Where we’ve been...
South Africa
“Semper
aliquid novi
Africam
adferre.”
Returning to South Africa in October for
the first time in 20 years, John Clarke
travelled 4000 km in two weeks and
found Pliny the Elder’s statement as true
today as it was 2000 years ago; much is
new - and much continues to change - in
that wonderfully schizophrenic country.
And so started a fortnight’s holiday,
the last two weeks of my two month
sabbatical, and what a great two weeks
they turned out to be. Eastbourne
in October was typically cold and
miserable, and whilst my wife Liz
and I had managed to squeeze in a
very enjoyable meander through the
Canadian Rockies a few weeks earlier,
I longed for a summer break away from
a country not renowned for its summers;
besides, I thought, I hadn’t seen my
brother Paul – or South Africa – for some
time, so here goes.
66
“I suppose you had breakfast on the
pl ane, so how about a beer?” was
my brother’s greeting when he picked
me up at the Gautrain station in
Johannesburg at just after nine in the
morning. Bizarre? Hardly, in a country
with no licensing laws to speak of, and
the temperature already climbing to 30
degrees. Not wishing to display signs of
latent alcoholism, I didn’t answer; but
my brother’s an ex cop, and knows the
ancient common law dictum that silence
indicates assent…
We spent the first couple of days in
Johannesburg, which in itself was a bit
of a culture shock; a tremendous amount
of building has occurred since my last
visit (including the previously mentioned
Gautrain – an overland shuttle linking the
airport and Jhb in some 15 minutes) with
vast shopping malls and housing estates
proliferating throughout the northern
suburbs. The place certainly seems
to be thriving, with some of the best
restaurants and gastro pubs I’ve seen
in a long time - full throughout the week,
as well. Having said that, it’s depressing
to see the house walls go ever higher
and the razor wire become ever thicker;
crime soars, the police do nothing, the
government wrings its hands, but life
goes on. It seems that stoicism and
violence are intrinsically interwoven into
the South African psyche.
My brother and his wife Carol had
organised the trip down to the last
detail (literally, with even the restaurant
bookings in place) so I was able to sit
back and relax. Well, not really either,
actually, as I was shown to the driver’s
seat and told to “put foot” out of town
towards Bloemfontein. We left early, to
avoid both the traffic and the heat, with
no more than five hours driving planned
for any one day. South African roads –
especially the toll variety – are in good
condition but it takes a while to grasp
the sheer size of the country; by the time