We had a visit from Uncle Albert (Mother�s youngest brother) and Aunt Dolly with their Margaret from New Zealand, as they had a few days in Cape Town on the long voyage to England. I think they travelled from Australia in the �Miltiades� - the Hendersons whenever possible travelled in ships of the family Aberdeen Line which had been owned by their father. About this time it became the Aberdeen-White Star Line and was afterwards taken over by the Cunard Line.

Fund-raising even then was a feature of School-going. At T.K.P.S. we had mini-fairs, and I was happy when one was held in February as I was able to take over a tray of grapes which were very popular. We were ourselves a bit scornful of our crop of crystal grapes from~our vine, and much preferred Hanepoot grapes which we bought from the Greek shops for 2d a lb (twopence a pound). There was a tiny shopping centre down Kloof Nek Road which had two Greek shops, and Attwell�s Bakery, the Donald grocery, and Mr Short the draper to whom I was sometimes sent to buy a reel of cotton or a card of hooks and eyes.

There was also a cobbler to whom Russell and I took our shoes to have metal protectors put on to save them from wearing too badly on one side - the strong smell of leather in that little shop, two steps down from the pavement, is still with me.

For holidays off and on in my early years we went to Glencairn, but it only became a major part of my life a little later. We had family holidays at Gordon�s Bay, where I remember an eccentric gentleman who made his own �toothbrushes� from special palm-reeds. When we were at the hotel at Onrust near Hermanus we swam daily in the lagoon, and my father was involved when a woman was drowned in the sea and he was horrified to find us hanging around when the body was being brought back.

It was at Gordon�s Bay that Mother was first persuaded to try making seaweed jelly - Dad was always keen on new food ideas, and certainly at Aytoun we did occasionally have that insipid pale green jelly. Another of Dad�s efforts to ensure that we were all brought up healthily was to prescribe Virol, Instant Postum, Scott�s Emulsion,and Parish�s Chemical Food, which were all to my mind quite revolting. I did, however, thoroughly enjoy Cod Liver Oil and Malt every winter. When necessary, we were given Californian Syrup of Figs, and there was something called Ficolax which advertised in the Strand Magazine with a page for children at the back. I entered their competitions with enthusiasm, and won myself a little badge of a figure called Little Fanny Ficolax. Another advertisement in the �Strand� which appealed was for Gibbs� Dentifrice with its Ivory Tower theme.

Mother was very clever at organising games, whether for parties or just for the family. We played every word- and spelling-game imaginable - always with a strict time limit, and card games were very popular from Pelmanism to Hustle Patience and Newmarket (any gambling was done with beans). For parties she would have series of cards for games such as "words ending in ant" and on one occasion I remember she hung a sheet in the French door between the drawingroom and the diningroom, with holes cut out at eye level, and members of the two teams, one in each room, had to approach and identify their opposite number by gazing into each other�s eyes.

In Standard 6 I enjoyed the five-minute talks which we had to prepare. One I gave was on medical missionaries in India, with my examples of Aunt Jenny and Uncle Jim, and Mother�s sister Aunt Agnes. They were all well-known for their dedicated medical work, and I thought seriously about following their example, if not as a doctor then as a nurse. Dad, however, never encouraged any of us to enter the medical profession as he pointed out that the life was very hard and demanding. About this time I had two ambitions - one was to convert Rita, but I never did broach the subject to her, and the other was to translate the Bible into modern English. I spent hours poring over the Gospel according to St Matthew - but some words I couldn�t alter as I didn�t know their meaning.