A holiday friendship from way back when
Linda, me, my dad and my brother at the start of the Big Run
I was born in Pretoria, South Africa; I grew up here, went to school here, and once again find myself here (temporarily, I hope). When I was a child we used to go on holiday to two main destinations – Nature’s Valley in the Cape and Durban in Natal. Durban was just six hours away by car, but Nature’s Valley was a whole day’s drive.
We owned a station wagon; my dad would pack all the suitcases in the boot, then lay a board and mattress on top of them, which we three kids would sleep on. Our maid, Elizabeth, would get the back seat and off we would set in the middle of the night. It was a real adventure of a holiday.
But the main drawcard to the Nature’s Valley vacation was the family we would meet there every year. They had three children, including the youngest – my special friend Linda. Like ours, Linda’s family lived in Pretoria too (less than 4km from our house) but we hardly ever saw them there. And I guess that’s what made our holiday friendship so special.
They owned an A-frame double-storey house a block away from the beach, while we rented a house just across the road from theirs. As I write this I can almost smell it; leading to a flood of memories … Memories of our Nature’s Valley Amateur Dramatic Society plays; of clandestinely eating Milo (a hot drink) powder out of the tin; of the tin-can telephone stretched between our two top-floor balconies; of picnics on the sand; of the Big Run from the lagoon to the first line of rocks; of the wooden walkway that snaked through the strandveld and fynbos to the sea; of Easter-egg hunts; of treks to the rocky cove; and of the friendship between Linda and me entwined in all the memories …
Looking back, most of the photos of the two of us have us building sand castles or playing in the rock pools – which was our make-believe home complete with bedroom, bathroom, kitchen and lounge. I remember one time when we built a volcano, with a smoking chimney. Others on the beach weren’t as excited about our creation as we were. I know who was the creative genius between us when it came to our sand sculptures. And it was not I.
I remember her playing Beauty to my Beast in one of our plays …
And then we grew up. Our family went to Nature’s Valley less and less and it would have been plain weird if Linda and I had carried on playing in rock pools together ad infinitum … I saw her now and then over the years – she even went to my Matric Dance (something like the Senior Prom, I guess) with me. And eventually – in the mid 1990s – we lost touch completely.
But the memories remain – special memories of a childhood enjoyed together.
Nature’s Valley, South Africa. Where precious memories reside.
The two of us in one of our rock-pool “rooms”.
“Our house” in the small village of Nature’s Valley.
Us. Creating
Linda and me after my Matric Dance in 1987.
9 Comments on “A holiday friendship from way back when”
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They called me weed
I have been blogging here since around April 2011 - my little place on the blogosphere to express myself creatively. As a teenager I used to write a diary - in fact, as a 17-year-old living in Belgium, I wrote religiously every day. Fortunately the Internet didn't exist back then because my ramblings as a teenager were ever-so-slightly dark, cynical and depressing. You won't find much of that here. Also, mostly, I try not to get too deep or philosophical in this forum - I'd like my photography to uplift and inspire, and, where I can, I try to bring a bit of humour into my writing too. I've been fortunate enough to travel extensively and have made many friends across the globe. This is my spot to keep in touch with them.
joli, mais un peu triste non ?
Peut-être, mais c’est la vie… Et c’était bon pour moi de l’écrire.
I love this trip down your memory lane! You know, I almost feel I have been to South Africa from reading your blog and seeing your pictures. I have been from Canada (just across the border) to the Panama Canal Zone (all by land), but nowhere else in my life. When I was a senior in high school at Ben Lippen School in North Carolina in 1955, two boys came to school who were from South Africa. They were Lanny and Louis Goldfinch. I checked my yearbook to get that right. My memory is not THAT reliable. I remember (showing my ignorance) being surprised that white people lived anywhere in Africa. Since then I know a little about Nelson Mandella and apartheid from the news. For many years CRY, THE BELOVED COUNTRY has been one of my favorite books. I remember seing two movies, one was THE POWER OF ONE, I think, and can’t remember the name of the other, but it had a school teacher played by Whoopi Goldberg in it. These are probably before your day. All that to say that’s about all I knew about South Africa before I started seeing your blog. I still don’t know much, but I said I ALMOST FEEL like I have been there. I have to use all these capital letters because I don’t know how to do underline or italics or bold on here.
In this day and age, would you not be able to reconnect with her?
I have summer friends which I remember fondly, also. The magic of childhood memories.
I really struggled to find her, actually… But I finally tracked her down tonight – living a mere three hours away. I think I will get in touch…
Left me feeling sad – you should definitely get in touch with her!
Hard to believe that was you.
Oh, how we all change!