ANYONE FOR TENNIS???

The other day I received an email from my eldest daughter Shirley (Dawn in the Home) who home schools her two daughters. I had asked her what the girls did in the way of sporting activities. She gave me a loooong list and at the end she said that they want to join a tennis club so that they can all play tennis together (this family would make James Dobson proud!).

Well, as usual, I was transported back to a time when Shirley, Kerry and Lisa were 5, 4 and 3 respectively, and WE also played tennis as a family! Only our version went like this .......

Their dad and I were on the court with the raquets and balls, the children were posted OUTSIDE the court and their job was to run after all the balls that landed outside the court, as we were beginners and that is where most of the balls ended up. I can still see them running all over the place to find and bring the balls back to us! Because they were small, they couldn't see through us so thought that tennis was played that way and it was great fun. We gave up eventually and tried something else.

Our way of life was unique at the time. We lived in a village called Triangle in Rhodesia as it was at the time. Triangle was and still is a part of the Hulletts group. Because of the hot and humid climate the sugar cane farming was a very lucrative business.

Triangle was a very small community 10Kms from the Mozambique border. "Town" was one enormous building from where we bought everything. Groceries, the butchery was inside, the stationers, hardware, baker, even a milkshake bar. All under one roof.

There was one primary school, 3 church denominations who all held services in the school hall, each having their own time slot.

We had no TV or radio reception and the newspapers were delivered 3 times a week by plane.

We had a proper cinema though, and movies were shown2 or 3 times a week in the evenings. Every Saturday afternoon a childrens movie was shown and all the village children went. In one day we saw everyone numerous times, at the school, in "town" at braais, school sports days etc. You get the picture?

So we gave up tennis and entered local community arranged fun days. One stands out in my mind as being among the most memorable. A go cart competition was arranged. For two weekends preceeding the event, families could be seen in their back yards dismantling old prams and with the wheels, crates or boxes of some kind went about fashioning a go cart. It had no brakes.

The day of the competion arrived. There was a festive and carefree atmosphere. I remember writing up the names and ages of the entrants as they arrived and arranging them in their correct age groups. Adults were also taking part.

The starting point was at the top of the steepest hill and at the bottom, a huge sandbank had been built up. The carts lined up, and at the start of each race a gun was fired and the carts flew down the hill at breakneck speed and crashed into the sandbank. It was a huge success and a day I will remember for its simplicity and fun. We all trudged home at the end of the day hungry, dirty, tired but very happy.

No cost was incurred but I am by far the richer for having the priviledge of leading , for a short while, such a lifestyle.

We never played tennis again.