High flying…

CHRIS BENNETT reflects on the first week of spring…

SAD was the day at the end of last week when Angela Kelly left the South Coast Herald.

Angela’s formative journalistic career has been at the Herald, which she served with dedication and dignity for the past five years. She is a journalist of great talent, and her sense of right, sense of humour and her common sense, should take her on a long and rewarding journey through life.

Angela has, as you will have read, joined the Independent Newspaper group, one of the world’s major media conglomerates, at their KwaZulu-Natal bureau in Durban. I don’t doubt I shall read her byline again before long.

One of the most endearing aspects of working for a good newspaper is the camaraderie and enthusiasm that exist in the newsroom, and not only the news room. But it is in the newsroom where the sparks fly, and where cool heads simply have to prevail.

I was disappointed recently to read of the appallingly rude and highly ill-judged behaviour of several of our public leaders on the lower South Coast: they attacked a Herald reporter and trainee editor verbally and almost physically, for simply doing his job.

Siyabnga Mnchunu, a young man of immaculate manners, considerable charm and a highly developed understanding of both written and spoken English was, for a time, a classic example of the old medieval trait of murdering the messenger. I don’t doubt you read the depressing story in last week’s Herald.

All this is brought sharply into focus with the current heated debate evolving in our country over how far the government should contain the press: the voice of the people.

Doubtless most of the proponents of this unsettling issue have every good reason to be able to hide behind the fulsome skirts of the administration. But it will weaken our democracy and water down the rich inheritance of which we are, rightly, so proud.

But enough of that.

Spring is here.

Something has eaten most of my beautiful sapphire bush. Most of its flowers are gone, relished by either monkeys or dassies. The bush may be consigned to history.

The huge fig tree that shades the balcony where most of the summer living is done is now in full bud and leaf, a delightful sight. The whales are still cavorting in the ocean, as you will have noticed, and there are still children on the beach. Beached children?

In this part of the world spring is short-lived, like the sapphire bush. Summer is never far behind and the South Coast will soon be in full swing again.

News of the flights from Margate to Lanseria is welcome news, especially for those of us headed for Hartbeespoort. The drive from the dam to OR Tambo takes the best part of two ours, so friends are far happiuer to meet the plane at the airport on the other side of the Skurweberg.

It’s a pricey business, as was to be expected, but when you are travelling alone the cost of the road trip, pleasant though it may be, adds up, what with the price of fuel, the tolls and the wear and tear on the car.

I would imagine the flight to East London will help those heading for the mother city. We have a very pretty airport and it is good to see it back in use again.