Fidler in the hood: The ‘Thin Blue Line’ is getting thinner
Attending the annual BSAP reunion and Christmas lunch at Cinder City Shellhole in Umtentweni last weekend was a treat.
GREETINGS. It’s the countdown to the holiday period and Christmas shopping. Your scribe must buy something nice and expensive for the CO – she deserves it. Perhaps a tankful of petrol … who says romance is dead?
ALSO READ : Fidler in the Hood: Hand over your money – or else
BSAP gathering
Attending the annual BSAP (British South Africa Police) reunion and Christmas lunch at Cinder City Shellhole in Umtentweni last weekend was a treat. Always a moment of nostalgia for many with old ‘Rhodie’ military uniforms and memorabilia. A reminder of a proud period in history when values, beliefs and traditions meant something. Roger Brownlow, ex BSAP Traffic Section, travelled from Umtata to attend the lunch. He and his missus have a thriving business in Umtata, which reinforces ‘where there’s muck, there’s money’! Roger added that the region is hopping and business is good’. Pity some of that ‘gold’ doesn’t rub off along the Hibiscus Coast. Rumour has it that provincial government has ‘taken over maintenance of the roads’. Really? Locals were beginning to think that local government were remaking the classic ‘Jungle Book’!
Time moves on
Sadly, the ‘Thin Blue Line’ is getting thinner. Time waits for no one and many a veteran has gone to ‘that great Tomlinson/Morris depot in the sky’.
A few old faces put in a show at the lunch – Johnny Gray, Chris Cumming, Butch and Hilary von Horsten, Chris Russell, Des Howse, Peter Shattock, Tony Clark, Ali Barr and Pat O’Connor, to name a few, were there to show ‘their old Rhodesian spirit’.
Their youth may be long-gone; the song may be ended, but the memory lingers on. Credit and appreciation must be afforded to BSAP stalwart Barry Woane, for organising the lunch and thanks to the guys and gals of Cinder City Shell Hole for putting on a super spread.
High spirits
It was par for the course at last Friday evening’s monthly Moondeckers shindig. The moon was a no-show because clouds obliterated any hope of ‘La Luna Rosa’. But, what the heck, a wonderful, fair-sized crowd did pitch up and a good time was had by one and all. Your scribe won the raffle – a bottle of ‘spirit cocktail’, which, no doubt will lift spirits over the festive season. Well, somebody has to drink it and this particular bottle of hootch carries a health warning – if you gotta go, you gotta go.
New friends
One of the delights of Moondeckers is meeting ‘strangers’. A couple of ‘dops’, introductions over, you have, hopefully, new friends. Such was the case with Martin and Lynne Belgrad, now resident in Ramsgate after several years ‘doing time’ in Trafalgar. Martin is originally from Austria and came out to SA in the 70s to seek his fortune. He made a successful go of a kitchen-fitting business in Johannesburg and eventually bought a holiday home in Trafalgar. He married Lynne 41 years ago and the couple raised their family in South Africa. They celebrated their 40th anniversary in Rome, which was far too crowded with tourists and far too expensive, but Martin did like the graffiti. At one stage, they decided it was time to leave South Africa and return to Martin’s native Austria, but soon realised that Austria was not the memory from his youth. The people were not ‘his people’ anymore and South Africa was actually home. Heard that before somewhere? They returned after six months and settled in a retirement home in Ramsgate, vowing never to leave again.
Dream girl
The monthly gathering of the Light Music Society was held at the Mbango Valley with a better than average turnout. Your scribe wondered why, but it seems some guy was celebrating his 39th birthday! ‘Somebody Loves Me; I Wonder Who?’ wrote George Gershwin. Messages of thanks, best wishes and undying love (for the music, I hope) were proffered from the ‘chosen few’. Thanks, mes amis. The icing on the cake was, funnily, meeting my ‘dream girl’ from Grimsby. Looking into her eyes and confessing a desire to meet someone from Grimsby, Bessie (I think that was her name), looked straight and and said she didn’t believe a word and to ‘buzz off’! You can’t win ’em all, I guess! Seriously, many thanks for the kindness. The show will go on – next year, promise. See you, Rob.
