LIGHTER SIDE
WINTER | 2014
55
RCI.co.za
e were incredibly
lucky to have had a
grandfather with the
foresight to have bought
a farm in the bush
and 90% of our holidays were
spent on our beloved farm. Yes,
okay, we had a farm in Africa
however Robert Redford failed
to make an appearance despite
my mother putting her bloomers
on the nearby runway to entice
him. Men are funny like that.
nyway, first of all,
there was
THE
LIST.
This was
an integral part
of going because we had to
take everything (yes, everything) we needed
because, shock, gasp, horror there were no
shops anywhere near. Unless of course you
wanted to spend more than half the day
schlepping to Beretta’s Store (complete with
hand petrol pump) and then later Hoedspruit
(yuk). Today, of course, people can’t even cope
when the shops are closed for longer than 10
hours.
As we’re celebrating the 40th anniversary of RCI
®
in
this edition, I thought I’d take a
40-YEAR TRIP BACK
DOWN MEMORY LANE
to remember what it was
like to do a road trip way back then. I confess to having
been in Standard Five then so my memories, while
slightly faded are, nonetheless, tinged with rose-coloured
glasses as I recall what my holidays were like back, in
what my daughter would call, the ‘olden days’.
As mum bought and as we remembered stuff,
the boxes would start to line up in the hallway,
the excitement getting more and more as the
boxes piled up. The night before we were beside
ourselves to be getting up so early to go on the
adventure because there were no
highways beyond Pretoria and we
had to leave at 4am to get there in
the light so we could unpack and
remove unwanted critters from
the rooms. Aaah, yes, the days
before highways, tollgates and
etolls. Somehow it was thrilling,
heading off into the dark so no
cars on the road – or very few.
Nowadays no matter when you
leave you’re never alone.
There were no 1-stops every
15 minutes as there are today, so we had to
stop by the side of the road when nature called
somewhere between Niks and Boggoroll. And
of course, there was the padkos. Big square
Tupperware containers packed with hard-boiled
eggs, sandwiches wrapped in a damp serviette,
sausages, slivers of cucumber and salt rolled in
tin foil. My grandfather always got to choose the
food stop as he was very particular, there had
W
There are
no 1-stops
every 15
minutes
– just the
side of the
road
A
By Doris Drummer
