Sep
20
Well, true to form, here I am on blog night, writing from South Africa. Mike, Mitchell and Jenna stayed back in the UK as the kids are well into the school term now. I have been back in SA for the Cambridge High School reunion weekend. This year marks my 20th year out of high school. I contemplated this trip for many weeks and I didn’t take the decision to come over very lightly. However, as I fly back to the UK tomorrow, I look back on this week knowing that if I had to make the decision again, I would do it all over again in a heart-beat. I would pay double the price of a plane ticket if I had to. You cannot put a price on human relationships, be they family or friends. Someone said to me today that we must be earning lots of pounds to be able to jet-set around the world for a school reunion. The truth is, life is not about money. 
In my life, growing up in EL, life was never about money and it sure isn’t now. I have a friend, Linda, who lives in the USA who has been a part of my life for more than 33 years and despite the fact that we live a half a world apart, we are still the same close friends we were years ago as 2 carefree little neighbourhood girls. If you wonder how a friendship survives that long, it is because we put in the effort to grow it each moment that we can.
Coming back to South Africa on Wednesday was a strange and surreal moment. I don’t think I have been away long enough (10 weeks) to feel like a visitor, but I have been away long enough to accept that this is no longer my permanent day-to-day home, so driving through the streets felt strange. I sometimes felt like I did belong here and then at other times it felt strangely like I was visiting. Going into the stores and seeing so many familiar things was wonderful and let me remind you all to never underestimate the value of free parking! Yes, I know I drum on this issue a lot in my blogs, but somewhere someone has to hear me and every revolution was started by one small voice.
My flight over here on Virgin Atlantic (highly recommended, BTW) was fantastic, despite the fact that my luggage was temporarily “misplaced” and had been checked right through to EL, which is wrong as I should have cleared customs with it in Johannesburg. Long-haul flights are not my favourite things in life, but with the plane only half full we were all able to stretch out and get comfortable. Searching for my “misplaced” luggage in Johannesburg, filling out the lost-luggage forms and getting into an argument with one very cheeky security guy almost got me to miss my flight to EL.
On Thursday morning I went to Hudson Park Primary and what a wonderful moment it was to be back. So many people make for a lot of positive energy and no matter how tired I was, every moment that I spent chatting to the kids and to my ex-colleagues was a treat for me. Mr Kevin Whitehead, the head of the academy where I taught at Hudson, had the most impressive reaction to seeing me. Kevin, I don’t know when I will see you again, but thanks for the time that we spent together on Thursday morning and I am glad you are enjoying the blog.
Friday was the assembly and formal part of the reunion weekend. I had no idea how many people would be there from our Matric year, so the anticipation of waiting to see who arrived through the foyer doors was palpable. Each familiar face that appeared through those doors brought with it shrieks of laughter, 20 year-old stories and moments to fill a memory bank. Standing together, next to one another after 20 years, and singing the school song, whose closing verse has the words, “Wherever we go in years to come, whatever our task may be….” was such a poignant moment for me.
On Friday night more of our class members gathered for the evening dinner dance. There was a powerpoint presentation running on a big white screen on the stage (ha ha, now there was a memory all on it’s own for me) showing images of our school days, photos from the archives of the school and interspersed in the presentation were images of things that were the order of the day in the 1980’s. We danced the night away and by midnight all the other reunion groups had left, but the ‘89′ers were nowhere near ready to put the party away. We headed off to the Highlander Pub in Beacon Bay to carry the celebrations well into the following day… (which for some unknown reason had much brighter sunlight, and louder noises than usual, for most of us) 
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On Saturday, yet more of our Matric class who had not made it to the other 2 functions arrived for our lunch at 
Grazia’s on the EL beachfront. It was just incredible to tally up at the end of the celebrations, just how many people had the made the effort to get together. Some people had flown into EL in the morning, just to have lunch and then left on the next flight out. When people can make that type of effort to get together with people that they shared a common uniform with 20 years before, it has to say something awesome about the power of human relationships. This lunch ended our get-togethers, but email addresses, phone numbers, contact details of all sorts were exchanged and I suspect that many people who had drifted apart may have found one another after this weekend. I will personally never forget this weekend and I will always be thankful that I made the choice, and had the means, to be here. To Linda, Michelle, Nadine, Charl, Sam, Cheryl, Relda, Tony, Lee, Murray, Donald, Ian, Sandra, Elaine, Shelly, Evan, Neil, Bronwyn dV, Bronwyn B, Juanita, Debbie, Glenham, Genelle, Lee-Anne and Barry… thanks for the memories and see you guys at the 30th!
