording. It is one of my big favourites, and I hope it’s going to be released one day”.
  The lyrical theme seems to have been transferred from the shelved “Just Like That” in June 1982 to the lyrics for “The Day Before You Came“, which were recorded in August the same year: “Until that day/My life had been a river/Following the same/pre-destinated course/Suddenly detouring so unexpectedly/With uncompromising force/My strongholds broke down all too easily/I remember well/How it did embarrass me/I hung on to his every smile/Marveled at his style/ […] /Just like that…/And once again/the river’s flowing slowly/Following the same and uneventful course/Now the tears have dried/it’s become a pleasant break/I recall without remorse/But now and then/I wonder where he is/And I will admit/he had something that I miss/I guess he was a rolling stone/The only one I’ve known…”

The song was originally intended to be featured in the ABBA musical, “Mamma Mia!“, sung as a love duet between Sophie and Sky, but was removed during rehearsals, as it did not progress the story.

Lately I’ve been thinking back a lot to the mid 1980’s and reliving the memories through the music of the era – particularly the club music of the day which I’ve been collecting now for some time from a website which has preserved a lot of it. Let me share the memories …..

I was in the Army at Eastern Province Command in Port Elizabeth. A chef in the Non-Commissioned Officers Kitchen. I had wanted to be in the Navy Band and had applied for it in my Matric year but for some reason had ended up in the Army as a chef. This was me on the day I left for the Army back in January 1984……

The Day I Left For The Army - January 1984

I did my Basic Training at Elandsfontein Catering School, north of Pretoria. It lasted for 6 months and was no less lenient than at other bases just because it was a Catering School. It was tough. As a matter of fact it was horrible – but those days taught me a lot about life, myself and helped to bring me out of the cocoon I had lived in as a young person. I was terribly insecure back in those days.

Basic training ended and I found myself on a train on the way to Port Elizabeth to serve as a ‘qualified’ Chef for the next 18 months at EP Command. Those 18 months redefined my life in a big way and helped to mold me into the person I am today. I made some wise choices and good friendships. I made some rotten choices and really bad friendships. Memories to last a lifetime were created though. Whether you liked a person or not in the Army was irrelevant. You learned to get on with people you would not normally have chosen to get on with. You functioned as a team or else you suffered the consequences which were not good.

On Duty In The Kitchen At EP Command

EP Command NCO Mess

In my first few months there I kept very much to myself. Working in the kitchen was a different lifestyle. The hours were ‘strange’. I needed to be up and frying eggs etc long before anyone else was awake and many times got to bed long after everyone else was in bed. Weddings and special functions for the top brass in the Army were regularly catered for until all hours of the night. It was while I was in the kitchen that I met Thane and Raymond who were to change my life in a significant way. Raymond was a Permanent Force member who had been transferred in from another base and was also a Chef. Over the months that followed I was to form a very close bond with him and he became like a real brother to me. He was very much into the Reggae lifestyle and was a white Rastafarian. A very gentle, ‘real’ person though. He taught me to believe in myself. He taught me to ride a Motor Bike (well sort of …). He also taught me a remedy for a headache I complained of one day …… a little green plant known well by Rastafarian’s – but that’s a story for another Blog post. Thane was a young man with very deep psychological issues. He was a Transexual – meaning he was convinced that he was a “woman inside a man’s body”. He wasn’t gay – he truly was like a woman in looks, speech and build. Thane, Raymond and I became inseperable. Our friendship was pure and good despite our ‘issues’ and together we created some very special memories ‘back in the day’. We wrote a lot of ‘inspired’ poetry 🙂 and listened to a lot of music – Bob Marley, Jimmy Cliff, Grace Jones, Shawn Phillips, Depeche Mode, OMD etc. Good days and good memories. Thane wanted to have a sex change. We stayed in touch for a while after the Army came to an end in 1985 – and even lived together in a flat in Port Elizabeth and Cape Town for a while – and then after making a big decision to sort out my drug problem (which had developed to an unacceptable level) and move back to my parents in Cape Town we lost touch. I have tried many times over the years to re establish contact with him to find out what happened in his life – but he has all but disappeared off the face of the earth. Maybe he did have that op and became “Deana Varella” …. Hope I find out one day. The last time I spoke to Raymond (which was a good few years back now) he was happily married with 2 children and a member of the Christian Motorcycle Association. I have since lost contact with him too which is sad. If anyone reading this knows the whereabouts of Thane Riddin or Raymond Channer – please let me know.

