I remeber those damn sirens every morning going off at around 05:00 in the mornings and then at certain times during the day. I see there are still one or two of the siren poles still standing.
Don't remember 5 in the morning. There were sirens for the begining and ending of the lunch hour and shift end I think.
I remember the sirens. There is still a pole standing near our old house in 8th avenue. They used to go off in the afternoons at about 5ish or 6ish. They were damn anoying.
Everybody gets what he deserves.
Now I hear the church bells (about 300m) at 6:00 am and sundays at 9:00 am. It's about the same.
madashell
That afternoon siren was at 16:05 will never forget it, as its the time i had to be home everyday hahaha i remember it well
And up into bed by 16:30pm without supper for being.... hahaha
Ok I hope I dont offend with my comment, but reading posts on this topic, something very sinister popped into my head. De Beers really milked everyone, of so much, lives for one! How about all the pensioners giving everything to them and for what, a golden bloody handshake. -Wake up people, you lived and danced to DB's tune all your lives. What did you get in return, nothing. I remember when my folks left town, I applied to the GM for an extension to stay on at least 3 times. I couldnt leave, Omund was all I knew. Eventually I got kicked out! Memories, yes aplenty, your own, created by you and possibly because you are all human after all. But anything else? Its like they chewed and spat people out. Sparing no thought about anything but their absolute greed. Yes, they gave us jobs, yes we had royal lives. How else would they have kept everyone happy and working, and those bloody sirens, to tell you when to wake up, when to eat lunch when to work. Makes you wonder?
Good comment , it has been echoed so many times on this forum ...
Yvette, you just made me think of a new logo for DB - an animation pic of Pafloff feeding his dog with a bell in hand!
Also - DB has created many an "addict" - victimising the employer then kicking him out with no "rehab" plan. Meaning the company gave lots of free benefits, creating Ethopia for the employers, but once those people left OM, they could not cope with life 'outside'. Not everyone - but lots of people just sort of went under once they left.
Strangely enough for me , I knew deep inside that it was in some ways a "fools paradise " saw people arrive with nothing and leave with nothing , the there were people who realised this and knew they ahd to invest for the lean days in the outside world , saved invested bought property etc etc ,, .. when I made my decision to leave I knew that things would change ,but actually welcomed it , rent to pay ,power to pay etcetc .. it was actually a pleasure to have to learn turn every rand over twice when I moved to CT .. it felt good .. and was part of growing up . but then again the comment of why could those that wanted to stay after they ahd retired not stay remains valid .. it was a great place to be .. each to their own ..
Yvette, my sentiments exactly..... DeBeers did not go that extra mile , sure to an extent they looked after their employees quite well, but that little bit at the end went missing.....
Yvete
You description of the sirens is spot on. The bottom line is that there is life after Oranjemund. I lived in Oranjemund for almost 12 years and left due to personal circumstances. I do not regret the time i spent in Oranjemund and it was surely the most wonderful and careless time in my life. But once you have lived in the city I think it will be hard to go back to a small town like Oranjemund. Crime in Gauteng is very high, but you learn to live with it.
At night in omund.. you feel safe.... the stars are brighter...the jackal howls....... No Thanks! I'm just a country boy.....
Charmaine you hit the nail on the head! wanted to make that point too. Hey, as much as I loved growing up in Omund and have stunning memories, well lets just say no regrets here. Truth be told, sh*t happens everywhere! There is no perfect paradise. Dont be afraid to make that move Mike!!!!
Mike... does'nt want to move... he wants everyone else living here to go...... e180
And when the news papers arrived "There are still 2 sirens operational in town" when everybody is here at the end of the year I will sound the siren to welcome all the reunion members howa that sound Mike
Alfie, I like it... you my son are now on the Committee for the Reunion..... and official Reunion Photographer.....
Now come on Mike, dont be a sissie. If you are planning to stay and switch the lights off, I am afraid your light will be off soon after youhave switched off the lights. Come to think of it, many elderly couples that retired during my stay in Oranjemund could not handle the city life and then they passed away. Dont let this happen to you, "JY GAAN LEKKER JOL IN DIE STAD" WHERE NO ONE KNOWS YOU".
