Friday 20 May 2016

Timeline



Jan 75
Fly to Johannesburg from Heathrow
Start work at OK Stores, Commissioner St., Joburg
Braai at Paul Sumner’s house
Move into Kensington house

Feb 75
Derek and his gun (at work)
Impressions of Joburg and South Africa
The ‘black problem’
Sunnyside Hotel, Parktown


Mar 75
Rosie arrives in Joburg
Rosie gets a job in Oz Boutique, Hillbrow
We move into ‘Houghton’

Apr 75
Party at ‘Houghton’ Meet Irish Lucy (‘Freks’)
First encounter with South African ‘dakka’

May 75
Joshua is caught behind the bar drinking
Garden boys at the weekend
Rosie has her portfolio photographed by Peter

June 75
Braai in the highveldt
‘Freks’ does some modelling poses for Peter and I

July 75
Bar Night at Jubilee Road

Braai at ‘Houghton’
Blue movie “Behind the Green Door” at Chateau Chunder
Police road block

Aug 75
Gaye springs surprise on David!
David and Gaye move out of ‘Houghton’
Rosie and I move to Tyrone
 
Sept 75
Joe serves dinner with white coat and gloves.
Party at Rachan.
Movie Nights and Bar Nights at Tyrone

Oct 75
Horse riding at the ‘Saddle Up Ranch’ near Heidelberg
Johnno moves into the outside room beside the pool

Nov 75
Saturday afternoon braai/party with Oompah band
I buy Mini Clubman
Joe runs illegal shebeen at back of the house.
Rosie and I go to Kruger Game Park 

Dec 75
Camping weekend at Sodwana Bay, near border with Mozambique
I become Pool Attendant responsible for the pool cleaning etc
Python snake discovered in pool filter

Jan 76
I buy 3 A-H ‘frog-eye’ Sprites for restoration
Party at Cyril’s Six with Gayle and Julia
Camping weekend at St Lucia, north of Durban
National Service and guys from OK Stores go to war in Angola
Pat Myhill moves into Milner Loo

Feb 76
Johnno plays tennis with Peter and Tony at Jubilee Road in Parktown
Party at Jubilee Road
John and Michele Shanahan’s wedding at Tyrone.
Richard moves out and Paul Overton moves in

Mar 76
Keith and Julie, English hitchhikers, stay in the lounge
Bryan builds Bar in the garage
Mega-party at Tyrone to celebrate opening night of the Bar
David Forrest moves out and Maggie moves in
Mike Sterne takes over as Treasurer

Apr 76
Bryan repairs the mains electricity to the house
More holes in the roof and buckets are needed when it rains
Bryan and I get trail bikes.
Weekly Bar Nights in the garage.
Incident at the central railway station.

May 76
Tyrone gambling and blue movie “Emmanuelle 2 
Weekly roulette nights
The South African police pay us a visit
Nick O’K gets a trail bike
Trail bike riding in the veldt. Wheelies by the pool
Maggie moves out and Carol moves in

June 76
Weekly Bar nights in the garage; one of the ‘patrons’ fires a few rounds in the garden
Soweto uprising. Deaths and more unrest in Alexandra
Carol moves out and Marlene moves in
House Olympics at Gasworks in Kyalami.
Overnight support of computer systems at OK Stores

July 76
Party at Jalis Inn
Bryan, Nick and I get lost in Soweto on our trail bikes
The Irish ‘troubles’ in England
Mike visits America and meets US president Gerald Ford
Drakensburg Mountains and Blyde River Canyon

Aug 76
I sell Mini and buy back VW Beetle I previously owned
3-day strike in Soweto of 150,000 - 200,000 black workers
Violence spreads to Cape Town - 33 people are shot dead
 
Sept 76
Michele’s 21st birthday party and the Pavlova
The “Rocky Horror Show” with Bryan W's brother, Tony
Sporadic outbreaks of violence continue to occur in Soweto
Rioting breaks out in Johannesburg
Mike and Belinda spend a weekend at Londolozi Game Reserve
Rosie leaves the house and joins Kiwi Estate in Bryanston

