Letter 066 - At last in Swaziland

My dear Jeremy,

We thought it romantic living in thatched roofed rondavels on the side of a mountain. The main room for living and dining was two rondavels built together with a fireplace at the end. This led to a small kitchen behind. There was a large room on the side for Jill, Celia and Timothy and a smaller room for Jeremy. Our bedroom was behind that. The bathroom and toilet were outside across a small passageway.

So, once again, I set to and made a home for the family for the eleventh time.

The telephone was on a party line. One had to listen for the ring short or long or a combination of longs and shorts. Once a boy was phoning out and by mistake rang our signal. When I answered he said, 'You have picked up the wrong phone'. We thought that was very amusing.

Christopher returned to live with the other boys in a dormitory at the school.

We entered Jill, Celia and Timothy at St Mark's School in Mbabane. Incidentally in Celia's class was the actor Richard E. Grant. She did not like him and must have had an altercation with him as she remembers tearing his blazer. The children made friends with the Richardson children.

Dad started teaching English again and I typed Michael Stern's letters and tutored a Portuguese boy in English.

You, Jeremy, was very interested watching the boys practising athletics. I can still see you coaching a very old Swazi gardener to do the high jump and the long jump.

In the dip between the mountain and the school were stables where a Mr Phillips from Mbabane kept horses. This was of great interest to Jill. We bought her a horse, a real mountain pony she called him Chappie. He was sturdy and stubborn and would always head home for the stables if you gave him a chance. A friend of Christopher's, David Alcock, an accomplished rider encouraged Jill. A Riding Club was formed and Jill rode with the boys.

Christopher, too, rode but he was not a great lover of the horses. They would escape and hide in the forest on the top of the mountain. One holiday only Christopher was there to recapture them. He had great difficulty bringing them down and arrived back hot, tired and mighty irritated declaring them stupid animals as each one wanted to go in a different direction.

Through the stables we met Tony Farnell who had joined the Staff to teach Latin. He formed a Rifle Club and took the boys to practice down by the stables. I was furious as I thought this was dangerous with small children around. He came down to the rondavels to apologise and assure me it was all quite safe. If I remember well I think he brought a peace offering, a bottle of wine, and became a good friend of the family.

You will remember him , Jeremy.

Bye for now.

Much love,

Mum