This is Riverbend, not Locksley Hall, and it's thoughts of gardening my fancy turns to and the plot has already thickened - the vegetable plot, that is. Tomatoes, radishes, chillies, "multi-cultural" cucumbers (Lebanese and Continental), and other bits and pieces.
I'm all thumbs - and they are definitely not green - when it comes to gardening but, hey, how difficult is it to grow a bunch of radishes?
I bet you've never heard of Kolmanskop, ten kilometres inland from Lüderitz where I used to work and live in 1968/69 and which, thanks to YouTube, I can now revisit without even getting out of my comfortable armchair.
In 1908, the railway worker Zacharias Lewala found a sparkling stone amongst the sand he was shoveling away from the railway line, near Kolmanskop. His supervisor August Stauch, was convinced it was a diamond and when this was confirmed, the news spread like wildfire, sparking a huge, frantic diamond rush and causing fortune hunters to converge in droves on Kolmanskop.
The town soon developed, becoming a bustling little centre and providing shelter for workers from the harsh environment of the Namib Desert. Large, elegant houses were built and it soon resembled a German town, complete with an impressive array of amenities including a hospital, ballroom, power station, school, 4-lane skittle alley, theatre and sports hall, casino, ice factory and the first x-ray station in the southern hemisphere. Fresh meat could be purchased at the butcher's, there was a bakery, furniture factory, a public playground and even a swimming pool! At the time, there was also a railway line to Lüderitz.
The development of Kolmanskop reached its pinnacle in the 1920s, but the town declined after World War I, when diamond prices crashed. At this time approximately 300 German adults, 40 children and 800 Owambo contract workers lived in the town. In spite of, or probably because of, the isolation and bleakness of the surrounding desert, Kolmanskop developed into a lively little haven of German culture, offering entertainment and recreation to suit the requirements of the affluent colonialists.
Unfortunately for Kolmanskop and its inhabitants, richer diamond deposits were discovered further south, and operations were moved to Oranjemund. Within a span of forty years Kolmanskop lived, flourished and died. Today the ghost town's crumbling ruins bear little resemblance to its former glory. The stately homes have been nearly demolished by the wind, and are gradually becoming enveloped by encroaching sand dunes. In 1980, the mining company De Beers, restored a number of buildings, and established an interesting museum, which has now become a tourist attraction.
Film buffs might be interested to know that in 2000 the film The King Is Alive was filmed in Kolmanskop, with the town being utilised as the film's main setting. The town was also used as one of the locations in the 1993 film Dust Devil.
Just a few kilometres down the road is Lüderitz which to this day is a small German oasis in the huge emptiness of Namibia. In my days there - click here, the languages spoken were German, Afrikaans and English - in that order - and there was a German "Kegelbahn", "Lesehalle" and "Turnhalle", and it would've have been very easy to have stayed. Some of my former colleagues did and still live there today - notably my friend Karl-Heinz - but I returned to Australia - and I'm glad I did!
And aren't you glad you visited this blog and learned something new? ☻
While I'm in my Somerset Maugham mood, allow me to introduce you to "Rain", arguably his best short story and a sardonic classic tale by a writer whom many critics chose to call a cynic.
He was rather unapologetic about it when he wrote, ‘But if to look truth in the face and not resent it when it is unpalatable, and take human nature as you find it, smiling when it is absurd and grieved without exaggeration when it is pitiful, is to be cynical, then I suppose I am a Cynic. Mostly human nature is both absurd and pitiful, but if life has taught you tolerance you find in it more to smile at than to weep’.
Like the fabled Pied Piper or Queen Scheherazade from Arabian Nights, his stories draw you into a world that you never want to leave till the show is over, so go ahead and watch this movie or read the story and be taken away to the cloistered environment of the islands, reinforced by the relentless rain that pours throughout the day.
P.S. Hooked? Read also German Harry, The Outstation, The Lotus Eater, and Red.
Somerset W. Maugham is one of my favourite writers and he was as great a reader as he was a writer and his stories are peppered with literary allusions. Even the title of his story "The Painted Veil" is a very apt literary allusion.
Sonnet:" Lift not the painted veil . . ."
by Percy Shelley, 1818
Lift not the painted veil which those who live
Call Life: though unreal shapes be pictured there,
And it but mimic all we would believe
With colours idly spread, --- behind, lurk Fear
And Hope, twin Destinies; who ever weave
Their shadows, o'er the chasm, sightless and drear.