(09 July 2012) In the past few months I have re-established contact with Thane and we have been keeping in touch.

Raymond Channer

Thane Riddin

Anyway – going back to EP Command and my ‘Cheffing’ days. It was late one night and I was in my bed in the dormitory – rather tired as I had catered that night for a Wedding Reception. A few guys who I knew from sight but not personally came down to my bed and asked if I would like to go with them to a “Disco” – as they termed it. Now to say I had had a sheltered upbringing would be a huge understatement. There I was, an 18 year old guy who had never been to a “Disco” in his life. The idea was exciting and I said I would go. I got up, got dressed and headed off what was to become known to me as “The Club” over the next few years. We arrived and I stepped into a whole new world. I felt I belonged there. The music was loud, the fashion was very “New Wave” (being the 80’s) and the people were really friendly. I was almost immediately introduced to the DJ at “The Club” – David (or Dawie as he preferred). Micky was his nickname at the club but I always called him Dawie. I sat in the DJ booth with him that night and over time we became really good friends. He was good friends with the owner (Mervyn – who owned Video World in PE at that time) and as time went by I would arrive before opening time with them at the club on Wednesdays, Fridays & Saturdays – and leave them with them at closing time – normally as the sun was rising to head off for a Coffee Shop that stayed open all night.The Clubs name was ‘Partners’. It later evolved into ‘Plum Crazy’ in another part of North End, Port Elizabeth. Today’s equivalent would be ‘Aqua’. I also used to go to ‘Andrews’ – a very ‘literally’ underground club, ‘Jacqueline’s’ & ‘Strawberry Fields’. ‘Partners’ and ‘Plum Crazy’ were my Club of choice though.

When I met Dawie he was in Matric and also lived on the Army Base as his Dad was a Permanent Force Sargent. I spent many nights at his little ‘flat’ in the back yard listening to music from the club and talking the night away before creeping back to the Dormitory just before sunrise. He left School and was drafted off into the Army. I then became the DJ at “The Club” and this is where my love for music really took off. It was the era of High Energy music (the Rave music of the day – the precursor to Techno). Artists like Divine, Earlene Bentley, Miguel Brown, Eartha Kitt, Hazell Dean, Lime etc ensured the dance floor was packed every night. CD’s had not been invented yet so everything was still Vinyl and the 12″ Maxi Single was King – or Queen – depending on which way you looked at it! Controlling the lights (helicopters and strobes) were great fun and I immersed myself in the whole High Energy craze. I still collect it today and have a very extensive collection of music from back then (1984/ 1985). There is a blog on the Internet which provides links to a lot of this ‘rare’ music if you are keen on getting your hands on some of it. David would often come up on a Weekend Pass from the Army and we’d DJ together. As the sun was beginning to rise the Club would close to the strains of Barbara Streisand’s “Woman In Love”. The introduction to the song would announce to those left on the dance floor that it was now “time to go home”. Some 10 years later Dawie traced me to my home in East London (we’d lost contact after a breakup in our friendship due to my drug habit back then). We chatted for quite a while on the phone one night – said goodnight and about two weeks later a mutual friend of ours from back then – Abrie – tracked me down to let me know he had committed suicide. I’ve often wondered why and think back with many fond memories to the times we spent together back when life was simple and the ‘crazyness of Youth’. Abrie, Sheldon, Dawie and I were good friends back then. Sadly I have no photo’s of Dawie to show here. Am glad to say though that Abrie and I are still friends and it was good to see him again recently.

(09 July 2012) I learnt in the past few weeks that Abrie sadly passed away of a heart attack recently at the age of 45.

Abrie, Sheldon and I - and Blommie (Abrie's Car)

I have provided a link to a sound file I made recently. It’s a re-creation of 2 and and half hours of “Partners” in the mid 80’s complete with “Barbara’s” closing song. It’s around 130 MB so is a large file but well worth the download. It’s a collection of songs taken from the original Maxi Singles we all used to enjoy dancing to so much – mixed as I would have mixed them back then. Download it if you are interested in re-living an era that was truly special and PLEASE if you are reading this and have memories of ‘Partners’ or “Plum Crazy’ – please get in touch with me. I’d love to hear from you.

