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Talking Sewage

Talking Sewage

Why aren't new home owners allowed to install old fashioned septic tanks like mine, which seldom need to be emptied?

Pop-splat

Pop-splat

A prominent businessman is murdered in an apparent hijacking. For Matt Dreyer the death of his father seems like murder most foul.

Trees Must Fall

Trees Must Fall

This 35-year-old tree had been leaning over at an increasingly alarming angle and finally snapped at the base.

Memory Project: Gwelo Swimming Pool

Memory Project: Gwelo Swimming Pool

The Municipal Swimming Baths in Gwelo were the first to be built in Rhodesia. I don't know when exactly that was, but in the late 1950s they seemed both new and modern.

Post Coital Dysphoria

Post Coital Dysphoria

I recently picked up my mother's copy of the Complete Works of Shakespeare, which was awarded to her as a prize while she was attending the Keaton's Road School for Girls in Bermondsey, London.

Frikkie and Plug Join the Army

Frikkie and Plug Join the Army

When Frikkie and Plug were in Matric the SANDF visited their school on a recruitment drive. After listening to the presentation they both decided it would be a good idea to join the Army for a year.

My Military Career

My Military Career

The Defence Amendment Bill, designed to make military service compulsory for White men, was passed on 9 June 1967. I turned 17 five months later.

Memory Project: The .22 Pistol

Memory Project: The .22 Pistol

During my childhood I saw my mother in tears on many occasions.

Nursing Notes

Nursing Notes

Henry F*ckit (my alter ego) worked as an orderly at Groote Schuur Hospital in the late 1970s. When he applied for the position he was interviewed by Matron Sharp, who described the duties of a nurse and what would be expected from a nursing assistant...

Memory Project: W Martin Contractor

Memory Project: W Martin Contractor

What prompted my father to move to Southern Rhodesia in 1956 was the news that good money was to be made from carting gravel for the construction of the country's expanding road network. 

Beyond Redemption

Beyond Redemption

The war in Ukraine has confirmed my belief that as members of the human race we will never be able to suppress our brutish tendencies and that civilization is merely a veneer that hides our true nature.

Down and Out

Down and Out

Half a century ago, at the age of 21, I travelled around the UK and Europe for a year. Because I arrived without any money, I had to take temporary menial jobs to finance my stay.