RUSTY RAILS DERAIL NOSTALGIC TRAIN TRIPS

FOR as long as I can remember, trains have played a major role in my life.

My home town in the Karoo was the dusty railway village of Noupoort (in those days it was spelt “Naauwpoort”, the original Dutch way).

At the age of 8 I was sent away to boarding school in Grahamstown and of course I went by train.

It was an overnight journey and my parents always bought me a bedding ticket for the trip. Luckily there were several other Grahamstown-bound kids on the same train, so we kept each other company.

I clearly remember those icy evenings standing on the platform waiting for the train to leave and trying to hold back the tears, while my parents made false-cheerful remarks.

“Only 10 weeks and then you’ll be back on holiday again.

“I’ve packed some biltong in your suitcase for you. And there’s a new comic book for you to read.”

In my memory it was always cold and windy when we caught the train to school.

Needless to say, 10 minutes after leaving Noupoort we were chasing each other up and down the train corridors, laughing and having fun with our pals and no longer miserable at all.

I learnt long afterwards that our parents felt miserable for at least a week after we’d left.

The next times trains entered my life was when I moved to Cape Town to join the Cape Argus team, almost half a century ago.

Friends said I was crazy to buy a house way out in Fish Hoek, so far from everything.

But my new house was just across the road from the railway line and I spent many happy years commuting to work snug in my corner seat on the train, reading book after book.

I read more books during those train-trip years than at any other time of my life.

I loved that train journey. Later when my children went to school they travelled by train daily and spent the journey catching up on their homework. Train trips offer a quiet break from the day’s rush.

Now the lines are rusty and no trains pass my house. I suppose the government has broken the system, like it’s broken everything else. Or stolen it.

I miss those trains.

Last Laugh

After many years of service the lady of the house decided to fire her cook and hire someone younger and better trained.

When she broke the news, the cook went to the fridge and took out a large, juicy steak and tossed it to the family dog.

“What did you do that for?” the lady asked, furious.

“It was to thank the dog for all those years of cleaning your dishes.”