1972 - 1979 Daphne Road

In Feb 1972 we purchased 56 Daphne Road in Maroelana, Pretoria. This was a simple, small 3 bedroom, 1 bathroom house in an small, rather unknown  suburb.  But it was in a good area, only a few blocks from the Pretoria Country Club, Waterkloof, Lynwood, Brooklyn, etc. We paid R20 000 for the house.  And even that was a stretch for us as the maximum bond was 75% so we had to put down a R5 000 deposit. We financed that by selling the Camaro + a loan from Henry and Med. Starting out in the housing market is never easy.  This period was particular difficult as when we purchased the bond rates were 6% but increased to 14% by 1975, more than doubling the bond repayment. They were tough times, only saved by the fact that Jenny started  teaching. 

I was working at the CSIR, 10 mins drive away and there was a bus to the CSIR that passed within one block of the house, so we only needed one car, which was a big saving.  Doug went to Brooklyn Primary initially which was only 5 mins away, and then moved to WHPS (Waterkloof House Primary School) when Jenny started teaching at St Mary's DSG. Sue went to Sungarden pre-primary then St Mary's. 

I cut my teeth learning to build on this house as we could't afford builders. Some of the work included:

• Stripping and replumbing the kitchen (with the help of a colleague at CSIR who's father was a plumber.  This was using galvanised piping, so not easy...)

• Replacing the entire kitchen. (The existing cupboards were rotten and I demolished the entire kitchen in 30 minutes with a few kicks.)

• Tiling the kitchen floor and walls. We used a lovely tile with red and brown floral pattern on a white background, which I later cursed as it showed the dirt easily and I always had to mop it after virtually every meal when Rebeca was off duty.

• Wall papering the dining room and lounge, including the dining room ceiling with a striking floral. When we sold the house, a heard a prospective purchaser comment when they saw the ceiling: "Must have been hippies living here"!   We were probably under the influence of 'flower power' when we decorated. 

• Hot and cold plumbing to Rebecca's bathroom for a shower.  There was no hot water there, nor even a basin. 

• Electrical and plumbing to the outside room to turn it into a laundry

• Adding a second bathroom and dressing room for Jenny. 

• Floor to ceiling shelving in the study

• Adding on the family room.  This was innovatively designed by an architect to be seperate from the house but connected by a link. It divided the front and back gardens and transformed the house. It also had open beams and high knotty pine ceilings, which made the house lok far more modern. 

• Building the swimming pool

• Adding a carport for the second car we eventually acquired. 

 But the main work was establishing a garden as the house had only bare veld with not a single plant apart from a number of fruit trees (plum and peach). We bought gardening books and set to learning how and what to plant. It was hard work but fun.

The back garden had an ugly, unusable 'hole', so we filled it in with a swimming pool.  It made for a very attractive entertainment  area opening out from the family room across a stretch of lawn to the pool. We planted a plane tree to provide shade in summer. It was of course far too big for this small garden and by the time we left the house in 1981 it was already filling the space.  We had actually planted several large trees and when Sue visited the house years later, it was 'lost in the jungle'.   A 2025 Google Earth view indicates many are still standing. 

Having fun in the finished pool...

There was a park along the spruit just a block from the house and Doug, Sue and Raffles had endless fun playing there. Swinging on a giant swing, learning to ride their bikes, playing frisbee. These were carefree times where they could go off on their own for several hours.  And that was when Sue was just 5 and Doug 7