Memory Project: My Green Spectacle Case
I recently chanced upon this spectacle case when rummaging through a bottom drawer filled with miscellaneous junk. The sight of it got me thinking about the history of my accursed affliction.
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Potjie Pap
"Look Steve, it isn't possible to impart a skill like this over the phone. If you are serious, you will have to attend a demonstration and lecture. I will be cooking pap with our chicken pot on Sunday."
My Writing Career
I began my writing career at the age of 50. I was aware that the majority of famous writers hit their stride in their thirties and forties, and that I was making a late start. Undeterred, I told myself that my muse had been in no hurry, preferring to...
Senile Delusion
"Christmas comes but once a year, and when it's gone, I jump and cheer."
Waiting for Walter
On the last of our ten days in Joburg, Guy drove us to Lanseria Airport to catch a 12:05 flight on a Safair Boeing 737 back to Cape Town.
The Real Danger
In the past 40 years I have witnessed several fires burning through the bush on the northern side of Broadway Street in Pearly Beach.
My Building Career
In my late twenties, disillusioned with city life, I began to dream of building a simple seaside cottage well away from civilisation. At that time Pearly Beach seemed as good a place as any, so, on returning from a year on Gough Island with a few tho...
Habituation
It must be about 40 years ago that I read a short story by Nadine Gordimer in which a toddler gets trapped in razor wire surrounding his parents' upmarket Johannesburg home.
The Ashton Bridge
When I heard they were going to build a new bridge over the Cogmans River at Ashton, and that it would be the first tied arch design to be constructed in South Africa, I looked at my wife and said, "That sounds interesting."
In the Podiatrist’s Dental Chair
For more than a decade I paid Doctor Carey to work on my teeth whenever one or more of them caused me pain in the form of toothache.
The Urinal at Liliesleaf Farm
We arrived in Joburg on Friday 17 May 2024, and returned to Pearly Beach on Monday the 27th of the same month and year, which makes the trip an 11-day odyssey.
One Shot: Reflections on Life's Choices
In my early twenties I went on a mission to take a drink in every bar in Cape Town.