Part 2 continued 1956–1966 Confessions of a Technophobe, New Series 26 Part 2 continued1956–1966I’ve never fully understood my motives for returning to South Africa at the end of 1959. Looking back, it would have made much more sense to have remained with ATV and been promoted to a TV director post in London for at […]
Part 2 continued 1956–1966 There was a write-up about a newly formed wildlife department headed by conservationist David Attenborough. I thought I would test the age barrier assertion that I was too young and apply to join the team. I was granted an interview with the senior producer but quickly realized that they were looking […]
Part 2 continued 1956–1966 Taking on odd jobs, canoeing in France or hitchhiking around other parts of Europe was great fun but it did not point me in any specific direction. The only real constant was my love of sport, and rugby in particular. As it was still an amateur sport during my playing days, […]
I would describe working as a bouncer as part ruffian and part politician. On second thought, perhaps all politicians are also part ruffian – some more than others! Anyway, I enjoyed the challenge of persuading patrons to either calm down or leave. I considered it a failure if I had to use violence to eject […]
After a few days we found out that we were unlikely to get work in Denmark, but Sweden was a better option.
Even though we were no longer carting our canoes around in their shapeless bags, we decided to hitchhike separately and meet up in Hamburg. For some crazy reason I did not bother to ask Alan for any money, believing perhaps that we would reach Hamburg the following day.
Feeling richer than we had been for time, we took a train up into the Engedine Valley to hopefully stay a night or two with Frau Zamboni in Bevers. She had been our landlady ten years previously when my parents and I stayed in the little village for about eight months, waiting for our ship to leave from Marseilles.
The Loire Valley is a particularly beautiful part of rural France. It was hard to imagine that only ten years previously, the ravages of World War II had just ended. Cities like London, Paris – and even worse, Dresden – still bore the scars of the devastating bombing on both sides.
We spent a wonderful couple of months in St. Helier, capital of Jersey. We were loaned a tent by the lady in charge of the local Girl Guides and camped on her lawn. She didn’t supply us with any Girl Guides but spoiled us rotten in other ways, such as with samples of her delicious home cooking. We both found jobs in the only genuine coffee bar in town, operating the Gaggia coffee machine. …
The transition from the “wild west” town of Walvis Bay surrounded by the Namib Desert on three sides and the Atlantic Ocean on the other, to the relative peace and calm of my birthplace – Weybridge in Surrey, England – was quite dramatic.