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

1970

Fascinated by lute workshop of Mr van dear Geest. I seem to have got on well with Miss Kennedy and Miss Smith the big boss and James Winter including visiting him at home when he hurt his leg. On Easter Day I played for a 7.30 am communion service at St Mark's and there was a family service at which we sang "Blessed be the God and Father" and Mr Hawkridge preached using a flannelboard. I took Ann to see "Viva Max" with Peter Ustinov who was very funny. From my diary it is clear that I was being sent on relief to White libraries and taken away from my real job! I comment on being exhausted clearing up filthy books. The major problem was knowing if libraries were open at all. All I had was the phone and occasional visits with new books and requested books. There was a fuss because I got Mr Makhudu to drive some deliveries to relieve me. Apollo 13 safely landed April 17. Ken Hogg is mentioned - he joined the Guild and later became a priest.
On May 1 two lorries collided and a metal frame fell on the Landrover. I did not realise until later that the back lights had been smashed. Miss Smith and Mrs Hill were encouraging me. I was doing my best to negotiate with staff who wanted more money and I anted to bring in some changes. On one day I drove 83 miles. I mention Rosemary, Sandra and Becky but I do not recall any interest n them apart from as people. They were studying English honours with me at Unisa involving occasional trips to Pretoria. I record an inquest where the 3 Staff ended up asking each other for forgiveness so maybe my fairness paid off. There were lots of problems with the Coloured branches and then cuts came including telephones which were essential! Went to see the play Sleuth a clever 2 handler. Dad played a trial Sunday at the cathedral and I went to hear the others play including Trott and Bebington. Mr Makhudu proved to be a real pain. Staff were unreliable and I had to move Fordsburg library. I learnt a lot from all this and had to several library moves later in my career! Also how to handle difficult staff. I went to see Midnight cowboy which was considered very daring. I thought is tasteful and not sordid or offensive. The respectable lost all sympathy at the end particularly the
 curious looking at the dead Ratso at the end. I was furious as Bryars got the cathedral job. The next day we flew to Rhodesia. We did see leopards and lots of elephants and roan and sable antelopes. 

Soweto

I have already noted some turning points in my life. The trip to England in 1952 and the concert by the Vienna philharmonic in Salzburg were definitely life changing moments. Add to this a growing desire to be independent. Wonderful as they were Mum and Dad were both very strong characters and Mum always said she pushed me out of the nest. Otherwise I would probably never have married and continued returning home regularly for food and no doubt washing! None of us could see that the bubble would burst eventually and I was about to have my eyes opened.

1970 began with attending a Mass at St Mary's cathedral with the Bishop and clergy falling all over each other which I comment was medieval popery with incense and bicycle type bells. I did love all this at school but of course it was done decently and in order! Helen Joseph a notable campaigner against the government said she would support Dad in his application to become cathedral organist. This did not succeed mainly through ffrench-Beytagh's being away. We had a holiday at  Champagne castle involving walks and I think I had a go at bowls but not horse riding. Our table won the quiz because I knew the zoology questions in the last round. Many got a tummy bug and it rained.
Before we went away I was longing to be moved from the branch HQ job and I was duly appointed as Non-European branch organiser.. Note  the title as I was in charge of 14 libraries for Africans, Coloureds and Indians. I shadows my predecessor Claire Wiltshire for a week. She had found a librarian dead in front of a library. There were murders very weekend. Maurice queued 4 and a half hours for SABC orchestra season tickets at th Civic theatre. I note my frustration with Essie Aremband who was too demanding and fussy. There were too many people thinking they were in charge and arguing for position in that office! I went for the tea with the Mayor who was fairly interested. I was a combination of boss, delivery man of books and pay and referee. We had a weekly meeting of the librarians and they fought cat and dog over every little thing dividing along racial lines. I was assure that I was very safe as any attack on me would be immediately reports by police spies. The one Asian librarian at Lenasia 20 miles away was determined to get me to make political comments which I never did. the really stupid thing was having to wear a white coat over my safari suit (shorts) which got filthy every day. Could I wear a brown coat Mum asked? No that was for the Non-Europeans as they were called! I was not doing my back any favours lugging heavy boxes about in and out of a white Landrover. The next week I had a collision - the cops came but drove past! When I phoned again on a landline they came after 45 minutes and monad at me for not stopping them. "We don't have time to look for accidents!"

I was very scathing about the SABC orchestra concerts in my diary. Dad told off Maurice for being "too critical and spoiling it for others" but of course Maurice was right but perhaps h would have done well to choose his audience for his remarks! Knud Nielsen came to give organ recitals from Copenhagen with his wife Myrli - they were charming and we took them to Pretoria. I proposed a toast to the guests at the Guild dinner and my jokes went down well. (page 74 for the start of the Guild)

All the staff were called Mr. Mr Makhudu was my assistant and said to me "Mr Woodhouse you're a good man" . "I try to be" "You will never understand us because you do not speak our language".
He was so right. How much better it would have been to learn Zulu instead of Latin with the dreaded Spike.Or instead of French at university.
I went to a Lent group with Miss Laver and Dad - she did not like his unorthodox comments! Bosmont library was burgled twice leading to lots of for fillings. I went to the cathedral to hear the wonderful Donald Coggan who I met later in London. He was then Archbishop of York and spoke magnificently on the spiritual and physical hunger of the world with the population growing by 8000 every hour.