117) Australian Visitors

Our oldest son Jonathan who was living in Australia was very good at keeping in touch. He would phone often (never a letter though). One Saturday morning I answered the phone at about 11 a.m. and talked to him for about half an hour. Then as I had to go to a meeting of the neighbourhood watch at the end of the road I handed the phone to Jonny and left him to talk while Dominic and I went off to the meeting. When we got back at least two hours later Jonny was still on the phone talking to Jonathan. He said that there was a ‘special’ on that day and he could phone South Africa for a set price, I don’t remember how much, and talk for as long as he liked for that set price. When Dominic and I got back, Dominic had a long natter with his brother and then I talked for a while too. I think that all in all the phone call had lasted over four hours. I don’t think that that special was ever repeated, the service provider obviously realised that with people like Jonathan around that kind of special would bankrupt them.

Once he phoned to tell us that his company was sending him on a trip to South Africa. The company produced a software package and they wanted Jonathan to present training courses to some of the South African customers The company would pay his fare and expenses and he and Siân decided that she would come too and that once the business part of the trip was completed they would spend a few weeks with us. We were thrilled.

The training was done in the Johannesburg area, and a number of the men that attended the course were Afrikaans speaking. Jonathan heard them ask their English speaking colleges to ask him questions concerning the lesson. As Jonathan understood what they had wanted to know he just answered them directly. He said that their eyes nearly popped out their heads they were so amazed. They knew he was from Australia and were very surprised to find that he could understand their home language and even talk a little of it. I don’t know if he ever told them that he had lived in South Africa for about four years. Like most people they appreciated people who took the trouble to learn their language. I am sure this added to the success of the course.

While Jonathan was planning his trip to South Africa he asked me to find out about hiring a car for the period of their stay and so I made some inquiries. I found out that one could only hire a car in South Africa if one had a credit card, which seemed a little strange to me at the time. I also found that it would be cheaper for Jonathan to buy a small second hand car when they arrived and then to sell it when they left. I don’t remember exact figures but I know that for the cost of the car hire for the six weeks that they would be in Africa they could buy as small car and so even if he could not sell it when he left he would not have lost anything. So that’s what he did. They stayed in Pretoria for a few days with Jonny’s brother Don when they first arrived and he helped them to buy a V.W. Golf. It was fairly old but did them well for their holiday and when they left they left it with us to sell. Before we managed to find a buyer, Dominic’s little car had been stolen so he needed transport and we never did sell it.

It was so good to have Jonathan and Siân with us and great to get to know Siân a little better. We spent a great deal of time talking and housework and the like were very neglected. After they had been there for about two weeks I commented that I really was pleased with the flooring in my kitchen, as I had not cleaned it since they had been there and it did not look too dirty. The next day when I got home from work both Jonathan and Siân were out so I thought I would take the opportunity to quickly get down and clean that kitchen floor. While I was doing it I remember thinking that it really did not look too dirty after all and maybe it did not need to be done twice a week, as had been my habit. I was just finishing the job when Jonathan and Siân arrived home, she looked a little sheepish but was too shy to say anything but Jonathan had no such problem and said “Mom, Siân cleaned that floor for you this morning while you were at work, couldn’t you tell?” Well I had said that it was a great floor as one could not tell if it was dirty or not, hadn’t I?

Either just before they arrived or just after Jonny had to move from his corner of a workshop that he was renting from another company as that company were moving into new premises and no longer had the space to accommodate him. We learnt that Siân was artistic so we asked her to make a sign board to put up over Jonny’s new workshop. It said WELDALL FABRICATORS with the address and telephone number in large white lettering. Hardly a masterpiece but she made a very good job of it; the letters were even and not all squashed together at the end (they way most of us make signs).

Jonathan had settled very well in Australia and really loved the country. He told us a great deal about his new home and how he would never want to leave there. We had to accept that although he would always be close to us and would keep in touch with us his life was now in that ‘land down under’ and we could give up any ideas of him coming to live near us again.

Jonny, Siân, Jonathan, Me, Dominic and Muffin in front