112) Di and Geoff Ballard
When I started working for Di and Geoff they were both probably in their early 70 and they had been in the stationery business for a long time. At one time they owned two shops, the one in Hillcrest and another one in Pinetown about 20 km east of Hillcrest. Geoff had grown up in South Africa and had met Di in England when he had been serving in the Merchant Navy before the Second World War. Di lived in London, she was working as a shorthand typist when they met and they were married in England in 1937. When the war ended Geoff was at sea somewhere in the Pacific and they arranged that Di would go to South Africa to meet up with him on his return. Unfortunately his ship was delayed for some reason and Di arrived at her parents-in-laws home long before Geoff. She said she was rather shy in those days and did not know how to handle meeting all her in-laws for the first time on her own. She told me that the first evening she was there someone asked at sun down “who’s for a drink?” and she said “I’m not thirsty, thank you” Her new family were amazed, “when did being thirsty have anything to do with having a drink.” In those days Di did not drink alcohol, but she did change over the years and enjoyed a glass of whiskey in the evenings. She would often say as she had her first sip of the evening “And I thought that you had to be thirsty to have a drink”
When Geoff eventually got back from the war, jobs were rather hard to come by but he managed to find employment with a company that sold carbon copy paper. For those of you too young to remember it, it was messy blue or black sheets of paper that were put between two sheets of ordinary writing paper. Then when you wrote or typed on the top one you would get a copy of what you had written on the second one. Hands up all you who remember that. Yes, it is quite unnecessary now that we have photocopies and computers and self carbonated receipt books, but it was very useful in its time. It saved you writing the whole thing out twice or three times and was used a great deal in offices, so I suppose there were many people who bought it. Geoff told me that he would call at every office and business that he could and that he made a reasonable living from it. The Ballards had five children but as soon as they were all at school Di got a job with the Pinetown Council and was there for many years. She was a first class shorthand typist and would take the minutes at the council meetings. I can imagine that could be pretty hard. All those men arguing with each other and all talking at once and shouting to make themselves heard.
While Geoff was going from shop to shop selling carbon paper there was one shop in Pinetown that did not seem to be doing too well. In fact the owner was in debt not only to the company that Geoff worked for but also personally to Geoff. The owner made some sort of deal with Geoff that ended in Geoff being the new owner of a stationery shop. After a while he found he could not manage the shop alone and turned to Di for help, she reluctantly gave up her good job with the Town Council and became a businesswoman. It was not long before she realised that not only did she have a flare for the business but that she liked it. She went on to turn the Pinetown shop around and also to open another branch in Hillcrest and to run them both very well. She was always the one with the business brain. I think she did well because she liked people, remembered their names and made them all feel as if they were her friends as well as her customers.
Neither Geoff nor Di were in the best of health by the time I went to work for them. Di had had breast cancer and a mastectomy a few years prior to that time but was in remission. Geoff had numerous health complaints, so much so that he could not remember which operations he had had. If he went to the doctor Di would usually go with him to make sure that he got his medical history correct. Once he told the doctor that he had had his bladder removed the previous year, luckily Di was there to explain that it was actually his gall bladder that had gone under the knife. She teased him for days about that one, wanting to know how he could have managed without his bladder. We used to tell Geoff that what he needed was for the surgeon to insert a big zip fastener across his chest then it would be easier to do all the operations that he needed. But he was still coming to work when he was well enough, to do the deliveries and any other messages that were required. Because of his health his doctor had told him to give up smoking but Geoff just couldn’t manage it and he and Di had a continual battle about his smoking. She tried all sorts of ways to cut off his supply but he usually managed to get hold of a packet or two. I think he had a number of his old friends who were willing to slip him a packet now and again. Di had also been a heavy smoker but had given up when she got cancer and she thought that Geoff should be able to do the same. Eventually she gave up the fight though and let it go. They used to fight and squabble a lot but as we celebrated their 60th Wedding anniversary with them on 1st August 1997 the squabbles were obviously not too serious. Yes, we shared our wedding anniversary with the Ballards but they had already been married for 27 years when we got married on 1st Aug. 1964.
When Geoff eventually got back from the war, jobs were rather hard to come by but he managed to find employment with a company that sold carbon copy paper. For those of you too young to remember it, it was messy blue or black sheets of paper that were put between two sheets of ordinary writing paper. Then when you wrote or typed on the top one you would get a copy of what you had written on the second one. Hands up all you who remember that. Yes, it is quite unnecessary now that we have photocopies and computers and self carbonated receipt books, but it was very useful in its time. It saved you writing the whole thing out twice or three times and was used a great deal in offices, so I suppose there were many people who bought it. Geoff told me that he would call at every office and business that he could and that he made a reasonable living from it. The Ballards had five children but as soon as they were all at school Di got a job with the Pinetown Council and was there for many years. She was a first class shorthand typist and would take the minutes at the council meetings. I can imagine that could be pretty hard. All those men arguing with each other and all talking at once and shouting to make themselves heard.
While Geoff was going from shop to shop selling carbon paper there was one shop in Pinetown that did not seem to be doing too well. In fact the owner was in debt not only to the company that Geoff worked for but also personally to Geoff. The owner made some sort of deal with Geoff that ended in Geoff being the new owner of a stationery shop. After a while he found he could not manage the shop alone and turned to Di for help, she reluctantly gave up her good job with the Town Council and became a businesswoman. It was not long before she realised that not only did she have a flare for the business but that she liked it. She went on to turn the Pinetown shop around and also to open another branch in Hillcrest and to run them both very well. She was always the one with the business brain. I think she did well because she liked people, remembered their names and made them all feel as if they were her friends as well as her customers.
Neither Geoff nor Di were in the best of health by the time I went to work for them. Di had had breast cancer and a mastectomy a few years prior to that time but was in remission. Geoff had numerous health complaints, so much so that he could not remember which operations he had had. If he went to the doctor Di would usually go with him to make sure that he got his medical history correct. Once he told the doctor that he had had his bladder removed the previous year, luckily Di was there to explain that it was actually his gall bladder that had gone under the knife. She teased him for days about that one, wanting to know how he could have managed without his bladder. We used to tell Geoff that what he needed was for the surgeon to insert a big zip fastener across his chest then it would be easier to do all the operations that he needed. But he was still coming to work when he was well enough, to do the deliveries and any other messages that were required. Because of his health his doctor had told him to give up smoking but Geoff just couldn’t manage it and he and Di had a continual battle about his smoking. She tried all sorts of ways to cut off his supply but he usually managed to get hold of a packet or two. I think he had a number of his old friends who were willing to slip him a packet now and again. Di had also been a heavy smoker but had given up when she got cancer and she thought that Geoff should be able to do the same. Eventually she gave up the fight though and let it go. They used to fight and squabble a lot but as we celebrated their 60th Wedding anniversary with them on 1st August 1997 the squabbles were obviously not too serious. Yes, we shared our wedding anniversary with the Ballards but they had already been married for 27 years when we got married on 1st Aug. 1964.
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