Saturday evening I had the chance to go and relax around a real SA’n braai with my brother and his family as the Southern Cross winked down on us from above a clear Southern Hemisphere sky.
I spent my week in EL with my friend, Jon. 
Not often in life do people like Jon come along! On Sunday we spent the morning at Nahoon Beach and enjoyed a brunch at the Footprint Cafe. Soft, pale, warm sea sand beneath my bare feet, a flawless blue sky above my head, seagulls soaring along the cliff face and a whale frolicking just beyond the breakers, made for a perfect ending to my time back in EL. (Thanks, Jon).
Mike and the kids have survived a week without me. Truthfully, they probably survived better without me. (To you 3, who are a half a world away from me tonight… you made it possible for me to come back home and make some truly wonderful memories, that I will treasure for the rest of my life.)
Mike tells me that Mitchell played mini hockey at the Tonbridge Astro turf this weekend for the first time and I cannot wait to get back home and hear from him all about how it went. The coach apparently tried to convince Mike to join as a coach and when they couldn’t twist his arm they tried to convince him to come and play for the adult team… I think Mike may be going underground, undercover or at least into hiding now. Mitchell also played his first football match in the UK this weekend so I suspect there will be lots to tell me on my return. Jenna has begged me every day on the phone to bring her dogs back to the UK with me. I only wish I could grant her that one wish.
I return HOME to the UK tomorrow, filled with excitement to be back with my family, filled with school-days memories I had long forgotten, filled with a sense of intrepidation for the winter that is slowly edging its way to the north, and filled with a reminder that South Africa is a uniquely wonderful place.
This is Kerry Wright (Homeward Bound)!
September 21st, 2009 at 6:35 am
I’m glad to hear you enjoyed your week back in E.L. oh and haven’t even gad a warning im Mrs smith’s class she hasen’t sent me around the car “YET” hope you enjoy your flight back to London and hope you never forget grd.7Vz the most well behaived class of 2009!!
from Jenna
September 21st, 2009 at 7:58 am
Hello Ma’am! Thank you so much for coming to visit us! It was so nice to see you again! Love Tamryn
September 21st, 2009 at 8:03 am
Hello Jenna! Good Luck in your new school! I miss you! Love Tammy
September 21st, 2009 at 1:18 pm
Hi Kerry
I’m thrilled to read that you would make the trip to SA again in a heartbeat. It really was a long way for you to come for a reunion, and I would have hated for you to have gone back, without really feeling as though it had been special and memorable. What a weekend! I too, wasn’t sure what to expect, and my main concern was that no one would arrive!
Assembly made me realise how much I’d forgotten about Cambridge High School: how much tradition there actually is. I had imagined that the school would have deteriorated over the past few years, and so I was pleasantly surprised to see that it seems to have done the opposite – the children were neat and well behaved, the grounds were immaculate, and in general, everything about it was impressive. I was quite emotional during the singing of the school song – funny how music brings out the strangest of memories and emotions.
Friday evening and Saturday at lunch made me feel as though I were still ‘part of the group’ – as though we’d never really been apart. Although we weren’t all close friends at school, everyone seemed to get on famously and I agree with you – new friendships might well have been formed. I’d never really known Bronwyn, Ian or Donald in the past, but I will make sure that when I’m in EL again, I will ‘look them up’ and meet for a quick coffee and a chat. I plan to get hold of Lee and Tony soon, and Charl too, and invite them around for a good old braai!
I felt really ‘down’ all of yesterday. I think that after all the anticipation, the reality of it all being over so soon was somewhat of an anticlimax. I also feel sad that after being together, and having so much fun as a group, we all had to go our own ways – thousands of miles apart, in some cases. As much as I love being ‘Mommy’, the reality today of being back to playing taxi, making dinner, and handling homework, etc. made me realise that our youth is in well and truly in the past, and I miss it!
All in all though, a fantastic experience. Roll on the 30 year version! Thank you, again, for making a remarkable effort to be with us. Have a safe flight back, and stay in touch.
December 22nd, 2009 at 2:34 pm
Hi there Kerry, by chance found this site, what a lovely letter written, i for one miss you in east london because i dont get so many up dates anymore….love from your cousins in bloemfontein south africa