My writings.

#11 · September 17, 2020, 11:50 pm

My home for nearly forty years.

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#12 · September 18, 2020, 7:25 am

I want to follow Vereeniging up with a bit of local history.

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#13 · September 18, 2020, 4:14 pm

Wow, Jamie; that is history indeed.

Thanks for sharing,

Adam

#14 · September 19, 2020, 12:24 am

Yes but not just history - my history. Today South Africa's 'Wildlife'.

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#15 · September 19, 2020, 6:56 am

When I was watching South Africa playing England at Rugby or cricket. Liz used to ask me 'Which coat are you wearing today. Guess which one I am wearing today!

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#16 · September 19, 2020, 9:17 am

Quote from Steve on September 19, 2020, 9:17 am
Jamie, your description of confronting a snake, that first fearful frozen moment before suddenly leaping to escape, is excellent. Most South Africans who have been in the bush have a similar tale to tell - but few have written a poem about it! Many South African men love to exagerratedly tell tall tales of snakes, scorpions, spiders and sharks, all primordial primtive phobias beginning with 'S'. But for me the worst of the lot and the odd one out, no hissing 'S', is the crocodile. Nothing scares me more than a croc, not even a shark and I had a run-in with one of those as a skinny kid snorkelling off Millers Point near Simons Town. In 1969, when I was in the Army I was volunteered -"you, you, you and you" - for the Bilharzia Squad. The benefit was we got to splash around maintaining the pump that drew water from the Limpopo River at a place called Greefswald, close to its confluence with the Shashi which we could see from our OP. The place was full of snakes, every sort you can imagine. (And birds, come to think of it). Not a day went by without two or three snake incidents. It was also home to some crocs. The Bilharzia Squad would work in the river while someone stood guard on the bank. One day the guard fell asleep.... Today, Greefswald, the farm and army bush camp, is no more. The place is now the Mapangubwe National Park. I plan to revisit it on my next trip to SA.

Don't get me started on 'Sarie Marais', perhaps the saddest South African song of the post-South African War era. Suffice to say, when I sold my computer magazines to Naspers in 1983 and went to work for them, I as the manager of their new Computer Magazine divsion, had to make a speech. Having been in the Army, my Afrikaans was much improved over what I had learned at school. ("Dit was nou vol vloekwoorde!" - Afr. It was now full of swearwords!). Much to the churlish disgust of some of my English-speaking advertisers, I gave part of my acceptance speech in Afrikaans. During the drinky-poos that followed, a tall man approached me, stuck out his hand and said "Mr, Hannath, I thought we were buying computer magazines. I see we have bought an Afrikaner!" That man was "Lang Dawid" de Villiers, an ex-Naspers Chairman and the advocate who successfully defended South Africa's mandate over SWA at the World Court in the action bought by Australia and Ethiopia. My point is, and you can see this in the many English names on memorials to the Boer dead, that an Afrikaner is anyone who is willing to "praat 'n bietjie van die Taal". (Afr. talk a little of the language.) Refuse to speak a little Afrikaans and you remain English, forever an outsider.

Jamie, your description of confronting a snake, that first fearful frozen moment before suddenly leaping to escape, is excellent. Most South Africans who have been in the bush have a similar tale to tell - but few have written a poem about it! Many South African men love to exagerratedly tell tall tales of snakes, scorpions, spiders and sharks, all primordial primtive phobias beginning with 'S'. But for me the worst of the lot and the odd one out, no hissing 'S', is the crocodile. Nothing scares me more than a croc, not even a shark and I had a run-in with one of those as a skinny kid snorkelling off Millers Point near Simons Town. In 1969, when I was in the Army I was volunteered -"you, you, you and you" - for the Bilharzia Squad. The benefit was we got to splash around maintaining the pump that drew water from the Limpopo River at a place called Greefswald, close to its confluence with the Shashi which we could see from our OP. The place was full of snakes, every sort you can imagine. (And birds, come to think of it). Not a day went by without two or three snake incidents. It was also home to some crocs. The Bilharzia Squad would work in the river while someone stood guard on the bank. One day the guard fell asleep.... Today, Greefswald, the farm and army bush camp, is no more. The place is now the Mapangubwe National Park. I plan to revisit it on my next trip to SA.

Don't get me started on 'Sarie Marais', perhaps the saddest South African song of the post-South African War era. Suffice to say, when I sold my computer magazines to Naspers in 1983 and went to work for them, I as the manager of their new Computer Magazine divsion, had to make a speech. Having been in the Army, my Afrikaans was much improved over what I had learned at school. ("Dit was nou vol vloekwoorde!" - Afr. It was now full of swearwords!). Much to the churlish disgust of some of my English-speaking advertisers, I gave part of my acceptance speech in Afrikaans. During the drinky-poos that followed, a tall man approached me, stuck out his hand and said "Mr, Hannath, I thought we were buying computer magazines. I see we have bought an Afrikaner!" That man was "Lang Dawid" de Villiers, an ex-Naspers Chairman and the advocate who successfully defended South Africa's mandate over SWA at the World Court in the action bought by Australia and Ethiopia. My point is, and you can see this in the many English names on memorials to the Boer dead, that an Afrikaner is anyone who is willing to "praat 'n bietjie van die Taal". (Afr. talk a little of the language.) Refuse to speak a little Afrikaans and you remain English, forever an outsider.

#17 · September 19, 2020, 11:30 am

Steve, Ek praat die taal maar ek 'fustand' it nie! I lived in Vereeniging for 40 years, I had businesses involved in catering and in arts and crafts. If one didn't learn - you didn't do business my problem was that I only knew what I picked up in other words I wasn't schooled so I cannot read the language other than to get the gist of what has been written. It was the same when someone spoke too fast - I couldn't translate quick enough. Having said that I love the language and the people.

I add the nearest I have to being a bi-lingual piece, I just hope no one gets offended!.

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#18 · September 19, 2020, 12:56 pm

Your Afrikaans is pretty good for all your lack of 'verstand'. (Afr. understand). I didn't know that a 'pampoen' is a stupid person or if I did I had forgotten it, (probably because I was called much worse in the Army.) However, a 'pampoen' is a pumpkin. My Tweetalige Sak Woordeboek (Afr. Bilingual Pocket Dictionary) says that it is also a 'bumpkin'. I don't think many Afrikaners ever called the English bumpkins even if they were in-bred fenlanders. Also, those two guys 'agter in die bakkie' (Afr. in the back of the pickup) are proudly showing off what appears to be a watermelon (Afr. waatlemoen) or a marrow. Whatever it is, it is a bakkie-seized whopper.

Afrikaans pronunciation
I have for many years been trying to encourage Bob Hill to get his English tongue around Afrikaans words. I have failed miserably. He still refers to Boers as "the Bowers". I have tried to teach him that in Afrikaans a:

V - sounds like an F - so Fereeniging, Ferneukpan, Forster, Funderbijlpark, feldskoen, fier, ferstand (!) ... and that

W - sounds like a V - Vitblits, Velkom, Vonderboom, Voltamade, vord vakker, Verld Cup Rugby Champions (again).

#19 · September 19, 2020, 1:44 pm

I have the same trouble at UK meeting trying to tell people that a 'V' is an 'F'. I add a story this time to see what memories I can stir up. Can you guess their national anthem?

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#20 · September 19, 2020, 7:39 pm

More V(F)ereeniging.

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