Lately I've been emailing my mom, asking her questions about her past. I think that being away from her for these long stretches at a time has really made aware of how little I really know about her history. I remember her telling me things as a kid, picking up snippets of conversations, but generally these get mixed around in the washing machine of your mind and some of what she's been telling me has been really interesting and novel:
- I was sent to Queenstown Girls High in S.A. at the age of 13 yrs. Gran and Grandpa drove me down to start school there; but we all had to go back by train every holiday (4 days & 4 nights travel, during which we had to swop trains in Bulawayo from SA Railways to Rhodesia Railways).
4 days and 4 nights on a train from SA to what is now Zambia! Really puts the 12 hour flight from London to Cape Town into perspective.
- I had applied to do both Med Tech and Radiography at the end of matric, but got the reply about the lab first so started there on 6th Jan 1969, having just turned 18 the previous day.
If the radiography people had answered her first, she may have gone on to choose that as a profession! This is important because:
- Dad started at the same lab about a week after I did, along with about 13 other students, most of whom we are still in touch with from time to time.
She might never have met my dad!
- My first car was an ancient blue & white Fiat with doors that opened outward from the front, a bit of a heap, really, but I loved it to bits...cost me R375 to buy!!
Ridonkulous! And lastly...
- No, we hadn't been trying for Cha for long, in fact it was quite surprising it happened so quickly. We did however battle for you for a few years.
See Charlene? YOU WERE A MISTAAAAAKE!
This is a 
Jeez F%^&* I knew it. I just knew it. *shakes head* LOL