A Way to a Happy
New Year
To leave the old with a burst of song
To recall the right and forgive the wrong;
To forget the thing that binds you fast
To the vain regrets of the year that's past;
To have the strength to let go your hold
Of the not worthwhile of the days grown old,
To dare to go forth with a purpose true,
To the unknown task of the year that's new;
To help your brother along the road
To do his work and lift his load;
To add your gift to the world's good cheer,
Is to have and to give a Happy New Year.
Robert Brewster Beattie
A
"CROSS" BORDER TALE
Twas the night before, the night before Christmas
And all through the night
We stood at Plumtree Border Post
Not another honkey in sight.
We queued with the young and we queued with the old
We laughed and we joked to keep out the cold
With never a sigh and never a grunt
But somehow we never got close to the front.
They closed all the toilets that motley Bots crew
And so it was deemed we could not use the loo
No dark spaces were free, nor the verge grasses
And so in the dark we exposed out white posteriors !
The line snaked for miles, there were very few smiles
But we soldiered on shoulder to shoulder
Twas only when faced with the Zimbabwe morass
That our feelings began then to smoulder.
There is no law and order at this sad border
Our tempers began to erupt
Total disinterest, total disorder
Chaos, uncivil, corrupt.
Twas just before eight when we first arrived at the gate
Twas a full eight hours later we made it back home.
A dysfunctional lot, we all needed a tot
And never again will we roam.
Thoughts From Afar
name: ian crawford
email: green.fingers@tiscali.co.uk
Hi..many moons ago, I used to live in
byo,rhodesia,during 1972-1976, where I attended Hamilton High school and
my folks and I lived in Cheltenham Road, Montrose. From 1982-1986, we
lived in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe at Rothbart Mansions, 5th Ave/Wilson. I used
to play squash and tennis at Queens Sports Club! My first job was at
Terblanche & Co in Byo. Now I live in the UK but often think of the
good times I had in Bulawayo. Take care mags!
CONDOLENCES
-
DEEPEST SYMPATHY TO THE FAMILIES OF THE FOLLOWING
-
JOAN JACOBSEN
-
MICHAEL CARNEGIE (U.M.)
-
GEOFF WELCH
-
ELEANOR MAE ELLENBOGEN
-
CAPTAIN MANRY DINEEN
-
MELANIE KELLY
-
JOEL NDHLOVU
-
MAUREEN JANET CAHILL
-
ELIZABETH (BETTY) MCNEIL
-
BOB SARGANT
-
WILIAM LAURENCE WALLEN
-
PAMELA BERNARD (NEE COTTON)
-
Please include Unwin Michael Carnegie and Brian
Gillett in your next condolences. Mike Carnegie was for many years
Chairman of The Pioneers Society.
TIDBITS
Happy Holiday
I wanted you to have this
Although it isn't much
A party I would not miss
To get together such
A special group and then
A special time of year
So all of us know when
Our thoughts do gather near
So may your days be filled
Your house and life stay warm
Your punch only stay chilled
And you be safe from harm.
Poem by M.J.M.and Mendy ©1999
THE ROAD NOT TAKEN.
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And still be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth
Then took the other as just as fair
And having perhaps the better claim
Because it was grassy and wanted wear,
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same.
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
And yet knowing how way leads on to way
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be saying this with a sigh,
Somewhere ages and ages hence
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I –
I took the one less traveled by
And that has made all the difference.
Robert frost.
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