11 August 1991
Dear Jo,
Just a note to accompany Mum's letter. I was sorry to hear that your trip to Canada is turning into a bitter sweet experience due to the behaviour of a certain member of the family.
However all you can do now is to make the most of things & enjoy yourself as best you can. You don't have to stay there any longer than you wish & you are free to leave when you want. However unless your travel involved the States I now think place improved. I hear that you have plans to travel to the States before long. If you can, try to find a travelling companion – it is a very big country with more than its fair share of weirdos & it would be better if you were not completely alone. Going on an organized tour would be fine but I am a bit skeptical of going to places like Las Vegas etc completely on your own. Something to bear in mind when you make your plans.
Mum, as usual, has told you all the news of the last few weeks. However, she didn’t come to P.E. with me so wasn’t able to write about that, except in passing. An old model friend of mine, Ralph Dunstan, is dying of cancer in P.E. so Peter Heydenrych & I went up to see him before it was too late.
It was not one of our happiest trips, as you can imagine. I have travelled to P.E. quite a few times over the past 10 years but never have I experienced such shocking & wild driving conditions as on the way there this time. It started to rain about 100 km out of Cape Town & things got progressively worse so that by the time we got to Humansdorp (the time we got to have been driving into the wind most of the way at about 100 km/hr. Fortunately it was blowing from behind so it wasn’t too difficult to drive but cars coming from P.E. were forced to stop. Roads were being blown over cliffs & rocks & sand as well as numerous trees. Fortunately none of these fell onto the road so the road wasn’t blocked.
When we eventually got to P.E. about 2 o’clock that afternoon we learned that the eye of the storm had passed through the city about 4 hours previously & winds had reached 140 km/hr. The roof of a shopping complex had been blown off as well as the roofs of several houses. We were very pleased to have got there in one piece & thought that that was the end of the drama. How wrong we were – for 600 passengers & crew of the Oceanos, it was just beginning. The storm had reached the coast towards East London at about 8 PM that evening & mountainous seas off the Transkei coast. The liner sprang a leak in the engine room & started sinking. For the next 12 hours the crew tried to seal it beneath so the rescue operation swung into operation. Helicopters were sent from Ciskei towns & even as far away as Pretoria. In the end everyone was rescued, 400 people were picked up in tossing ships & 200 were lifted off by helicopters. The ship finally sank at about 8 am the next morning! It was the largest passenger liner ever to have sunk off the S.A. coast & also the largest rescue operation ever to have been carried out in S.A. waters. And of course the good old T.V. was there giving a blow by blow account. You might have seen a snatch of that drama on your T.V.
Also making the news was the very worrying fact that the captain had given the order to abandon ship, & most of the crew were among the first to leave, he on a helicopter & the crew in lifeboats, leaving the passengers to fend for themselves. That will take a lot of explaining when the court enquiry takes place. All in all that was one hell of a storm.
By contrast, the trip back from P.E. the Monday was uneventful – a beautiful day. Heath is now at all but the danger was very apparent by your March. Graeme says it is his first week at this square – 4 music, 2 sport for a whole year. It was granddad’s 83rd birthday this week. Just hope he doesn’t do anything silly.
I thought the Rockies looked very spectacular in your photos – made the Cape mountain look like mole hills. Keep well, keep sane & enjoy yourself.
Love from
Dad
14 May 1992
Dear Jo,
I hope that when you get this letter that it is not going to start snowing — even with the sun shining — you will probably die of the shock. I really hate the last vibrations of writing lump when your mother gets down to writing a letter, she describes everything in detail which gives me precious little to rehash on — hence I loose heart & don’t write — though said I wouldn’t!
This is really to wish you a very bubbly birthday which you will already have had when you read this but then it is the thought that counts. You will be blowing on the 16th so I can wish you a bubbly birthday then in person.
I enjoyed your letter relating your adventures in the “Big Apple” — you have a most humorous way of relating them. There is no doubt you have inherited my naughty sense of humour — thank goodness for that! We have sent a copy of your latest letter to Julia Samkin (who will also split his sides about your description of the Benedictine Monk in the house — what a character).
Johnn and I are like naughty schoolboys when we get together — when Mum & I went to Knysna about 6 weeks ago, we didn’t stop laughing the whole time.
I hope your trip around America is going well & that you have managed to find a few girls in the YMCA’s instead of all me. I don’t think that I would relish changing in front of 16 girls. In any case, write it all down so we can share your experiences. I hope the racial troubles have abided — they must have because we don’t hear anything on the news now. I think that those that have shaken America to the core were very quick to tell us (SA) what to do but all of a sudden they seem to have the same troubles there. It is very much a case of “do as I say, not as I do!”
You have no doubt heard all about the new “holiday home” at Melkbos. It is now completely furnished — except for picture on the walls. It really is a magical spot & we have had some other weekends down there. One literally walks out of the lounge & onto the beach! At high tide the sea is only about 20 metres away — It is paradise for the dogs especially Meg who loves swimming for pieces of wood thrown in the sea for her – she is a real water dog & completely fearless even in the waves. We have not told many people about it, especially “family” – not even Wilga so please don’t mention it to her if you go to visit. I don’t really mind Wilga knowing but I do not want the “family side of the family” knowing things. I have been rather trained, since the court case and the less the family knows about any offence the better. Unfortunately that will have to include Wilga (who might get it all unintentionally at some time). Wilga is the only member of the family who I intend to keep in touch with. Aunt Louise has receded in shattering the family totally which is very sad as it was quite close knit when Grandpa McGrath was alive. Some digress on a rather sorry tale but Wilga would think it a bit strange if she hears about it from you & yet when she was here about 3 weeks ago for her mother’s funeral, we didn’t mention it. Nuff said. The afternoon and evening are the best time at the flat as it faces due west & so receives the afternoon sun & then the sun goes down like a giant red ball over the sea — to say that the sunsets are spectacular is an understatement. To watch all this with a whisky & soda in my hand is heaven indeed. At least your mother hasn’t moaned that.
You will be pleased to hear that England is having an early summer — temperatures in London (I listen to John every morning on the radio — including NY & Vancouver) are in the late 20s! When we all went over in June 1977 to visit Tony & Dorothy it rained 27 out of 30 days & it was freezing. It would appear that the term “global warming” applies particularly to England. You will love England in the summer — it is a really beautiful place to be at that time of the year — clear sunny days, long balmy evenings (sunset only at 10 PM) & above all the greenness of the English countryside — there is none greener.
If you have any sense you will be on the lookout for a good-looking, intelligent, elegant English bird with a wicked sense of humour — whom you will proceed to seduce & marry in a very short space of time & settle down to a life of wedded bliss in a green & pleasant land (ENGLAND). You could do worse than do that — so get your eyes hooked when you get there.
I am going up to the Transvaal in ten days to another annual “steam meet.” It is being held at a place called Viljoenskroon which is about 150 km north of Johannesburg. They are having the worst drought this century up there so the countryside will be anything but green. However, I enjoy these trips so am looking forward to it. As usual I am travelling with my old friend Des, whom I get on very well.
Mom has no doubt told you all the news but I thought it was about time that I added my 20¢ worth. Am looking forward to another episode of your travels, if & when you stop long enough to write it!
Enjoy your time in England & take care.
Love from Dad
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