I knew one who had lifted it --- he sought,
For his lost heart was tender, things to love,
But found them not, alas ! nor was there aught
The world contains, the which he could approve.
Through the unheeding many he did move,
A splendour among shadows, a bright blot
Upon this gloomy scene, a Spirit that strove
For truth, and like the Preacher found it not.
This story was made into a beautiful film, shot on location in China where the story is set. It has some of the most breathtaking scenery. Unfortunately, the most fitting literary allusion - indeed the "punchline" of the whole story - spoken by one of the protagonists, "The dog it was that died", has been left out of the film.
An Elegy on the Death of a Mad Dog
Good people all, of every sort,
Give ear unto my song;
And if you find it wondrous short,
It cannot hold you long.
In Islington there was a man,
Of whom the world might say
That still a godly race he ran,
Whene'er he went to pray.
A kind and gentle heart he had,
To comfort friends and foes;
The naked every day he clad,
When he put on his clothes.
And in that town a dog was found,
As many dogs there be,
Both mongrel, puppy, whelp and hound,
And curs of low degree.
This dog and man at first were friends;
But when a pique began,
The dog, to gain some private ends,
Went mad and bit the man.
Around from all the neighbouring streets
The wondering neighbours ran,
And swore the dog had lost his wits,
To bite so good a man.
The wound it seemed both sore and sad
To every Christian eye;
And while they swore the dog was mad,
They swore the man would die.
But soon a wonder came to light,
That showed the rogues they lied:
The man recovered of the bite,
The dog it was that died.
-- Oliver Goldsmith
However, the film adds a tagline of its own: "Sometimes the greatest journey is the distance between two people." And it does a good job of describing this journey. Read the story here and the veil shall be lifted!
Friday morning and my office is closed for the moment as I pray for a cooling breeze because, at long last, summer weather has arrived with today's temperature a very pleasant 28° Celsius.
The Council Inspector has been for his annual inspection of the septic. Apparently, we didn't eat too much and everything is all right but not so for him: during an earlier inspection he dropped his expensive iPhone into another septic tank. Whoever calls him now will get nothing more than the proverbial. Cheer up, Jon! Better your iPhone than you!
And on this positive note, a former staffer from my Athens office sent me these nine important facts to remember as I grow older:
Ich wanderte im Jahre 1965 vom (k)alten Deutschland nach Australien aus. In Erinnerung an das alte Sprichwort "Gott hüte mich vor Sturm und Wind und Deutschen die im Ausland sind" wurde ich in 1971 im Dschungel von Neu-Guinea australischer Staatsbürger. Das kostete mich nur einen Umlaut und das zweite n im Nachnamen - von -mann auf -man.
Australien gab mir eine zweite Sprache und eine zweite Chance und es war auch der Anfang und das Ende: nach fünfzig Arbeiten in fünfzehn Ländern - "Die ganze Welt mein Arbeitsfeld" - lebe ich jetzt im Ruhestand in Australien an der schönen Südküste von Neusüdwales.
Ich verbringe meine Tage mit dem Lesen von Büchern, segle mein Boot den Fluss hinunter, beschäftige mich mit Holzarbeit, oder mache Pläne für eine neue Reise.
For a translation, click here.
This blog is written in the version of English that is standard here. So recognise is spelled recognise and not recognize etc. I recognise that some North American readers may find this upsetting, and while I sympathise with them, I sympathise even more with my countrymen who taught me how to spell. However, as an apology, here are a bunch of Zs for you to put where needed.
He reserves the right to revise his views at any time. He might even indulge in the freedom of contradicting himself. He has done so in the past and will most certainly do so in the future. He is not persuading you or anyone else to believe anything that is reported on or linked to from this site, but encourages you to use all available resources to form your own opinions about important things that affect all our lives and to express them in accordance with Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Everything on this website, including any material that third parties may consider to be their copyright, has been used on the basis of “fair dealing” for the purposes of research and study, and criticism and review. Any party who feels that their copyright has been infringed should contact me with details of the copyright material and proof of their ownership and I will remove it.
And finally, don't bother trying to read between the lines. There are no lines - only snapshots, most out of focus.