19. Expanding my boundaries

While at boarding school, life revolved around a fairly fixed set of contacts, interspersed with weekends at Bonair Road and church on Sunday mornings. However, during the holidays there was a wider world to be experienced. I have no recollection of who organised my itinerary, but I do have good memories of those times.  

Betty's Bay

I have described Betty’s Bay in ‘Lighting a Lamp’ and other blog postings. This place continued to be a haven of contentment and exploration for me. Over the Christmas holidays, Jess's sisters and their families occupied four houses nearby, given to them by their father DG Mills. I was incorporated into this large group of cousins. (I am pictured third from the left at the back).  

I remember a couple of my friends joining the family on holiday at Betty’s Bay, which added another dimension for me. Malcolm Emms joined us on at least one occasion, and we went fishing on the lake in a rowboat to see what “baited” frogs could do for us in the way of catching fish. We were elated by their effectiveness as bait and at least one huge eel-like took the bait and then managed to get away before we could pull it on board. The line snapped so we were left with a fishy story to tell. At least Malcolm and I knew it was true, in the light of everyone’s skepticism about our size and length descriptions.  

George Anderson

Jess had some cousins on her mother’s side called Jessie, Mary & George Anderson. George was actually my age, and we became good friends. On occasion their family would be at one of the other cottages in Betty’s Bay when we were there, and George and I would pursue our mountain hiking and bird-watching interest together. Jim & Jess had given me a pair of binoculars as a reward for passing my Junior Certificate (Std 8/ Tenth Grade) and we enjoyed identifying the various species and making a list of what birds we had spotted. Later the Anderson family went to Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) on holiday and his bird list sky-rocketed, so I gave up trying to compete with him on that score. The Anderson family were very warm and inclusive towards me and often invited me to join them on holidays to George (the town!), Little Brak, Victoria Bay and Carmel. George’s Dad had been the pastor at Pacaltsdorp Presbyterian Church and for that reason the whole area around George was home to them. I thoroughly enjoyed every aspect of being with the Anderson family. Their normal home was in Mowbray, and we would be able to wander around Rondebosch Common together, now and again. On holiday, we would play board games, have meals together and even kitchen chores were accompanied by witty exchanges on a wide variety of subjects. George was a good friend with a consistent, balanced input into my life as we journeyed together for the years I was with Jim and Jess. 

Table Mountain

Other shorter breaks included climbing up Table Mountain with Freddy Glaum. Arrangements would be made for me to spend the night at his home in Wetton Road, and we’d get our rucksacks ready with food and sleeping bags so we could be on our way early in the morning. I’m not sure how we used to get to the foot of the mountain – surely by bus or train or just walking – but soon we were moving up Skeleton Gorge or “Smuts Pad” as it was also known. I remember a lot of streams full of water and moss dripping great drops of water which sparkled in the sun as you looked upwards. Magical. Then the freedom to climb with a friend like Freddy who would point out all kinds of unique flowers, birds and other features with a short narrative on each which made it unique in some way and therefore memorable. Freddy was also an excellent pace-setter as I seldom remember being tired. 

On one or two occasions we climbed over the back table from Woody Ravine and below the Cable Station we spent the night on a ledge overlooking Cape Town. At that time there was a building on the foreshore which broadcast the main items of news on a kind of telecaster in such a fashion that one of us, with our binoculars, could read it out loud while the other made the meal ready. We could comment as the news flashes kept running while enjoying the shelter of our little cave. On another trip we camped at Eagle’s Crest under an overhanging rock overlooking Hout Bay. The only difficulty with that campsite was the wind which became so bad by late morning that we had to find some other place to be, before we were blown away.  

I also recollect a climb to the Wynberg Caves on Table Mountain. The caves were dark and full of bats. We could not go far because of the danger of falling down into the deep chasm in the caves. We did not have any powerful torches, so that hike was not one of our successful adventures.  

Later on, when I went on a climb with my uncle Jim and his friends, we spent the night at the Mountain Club Hut. I remember it being a pretty luxurious night with beds, chairs, good food and lots of stories and reminiscences being shared. I was quite awestruck at the time and felt honoured to have been included in the party. I also remember being given the task of cutting wood with a large bow saw. In the process I cut my index finger quite badly and hid the fact from my uncle for quite a while. The little scar is still there on my finger as a reminder of that incident. 

Jonathan Reed

The Reed family were good friends from church and knew my parents as well as Jim and Jess very well. Many years later, Rita Reed and my mom became best friends. Their son Jonathan and I often cycled together. One of the most memorable ventures we had was when the whole Reed family were planning to go on holiday to Carmel near George.  

Jonathan and I left early in the morning before the Reed family, and cycled all the way to Caledon, past Firgrove, Strand, Sir Lowry’s pass, Elgin and Bot River. Arrangements were made for us to sleep overnight at a campsite near Caledon. DG Mills had offered us a light Egyptian cotton tent, which was a delight to accept. He groveled around the back of his orderly garage to find the tent and gave it to us with such tenderness that I knew it was an honour and I needed to look after it diligently. We found an official campsite where we could safely pitch our tent and have a meal. It was with slightly trembling hands that we put up the tent. It was magnificently light and suited our purposes perfectly. It had been a long day in the saddle on our simple three-speed bikes. The following morning, we cycled from the campsite and met up with the family with gladness. They put our bikes on top of their DKW and we drove the rest of the way. Jonathan's Dad, "Bamboo" Reed took an old 8mm film of that holiday and the picture is a screen shot from that (Jonathan on the right).

Glenhazel and Manor Gardens

There were two holidays where I went by train to briefly visit other uncles and aunts and their families. The first was to Hugh (my mom’s youngest brother) and Jill Mathew who lived in Glenhazel in Johannesburg. Isabelle and Jeremy were much younger than I and I mostly remember walking with the dogs, helping with a pergola and happy family times in the home. Another holiday excursion took me to Manor Gardens in Durban with Uncle Ernie (Dad’s younger brother) and Aunty Gwen who lived with Lorraine, Neil and Kevin. I recollect picnics on the beach and a trip south down the coast. The train trips to and from Cape Town were quite long, but interesting.