The old days

No matter what generation you belong to, your youth will always be 'the good old days'. It was a time that was divided between the tedium of school and the freedom of your leisure, before we had to join the rat race of careers and employment.

Back in the 60s, the Muizenberg beachfront was the place to go for roller skating and kite flying. My first pair of roller skates had, unbelievably, metal wheels. Presumably the person who invented them had never tried them out, but nevertheless, it didn't hold me back. My sisters had rubber wheels on their skates, but they were too big for me to try. The skates were held in place with clips that hooked onto the soles of my shoes - Bata Toughees! - and were tightened with a special key - woe betide she who lost that key! Sometimes they would come off your foot while skating - not very elegant. It would be years before the advent of the fully booted skates, by which time I was way past roller skating age.

You can only imagine what it was like to skate on metal, with nothing to cushion the vibration from the rather coarse tar surface we had on the roads in Clovelly. Skating along the promenade at Muizenberg had its own hazards, as it was laid with slabs with the accompanying cracks and the motion was more like hopping than the graceful gliding which was a figment of my imagination. How I never ended up with a broken leg remains a mystery to this day. And yet it was always a fun outing, particularly if we could get a granadilla sorbet frozen sucker from the infrequently open shop at the pavilion.

Kite flying and associated activities took place on the windswept and rather bleak lawns of Zandvlei, an area that would have been shunned were it not for the expansive open space which couldn't be found anywhere else. It was long before the Marina da Gama was developed and the vlei was the domain of dabchicks, coot and the odd yacht and canoe. I had a model aeroplane with wings that revolved as I pulled it behind me like a kite and its altitude depended on how fast I could run. I don't have it any more, so I suppose it must have had a fatal crash somewhere along the way.

The only feature that remains from those days is the putt-putt course which has remained open for what must be 50 years now - makes me feel quite old to even write that! Perhaps that is some kind of record, for businesses come and go as often as the weather changes in a place that hasn't quite regained its former glory.