Am coming to the end of my second month in the UK. Just arrived in Derry or Londonderry as it is also known. Spent the last two nights in Belfast. I always wonder when I come across a place name in the UK that has a counterpart in South Africa, did the settlers originate from those places? South Africa has a Belfast, an Aberdeen, a Dundee, East London, and loads more British place names.
I took a photo of Mc Clure Street in Belfast. My great grandfather came from Belfast and was a Mc Clure. Could he have walked here?
Belfast and Londonderry or Derry are well know for the violence during the time of “the troubles” in Ireland. We often think in South Africa we are the only ones who have ever had problems. It’s sobering to see photos taken during the time when life was not so great in this part of the world. These two cities resembled war zones. Our troubles in SA didn’t take as much of a toll on our buildings and homes.
A lot of effort has gone into repairing the old structures and rebuilding these two cities. There is a strange juxtaposition of boarded up shells of bombed buildings and untouched, repaired or brand new buildings. Even more effort has gone into repairing the soul of a war weary nation. People here want you to like them. They so badly want to put the past behind them. And you can’t help but want that too.
I hope we are like that.
In the UK they have urban foxes. Their foxes remain wild and are difficult to spot as they are so sensitive and frighten easily. They scavenge from bins in the cities. And they have badgers that come into the gardens and wreak havoc.
Not to be outdone in South Africa, we have a couple of nocturnal animals that come out and do their thing. Except, I would say some of our animals are a bit more scary. In the picture is a hippo. They tend to live in reserves or sanctuaries. But there are often residential areas and tourist accommodation nearby.
Hippos can be very scary. They may appear cumbersome but they can move swiftly and their size makes them downright dangerous.
Just outside the city, we have Seekoeivlei, meaning hippo swamp and Rondevlei, meaning round swamp where some hippos live. Every now and again a territorial dispute causes the hippos to make the papers as a result of their unruly behaviour.
Someone was telling me about Winston Churchill’s time in South Africa. During the time South Africa was a British colony quite a few famous Brits made their way to our shores. As mentioned in a previous post, Charles Darwin and Herbert Baker spent time in South Africa. Herbert Baker’s designs are evident around the country.
Recently during Soccer World Cup we got more famous visitors. Paris Hilton was caught/not caught with an indigenous weed. The rumour mill churns out names of celebs eyeing property in the Cape and some live locally to escape the paparazzi and lead a somewhat normal life.
Heard of Ginger Baker from the band Cream? He hides away in the Cape Winelands. Princes William and Harry have first cousins quietly living in Cape Town. And I heard Jamie Oliver mention in his latest cooking show that he had seen kids in townships eating better food than the Americans in Huntington. Rumour has it his parents have property in Cape Town. Sadie Frost mentioned how she was struck by the poverty in some areas and realised how much she takes for granted.
We don’t seem to care much who people think they are or actually are. The number of celebrity scandal mags in the UK defies belief. We just don’t have the same need to follow that sort of news. Maybe we got too much political drama keeping us on our toes? Or enough real problems?
South Africa doesn’t have one king with one queen and a couple of princes or princesses. We have eleven official languages so we have a good few monarchies related to those ethnic groups. And some of those monarchies are powerful. If King Goodwill Zwelethini puts his weight behind a political candidate it makes a difference. Something Jacob Zuma was mindful of when he campaigned during the last elections.
A few months back president Zuma stepped in to put an end to half of the monarchies which are supported by local tax payers. Of the thirteen royal families only seven will now be officially recognised.
The kingdoms of Lesotho and Swaziland which both lie within South Africa have their own royalty too. Prince Seeiso appears in UK mags like Hello with his pal Prince Harry. And Harry pops in to visit in Lesotho. As princes do.
My favorite is the Modjadji Rain Queen. She is only ever a queen. Males cannot succeed her. She never appears in public and her “wives” take care of her. The elders select a few males for her to mate with so the lineage can continue. Usually relatives. And she brings rain to the region so she is a very special woman. Apparently the Rain Queen was the inspiration for a J. Rider Haggard novel. Now how many monarchies have a story like that?
I was listening to some old ’70’s music and recalling the dark days in South Africa when we were a pariah nation. Add to that the heavy handed legislation we lived with and music, homoeopathy and around about everything was out of reach or banned. Seventies music is a touch before my time but I do remember people talking and events going on around me.
Somehow we still managed to have fun. Lots of it. It was either behind closed doors or in neighbouring countries. Since rock music was banned, we listened to LM Radio which was broadcast from Maputo or Lourenzo Marques as it was known back then. We would trek to Botswana or Swaziland to see the likes of Eric Clapton in Southern Africa. Maybe because of our isolation or maybe because of who we are, but we had our own sound going on. For a local take on 80’s electro pop listen to eVoid’s number – Taxi Man – on You Tube. The spirit of Sophiatown continued from foreign shores. Hugh Masakela continued made music, just not at home.
Since then we have come a long, long way. We got our own township sort of rap sound called Kwaito. Take a listen to Mandoza’s number – Nkalakatha – on You Tube. You can’t listen to it and not want to move. I’m not so sure how much I like Die Antwoord even though they were at Coachella this year. The Parletones are more to may taste and another of my favorites. Lovers of George Benson will swoon for Jimi Dludlu. Better than Benson – if you asking me. Not that I am biased.
