| Smash, crash, it's Maris Stella FESTIVE is the season. Traditional is the restaurant. I felt like a gatecrasher in a harem party the other night as I visited the Delfi, in Windermere Road, to investigate an item of historical interest. The place was littered with smashed crockery - the old Greek tradition of throwing dinner plates at the walls. A waitress was running about the place with more tatooes on her than that harpoonist in Moby Dick. Vivacious Nadine later explained to me the significance of each tattoo and expressed astonishment that I was not similarly adorned. The restaurant was packed with lovelies. There were screeches of merriment. The wine was flowing. It was the annual Mums and Daughters dinner of Maris Stella. This is a school tradition that has apparently been going for many years. Or maybe that's the way it is every lunchtime in the Maris Stella dining hall – lots of noise, lots of smashed crockery. Yes, festive is the season. Maybe I'll get a Santa Claus tattoo. Old paper THE ITEM of historical interest alluded to above was a yellowed June 29, 1926, edition of The Natal Advertiser – forerunner of our sister newspaper, the Daily News. It had been found in an old chimney of the Delfi kitchen by Manuel Terranes, brother of Maria and Doddy, who own and run the place. The front page was all advertisements, of course, as was the practice of those days. You could fully furnish your home for £100 (R200) and you could buy a pair of Gaberdine trousers for 19/6d (R1.95). There was concern over the quality of the bathing enclosure (which I think was at North Beach) and whether it was up to the standards expected by upcountry visitors. The July Handicap horses were exercising on the beach. A cartoon made fun of Colonel Cresswell, leader of the Labour Party, who made policy statements via a parrot perched on his arm. Who knew there was once a Durban Agricultural Show? It was on at King's Park and page after page was devoted to dairying, beef farming, crop farming and other agricultural pursuits. There's a piece on the farming potential of the "upper suburbs" – between Hillcrest and Northdene – and a four-column photograph taken on a carnation farm at Sarnia. There are also fashion shots, quite a lot on car and motorcycle racing and hill climbs, a long, gossipy column written from Fleet Street and some rather desultory local court reports. What comes across is a sense of calm. No big issues. It was eight years since the war to end all wars. Nobody had heard of Hitler. The piping time of peace. The paper is a bit tatty here and there but Maria and Doddy want to preserve it and put it on display somewhere. Maybe for the next Maris Stella Mums and Daughters dish-throwing spree. Christmas rush OVERHEARD in the Street Shelter for the Over-40s: "I'm really excited. Just six more Chelsea managers to Christmas." Muscleman A BODYBUILDER who has set the record for the world's biggest arms has been accused of using banned or artificial substances. Moustafa Ismail's biceps measure 79cm around – about as much as the waist of a lean man – and they've got him into next year's edition of the Guinness World Records. Born in Egypt but now living in the American state of Massachusetts, he's known as "the Egyptian Popeye." But now he is dogged by tittle-tattle that he uses steroids, implants or other artificial means to augment his muscles. This he vehemently denies. He says the muscles are the result of workouts and diet. Moustafa – bald, moustachioed and hugely bulky – is an alarming sight as he performs a bench press in the gym. He seems to be angry. His accusers would perhaps do well to let it be. He might otherwise pull their heads off.
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