Mr Pewa

The Rhodesian holiday was called a Flame Lily holiday and was based around one plane which flew from destination to destination. We flew over the Victoria Falls which was amazing and visited a crocodile farm. Kariba dam and Wankie reserve were impressive. We stayed at Troutbeck Inn after visiting Salisbury.
I have searched my diaries but cannot find a reference to the most important encounter which I have often recounted. Mr Pewa was the doyen of the library service highly respected by all and he in fact retired on my watch in 1971. He invited me to tea and I accepted. I struggled to drink tea with condensed milk! I asked how many lived in his 4 room house and he said 16. I was shocked and asked why. He said there was nowhere else for them to go. I said "Mr Pewa you will soon retire. We think you and your wife deserve a proper retirement." I went home and told Mum I could no longer live in this country where the elderly were not respected and denied privacy.
My eyes had been opened! I am very frank in my diary about the difficulties I was facing at work and express my relief on being asked to move to the music library as assistant to Shona Wallis. I knew her well as Maurice and I borrowed records and scores. It was indeed a happy year. Rudolf in the record library proved to be a tricky colleague - he was once attacked by an irate Italian and I suspect much of it was his fault! I became the youngest president ever of the Guild of Church Musicians and enjoyed my role.
I continued with my UNISA honours degree in English trying to balance the demands of work, church choir, church youth group,  concerts, organ practice including the Widor Toccata and friends. I mention several people and Lynette Stagg proved to be a good friend. On page 85 Dad describes passing his FTCL exam for which I turned the pages and advised on balance. Revd Peter Gordon died - a wonderful preacher and kind man. I still have books his wife Ann gave me.
By the end of 1971 I was getting ready to leave recording Anna Russell on cassettes to take with me and noting good films and books. I gave Death in Venice an A. In September I went to see "Othello" at St John's a bold move by Walter Andrewes. I gave it B+ and commented that Desdemona was weak and the crowd scenes a little stilted. Mark Wilson was there and John Alexander enjoyed it very much. My departure date was March 16 1972 and the whole trip was planned around flights right up to arriving in London on October 1st. Page 87 and the final holiday together in Plettenberg Bay.

Kontarsky signed the library Stockhausen score

Rhodesia

In August 1970 we visited Rhodesia page 82. The flight over the Victoria Falls really was the flight of angels and we loved the wildlife especially at Wankie. We saw the Kariba dam and stayed at Troutbeck Inn. We remarked on how much more easily whites spoke to blacks even to banter. Dad "Do you phone the elephants to tell them we are coming?"
page 85 I turned the pages for Dad playing his FTCL at St Mary's cathedral. I often turned for him and learned a great deal through this. It is sometimes harder to turn than to play! On this page Dad talks about Heather Brokenshire who sadly died in 2016 and the Gordons. page 87 describes the choir Christmas card of 1971. In 1970 I read 51 books including a number of modern novels and plays for the degree.
The photos show the Victoria Falls and the trip to the crocodile farm nearby.

Here is the photo for the Christmas card at St Mark's. I am in the back row  second in and then after the tall man is Len Cherry, John Alexander and Reg Leeman. Second row second in on left is Mum and 3rd from right is Ann next to Heather Brokenshire. The RSCM and GCM badges are on display. 

Reading

In 1963 among lots of Gerald Durrell, C.P.Snow, Austen and Dickens, I read Brazilian adventure by Peter Fleming. I was fascinated by the story of Colonel Fawcett. It was to be many years later that I finally got to South America! In 1963 I read 50 books and in 1964 47 most of them got an A or B. In 64 I started my BA degree at Wits studying English and History of Art. The latter because of our family doctor Dr Sieff who said to me that I would be able to appreciate art when I went to Europe.How right he was! I was also struggling with Plato and philosophy and beginning French. I was never great at languages. I was very happy staying at home and going to university on the bus. There was one awful incident when the bus conductor accused me of not paying the fare and marched me to the police station. The whole thing was a mistake but he was very reluctant to back down. We had been very well prepared for university by Mr Rose and I sailed through the first year. Mrs Gordon wife of the Presbyterian minister was a great help with English lending me books and encouraging me.
In 1965 I read 60, 66 it was 64 and 67 was a bumper year 75 including 8 given an A. A lot of Shakespeare. I am very scathing about "The death of Jesus" by Joel Carmichael an unscholarly, untruthful book! I loved Middlemarch and Dickens and The Spiral Road by Jan de Hartog seems to have struck a chord although I cannot remember it now. Nostromo was a wonderful book and in fact influenced much of my thinking about colonialism and development. I am also reading about nature and religion. I read a book on how to paint in oils but commented that too much time and money would be involved. Of course I am doing it now but it took 50 years!