Fidler in the Hood: Burning the candle at both ends

G’DAY, mates! No, I haven’t ‘gone Aussie’ this week; I’m still the same old lovable me, though the CO might have a say about that. Last week I wrote too soon, I guess – no sooner had I commented that water and electricity services had been restored to normality we had two ‘outages’ in one day, plus another one for ‘good luck’ the next day.

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You can’t blame Eskom for trying – or not trying – the question is how do you define ‘normality’? There’s nothing like candlelight dinners, but candlelight breakfasts?

Mr Grumpy

This week, it’s exactly three years of being the Uvongo scribe – that’s 156 articles, less year-end ‘holidays’, with ten percent off for good behaviour. That’s about 132 contributions for the Bonus – a talent to amuse, meeting and making friends with so many nice people. I guess there hasn’t been a day when I haven’t pondered the good, the bad and the ugly of living on the Hibiscus Coast.

I’m not always a ‘Sunny Jim’; in fact, the CO thinks the title ‘Mr Grumpy’ would be more appropriate. Come off it, pet: I’m only grumpy when Manchester City loses and they only lost five matches last season. I’m so misunderstood, friends. But I digress.

Seriously, we have had three great years here and we really live in a special bit of paradise, notwithstanding the potholes and poor service delivery. It’s a great life if you don’t weaken and keep taking your ‘I want to live a bit longer’ pills each day.

Meet the Caseys

We had visitors last week: nothing new there. We’ve had a steady stream of friends – some new and some ‘odd’ faces to our place in Uvongo.

However, we had a great lunch with old friends from Ballito, Eric and Ailine Casey, who kept their promise to come and see us.

It took three years for the Caseys to arrive in Uvongo, but they finally made it. We knew them for 25 years whilst living in Ballito.

Regular members of the local Catholic Church, Eric is the builder and renovator of our previous home in Ballito. Really, it was a case of ‘the House that Eric built’, which, I am pleased to state, has not collapsed and is still standing.

‘Sheppie’ old boy

We knew the Caseys fairly well, but one always learns something new: Eric is originally from the South Coast, born and bred in Port Shepstone and still has family ties here. Young Eric attended Port Shepstone Junior School and was head boy there in 1956. Eric’s sisters, Deanne, Kenia and Merrily, all attended Port Shepstone Junior and High schools. They were visiting the area primarily to attend to family matters concerning Eric’s half-brother Crisford Nash, (well known in the Port Shepstone area) who was tragically killed in a road accident in Umtentweni earlier this year. The Casey and Nash families lived in Oslo Beach and Ken Nash opened a service station in Oslo Beach. It’s a small world.

Only the Lonely

The couple finally decided to pay us a visit, because, listen to this: members of the All Saints Catholic Church in Ballito and the Umdloti and District Garden Club, of which the CO had been secretary, were ‘concerned that Doreen would be lonely and isolated living on the South Coast and wouldn’t know anybody!’ No kidding! Their fears were soon allayed.

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Knocked out with our house and listening to our ‘ten to the dozen’ tales of living here, they were delighted and acknowledged we had made the right move. Eric, now retired builder and developer, gave the house a once-over and agreed we had a lovely, well-built home. They promised to report back ‘up north’ that the Fidlers had made a good move and wouldn’t be returning Ballito.

The King and I

Did you know the Margate retirement village has a great ‘old movies’ monthly afternoon? Seems like residents prefer those wonderful musicals which were popular when music was music. Songs like Rogers and Hart’s ‘Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered’ from ‘Pal Joey’, and your hand found the knee of the person sitting next to you in the cinema. And when the lights came on, you didn’t know that person! (Jonathan Roxmouth joke). The next matinee will be on July 22 in the Ronnie Baker Hall at the Village. The film is ‘The King and I’, and, no, it isn’t the story of the CO and I, but the musical story of Anna Leonowens, governess to the children of King Mongkut of Siam. Featuring Yul Brynner and Deborah Kerr; music by Rodgers and Hammerstein. Great music and a chance of ‘Getting To Know You’ and the person who sat next to you! Rob.

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