Oct 76
I meet Helena who is 40!
Mike and Belinda are a couple
Marlene goes out with Dan Archer from Rachan
The township of Soweto flares into violence again
Mike and the waterbed episode
Freks and I get friendly
 
Nov 76
JP is seeing Mary Lion, a nurse from the Florence Nightingale Hospital
Hangi in the garden, Kiwi-style
Spit-roast at Freks house
Proposition at the Rand Inn hotel
 
Dec 76
TV introduced in South Africa (Tyrone gets a colour set)
SABC TV produce an episode on the Joburg commune scene
Hillbrow nightlife (Shiaparelli’s dance club)
Bongs, pipes and gourds
An attractive stranger visits the house on afternoons

Jan 77
Leah, Marlene’s friend from Cape Town, stays at Tyrone
Servants – washing, cleaning and housework 24/7
Tyrone weekly shop at Checkers supermarket
John S. falls asleep at dinner
Johnno moves out (to Durban) and Steve Hoppe moves in
I move to the outside room by the pool
Bureaucracy – the Langlaagte Traffic Department
Terry flies John S. and Michele to the Kruger Game Park

Feb 77
Nick gets ‘tick-bite fever
Mary Lion and I are going out
Stripper and bar night at Tyrone. Glenda Kemp and her pet python is a ‘no show’
Mary and I visit Johnno in Durban.
Beach episode in Margate, south of Durban

Mar 77
Nick O’Keefe sets off by bike on his trans-African adventure
Dawn moves in
Paul is going out with Pat Myhill who works with John S. at A.C.Nielson
I trial the first IBM program library system in South Africa
ANC rebels are being trained in Rhodesia, Botswana and Mozambique

Apr 77
Dinner at a local restaurant – we all change tops with each other
Braai in the high veldt with house members
Casino weekend in Swaziland.
Michele heads home to NZ to finish her nurse training

May 77
Paul Overton and I visit Johnno and Sarah in La Lucia, Durban
Gerry Barker goes for a training run with Julie Angel
Alan Barker is going out with Lesley Henley
Johnno’s room is flooded in a storm
Party time in Durban
Surfing at Umhlanga Rocks, North Durban.

June 77
Paul Overton and Pat Myhill holiday in Rhodesia
Johnno drives the Eastern Cape surf route to Cape Town
Johnno and I stay with Leah in Cape Town – Hout Bay, Table Mountain, Stellenbosch
District Six is demolished and renamed a ‘whites-only’ suburb
Plan to leave South Africa – overland from Joburg to Cairo

July 77
Formula One Grand Prix at Kyalami, Joburg
I see Rosie for last time
Paul O. moves out of Tyrone (to work in Lusaka) and Pat Myhill moves in.

Aug 77
Blue movie “Deep Throat”, with Freks, at Eton Arms in Parktown
I am going out with Jenny, my boss’ secretary at work
I secretly check out my personnel file at work

Sept 77
The death in detention of Steve Biko
Johnno and I plan our trans-Africa trip
Tyrone is auctioned for R1.5 million; more holes appear in the roof and upstairs gets flooded

Oct 77
Steve Hoppe and I go camping
Dinner at Jenny’s house
Lake Hartbeespoort Dam for lunch in the A-H Sprite

Nov 77
Urban Legend at the Carlton Hotel in Joburg
Passports, injections and exchange controls for our trip
The guys at an adjacent house build a concrete-hulled yacht

Dec 77
New passports arrive
Final farewells

Jan 78
I sell Beetle to Marlene for R50 – a steal

Feb 78
Time to leave - Johnno and I go overland to Cairo via Botswana, Zambia, Malawi and Kenya

Mar 78
Michele returns to South Africa after her final year of nurse  training in NZ
Tyrone is disbanded; to be re-developed for a townhouse development
 

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