The songs in the sound file are:

Relax – Frankie Goes To Hollywood
False Alarm – Marsha Raven
Face To Face – The Twins
Do You Wanna Funk – Sylvester
Danger – The Flirts
Catch Me – Marsha Raven
So Many Men So Little Time – Miguel Brown
Coming Out Of Hiding – Earlene Bentley
Masquerade – Earlene Bentley
Lover Come Back To Me – Dead Or Alive
Colour My Love – Fun Fun
I Love Men – Eartha Kitt
Male Stripper – Man 2 Man
Menergy – Paul Parker
You Think You’re A Man – Divine
Emergency – Laura Pallas
Slice Me Nice – Fancy
Earthquake – Marsha Raven
Searchin’ – Hazell Dean
Skiing In The Snow – Laura Pallas
Walk Like A Man – Divine
You’re My Heart You’re My Soul – Modern Talking
Woman In Love – Barbara Streisand

(‘Partners’ Mix In Memory Of Dawie Jooste)

Download the 2 and a half hour mix ‘Partners Style’ – here

Right – don’t get all confused about me now. I don’t believe in horoscopes, numerology, fortune telling and all that gumph – but I do find it rather interesting at times how you come across an article that claims to sum your personality up based on the date and time you were born. Sometimes those things can be eerily correct.

The other day I was surfing around different Radio Stations’ Web Sites when I came across the links I am going to share in this article. The fist page was a little suspect but I went ahead and entered my Date Of Birth and spent a while reading the rather long report it spat out for me. It made for interesting reading and I feel summed me up rather accurately.

ONCE AGAIN …… I don’t buy the Astrology / Numerology thing and certainly do not plan my life according to what the ‘stars’ foretell but I do like to keep an open mind about most things otherwise I’d just be living in some kind of bubble …….

Give it a try and see what you think ……. Here are the links

Birthdate

“Your Number”

Our Sunday School at Cambridge Methodist Church supports Emmanuel Mission led by Brenda and Geoffrey Crompton. This is an organisation that looks after the welfare of a few rural schools in the East London area. Each November a few of the teachers from Sunday School get together and head out to one of the schools to give them a Christmas Party. We were told that the party would be held at the usual venue this year which is out on the East Coast road. Numbers had increased and we were asked to cater for around 250 children. We asked at Church for people to assist by baking cakes and on Monday this week a large number of cakes drifted in to the Church Office. On Monday afternoon we were informed that there had been a mix-up with the dates and that we could no longer host the party on Tuesday as another party had been planned for the kids by a Government Department. We were in a bit of a dilemma as we had no idea what to do with all the cake. We considered handing it out at the Children’s Home in the area as well as the Old Age Home.  Brenda Crompton came to the rescue however and told us of a small school somewhere near the Airport and so just after 9am on Tuesday morning we found ourselves on the road to Fort Grey Public Primary School. It turned out to be a very rewarding and humbling morning.

Fort Grey Public School

We were greeted by the Principal and once all the cakes, chips and cool drinks had been offloaded we were treating to a presentation of Christmas Carols in both English and Afrikaans by the School Choir.

Singing Christmas Carols In English & Afrikaans

Conditions at the school are not good but instead of the staff and pupils sitting back and waiting for someone to help them they have made it work on their own! Classes are held under the trees and the scorching sun as well as in a few makeshift classrooms which are most times quite overcrowded. Helen and I went along as our alter ego’s – Norman and Blossom and sang a few songs for them and I used the old disappearing ball magic trick to explain the concept of sin. This went down very well and their amazement at the disappearance of the ball was rather humorous.Being interpreted as we went along was great fun!

Norman & Blossom

Norman & Blossom

While some of the teachers were handing out the eats we had taken along for their party, I walked around the school ground taking photographs. The one classroom’s carpets are in a mess. The ‘carpet’ is made up of a number of carpet tiles which have become very damaged as a result of the rain coming through the ceiling which has holes in it. The toilets are little tin ‘huts’ next to the main classroom and the kitchen is really not a kitchen as we know it in the City.

The Kitchen

Damaged Carpeting In The Main Classroom

The Ceiling In The Main Classroom

One of the teachers explained to me that they do receive a small grant from the Government but it hardly covers the daily running costs for the 200 plus children ranging from Grade R up to Grade 7. They rely mainly on donations from the public and sustain themselves through a little vegetable patch which they have grown on the property. Thinking of our kids in the City and looking at the faces we saw yesterday is a humbling thing and I think we can all learn a lot from them.

The Vegetable Patch

Have a look at the photo’s on this page as well as the full set of photo’s on my Facebook Album found here and then please, if you or someone you know of is in a position to assist them, please get in touch with me so that I can put you in touch with them. Perhaps someone you know can provide them with roofing, carpeting, desks  or chairs to make their schooling experience a bit more comfortable.

