Last night's Two Oceans Toastmasters meeting was held at its new venue, Clovelly Country Club. Having met once a month in the local municipal hall, where facilities were minimal, we are now wondering why it took 25 years to make a change. To say that our new venue is ideal is somewhat understating the obvious and it afforded me the opportunity to reminisce on my childhood years as I grew up in the idyllic surroundings of Clovelly with its opportunities to appreciate the freedom of youth to play before the responsibilities of adulthood snatch away our enthusiasm.
Long, hot summer days spent at the Club, lazing round the pool, buying sweets in the pro shop despite it being frowned on by management, playing tennis on the now disappeared courts, sneaking past the bowlers playing old men's marbles so as not to disturb their concentration and evening soccer on the fairways are memories that will keep Clovelly Country Club dear to my heart. Despite the building having been completely modernised and reconstructed inside, there is still that old familiar smell of the rubberised floors where the locker rooms are and the innate feeling of 'coming home' as I walk through the doors that bursts open the floodgates of my memory and I can once again feel the burning of the hot tar on bare feet as we walked to the Club along the white line to lessen the intensity, the pain of a devil thorn in my heel (who wore shoes?) as we bundu-bashed down the track from the car park to the swimming pool, and the heady scent of the ripe figs in the trees, waiting to be picked by eager young hands far from home's kitchen.
A paradise indeed and so good to be 'back home'.
No comments:
Post a Comment