Charmain
Don't forget the sirens on Sunday mornings to inform the humble peasants that the Rapport and Sunday Times had arrived.
Is that true? Can't remember at all.
Sunday AFternoons, about 13h00 till 15h00.... depending on the condition of the port Nolloth road....
Weren't the papers flown in by company transport? I never really bothered to find out. I just remember being sent off for a Sunday Times after hearing the hooter on Sunday.
I don't know, I do know these days it comes by road....
I think they flew in via Alexanderbay airport?
Thats how I remember it as well. I believe they used the company jet, but I'm not 100% sure.
Just reading all your comments,
Each one of us has our own reasons for living where we did, its safe, its comfortable, we're with / close to family and a whole host of other reasons.
One of the GM's (no names mentioned) stated that the mine owed its employees nothing more than the cheque for their services at the end of each month and they should expect nothing more. (if you want loyalty get yourself a dog)
To me it was in stark contrast to what values the early GM's placed on their employees, when Oranjemund was more like a family, where we all knew each other and were making Oranjemund home.
I lived there from 1952 to 2004 (52 years) always knowing it would never be a permanent home, home is where you live with your family.
Over the years, "my family", immediate and extended ( whether actually blood related or not) family have moved away from Oranjemund, so over the years my roots have moved all over the world.
I now live in Cape Town, but people I called Uncle's & Aunt's and their children are all over these pages, some I was closer to than others, but these are the family I am talking about.
Yes De Beers, through its policys and practices, did do a lot of us a dis-service. The worst I can think of was they undermined our confidence in our own abilities to sucseed in the great outside.
Those of us that have left, know we are worth more than we were given due for while working for the company, however they did give many of us the correct tools to sucseed.
( YES Kenny, Except for those of us that cant Spell - but thats why we have a spell check (if you want to use it))
:emot112_2: Well put Clive, but some of us still living here, do intend to make a success on the outside....
Do you think you would still be there (stay) Mike when your cuties (girls) have to go to boarding school? I think that must be one of the hardest decisons parents have/had to make when living there. I must say that for me, I am glad I left when I did and had the oppoortunity to have my kids at home during their teenage years even if I can count a number of grey hairs they caused me as a single mum!
They are gonna build a high school here... Yes! They are...... they will... they said they would ... they said so...build a high school...... abouttime
Hallo Clive.
You just impressed me. Very critical words on DeBeers there. The site mainly shows the nice things people remember of OM. Especialy when it comes to talking about the times of youth.
Yes Cherry. It's true. A hard decision boarding school. On the other hand, boarding school change my life. The impressions from this time are so deep, they're burnt into my memories. I'm not talking about discovering the "interesting and exciting" things in life. It's about the way you were treated and had to learn to get on on your own.
Ummmm, Mike, they've been saying that forever - njust like up until the day I left, there was supposed to be only 17 yrs of life left on the mine - that was in 1994 so you have 3 yrs left! :emot19:
when my dad got here in 72, they told him that the mine only had 8 years to go... anyhow, I'm banking on the Arabs building my school here for me.... :sorriso2:
Better get your gitls learning Arabic quick quick :-)
do you think there's a Spar in Dubai Cherry.
By the way Michael. Did yiou see the link of the German Spar I once posted?
Boarding school isn't what it was in our days. My older kids were in borading school and it taught them nothing. They never had room inspections etc and actually seemed to have more freedom and less discipline there than they were getting at home, so when the laat-lammetjie had to go to school, I moved to town.
Quote from: Cherry (Alcock) on April 19, 2008, 08:20:21 AM
Do you think you would still be there (stay) Mike when your cuties (girls) have to go to boarding school? I think that must be one of the hardest decisons parents have/had to make when living there. I must say that for me, I am glad I left when I did and had the oppoortunity to have my kids at home during their teenage years even if I can count a number of grey hairs they caused me as a single mum!
