SPIRIT OF PLACE: NAILING IT!

Having arrived in Bathurst exactly one week ago on Wednesday ......... and started work on 6 York Road one week and one day ago go today, I am over the moon with the progress we have made. Any outsider looking in would really wonder what all the fuss might be about, but from a structural progress point of view things have been completed that I really didn't think we would have tackled as yet at this stage......................BUT MORE IMPORTANTLY - I have really begun to meet the people.

But first ............ one of my biggest concerns was the sagging floors. After a survey (much of it on my back in the dark dirt of a thousand years), I bought the necessary timber and had the guys take down every superfluous treated gumpole on the site to use as props and supports. Petrus and Luke have been absolute stars, working in the most confined space imaginable they jacked up and lifted what will be the Master Bedroom floor - fitted new intermediate beams and bearers, posts and supports ......... after which we cut in the filler boards where we removed anything that was rotten. By yesterday afternoon we could have held a Rock Concert on the floor. It was level - it was solid - it was ready for sanding and sealing. Today they cracked the entrance hall and what will become our dressining room, and tomorrow we tackle the guest bedroom before going on to the lounge.......thereafter we will lay the new boards in the kitchen.

Sergeant Hector's Father-in-Law that he promised to me as a bricklayer on my first visit to the Police Station (when we originally called in to check out the village's crime stats), started on Tuesday and we have built in most of the lintels and bricked up all the necessary openings. Tomorrow we start on the kitchen scullery / laundry structure. Vorentoe ..... (Forward - as theysay in Afrikaans). Let's get this thing done!

The first person to pop around was my next door neighbour from just across George Road - David Forsdyke - he tells that he is well involved in the history of Bathurst, which, from my point of view makes him an ideal drinking / coffee / dinner buddy, and I know that I am going to get to know him very well over the next quite short period.

Next to pop in was Tom Barrett, who with his very charming wife Allison, own the the object of much of my trespassing during previous visits to Bathurst ............. the Stone Cottage adjoining the Wesleyan Church, and diagonally across the road from No. 6 York Road. I was in the middle of a Grinder dust storm in the passage when I spun around to get out and all but knocked Tom right off his feet. He had met my oldest buddy, Peter Davidson, at the Bathurst Agricultural Show a few weeks previously, and Pete had told him that I was about to take ownership and begin restoration of the old house, and he had come to invite me to a small - but regular - gathering of a few Bathurst friends and regulars at the Stone Cottage .......... a sort of "Chop & Dop", except that you brought your own tipple and a plate of food ............ short notice - on my own - renting on the farm ............ I settled for a plate of some mixed nuts and sliced biltong and a packet of Flannagans Irish Chips.

What a lovely bunch of people - what great grub - what a beautiful house - what a tremendous collection of photographic memorabilia of the Proteas tour to Bangladesh, (in 2003 I think it was ......Hansie / Kallis / Boucher / Jonty et al) ........... all at a very welcome evening's entertainment at the Barret's residence in the "deshi" at the time, where I believe they were all only too happy to get some traditional fare and some good South African hospitality. Tom's stories were fascinating and made really good listening in every respect.............particularly with my family's cricketing background as a bit of a foil. They also have a really beautiful collection of paintings ............. a group of watercolours by Chrystal Wynne covering farming in Rhodesia in the early 8o's in particular. Certainly some of the best watercolours I have ever seen.

Rob ......... a Scotsman whose surname I forget, was an ex Berea Park regular and able to spin a few catching "when we's" of his own when it came to to the old days in Pretoria............... then there was Howard, Chrissie and a few others whose names I really do apologise for not remembering, other than Lois 'Lane' (who I believe lives just down George Street) - but who I am quite sure I will be able to match up and remember after the next ten or fifteen visits together. Whatever - Whoever - they were really lovely people one and all ............... and so very welcoming!

All of this was of course after popping up to the Ploughman's Pub at the Agricultural Museum which is an absolute "must" for anyone with even a passing interest in the history of South Africa. Pat and I had spent a good four hours with the curator of the museum on our last visit to Bathurst about four or five years ago, but don't recall any pub then. There is now! And the proprietor Patrick Rowley is a real stand up fella who welcomed me into his environment with trust and enthusiasm as I was looking for a venue to watch the Spanish MotoGP on Sunday.

What do I know about Biking ........... NOTHING! But I spent the afternoon in the company of a few bikers from Grahamstown who were there to share their enthusiasm for the sport with anyone else who might be interested ........... what a cool bunch of dudes: I remember Theo (who used to race bikes), and Laskey, or Laisekey, Latskey ...... or whatever .............. I will meet him again - what an absolute gentleman, and with a sense of humour to match anything I have ever come across in the past.

Before I left for the Pub on Sunday I went for a long walk around the McCreath's farm where I am staying ....... windmills / views / 'Old Man's Balls' / Nguni's ............... and views - more views - and more views.

When I got back a donkey came to make friends ............ judging by some of the pics he may have thought he was a rabbit .............. I fed him a carrot, and he now seems to make a point of hanging about until I arrive back just before dark each evening so that he can bum another carrot or two.

So ...... here's a bit of history, which considering where many of us originate from, makes quite interesting reading.

Situated on the left bank of the Kowie River, Bathurst was founded in 1820 - established on the Kaffraria frontier, an area of fierce conflict between white settlers moving Northwards and African pastoralists and refugees from the Mfecane moving Southwards. Named after Secretary of State for the Colonies, Lord Henry Bathurst, it was initially intended to to be the administrative capital of the Albany settler country (now called the Albany District), but Sir Charles Somerset moved the administrative offices to Grahamstown because of its superior military position.

in 1821 the settler blacksmith Thomas Hartley built the original Bathurst Forge, which in 1831 was converted into a pub, the Bathurst Arms, which remains the oldest licensed Pub in South Africa...............now known as the Pig & Whistle after being renamed during World War II by servicemen from the nearby Air School. Famous settler Jeremiah Goldswain bought the Pub for his son in 1853, and it was he who added rooms where the forge had been and turned it into an Inn. The Wesleyan Chapel today still contains the family Bible of Jeremiah Goldswain.

On a lookout point above the village there is a circular Toposcope which is inlaid with 57 Bronze Plaques recording details of each settler party. The Toposcope is constructed around the original stone beacon from which many of the 1820 settlers were shown their allotments of land.

Last week Sunday saw the 180th Anniversary of the Bathurst Anglican Church - the oldest in South Africa, .......and the Wesleyan Church across the road from our house, which was constructed in 1823, served the residents of Bathurst well on more than one occasion when they barricaded themselves into the church against marauding Xhosa warriors. I can just imagine hordes of them holed up in the bushes at 6 York Road formulating plans to storm the church ............ certainly food for thought.