How many of you go onto Google Maps or Google Earth and dream that you're 'back in Oranjemund'? Am I the only crazy ex-Oranjemunder who visits these sites and then imagines that I'm driving a car into town? I then drive along 5th Avenue and turn off to visit our first home in 3rd avenue. I then drive up towards the shopping centre, turn left at Casey's and go to the pool, then past the power station and up towards the school. I check out the old bicycle parking area that was near to the music centre and imagine myself riding to school on my favorite bicycle in my smart uniform. I then zoom over the rest of the school, remembering each classroom I had until standard 5. Then I drive past the hospital and head off to the tank park and our second and last home in 11th avenue (E42-11th, the last house on the block, just before the desert). I'm amazed at how the little trees and bushes that my dad planted now look like a jungle. My 'visit' also takes me to the yacht club where I re-live those cherished weekends. I feel better just having gone home for a while ... for a moment, it felt so real ... iknow
idontknow image061.................................... image04
Ok, let's be honest about this..... whenever I am driving back into town from being on leave, I imagine that I am a first time visitor to Omund, the sand and then the green entrance into town....I try to imagine what their first impression would be like.... all this green in this barren part of the world...... then i spot my first gemsbok...... Wow!..... what a unique place this is... wish I could live here......
just my 2 cents....
There are some pretty amazing places around this little old world and I guess Oranjemund is one! Mind!!!!!............................. image04
Yes, you're normal Patricia - how can one ever forget such an idyllic childhood. I've been gone from O'mund 16 years now and for many years after leaving, i would dream almost nightly that i was back there, or i was driving the N7 back to O'mund. They were almost lucid dreams where in the dream i knew that i didn't live there anymore, i was just visiting, and when it came time to leave again, i would be frantic so wishing i could stay. In one particular dream, i was driving up and down the avenues looking for a place to hide so i wouldn't have to leave. I would wake up with such a longing.............
If that is not normal, then I consider myself to be certifyable....
At the reunion last year... it felt like 'coming home' when I crossed the bridge.... it felt just so right, as if the whole environment was saying to me.... "Welcome back girl !!"
Yes, I know we are normal.....
When we arrived back in 1981, the late Frank Quirk say to me that Oranjemund is a strange but unique place made up of strange but unique people. He was not being disrespectful with this comment, meaning that it took a special sort of person / family to be able enjoy the work and lifestyle of living in a place that Oranjemund is.
No matter where you are in the world, you'll always meet someone who has connections of some sort with this beautiful little oasis in the Namib desert
And YES you are all normal..........!!!!!!!!!!
I am not normal what are you talking about?
Clint, we all know you're not normal. image061 yesno
I was referring to everybody except you
Ok, one thing is clear now... we are all normal or totally abnormal.
I left Oranjemund over 30 years ago and to me it is still home. Been back a few times and each time I wanted to kick my butt for moving away.
BUT... so many things have changed and that is heart breaking. I suppose that's what life is about????
We, well lots of us, lived there in a period that was so special and it is something we can and will always cherish. I often wished I could give my kids (grand kids too) just a few of my Oranjemund year to experience. People do not always believe you if you tell them about the earlier years in Oranjemund.
@ Mike V .. Frank Quirk .. was a unique person .. suited his surname .. I think he was deep down a very sensitive and spiritually gifted person , just that he had to live in the cut and thrust of the " normal life " in that sense .. i'm sure that if his upbringing was different ie : allowed more choice as opposed to the old ways... he would have been a totally different person to what we knew him .. not that it was bad .. he was a good loving Husband father and provider to his family , and of course he substituted that lack of being able to be who his soul really wanted to be with a passion for his work ... he was a damm good artisan ..
I used to watch him in Caseys when I worked there and sensed the difference ,, he battled with the bottle .. did just not succumb .. prob was some of the lowlife that would just shove drinks on him to get entertained at seeing Frank blotto .. quite a few times i would say " Frank so and so wants to buy you a drink do you want it or would you like to leave early and go home to your Missus and kids ? " invariably he would , thanking me for batting them off ... I was not always popular but so what ?? It is manners to ask the person if they want another , not just foist it off on them ..
