I started at �12 a month as B.K.�s secretary in the old Cape Times building in St George�s Street and worked in a room next to his in which were also the desks of Victor Norton, Dudley D�Ewes and Rowland Hill. Walking down the Avenue to work, I had often noticed the neat figure of a lass - and shortly after I started at the Cape Times Victor said with enormous excitement one day: �I�m engaged!� The others just laughed and said that they weren�t surprised, but I wanted to know more.

His fiancee was Molly McLurg, the lass whom I�d seen in the Avenue. I got to know them all so well, Victor and Molly (and her brother Jimmy McLurg), Dudley and Olwen, Laddy (later �The Man on the Spot� and author of novels by A.D.Divine and David Rame.) It was fun working in the office with men, and I was fascinated with my own work. I was seldom later than 11 o�clock in the evening, and was entitled to take a taxi home at Cape Times expense if I didn�t have my own transport if I were very late, but the bus service was adequate and sometimes I had Dad�s second car.

I quickly grew accustomed to the unusual working hours. The family rule, that everyone had to be at the breakfast table punctually at 8 o�clock (except for Shena who had her breakfast about 7, then caught tram and train to Wynberg, but later had her own car) was waived for me and I came down whenever I wanted to. The fish cakes, bacon and tomato, scrambled egg, or what-have-you was always served in a silver entree dish on the sluggard�s joy, and mine was just left there till I came down, with the burner going to keep the dish warm.

My mornings were my own, and I was at home for our light lunch - macaroni cheese and polony is a dish I remember, and whatever the main course was Dad had a small plastic box next to his place with a peeled tomato or a cooked beetroot. After lunch I went to the office, came home for dinner, and then stayed at the office as long as I was needed. A main task in the evenings was typing out the next morning�s leader.

Meanwhile, in catching up with all my friends, I had seen quite a bit of Ronnie, but gradually realised that things were not as they had been and that I had better snap out of that dream. There were other swains - Jim Rennie came to see me whenever he was in town and often took me out for a meal. I tried to let him know that there could be nothing between us, and unburdened myself to Mother: �If only he�d do something definite, like trying to kiss me� I could tell him, but he was always unfailingly polite, considerate - and boring! Jim Coventry accepted my decision more readily, and about a year later got engaged to Ethel, soon after he�d told a mutual friend that he was 95% in love with me and 5% in love with Ethel. Harry continued to be a problem, but this was not immediate as he was now in Johannesburg lecturing at Wits.

My Cape Town life absorbed me, and I felt it was quite a different setting from any of my old associations. I was therefore quite taken aback one day at tennis at Highwick (the house in which the Kents now lived, built on part of the old Highwick Estate) with my Kent-oriented friends, when Jock Crawford pulled my leg about Robbie Crisp - I hadn�t thought any of them knew anything about reporters or cricketers! Robbie and I were together a lot as, apart from seeing each other every day at work, we stayed with Laddy and Elizabeth in their log cabin at Tokai, and sailed with them at Zeekoe Vlei. Robbie often saw me home at night, and on one occasion, with Elizabeth to keep me company, I watched him play cricket at Claremont - this was not a success as he was furious with me for being there, but it was a temporary cloud.