The hideous fashion of short in front and long at the back went out of fashion, and for formal occasions long dresses were always worn. We all had less-formal dresses to change into for the evening, and when we were asked to a friend�s house for an evening of gaines or bridge we always asked: �Long or short?� and wore whichever the hostess decreed. Her choice was often decided because she�d just made herself a new dress! Other less dressy fun occasions were when a whole crowd of us queued for hours to get into the cheap seats at the Opera House for its infrequent shows.

I can�t work out why I, together with Phil Sceales, was in charge of the dance in the Students� Union at the end of my last year. Were we Head Day man and woman student? We decorated the hall with orange trees in tubs - I can�t think what the real theme was, but it went off all right although I was half-hearted about the whole thing. For some reason I didn�t want to ask anyone, and wasn�t asked either, so in the end I got Russell to accompany me.

Holiday activities varied greatly. Soon after leaving school, I spent a few days at Voelklip with Sheila Warnock�s parents who were down from Kimberley. Mother and Dad took some of us for a few days on one occasion to the Bay View Hotel at Hermanus, where we had happy outings with Louis, Leda and Ena Wessels and other teenagers with swims at Voelklip. Dances in the hotel were fun too - I thought the band leader very glamorous!

Once for a night or two I accompanied Mother to the Caledon Baths, where we met up with Mrs Purcell and Margaretha - I assume both our mothers wanted to try the water for their rheumatism. Between completing Afrikaans Prelim and starting Afrikaans I, I spent some weeks on a farm near Bot River talking Afrikaans exclusively. On another occasion Elisabeth and I spent ten days on a holiday farm at Beaufort West, and at dinner in the dining car on the overnight journey there we daringly shared a small bottle of Niederberg Riesling which cost 1/-.

Many lovely days were spent in the Cape�s beautiful mountains, sometimes with the Mountain Club and sometimes with different lots of friends. At these I began to have trouble with my hips, as both ached at night so I wore an extra jersey round them to keep them warm and to ease them. At a camp in Jan du Toit�s Kloof, we climbed the peak and Pat Cairns, George Hawarden and Hal had a snowball fight at the summit, and in the kloof it was warm enough to bathe in the river. At this camp I became very friendly with Peggy Inglis who later married Stewart Leith and became a famous South African actress, and their daughter Prue is now a well�known cookery expert and is a Dame.