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The life
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of
Warren Swil
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January 2004
| For the first time in eight years, I
visited Johannesburg and Cape Town in January, 2004. What enormous
changes I saw; not the least, of course, was that I was so much
older, and wiser! But the country is incredibly dynamic, activity
everywhere, the people enthused with optimism - they are really
working on solving their problems and building a 21st century
society. |
Johannesburg, where I spent the first
three days, is unfortunately a fortress-city. Crime is so rampant
almost everyone has to live behind electrified fences atop 8-foot
walls. Cape Town has supplanted it as the center of activity in the
country, with booming development, tourism and manufacturing. For
the first time I can ever remember, people are migrating there from
Jo'burg.
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| The highlight (or, perhaps, lowlight) of my
trip was our drive up to Rhodes Memorial. On the way down, I glanced
away from the road momentarily ... and we ended up in a ditch!
The narrow road had a 2-foot edge; with two wheels over the side
the car was tilting at about 45-degrees. |
"Damn! Why do they drive on
the wrong side of the road?" |
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Another 6 inches and all
four wheels would have been over the side, and we would have tumbled
about 50 feet down the hillside into the university campus below.
Fortunately, some good Samaritans called the forest rangers on our
behalf. They arrived, amazingly, within minutes and were ever so
helpful. Less than 10 minutes later a tow truck showed up, then a
second -- it took one to hold the car upright while the other yanked
it back on the road. Whew! Was I ever embarrassed. The bill: R1,970 (that is, one thousand nine hundred seventy RAND).
Thank goddess; it was only $280!
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In Johannesburg, I visited my sister, Ann, and her
husband, Jeff Marcus at their lovely home in the northern suburbs. At
left is the only picture I manage to snatch from them ... they are
such reluctant "models" ... sitting on their patio.
They are, however, a fabulous couple, kept eternally young by
their son, Captain (!!) Grant Marcus, soon to be a pilot with South
African Airways, and daughter, Tracey ... who has now gotten so many
frequent-flier miles from all her trips between London and Jo'burg
that she, too, gets to ride in the cockpit! Talk about an UPGRADE! |
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| As previously arranged, I met Michael
Wright from San Diego who had arrived there a week before me. One
sunny day we took a driving tour of the peninsula. Among the
funniest sights we saw was this billboard ... it pointed the way to
an art gallery that was listed in the Pink Pages (gay friendly) so
we pulled over. And we looked ... and looked .... but whatdidjaknow!
There was no art gallery, or if there had once been one, it was
closed and not even a sign to warn the unsuspecting tourist. |
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Sunset on the patio with Michael
Wright, left,
. . . before the lights went out. |
Finally, after all that driving around, we
ended up just in time for sunset at an oh-so-elegant cafe
overlooking the boardwalk in Camps Bay. As we arrived, the sun was
sinking into the western Atlantic Ocean and it was a gorgeous sight
to behold. Somewhat later, during the twilight, our friend from
Wales suddenly said, "Hey, who turned off the lights?" We
laughed. "No, honey, the sun is going down. Have another
cocktail," I said.
Well, guess who turned out to be the fool. As it got darker, we
didn't really notice that there were no lights on in the restaurant,
and slowly it seemed the place was emptying out. Only when Michael
pulled out his Visa to pay the bill, and the waitress said,
"Oh, no! We can't take that .... our power is out!" did we
realize the entire neighborhood had been plunged into
darkness. |
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