Dad had meantime also gone overseas. I�d asked Mother to buy me a hip-length fur coat in London, but when she got home she produced a full-length squirrel coat which, she said, was a real bargain. Nevertheless, at �15 it cost far more than I had budgeted for, and it took me many months to pay her back.

One day going home in the bus at about half-past five, I idly watched a man running very fast from Long Street across Wale Street in front of the bus. That evening, back in the office, I learnt that there had been a hold-up and shooting in a jeweller�s shop in Long Street following a fall-out of participants in an I.D.B. (illicit diamond buying) deal. Mr Wilson reckoned I was a reliable witness, and wanted me to report to the police, but all I�d seen was a man running, and I couldn�t even be sure if his suit was blue or brown.

Another evening at the office I glanced out of the window, and was astonished to see the Cableway station at the top of Table Mountain all lit up. I immediately got through to Laddy, who was always on the lookout for items to write about in the Man on the Spot column, and found I was the only staff member to have noticed what was a flood-lighting trial. To my delight I got 2/6 for this piece of observation!

Elizabeth Neal had decided that she wanted to see more of Africa, so, after we had had a wonderful farewell party at Ashlar Hall, where she had stayed latterly, she set off for Lusaka where Vera and Harvey Purchase had arranged a secretarial job for her In the Government service.

I was very happy at the Cape Times, and George Wilson was a delight to work for. One secret that I had to keep was the fore-knowledge that for the first time ever, a South African was to be Governor-General of South Africa. The King had chosen Mr (later Sir) Patrick Duncan, and this was to be a big national event.