92) Doug Beagley
Time was passing and both our sons were now young men, although we did not see them that way and still considered them our “babies”. They were at an age when they were ready to leave the nest but we hadn’t grown up enough to want them to go.
For a while Jonathan moved to a flat with his friend Hannis. The flat was not far away but I did not want him to go and I remember that one morning after he told me he wanted to move out I sat and cried all morning. He stayed with Hannis a few months, but then Hannis and his girl friend got engaged. They wanted the flat for themselves when they got married so Jonathan came home again. By then he had finished his apprenticeship and had been transferred by Eskom (the Electricity Commission) to the new Kendal Power station that was still being built. Kendal has a different cooling system from most of the other power stations in the area. It was called an air cooled system; that meant it used considerably less water in its cooling process than the conventional power stations. The station's cooling towers were the largest structures of their kind in the world at the time and might still be.
Jonathan was working in the water treatment section. They purified the water needed in the process of making electricity. I remember he would talk of what I thought was “Demon” water. When I asked him more about it he explained that it was “Demin” water (de-mineralised) – water that had been so purified that all the minerals had been removed. Apparently if one drinks it, it will remove the minerals from one’s body so it is poisonous for humans. He was enjoying his work and would come home and tell us all about the development of the new power station. Kendal was a fair distance from Witbank on the road to Johannesburg so Eskom supplied transport to and from work. Every morning the mini bus would stop outside our front door to collect him for work. Jonathan always struggled to get up in the morning and was usually running late. When the bus driver tooted his horn outside the gate Jonathan would come out of his bedroom and as he passed through the kitchen I would put a mug of coffee into his hand and he would get onto the bus and drink his morning coffee on the way to work. For his birthday he asked if I could make a flask of coffee and a batch of biscuits so that he could celebrate his birthday with the other early morning travellers going to work.
Dominic was as different as he could possibly be to his brother and was always up early and ready to leave for work in plenty of time. This difference would cause arguments between them if they were going anywhere together. Dominic would be ready early and would have to wait for Jonathan. Dom would get impatient with Jonathan but Jonathan would say; “We’ve got plenty of time”. He could never understand Dominic’s desire to get to an appointment well before the time. He was happy if he got there by the skin of his teeth.
Jonathan made friends with a young man called Douglas Beagley. Doug’s family lived in Johannesburg so he was in single quarters and often came to visit us. He would sometimes come for supper. Then on other occasions he would bring take-away food or meat for the braai to contribute his share. I remember he liked ‘banana pizza’. All my Italian ancestry revolted against a ‘banana pizza’ and I used to tell him that it was sacrilege and that I did not want it in my house. Doug would often drop in as we were finishing our supper and we would offer him some food. He usually said that he has just eaten but he would sit at the table and talk to us as we finished off. He would take a little of the salad from the bowl and then a little more. I would pretend I had not noticed that he had finished it all off. Eventually I would just get out an extra plate for him when he arrived and tell him to help himself to the salad. He really seemed to like that. Jonathan and Doug were both keen to try parachuting so they went along to the Witbank parachuting club and joined up. After their first jump we were asking them about how they felt when they were out of the plane and starting to fall. Doug told us that he had never felt so alone in all his life. He said that as the plane flew away he shouted “Come back, come back, don’t leave me” After a few jumps Jonathan made a jump on a very windy day, far too windy for a new jumper to deal with and as he came down he twisted his ankle badly and we thought it was broken. Once again I was back in my role of mother and had to take him to the hospital emergency department and wait while he was x-rayed and examined. I thought I had finished with that kind of thing now that he was grown up.
Another thing I remember about Witbank Parachute Club was that it had a big notice on the gate that said “Witbank Parachute Club – Trespassers Will Be Parachuted”. The runway was fairly close to the local prison and once one of the young girls that were learning to jump was blown a little off course and landed in the middle of the prison farm. She was very nervous of the prisoners as she gathered up her parachute and walked back to the road to be collected. The prisoners, who I suppose, as it was not a high security prison were all pretty harmless and just rested on their tools as she walked between them crying her eyes out. I suppose she got a lot of teasing about that.
Once Jonathan and Doug were invited to a party in Johannesburg. They wanted to go but knew that driving back would be a problem after they had had a few drinks so they invited Dominic to go with them. He would drink coca cola and would drive home. Dominic had not long passed his driving test so was pleased to be allowed to drive. Jonny and I were woken early the following morning by a call from Dominic at the East Rand Hospital. He explained that they were all fine but they had had an accident on the way home. Jonathan had been asleep on the back seat and Doug asleep in the passenger seat and Dominic was driving. He had very suddenly seen a stationary unlit car in the middle of the highway. He swerved to avoid it but it was too late and he hit it. The driver of the other car and his passengers explained that they had been in a collision with a truck and that was why they were in that position. Jonathan had a slight injury to his head but I don’t think either Dominic or Doug was hurt at all. One of the lads in the other car was quite badly hurt but that was the result of the accident with the truck. There was quite a bit of damage to the car but it was drivable so they were able to get home in an hour or so. It could so easily have been much worse.
