Am I normal ???

[Patricia Lotte]

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 ... 

[toonfandangl]

           ....................................

[Michael Alexander]

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....

[toonfandangl]

There are some pretty amazing places around this little old world and I guess Oranjemund is one! Mind!!!!!.............................

[Delia]

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.............   

[Dalene Steenkamp (Coetzee)]

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..... 

[Mike Voden (RIP)]

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..........!!!!!!!!!!

[Clint Ebstein]

I am not normal what are you talking about?

[Mike Voden (RIP)]

Clint, we all know you're not normal.  

I was referring to everybody except you

[Stephanie Van Niekerk]

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.

[SandyB]

@ 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

[Mike Voden (RIP)]

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

[SandyB]

 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 ..

[Patricia Lotte]

  I'm not the only looney one on this planet ... there's a whole bunch of them out there  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.

[Gerda Cloete]

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...