And yes he was so right with his keen observation of the town and its folk ... 10/10 Frank
Hi Sandy, having worked with Frank until he was transferred to Town Garage it never amazed me as to his wealth of knowledge and excellence as an artisan. On numerous occasions when we had to run the Power Station due to Escom failure, I noticed that Frank took on a complete change in his manner whereby it was as if the engnes were his mistress. He used to walk up and down all the time listening to the rythmic throb of those machines ready in a split second to attend to any irregular sound. Only when Escom was back on line and the engines were shut down, did Frank become his normal self again.
Yes he was a unique man himself
Mike .. That change .. apt description .. sometimes sitting in Caseys the lights would dim and go bright .. he would get up and scoot back to the power station .. to see what the hell was going on .. when i worked at the power station . I observed him busy on an overhaul of one of the mighty diesel engines .. patiently shaving the new crankshaft white metal bearings for perfect clearance .. totally engrossed and would not budge till he was satisfied ... I must ask my step dad Eddie if he still got the rest of my mothers pictures .. there was one of them all together . a few months before Frank succumbed to the big C .. she commented on how at peace and accepting of the inevitable he was .. No regret .. no bitterness .. almost as though he knew his next journey would be a different new and exciting one .. again as my Mom did accepting but always hoping to wake up to the miracle .. and if it was not meant to be so then thats the way it was meant ..
woo_hoo I'm not the only looney one on this planet ... there's a whole bunch of them out there woo_hoo Frank Quirk was right, that little town is unique. It's actually quite funny because I'm busy re-watching the entire Lost episodes, and eveytime they show the little town where the Darmah Initiative families live, I can't help thinking that somehow, this is what our life was like back in the days. Everyone worked for the same company, everyone knew each other and all the kids went to the same school. We shared each others joys and sorrows. We were just one very big family.
bighug
I have been back a few times. It is not our Oranjemund but to me it will always be home. I do not believe there is another place like Oranjemund. We might not all know each other personally but we all have a "bond"...its called Oranjemund.... no wonder the new and great love in my life is also an ex-oranjemunder. And nogal n engelsman ook...
Yes Gerda.... Hope you have given him my message.
He sure keeps you very busy.
But he is worth it, so enjoy and maybe one day we all can sit on a stoep (in rocking chairs) and talk about our Oranjemund days. Specially the days nobody else knows about.
Jislaaik, ons was ook maar lekker stout hoor.
Quote from: Michael Alexander on August 19, 2009, 06:41:15 AM
Ok, let's be honest about this..... whenever I am driving back into town from being on leave, I imagine that I am a first time visitor to Omund, the sand and then the green entrance into town....I try to imagine what their first impression would be like.... all this green in this barren part of the world...... then i spot my first gemsbok...... Wow!..... what a unique place this is... wish I could live here......
just my 2 cents....
Mike A
When I drive back into town after leave I wish my leave was longer I don't know why must be that back to work thing, although I've got the best job in the mine.
@ ALFRED....Thats 'cos your dear loving family is here. image11a
I noticed a few references to Frank Quirk,he was a good friend of mine and was part of the Power Station crew at the time I worked there,he was a very gifted Diesel Mechanic and pretty well laid the foundations for two new engines back then. Spent days leveling the base and when completed before pouring the final grout was perfect. He would get his wife Margret to make me cheese and onion sandwiches which we toasted during our breaks.Although I was in the electrical side of things I am nosey and would ask Frank tons of questions on engines and the operation of those large engines and gained a lot of information from him,which years later when I applied to Ontario Hydro Power Plants was asked a question not related to my trade and funny eneugh new the answer thanks to Frank. I was sorry to find out of his passing through this site. Franks favourite dop was Viceroy and water,which he named Vickeyroy,I fondly remember him and cherished his friendship.
I've done that often to Patricia. I suppose it's normal...