Journey into the interior

Freedom was calling.  The convergence of a long weekend and a Home Exchange request from three Italians visiting Cape Town en route to AfrikaBurn, meant one thing:  Road Trip!

Andrew hauled out the unwieldy huge paper map which has all the roads we have travelled marked in red kokhi, and looked for a gap in the squiggles.  Our fingers landed on the tiny dot of Heidelberg, a small country village most famous for its petrol station.  And the attached Wimpy restaurant, of course.  We had whizzed past it umpteen times on our way to Sedgefield, but we have never  ventured off the National Road.  Why would we?  Our expectations were not high.

But it is a lovely little gem at the start of the Garden Route.  What we found was a beautiful, green country village, brimming with quirkiness, history and friendly people. We stayed in a unusual, hand built (by the owner) French styled chalet.  It was set in a garden of peacefulness.

  Perfect.  When we weren't eating or playing board games (no Scrabble or Crosswords this time!!) we sat in the garden and read our books.  We did stir our stumps to wander through the village, turning left at the railway line on day 1, and right on day 2.  Heidelberg is proud of its history - many of the buildings have information boards up and we could piece together parts of the Anglo Boer War conflicts that happened in the area. It was a complicated time in South African history, and one which casts long, dark shadows on British colonialism.  

One building in particular intrigued me.  It was a corner shop with Christmas decorations still in the window, despite Easter having just come and gone. (Perhaps its a place where time stands still.) It was not one of the most attractive buildings in the area, being drab and non descript.  I would have walked straight past it if it had not been for the information board. 

In 1901, the British opened fire on the Afrikaner Commando with casualties on both sides.  The British didn't want to admit that there had been losses on their side and so buried the bodies of three soldiers under the floorboards of this building.  Their skeletons were discovered when renovations took place, and the good people of Heidelberg held a Town meeting. They decided to leave the bones there and concrete over them, so I assume, they are still there.

The thing is, when South Africa became a Union in1910, Britain agreed to hand over all property and grounds to the new South African government with the exception of grounds where British soldiers were buried.  That means that this corner shop is technically on British soil.    How weird is that!

 We all have skeletons we have buried (don't we?) .  Often when renovating our lives we decide to leave them there and concrete over them.  That's ok, I think, as long as we remember they belong to foreign powers. I wonder though if the families of those three British soldiers would have been comforted to know what really happened to their sons, brothers and fathers.  Covering up old wounds is not always helpful for the survivors.  Sometimes admitting our losses rather than trying to pretend they didn't happen is the more helpful route.

Our road trip took us over little used mountain passes, through landscapes that morphed from verdant pastures to rocky outcrops.
It reminded me that adventures are easy to find close to home and that sometimes deviating from the main roads can take us on an enlightening journey of discovery.

 

Notes from an exhibition

Have you ever heard of a small Karoo town called Hanover? No - neither had I until last Saturday. 

 It is almost exactly half way between Johannesburg and Cape Town.  Andrew and I were travelling home from the ElectraMining exhibition and were just looking for a good night's rest.  But what we found beneath the dust and chipped paint of an old village, was a charming guest house with - and this was unexpected- the most beautiful stained glass windows. 

3 Darling Street, Hanover

Hanover is a small place. While we were waiting for our supper at the owner's pub, we left our drinks on the table and took a stroll around the whole village.  It took 15 minutes.  And we did sleep well - loadshedding meant that our government encouraged us to get an early night by turning off the lights at 8pm.

 

Which meant that we could get up early and watch the sun rise from the koppie* .I think this experience might be my highlight of the whole trip.  It involved soft, comforting light, a 360 degrees view of the karoo stretching 60 km into the distant landscape, a sense of peace and a white horse.

 

 

 

It had been a long (good) week.  ElectraMining is a trade show held every 2 years (covid excepting of course) that brings together suppliers and interested parties in all aspects of mining, in the automation, manufacturing and transport fields.  It is held at Nasrec in 5 large halls, with outside space offering excellent viewing of South Africa's Big 5 ( Articulated Dump Trucks, Excavators, Drilling rigs, Bulldozers and Graders) . I enjoyed meeting and speaking to the diverse visitors to the show - boiler makers, MDs, students, management , the curious and the amblers.  We are proud of our work and products, and although I am not a natural sales person, I have my Johannesburg persona, and she worked the floor!

It was exhausting.  Setting up the stand over the weekend after 2 days travel (we overnighted at Bloemfontein on the way up - a land locked city with a Naval Hill....) depleted energy levels.  We had taken up flat pack furniture from Decofurn (think Ikea) for the stand, and the instructions are wordless diagrams that are designed to entertain  (think Frustrate!!) rather than instruct.

By Monday I was feeling feverish and, I am afraid to say, I decorated the streets of Roodepoort with the contents of my stomach.  But we persevered, and ended the week on a high note, giving away in a lucky draw, a radio controlled excavator to one very happy stand visitor.

 

Other important notes and tips from the exhibition:

1. Take your own tea bags.  Coffee drinkers have the pick of the beverages.  You could have caramel coffee, chocolate coffee, frothy coffee, fancy coffee....but no tea. I bought a box of my favourite brand to see me through the exhibition. Towards the end of the week, the lady in hall 9 who dished out the free drinks to the exhibitors, saw me coming towards her, and kindly poured my hot water and milk.  And Andrew's cappuccino.

2. Wear shoes with ankle support.  In the past I have worn flat pumps.  Not a good idea.  This year, I wore closed boot type shoes (No high heels obviously) and my feet survived much better.

3. Proudly fly the flag.  We discovered we were opposite a very large stand offering vaguely similar technology to ours.  It was a foreign company, so we decided to play to our strengths of being a locally designed and manufactured product.  After an internet search we found some South African flags...at a local Chinese market.

4. Strangers are kind generally.  We needed some pages printed 5 minutes before the show opened on the first day. It was a bit of a panic. Printers were in short supply, but the person in the Media office helped with such a kind and gracious attitude.

5. Elevated altitude does not make you look younger. Johannesburg is  1753m above sea level (Cape Town).  We were automatically given the pensioners' discount at the food shop. Sigh.

6. Eye contact makes all the difference.  When talking to people, you can gauge their level of interest or persuade them to stop for a minute by making direct eye contact.  And smiling.

7. Believe in yourself.  One of the best compliments of the week was when someone asked me if marketing was my profession because he could see my passion for being there.

The end of exhibition look!!

 

* a koppie is the South African term for a small hill in a generally flat area.