They say you should never go back to places you used to live because they never live up to your memories and it’s true. I suspect in my case it’s the time that’s passed which made the difference, I didn’t recognise 99% of Meerensee or Richards Bay, sure the house we built there was familiar, a lot smaller than I remember. I recall roller skating up and down our driveway listening to “you’ll always find me in the kitchen at parties” and “Y.M.C.A” ( with hand movements) and it was a really long driveway…not any more. The garden seemed smaller too of course I couldn’t really see much of it as there is now a huge security fence, guess crime is rife everywhere. The cafe I used to walk to to buy my ice creams and teeny bopper magazines is now a Steers but other than that nothing else was familiar, 25 years is a long time.
We had time to spare whilst our laundry was being done so we parked off at Porky’s on the Waterfront and had a scrumptious lunch while Wouter introduced Tamsyn to Nethack, an old PC game he played back in his varsity days. She’s missing mine craft and although she keeps dying on a regular basis it is keeping her occupied, when she isn’t texting on her phone, ah the joys of being a teenager.