What was your favorite thing to do for fun (movies, beach, etc.)?

We had so many things to do for fun when I was growing up.

As I have mentioned (possibly in my other blog, Random Ramblings and Recipes) we often went to the Lake for a weekend, or more sometimes. That was fantastic – it was like a paradise. There were two or three cottages we used to stay in – one was the Namingomba Cottage, another the Cook’s Cottage, and the third was the Brown and Clapperton’s Cottage.

In the latter we had to make sure all the doors and windows were closed otherwise the monkeys would get in and steal our food! They also had three geese (or ducks, but if they were ducks they were bloody massive!) who always walked around as though they were one! At breakfast time the cook would go out to the back of the house and pick the grapefruit, and at drinks time he would go out and pick the lemons.

The beach at that particular cottage was entirely private, surrounded by rocky outcrops. We had it all to ourselves. It was magical, and it was truly a paradise.

Apart from going to the Lake, we would also go to game reserves, but that was more a passion of my dad’s at the time. Had I been the age I am now I would have appreciated it so much more – I could have waited for hours in hides just to get that perfect shot – photographic, not bullets!

We also went to the drive-in cinema quite often. We had a VW Combi, which was incredibly cool and…oh god, I just realised it probably wasn’t that retro then – I must be getting old! Anyway, it had an extended roof on it, so you could actually stand up inside to your full height. It didn’t fit through the barrier at the drive-in, so we had to go in the exit. It was great though, because all around us (well, in front of us, we had to go at the back being the biggest vehicle) there were people in cars, sitting in car seats being not very comfortable really! Whereas we had beds in our combi, plus a fridge, so we could have ice cold drinks. The adults could watch the film while drinking G&T’s with ice and lemon! It was all very civilised! And when it got too late for little me, I would just go to bed!

There was a great caterer at the drive-in too – we would have piri piri chicken, which was beautiful!

The only downside to the drive-in experience was that the sound quality was crap, but hey…I’ve experienced what most people only see in American teen movies! Only I was a child at the time, so there was no getting on at the drive-in!

We also went swimming a lot and had parties at different peoples’ houses.

All in all, it was a fun childhood really!

I will find some photos to post on here. I’m sure there must be some somewhere!