Got two girls in boarding school it's not nice would rather have them at home but there is no other way
Reading through all the latest comments, and I have to agree with Florrrie, boarding schools have changed and do not have the same or even similar disciplines as we had growing up away from home.
If I had had less time invested in the company I would have left earlier, hell I went through the motions enough times - anyway when the right opportunity presented (wild horses couldnt hold me back)
Cherry, I am glad that I was able to give one of my daughters the opportunity of making the choice of being either a day scholar or to be a weekly boarder ( she elected to remain in boarding school as a weekly boarder)
What a pleasure it was to be able to collect her every Friday, and to have her friends stay over ( being able to reciprocate and getting to know the girls she lived with )
Mike, the mine had five (5) year plans, then 10 year plans from way back.
I hear that the mine (in some form or other ) should still be running until 2022, This concerns me greatly since Nostradamus and the Mayan's predict the world end in 2012 ( Just shows De Beers determination and to what lengths they will go to get the last few stones out of the mine ( Mine to the end and beyond)
Have a laugh and lets see the responces.
Hey Clive, any chance you could give the exact day in 2012? I need to give my staff at Spar the day off..... :buffo1:
>Mike, the mine had five (5) year plans, then 10 year plans from way back.<
Is this a form of socialism?
:emot19:
Hey Mike,
Long time since I have logged on, the day is supposed to be 26 December.
Damn, we're closed on the 26th anyhow.... maybe the next ebd of the world then..... swink
Hiya gang
I remember the sirens, had to be home when the second hooter went at about 4 o'clock. I think the first hooter meant the employees could start getting ready to go home and the second meant end of shift (not sure about this, please enlighten). I have been reading the comments on this topic and having been born in OMD in 1960 I tend to agree with what Clive, Cherry and others have said (apologies for omitting anyone). When I left in 1988 it was a huge step for my wife and I although we were just "relocating" to another De Beers operation as such. All I basically knew was OMD, boarding school and two years in the army. The rest of the time was spent in this little oasis in the desert and people telling you how tough it was on the outside. Don't get me wrong, as I think it is a great place for kids to grow up, never regretted growing up in OMD, made good friends and met great people over the years, but one has to fly the nest at some time. Parents in OMD don't have to really worry about the general safety of their kids, except if the kids go catching snakes and scorpions (which a lot of us did at some or other time). I think this is the reason why many people choose to remain in OMD, but can be a difficult decision when it comes to sending kids to boarding school or leaving OMD so that the kids can be at home every night. In them days we were almost brainwashed into the fact that when you finished Std 5 you would be going to boardding school whereafter you would do your time in the military forces and then continue with your life. As far as I'm concerned the way
companies do business these days has changed and De Beers is changing as well, nou maar toe. De Beers' motto is "A Diamond Are Forever" but as we all know the deposits don't last forever. Just a thought.
I agree with you Lance. As kids growing up in Oranjemund, we never worried about being abducted, assaulted, etc. We felt safe and our parents didn't have the same concerns as those living in the 'outside world'. Sure, it wasn't easy leaving Oranjemund, but we were brought up with strong foundations that made us capable of enduring what life throws at us. I don't think I could have had a better childhood than I did in Oranjemund. When the time comes to move on and start life elsewhere, we can all deal with it because of the way we were raised.
Another memory of the sirens was the amount of dogs that would start howling when the siren went off .. sounded like a wolf pack sometimes .. in fact i think some of the dogs looked forward to it as it prompted them yo connect with their primitive roots ..
Hi Lance, thanks for the brainwashing theory regarding the boarding school issue in OM. You nailed it just right. I remember receiving my first callup instructions in Std 8 whils't at Centaurus. In those days almost everybody from Centaurus was called up to the dreaded Ossona base in Okahandja, and I was no exception. We had all been brainwashed by friends of ours who had been there and were preparing ourselves mentally allready since Std 6. Fortunately I got "uitstel" for the next 4 years and was called up to a more civilized base in SA.
I must say, my years as a "hostel brak" at Centaurus provided just the right preparation for the 2 years of NS that followed.