Look At Her Eyes

It has traditionally been a “female thing” down the years …. the whole weight-loss dilemma. I think it’s fair to say though that most people want to look good – us guys too. None of us want to be uncomfortable with our appearance. Maybe it’s a symptom of the years catching up with one where we long once again for our youth at times when we ‘looked good’ or maybe it’s  just because we want to be healthy …. i dunno …… I just think most people want to look and feel good about themselves.

Now I’m not one who normally climbs on the advertising bandwagon raving about this or that new product but I want to make a bit of an exception here and punt a program which I really do believe works and perhaps it will help you to discover a healthier, happier lifestyle when it comes to your eating habits. It’s called The ABS Diet. I discovered it a few years back when I started purchasing Men’s Health Magazine. There was a discount voucher included for the book which looked very interesting – so I went ahead and ordered it and it had amazing results in store for me. The “Diet” (although it’s not really a diet at all but rather a healthy eating plan) is based on a book called “The ABS Diet” by  David Zinczenko. It was a New York Times Bestseller. Now – at the time I purchased the book I weighed around 90KG, which was TOTALLY unacceptable. There is a large amount of reading matter in the book which explains the benefits of a healthy eating plan coupled with a regular exercise program. The whole program is based around keeping your metabolism active throughout the day by eating the correct foods – 6 times per day!! Within 6 weeks I had lost 17 KG and found myself weighing  73KG (2 K’s underweight for my height). It was awesome! I did stick to it rigidly though to obtain these results. The program is supposed to help you develop your ABS, which I know I have – I’ve just never seen the things!! I didn’t exercise as thoroughly as I should have though – so am still in pursuit of them.

Over time though – as with all eating plans and diets – if we don’t keep them up we slip back into bad habits and before we know  it the Kilo’s are building up again. I have in the last 2 weeks decided to pick up the book again and this time I am determined to go all the way to a healthier me before Christmas.

If you’ve been struggling with your weight and are sick and tired of starving yourself on diets which are really just fads – learn to eat correctly by looking into The ABS Diet. I can assure you that if you give it a go and stick to it for a while you WILL see lasting results. The Men’s Health Web Site has a whole section devoted to it. Go have a look and see what you think ….

The ABS Diet

1st Day Of School

Candy floss!
It was 1972 and to this day, I remember it smelling like candy floss. My first day of school sticks out in my memory as clearly as the ink on this page. I know I didn’t cry. My brother did a couple of years later when he started school. The Daily Dispatch of the following day bore witness to it with a wonderful picture of him and my Mother on his first day – and yes ….he was crying alright. My Mom had booked off sick to take him to school on his first day. She didn’t know that she was going to get her photo in the paper though. Anyway – that’s another story altogether. I didn’t cry. This was big school… it was an adventure. I hadn’t been to nursery school. They were fully booked when I was old enough to go a year or two earlier. I remember crying then…… but this day I didn’t cry. I was excited.

I remember the windows of that little classroom being incredibly high – far above my head. I’ve never been back, although I’ve longed to, but I suppose if I were to go back there I would find the windows pretty normal. I would probably stare out of them without much effort. Somehow the outside world was so much more mysterious back then. The windows were very high. Standing on your toes wouldn’t have helped at all.

I remember Miss Whittal. She was my Sub A teacher. I liked her a lot. I have very clear memories of her writing the alphabet on the blackboard. I never did understand why it was called a blackboard when it was clearly green. I remember Janet and John and how they taught me: “See the dog. See Janet walk the dog. See John. See John throw the ball for the dog”. Somehow they seem so far away in my memory but somehow so near at the same time. I remember clearly sitting with my nose against the wall under the blackboard at break time one day. I cannot remember why but that activity was normally reserved for when you had misbehaved. I had probably been talking in class.

Thinking back now some 30 odd years later so much is still so clear. I remember Leon and Arlene. Gary, Leona and Cherith. Vanessa, Michelle, Debbie, Norman…. I could go on and on and probably recall most of their names. Of course there was Denis. He was my best friend. I’d never had one of those before and don’t quite know at what point I had decided he was my best friend. I do know I was his best friend as well. It was a friendship that would survive the next seven years – through to Standard 5 – and then just disappear into memory. Strange how life can be like that. I remember bumping into his sister in a stationary shop sometime in the 90’s and her putting him in touch with me. I phoned him at a number in Johannesburg if I recall correctly – or was it Durban? Much had changed in his life. Much had changed in mine too. Somehow we sensed we still identified but didn’t talk too much about it. I didn’t hear from him again for many many years. Today, thanks to the wonder of Facebook we are once again in touch. Denis was my first best friend.

