After two weeks in a hot, sweaty, constricting boot, hobbling about on crutches, I am finally free! What a difference to be my own person again compared to being locked up at home, dependent on Tim and friends every time I needed to see what the world was like outside my front door. Of course I forgot to take a photo of my "injury". But maybe I forgot on purpose. Who wants to remember incarceration!
I guess the low point was when Tim went off to Johannesburg last Thursday, on the field trip that we had planned together. I had made bookings with all the places we were to visit and with the coach company to get us from the airport to the B&B's and beyond. Thursday night they went to the Market Theatre to have dinner and see the Hugh Masekela show Songs of Migration, just before it closed on Feb 13th. HM is a unique performer and he led his stage team on a journey of song reflecting different migrations in Southern Africa and other parts of the world.
Next day, Friday, they went to Constitution Hill, the site of the old jails, one for men and one for women, now the Constitution Court. Then to Liliesleaf farm in Rivonia, once the headquarters of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the military wing of the ANC, where the treason arrests were made back in the 60's. Following on, the Apartheid Museum described the years from 1948 to 1994, and lastly an unscheduled quick drive through Soweto with a stop to see Nelson Mandela's home which happens to be in the same street where Bishop Tutu lived, both Nobel prizewinners.
Saturday began in Pretoria's Church square with a bit of background history from Sally Roper who was on hand both days to guide and inform. Next the Union Buildings, then the Voortrekker Monument and finally the new Freedom Park, built to memorialise freedom fighters who died in all the wars, starting with the San, the indigenous peoples of South Africa.
I vicariously enjoyed the trip through Tim's descriptions when we chatted in the evenings. It was almost as good as being there.
The King's Speech finally opened in Cape Town on Friday and I was lucky enough to be picked up and taken to the afternoon show. Understated humour together with overt emotion - brilliant is too small a word to describe the film.
I'm reading Adam Hochschild's King Leopold's Ghost about the Congo for my genocide class. It's a great history lesson and really well written for anyone with the stomach for greed and gore.
We had a fun Valentine's supper last night with Breda and Billy, our Irish friends who we met at the Wijnhuis last year. B&B brought the meat, spuds, salad and pud, Tim bought bubbly and assorted bottles of yummy wine. He braaied too - everything was perfect and made even more so today by my release from the boot!
We celebrated my freedom with lunch at the Casa Labia the former Muizenberg residence of Count and Countess Natale Labia.
Sherry - glad to hear that you are out of the"boot"! Congratulations on your continued recovery. Patsy and I attended the KWMR fundraiser concert "Sweethearts of the Radio" Sat nite. Great music as always - 1st time performers at the Dance Palace were excellent: Barbara Higbee & Katrina Kinski and the Tuttle Family. Barbara Higbee with piano and then jazz violin stole the show! More later, Phil and Patsy
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