Quote from: SandyB on April 02, 2008, 09:37:13 PM
Good comment , it has been echoed so many times on this forum ...
Too true but it is echoed by people who in the final analysis had a choice and opted to allow DB to continue to rule their lives. Nobody had to remain. Everyone was free to leave when their contracts expired.
We all wanted to hold onto the lifestyle. Like it or not that is probably the real and only reason for staying. We cannot blame De Beers for sucking us dry and ruling our lives especially if by making the decision to work and live in OM you consented to let them do so.
De Beers are not to blame. We are.
Yes our life in OM from end of std 5 taught us sad goodbyes and happy reunions ,, we grew up fast .. gave us an edge on many others .. army was a cinch for most of us who had been to Boarding school .. we if we were wise learnt how to use the "system' no matter how rebellious we were .. and Carl yes any young male got the papers delivered to school when we turned 16 .. that awful defining moment .. I ended up in the army at the tender age of 17 .. had my 18th in August in katima mulilo almost 3/4 way through my then compulsory 1 year .. then had many camps .. one months and 3 months camps .. by working the system but yet remaining intact to who i was i got to sergeant .. .The Osana base .. awful place .. we kicked their workshop into shape in one month and sent a damming report to HQ .. the camp itelf was a nightmare with this screaming mad RSM ( obviously with hangovers from hell and piles eating at his ass cos he was one mean F....... as a CF member of the camp if i heard him ranting and raving in the morning , I would just roll off my bed into the furthest corner of the tent and carry on my own hungover sleep .. do your damndest if you care I am here to do a job , and thats to correct the stuffups of the permanent force .. I remember my one defining moment with this ass .. h .... I was in charge of the guard at HQ ... the pub had closed and here in the early morning this unimog arrives and out climbs the barman from the HQ bar .. says he wants to be let in . I ask him the nature of his business ... well he wants to get booze from the bar .. I tell him its not official business so he better get moving .. suddenly the other door of the unimog opens and the RSM tries to exit gracefully instead he lands up in a heap in the dust .. picks himself up puts his beret on lekker skew and storms towards the gate .. I will put it all in english .. " Do you know who I am ?/ ' ... " Yes I do recognise you as the RSM of this base " .... " Well let me in " ... ever so calmly i ask the nature of their business .. he has no real answer .. so he demands to be let in .. I refuse .. in fact I put it into perspective for him " Sir i believe you and the barman want to take liquor from the bar and i cannot allow you to do so .. its after regulation hours and now not official business this HQ is locked down and under guard and i am the guard commander and i cannot allow you in " ... well the ranting and raving .. his response "Sersant I am going to put you on report in the morning ".. I responded .. " Do whatever you feel is right at the moment but remember when you wake up in the morning that at this moment sir you are out of order , in fact at the moment you are a disgrace to your uniform and rank and if you so wish i will the moment this incident is over draft my own report with full witness of the entire guard that I am in charge of .. you have choices move now .. or I submit my own report .. Oh and by the way is a unimog not a restricted vehicle only for ops use and not for after hours pleasure drives ?? " I think the barman realised I meant business and dragged the RSM away to curse ringing in the air of " f... ing engelsman " incident over
The next morning there was he unhappy hungover in all probability a still officially drunk soul screaming on the parade ground .. I again could tuck in as I had just finished guard duty .. the other thing i remember was the OC his daughter was a little " Paris Hilton ' if she fancied a guy and he was not intersted she would fabricate lies and get them into trouble ... that was in the late 70"s but yes the camp seems to have had a bad aroma about it for many years to come .. on the other side was Katima .. also with its problems but far more an understanding and human value based place to be .. Paul Lisser spent some time at our base as a signaller .. he ran a sort of unofficial radio station ... He would play the radio and send music to all the guard posts all over the place .. bless you Paul you helped make life easier ..
and yes as you can read i made the "system" work for me .. in my latter years of camps I was always offered a PF job after finishing up , cos i was instrumental in getting the lifeblood of the army ie; stores , workshop and transport moving again .. all it was was just doing a job and doing it as well as you can .. whats so hard about that ?? .. nothing rocket scientist ?? Huh
Lesson: Never ever mess with a Buchanan who is guarding a pub.......!!
image14
I seem to have no control over the lot in the free bar , then again me still off on sick .. so they must maar just destroy the place
Hey site slow again and smileys slowing it down ??? I'm waiting for Dianas bottle to come flying through the screen cos she seems to have the same problems as me ??