Class Photo - Southernwood Primary

I remember how we used to have to line up outside the school building every time the bell rang. Boys in front of the one entrance and girls in front of the other. We used to file off to the boys toilets in single file in-between classes. We used to watch ‘films’ as we would call them downstairs in a tiny little narrow room at the bottom of the stairs in the boys toilets. They would normally be about nature or Geography or some or other famous person in history. Sometimes the boys were not allowed to watch the same film as the girls. We knew though it was about ‘girls stuff’.

I remember going through the different standards and am aware now that those years were an important part of my self discovery. Naturally I didn’t see that then but looking back now I realize how I developed in those years. Was it positive development? Was it negative? I’m not sure really. I believe it was necessary development. I am of the opinion that everything that happens in our lives happens for a reason and how we understand and use whatever has happened – good or bad – is what it’s really all about. Everything in life is ultimately about choice really. When you’re a pre-teen though you don’t always understand that….

Somewhere along the line in those years I discovered that not everyone liked me. I don’t remember if anything specific happened to bring me to that realization, I just remember that there were many occasions that I used to eat my lunch sitting on huge rolled up carpets under the stairs that led down to the boys toilets. I think Denis must have been with me – we were quite inseparable. I remember being called ‘Sissy’, ‘Moffie’ and a whole lot of other derogatory names. I never could understand why and most of the time I didn’t even understand what the words meant. I wasn’t really sports minded – in fact I was scared on the sports field …. not only of the ball but of the boys as well.

The teachers inspired me. There was Miss Martin who I loved very much. Her birthday was on the same day as my Ouma’s – the 12^th of September. I used to take a present to school for her on that day. I remember once taking a porcelain hen that held eggs for her. She was my Sub B teacher. I remember hearing Bible stories in that classroom. I was given a little blue Bible – the King James version – because I belonged to the Scripture Union Club. It had a sticker with a picture of a bee stuck in the one cover. I haven’t seen that Bible for a long time. I know I kept it for many years.

Mrs. Battle was my Standard 1 teacher. We called her a battle axe! Miss Burmeister was my Standard 2 teacher. Her classroom was next to Miss Hinds who took the ‘Special Class’. They were children who weren’t like the ‘other’ children. I sort of identified with them although I was with the ‘normal’ children. Mr. Beaud was my Standard 3 teacher. He was a terrible person. His classroom was in a prefab building that had been built just outside the school building. He was a tall, thin, bald man who always smelled like old smoke. He used to throw cigarette lighters and blackboard dusters at you if you spoke in class. He was not very popular. My Standard 4 teacher was Mr. Kent. We felt quite special about him because we knew his first name – Richard. He was a well known South African cricketer and was quite famous in our little minds. It was a real honor to be able to say that he was our teacher. Mr. Emslie, the school principal, was my Standard 5 teacher. He wasn’t the principal when I started at Southernwood Primary. Back then it was Mr. Wegner….Mr. H.B. Wegner. No relation to a pencil.

I don’t really remember what I learnt at Primary School except for things like Racheltjie de Beer, Wolraad Woltemade, Jan van Riebeeck, Dick King (who I always got mixed up with Dick Wittington). I think my favorite subject was English. I also loved anything to do with Art – and music was just wonderful. It was a way to escape into another world. I remember detesting Woodwork. There were always such difficult drawings to do for homework – technical stuff. My brain didn’t work like that. I hated Woodwork. I clearly remember crying in my bedroom one night, very frustrated because I couldn’t do the homework I had been required to do. My Mom couldn’t help me either. I remember her asking – probably my Father: “Where did I go wrong?” That question haunted me for many years… (to be continued)

OK – this is the part of my Blog where I will probably make myself a bit vulnerable from time to time. I have had some interesting experiences in my life and it is my intention to one day write a book about it all. There have been times when things have been wonderful and there have been times when things have been … well … not so good. I’ve achieved quite a bit and I’ve failed dismally at times. The posts in this category will be somewhat scattered and one day when I get around to it properly I will sit down and try and condense it all into some sort of order into a book that will live on after me. We all have a story to tell and we all have a book buried deep inside of us. This is mine – in scattered fashion