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So, going on holiday with Wal skiing - not suspecting - anything... get back to work around the middle of March - and within 2 weeks there I was.......
on a British Overseas Airways Corporation VC10 (good aircraft - flew on them
quite a bit after this) with dawn just breaking - over Uganda - Africa exploring
- here I come!!
We did stop at Entebe - even got out for a walk around - few years later the Israelis mounted their daring raid on the very same airport/buildings.
And then we were off again - this is just having taken off from Entebe, starting
the long haul over Lake Victoria. As you can see (bottom left corner) I was
right at the back of the aircraft (for those of you who don't know what a VC10
looks like it has all 4 engines mounted at the back, below the tail fin. For
some reason there was lots of space down that end of the aircraft - and so I
moved myself there - only to find out on take-off why everybody was up the front
- quite noisy!!
I can remember coming in to land at Joburg, seeing the mine-dumps for the first time and then seeing lots of garden ponds... nearly every garden had one and I thought "that's nice - people having ponds", and only as we got lower did I relaise (silly me!!) - they were swimming pools - had never seen so many!
Landed at Jan Smuts - Johannesburg around lunch time - into town and the Hotel - The Astor on Smit Street, the back of the hotel looking out onto Joubert Park. Starting to unpack - "people downstairs to see you" - so I troop down Fred Boulton, Sue Oldrieve, Graeme Wallace etc... - and we go off for lunch - and I "HAVE" to eat "Monkey Gland Steak" - delicious!! (Its not monkey - nor is it gland).
Settle in - then after a few days - off exploring this new city....
The route number on the lamp-post up ahead says "5" (and as that comes into
Jo'burg from the North-West) - and just to the left of middle of the picture is
the Hillbrow Tower, so that places this shot taken around Honeydew, Randburg -
Brian Stoate suggests - Bedfordview, but I don't think so...
Again
- the Hillbrow Tower is right in the middle of the piccie.
Now this - I know exactly.....our office was on Commissioner St in Fairview, and
my route to there from the hotel was (Smit St, Saratoga Ave, Charlton Terrace,
Dan St, Appolonia St and park anywhere around Op de Bergen and Grace St. This is
standing on Op de Bergen St with Appolonia St coming up in left foreground - to
meet it - looking towards Hillbrow and the Tower. Fairview was a bit of a rough
old neighbourhood.
Things get a bit hazy around here, but I think Brian Stoate was working in either Durban or Swaziland, and Vonnie - cooped up in their Hillbrow apartment, wanted to go see him. I wanted to see "a bit of Africa" - so off we went.... If I remember rightly - he got a lift "to somewhere" and so we met him en-route to Durban - but not on the main Jhb/Durban road
Rondhavels, miles from anywhere on the open Veldt.
This is Umhlanger Rocks looking towards the city of Durban (on the skyline) -
don't you just hate crowded beaches??
Same spot (did we stay in The Durban View Hotel??) - I think he's got into a
shark and is being pulled into the surf!! We didn't stick around long enough to
help or determine!!
And then I think we had to deliver Brian back to work and this was entitled...
"entering Swaziland" - something more "African" would have been more appropriate
I think.......