3_8_14
Quote from: SandyB on June 10, 2008, 06:55:52 PM
Hey site slow again and smileys slowing it down ??? I'm waiting for Dianas bottle to come flying through the screen cos she seems to have the same problems as me ??
And me of course who loves and adores smilies simply cannot abide the way they slow the download time to a crawl. And by which time I have forgotten half of what I wanted to type.......!!
Too true too true .. on the days when service providers system up to speed then smileys are no prob .. there seems to be a window when theres a lot of activity ... 18:00 -- 21:30 then speeds up again .. during day generally no prob ..
Quote from: RobertBruce on June 11, 2008, 12:37:36 PM
Quote from: SandyB on June 10, 2008, 06:55:52 PM
Hey site slow again and smileys slowing it down ??? I'm waiting for Dianas bottle to come flying through the screen cos she seems to have the same problems as me ??
And me of course who loves and adores smilies simply cannot abide the way they slow the download time to a crawl. And by which time I have forgotten half of what I wanted to type.......!!
Do you use broadband Robert?
Quote from: georg ruf jr. on June 11, 2008, 01:09:19 PM
Quote from: RobertBruce on June 11, 2008, 12:37:36 PM
Quote from: SandyB on June 10, 2008, 06:55:52 PM
Hey site slow again and smileys slowing it down ??? I'm waiting for Dianas bottle to come flying through the screen cos she seems to have the same problems as me ??
And me of course who loves and adores smilies simply cannot abide the way they slow the download time to a crawl. And by which time I have forgotten half of what I wanted to type.......!!
Do you use broadband Robert?
I'd say he does, he looks pretty "Broad" to me!!
:emot19: arse
Carefull Paula. There are 3 admins around.
This is not a crib topic.
:emot77:
arse
I see the long trip to GB has not yet tamed our Paula !! anyhow good to see you online again .. hows tricks ??
Back to the smileys .. I'm damm sure they are encouraged by the " service porviders " cos it dont matter how unless you on 24hr adsl .. if you on dial up it takes time and you are charged for time .. if you on MB per month cap then each time I want to post the smileys are downloaded . and I pay for what is downloaded and if I was frivolous in the use of smileys on replies its also more Kb sent .. I smell a plot here !! anyhow yes the use of the odd one is fun .. when one wants to express oneself differently .. or in the case when we sometimes try to reply to our Paula .. we have no words . so smileys suffice ..
That'sd a good one Sandy. Always seeing things positive...
Quote from: SandyB on June 11, 2008, 01:59:57 PM
I see the long trip to GB has not yet tamed our Paula !! anyhow good to see you online again .. hows tricks ??
Back to the smileys .. I'm damm sure they are encouraged by the " service porviders " cos it dont matter how unless you on 24hr adsl .. if you on dial up it takes time and you are charged for time .. if you on MB per month cap then each time I want to post the smileys are downloaded . and I pay for what is downloaded and if I was frivolous in the use of smileys on replies its also more Kb sent .. I smell a plot here !! anyhow yes the use of the odd one is fun .. when one wants to express oneself differently .. or in the case when we sometimes try to reply to our Paula .. we have no words . so smileys suffice ..
Thanks SandyB, I'z still out here, but I want a smiley that show's his middle finger but they won't get one, son't know why!
:sorriso2:
Nah ! they got to keep you in check .. my suggestion is a bit of slowdancing in the bar with Georg Snr to set a mellow tone .. then you will not need the middle finger one .. instead a few well chosen words would do .. like
That's easy Paula: Mike just knows you to well.