CHAPTER FIVE
About 1922 Shena got a First Class South African Matric and also passed London Matric, and got a scholarship. At Cape Town University she did her B.A, M.A. and B.Ed. degrees. At the end of these years of study she went on a NUSAS tour to America. While she was there, Miss King told Mother that Shena had got the job at Wynberg Girls' High for which she had applied, so Mother wrote to tell Shena. Shena wrote asking Mother to cable the date in January when term was to start - and Mother cabled "Aunt Emily�s birthday". Luckily Shena was in England on her way home so she was able to ask Aunt Emily what the date really was! She then started her long association with Wynberg Girls' High. Shena often invited U.C.T. friends from Hopemill, then the women�s residence, to tea on Sunday afternoons. Frequent visitors were the twins Alys (Fiddian-Green) and Gill (Masterson); their surname then was Faichnie, and Kate Palmer (Davies). 1 was overcome with shyness, and it was an ordeal to go round shaking hands with these "grownups" in the drawing-room, but I didn�t find much difficulty in handing round the hot scones and the cakes. Jim followed Shena to U.C.T., where he got his B.A. LL.B. degree, and then went to St John�s College, Cambridge for a further degree in 1928. Off and on there was a lot of talk about Dad keeping up his golf so that he would have a hobby when he retired, but he did it half-heartedly as he found it difficult to fit in regular games, and eventually gave up. He enjoyed walking, however, and we often accompanied him along the top of Signal Hill, which was alive with colour in Spring as the babianas, lachenalias, ever-trevors, sparaxis and many-hued daisies made a lovely carpet. We visited the tomb of a Moslem leader, and picked silver leaves for pressing and sending overseas in Christmas greetings. We also climbed Lion�s Head, helped by the chains which were fixed on the difficult parts, and walked towards Camps Bay either on the main road or down the Glen road. Another walk was along the pipe track at the base of the Twelve Apostles. The wealth of flowers and shrubs we were apt to take for granted. Then Dad used occasionally to drive us to Camps Bay Baths, which were heated, and there he taught me to dive and, with my love of water, I happily swam length after length. When we were small, a heavy tram did a round journey from Cape Town slowly up to Kloof Nek, then the long journey down the other side, with a glorious view of the Atlantic Ocean, with only one house, the "Swiss Chalet", on the road before Camps Bay was reached, then on to Sea Point, Three Anchor Bay, and back to town. The trams went in both directions. Gertie took Russell and me on at least one occasion for a day on the sand at Camps Bay. When I was a bit older we had lovely Sunday School picnics at Camps Bay to which we travelled on "Special" trams from the church there and back. I thoroughly enjoyed "One man went to mow" and "Ten Green Bottles" and other songs. Singing was very lively on the way out, but faded a bit on the way home as we were very sleepy after a day of races, the picnic and the sea air. A favourite family picnic spot was at the Oude Kraal beyond Camps Bay, where one climbed down the steep cliff-face from the road to a delightful cave among enormous boulders - we had to watch that the tide did not sweep in and catch us unawares. There our family and the Wilsons enjoyed picnicking - I remember grated biltong sandwiches - and swimming.
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