1950's Reconnection
- 20/5/2014 <--Prev : Next-->
The recent 1950's reconnection induced all sorts of walks down memory lane for Bulawegians and ex Bulawegians alike. Thank goodness some parts of the city are looking pretty good right now, like the Hillside Dams and the Matopos, and our dear 'Old Schools' have a little green still around them. It's amazing how nostalgic one becomes about one's school days as one approaches one's dotage!!
I know there must have been many askance glances cast at our potholes, but even those are quite a lot better than they were in the middle of the rainy season. In fact some of our roads are looking pretty cool. I often wonder which BigWig lives in Haddon Avenue, Kumalo as they seem to have more than their fair share of extensive road repairs?
Certainly the Hillside Dams went out of their way to look pretty and how kind Mother Nature was to fill her up so beautifully, prior to the Reunion.
The City Park sadly is a disaster area but the visitors were kind about the fountain, that's what makes Bulawayo People so special, they are blind to the ugly and only notice the beauty!!
Of course one could expect nothing less than a glorious showing from the Matopos, it would take an earthquake to take away her splendor and many rocks were scrambled by the 'Wrinklies' resulting in many painful and skinned knees....
There was a fabulous buzz around the town, cameras flashing at all the old haunts, junior and senior schools revisited with many anecdotes told about scrapes and escapades undertaken in days gone by.
One particular poignant Kodak Moment place of course was 'Eskies' the most talked about Ice Cream Parlour in Africa!! The Eskimo Hut sadly closed its shutters the very weekend of the reunion and hearts were tugged in all sorts of directions. Lets hope the Eskies' phoenix will rise again soon somewhere in good old Bullies.
As a city we are becoming quite 'madala' by African standards and Christian Brothers' College celebrated its diamond jubilee this weekend. CBC was, I am sure, one of the schools visited by many of the Wrinklies, where 'dawks' were discussed at length and with great pride. I believe the CBC Diamond Jubilee Show was a fabulous success too!
One of the most talked about trips during the reunion was the old Steam Train trip to Hwange in the authentic RR carriages, all beautiful old leather and polished wood, still beautifully maintained with RR etched on the windows and those lovely old metal basins still in the cabins. The linen was crisp and clean and the food was pretty good too. This augurs well for the Special Charter Steam Train Journey on Sunday 1 June this year, to celebrate the 120th anniversary of the City of Bulawayo.
Rumour has it that there will be another reunion in Bulawayo next year so watch this space!!
