The Incredible Journey - 13 May, 1994

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In 1994, I did what most white South Africans my age saw as a right of passage. I went on a tour of Europe with a schoolfriend and her girlfriend. I was in my early 20's.

These are the letters and faxes (this was before everyone had email, Children) I sent home and entries from my diary. They are all real. I couldn't make this shit up. 

The trip started in January 1994.  To read the posts in order, go the Itinerary Post.

13 May - Montpellier

We were staying at my aunt's house.

Carrie and Varla cleaned the campervan and I showered.  How wonderful to be clean again!

Manette (cousin no. 1) came with her boyfriend.  They are involved in a direct marketing company which sounds like a pyramid scheme to me.  I didn't tell them what I thought of their chances of making any money.

Paul (cousin no. 2) popped his head in to say hello. 

Pascal (cousin no. 3) arrived with his girlfriend.  Nice to see him again.  He used to be such a beautiful boy but adulthood has not been kind to his face.

Tante M (my aunt) offered to take us on a tour of Montpellier and she showed us around the old and new part.  The new stuff being built by the council is wonderful.  (I was later to hear that this development had almost bankrupted the town.)

In the park we had a stroke of luck - we saw Pascal's two kids who live with their mother and just happened to be in the park that day.  I would not have got to see them otherwise as it was not P's weekend to see them and apparently relations with the mother are not friendly.

(As I transcribe this now, I wonder if my aunt didn't engineer this meeting in some way). 

That night Manette took me to la boite (disco) at a touristy place.  Carrie and Varla didn't want to come.  It was a club where J worked as a bouncer.  I had a reasonably good time (the people there were all kids but I did dance to some techno in a way that is sure to be recounted at the next family dinner), and it was nice of M to take me out.  

We got home around 4am, so it can't have been bad.

I have absolutely no memory of this evening which is a pity because it sounds like I had a good time.  

As I typed this entry I realize that my aunt and cousins must have planned logistics to make sure that I had a chance to see everyone in the family, which is no small feat considering all my cousins were adults and had left home.  

Of course I didn't see this at the time.  If I had, perhaps I would have been more appreciative.  Instead, I am ashamed to see that I judged them - with the arrogance and ignorance of someone in their early 20s.

14 May - Montpellier

Caroline (cousin no. 4) and her kids Jean (massive for a boy of ten), Fifi (very much the coquette and God knows where she gets it from - not her mother) and Leontine (an adorable typical Leo with a mane of curly blonde hair and the soul of a true feminist), came for lunch.  Caroline's husband is away at work on an oil rig.  Paul and his family came too:  wife A and kids F (4) and L (3 years old).  It was a lovely family day and I felt a small taste of being at home again.  Of course this made me as homesick as it did happy but that's life.

Caroline is really cool.  She reminds me so much of her sister, who lived with us in South Africa). 

Paul had a look at our camper.  He seems to be Mr Handyman of that section of the family.  He was polite and tinkered around a little but I got the impression he would be telling them in privacy that he doubted the thing would get us around Europe.

I think possibly Carrie and Varla were feeling very left out as they kept to themselves so much it bordered on rudeness.  I understand they were perhaps finding it a pain to visit my family but, at the same time, this was the first time we had slept in real beds in weeks and had access to decent plumbing.  Certain things are worth a little sacrifice.

In the evening we watched a movie with Tante M.  Nice to have a normal day at home again.

The trip started in January 1994. To read the posts in order, go the Itinerary Post.