THE CHIEL

Gonna be a grand tour

AN ex-East Londoner now living in California has whet several American friends’ appetite with stories of this country – so much so that they’re dying to see and hear more and he’s bringing them on a grand tour next month, with emphasis on the Eastern Cape.

Graham Shelver, wife Elizabeth and two sons moved to the US in 2001. “I have been back to SA (and EL) at least once every year since and find that the things I miss most, funnily enough, are the smells, sounds and unique ability of Oos Kaapenaars to see humour in almost any situation.” That prompted him to ask a favour.

“Could you e-mail me the Transkei driver photo you describe in Monday’s column? One of the first things I do every day after making tea at 6am for my wife is to get online and read the Dispatch with the Chiel coming just after the front page news. Unfortunately the picture does to not appear online with your column.”

That was of the bakkie piled sky high with mattresses travelling through Transkei. “I have a grainy copy of the infamous ‘windscreen wiper’ picture in my African funnies collection as I do get a regular supply of Dispatch clippings via my mother (Nora Wingreen – his late dad was Trevor Shelver) and I have attached a picture I took last December just outside Mount Ayliff while driving to Durban.

“My American colleagues (who live with obligatory airbags, seatbelts and state troopers) stare in disbelief at these pictures and keep asking to see new ones.”

Graham, an Old Selbornian, now a microbiologist, says he’s bringing 12 colleagues on a self-drive safari to see for themselves.

“We will start at Mkuze in KZN and work down the coast with an overnight stop at Morgan’s Bay, and an Inkwenkwezi game drive/lunch before making a quick stop at the Reef boardwalk and an Esplanade drive-by where I hope the beadmakers still sell their wares.”

The trip also includes Mfolozi-Hluhluwe, Cathedral Peak, Addo, Knysna, Oudtshoorn, the Karoo and ends in Cape Town.

Good for you for bringing all these friends over to see, enjoy and laugh. If every emigrant South African did the same, our tourism industry would be thriving.

I guess it’s maintaining a sense of humour that keeps us sane – always expect the unexpected – but sometimes we also wish for discipline and better law enforcement, a la US, on our roads at least.

Chiel: 043 702 2242 or chiel@dispatch.co.za

Tailpiece

CHURCH NOTICE: The sermon topic at the evening service will be “What Is Hell?” Come early and listen to our choir practise.

FROM OUR FILES

SEPTEMBER 8, 1956: Old Selbornians are the Border rugby champions for 1956. They won the title by beating Hamiltons 11-6 in a hard-fought match on the BRU Ground today. This is only the second time Old Boys have annexed the coveted trophy – the first was in 1950. At the end of the game some of the winning side’s supporters rushed onto the field to help chair the captain, Charlie Breetzke, into the dressing room.

SEPTEMBER 8, 1976: Maureen Haynes and Sue Clague are all set to make East London beautiful, and in the nicest possible way – by creating beautiful girls. Mrs Haynes and Mrs Clague claim to have started the first full-time modelling school in East London, where courses in grooming and modelling are offered. After two months the students have a passing-out parade and are then ready to earn a living or some pocket money. The school opened in June.

‘Each time you are honest, a success force will drive you toward great success. Each time you lie, even with a little white lie, there are strong forces pushing you to failure’
– Joseph Sugarman

TIMELINE

Today is Friday, September 8, the 249th day of 2006. There are 114 days left in the year.

Today’s birthdays: Cardinal Richelieu, French statesman (1585-1642); Cornelius van Tromp, Dutch admiral (1629-1691); Luigi Galvani, Italian physiologist (1737-1798); Max Reinhardt, Austrian stage director (1873-1943); Otis Redding, US soul singer (1941-1967); Hugh Grant, English actor (1960-).

Today in history:

1601 — Captain James Lancaster, with the first English East Indian Company’s fleet, sails into Table Bay.

1824 — The Orange River is fixed as the northern border of the Cape Colony.

1828 — Sir Lowry Cole becomes governor of the Cape.

1966 — The Rhodesian High Court rules that Ian Smith’s government is unlawful but that it provides the only effective administration.

1987 — The Institute of Clinical Psychologists, fearing political turmoil will impair mental health for generations, urges the government to note the “irrevocable consequences” of apartheid and the state of emergency.

1997 — Former state president and National Party leader FW de Klerk delivers his farewell address to Parliament. He says it is time for South Africans to end sterile debates and divisive reproaches about the past and focus their energies and resources on solving the country’s problems.

Sunrise: 06:18 Sunset: 17:53

(Source: www.saweather.co.za)