Some Nostalgia

I was letting my computer update itself this morning when I noticed that it wanted to install the myspell "shoutafrican" dictionary. What follows is a snippet of Linux talk, just ignore if you don't care:

who:/home/petero-> aptitude search myspell-en-za
i myspell-en-za - English_shouthafrican dictionary for myspell

While it was installing I got to thinking about being Shoutafrican. I have not been back to SA since 1984. This means I have not been back for longer than I ever lived there. I was fortunate to grow up in Port Elizabeth (PE). It was a paradise when I was young (and clueless about apartheid). A few days back, blackbrothero pointed out the Port Elizabeth Daily Photo Blog. I spent hours pouring over the excellent photos of PE and boy did the nostalgia kick in. What a beautiful place. My favorite is the picture of the Red Windmill. My dad used to take me and my Mom on a "Sunday Drive" when I was young. We often stopped at the Red Windmill after spending time in the "docks" watching bales of his hides and skins being loaded into the belly of some cargo ship. I always had a hot dog, with no trimmings. They used to put, what in those days seemed most horrid, tomato and onion stuff on the bun and even a touch of this made it inedible. We could then sit in the car and watch the Hobies sailing out on the bay. It was particularly spectacular when the constant wind blew a storm in over the sea and the wave crashed into the rocks at Flatrock.

So much has changed in South Africa. I really had little desire to return as there are many other places in this world I still have not visited (Australia, New Zealand, Scandinavia to name a few). But, looking at the photos of PE, I think I need to take blackfamilyo there one of these days. Growing up there most definitely shaped who I am.