For a while Jonathan moved to a flat with his friend Hannis. The flat was not far away but I did not want him to go and I remember that one morning after he told me he wanted to move out I sat and cried all morning. He stayed with Hannis a few months, but then Hannis and his girl friend got engaged. They wanted the flat for themselves when they got married so Jonathan came home again. By then he had finished his apprenticeship and had been transferred by Eskom (the Electricity Commission) to the new Kendal Power station that was still being built. Kendal has a different cooling system from most of the other power stations in the area. It was called an air cooled system; that meant it used considerably less water in its cooling process than the conventional power stations. The station's cooling towers were the largest structures of their kind in the world at the time and might still be.
Jonathan was working in the water treatment section. They purified the water needed in the process of making electricity. I remember he would talk of what I thought was “Demon” water. When I asked him more about it he explained that it was “Demin” water (de-mineralised) – water that had been so purified that all the minerals had been removed. Apparently if one drinks it, it will remove the minerals from one’s body so it is poisonous for humans. He was enjoying his work and would come home and tell us all about the development of the new power station. Kendal was a fair distance from Witbank on the road to Johannesburg so Eskom supplied transport to and from work. Every morning the mini bus would stop outside our front door to collect him for work. Jonathan always struggled to get up in the morning and was usually running late. When the bus driver tooted his horn outside the gate Jonathan would come out of his bedroom and as he passed through the kitchen I would put a mug of coffee into his hand and he would get onto the bus and drink his morning coffee on the way to work. For his birthday he asked if I could make a flask of coffee and a batch of biscuits so that he could celebrate his birthday with the other early morning travellers going to work.
Dominic was as different as he could possibly be to his brother and was always up early and ready to leave for work in plenty of time. This difference would cause arguments between them if they were going anywhere together. Dominic would be ready early and would have to wait for Jonathan. Dom would get impatient with Jonathan but Jonathan would say; “We’ve got plenty of time”. He could never understand Dominic’s desire to get to an appointment well before the time. He was happy if he got there by the skin of his teeth.
Jonathan made friends with a young man called Douglas Beagley. Doug’s family lived in Johannesburg so he was in single quarters and often came to visit us. He would sometimes come for supper. Then on other occasions he would bring take-away food or meat for the braai to contribute his share. I remember he liked ‘banana pizza’. All my Italian ancestry revolted against a ‘banana pizza’ and I used to tell him that it was sacrilege and that I did not want it in my house. Doug would often drop in as we were finishing our supper and we would offer him some food. He usually said that he has just eaten but he would sit at the table and talk to us as we finished off. He would take a little of the salad from the bowl and then a little more. I would pretend I had not noticed that he had finished it all off. Eventually I would just get out an extra plate for him when he arrived and tell him to help himself to the salad. He really seemed to like that. Jonathan and Doug were both keen to try parachuting so they went along to the Witbank parachuting club and joined up. After their first jump we were asking them about how they felt when they were out of the plane and starting to fall. Doug told us that he had never felt so alone in all his life. He said that as the plane flew away he shouted “Come back, come back, don’t leave me” After a few jumps Jonathan made a jump on a very windy day, far too windy for a new jumper to deal with and as he came down he twisted his ankle badly and we thought it was broken. Once again I was back in my role of mother and had to take him to the hospital emergency department and wait while he was x-rayed and examined. I thought I had finished with that kind of thing now that he was grown up.
Another thing I remember about Witbank Parachute Club was that it had a big notice on the gate that said “Witbank Parachute Club – Trespassers Will Be Parachuted”. The runway was fairly close to the local prison and once one of the young girls that were learning to jump was blown a little off course and landed in the middle of the prison farm. She was very nervous of the prisoners as she gathered up her parachute and walked back to the road to be collected. The prisoners, who I suppose, as it was not a high security prison were all pretty harmless and just rested on their tools as she walked between them crying her eyes out. I suppose she got a lot of teasing about that.
Once Jonathan and Doug were invited to a party in Johannesburg. They wanted to go but knew that driving back would be a problem after they had had a few drinks so they invited Dominic to go with them. He would drink coca cola and would drive home. Dominic had not long passed his driving test so was pleased to be allowed to drive. Jonny and I were woken early the following morning by a call from Dominic at the East Rand Hospital. He explained that they were all fine but they had had an accident on the way home. Jonathan had been asleep on the back seat and Doug asleep in the passenger seat and Dominic was driving. He had very suddenly seen a stationary unlit car in the middle of the highway. He swerved to avoid it but it was too late and he hit it. The driver of the other car and his passengers explained that they had been in a collision with a truck and that was why they were in that position. Jonathan had a slight injury to his head but I don’t think either Dominic or Doug was hurt at all. One of the lads in the other car was quite badly hurt but that was the result of the accident with the truck. There was quite a bit of damage to the car but it was drivable so they were able to get home in an hour or so. It could so easily have been much worse.
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