The old days

I have reached the time of my life where the days of my youth are officially referred to as 'the old days'. They used to apply to the time of my parents' childhood, but regrettably the younger generation of the family don't know what it was like to have sand roads in the Fish Hoek valley and no beachfront developments in Hout Bay and can't even imagine the dairy farm which is now Sun Valley.

When I was about 5 years old, in 1961, I remember staying with my aunt and uncle in Empire Avenue, Hout Bay. I don't think the road was tarred and I don't recall seeing many other houses in the area. Today it is impossible to identify the house, possibly because of all the high security walls and high-density housing, but I can remember it being set far back from the road.

There are two things that have stayed in my memory. One is that my cousin, Neil, had a toy gun that shot darts with rubber suckers on the end at a target on the wall and I spent a lot of time playing with that. The other is that on the Sunday, I went to the tiny church of St Peter the Fisherman, on the way to Chapman's Peak, with my other cousin, Jean. We had bus fare as it was quite a long walk for someone as young as me, but we spent the money on Star sweets rather than catch the bus. I wonder if Jean remembers that?

Strange what the mind chooses to retain.