I've always gone to sleep with the radio on. It used to give me a sense of continuity and familiarity no matter where in the world I found myself. Howling desert winds, the noise of an unfamiliar city, or the crunching of gears of heavy dumptrucks labouring up a hill: it was all drowned out by my radio always tuned to Radio Australia or BBC World Service or my own cassette recordings.
There's nothing to be drowned out at "Riverbend" except for the sound of silence but the radio and the habit have stayed with me ever since. Last night the silence was drowned out by the sound of Miriam Makeba which brought back a myriad of memories of my time in South-West Africa (today's Namibia) and of my flat mate Karl-Heinz Herzberg who played Miriam Makeba songs all night long to drown out the howling desert winds. It was either Miriam Makiba or Marianne Faithfull's "As Tears Go By". Karl-Heinz, if you read this in Swakopmund, this is for you! (and here and here and here and here are some more memories)
Alles van die beste en groete uit "Riverbend".
