memories

Me and my dad.

When I was a boy and we built the swimming pool, my brother and I had to clear the hole by removing rubble and dirt. This was hard work, and then the demolition experts came and blew up the rocks of dolomite in the hole with dynamite. Once the pool was completed, my father and I got a load of paving bricks, and over a weekend we paved the pool and braai area. We started the job, and worked over two days until it was finished. We worked steadily, until we had completed the job. He was pleased once we had finished, and the whole place was completed to his satisfaction.

My dad’s stories.

When he was a boy my dad once fancied a girl at school, but he had a rival. An older boy that was bigger and stronger than him. His brother told him what to do, he did the following; he snuck up behind the boy after they had gotten off of the bus, and clobbered him over the head with the sole of his shoe, the heel hitting the crown of his head. Then my dad ran away, while the boy was still in pain from the blow. My dad was called ‘Buster’ by his parents and peers.

On returning from the war, my grandpa was told by my grandmother, that one of the neighbours was a peeping-Tom which kept ogling her over the garden fence. My grandfather ambushed the man by creeping up on him, and when he looked over the corrugated metal fence at my grandmother, he took a piece of wood and drew it across the fence. The noise right under his nose gave the man quiet a fright, and he never bothered my grandmother again.

When my grandfather taught my dad to drive, he would slap him against the head whenever he failed to look in the rear-view mirror every few seconds. Both my grandfather and my dad were very strict men.

Pecking order

When we were small we had a lot of older relations, only a few years our senoir; uncles and aunts. There was a strict pecking order and children were expected to 'be seen, not heard'. We even had our supper as children seperately, and not among the company of adults.

Waste product

When you perform an experiment; there might sometimes be some residue left over on the side; this is refered to as 'the waste product'. In human anotomy for example one finds daily excrement; this is an example of a waste product. When you build a fire, you get the benefit of the heat, but are left with nothing but ash at the end. Life generaly works in this way.