Ancient cultures blend
TOASTMASTER Telf Penderleith belched long, loud and raspingly into the microphone at precisely the right moment in the traditional Address to the Haggis – as he does every year – and we knew the Highland Games had truly arrived at their new home at Michaelhouse.
The gods of the weather were kind. Last year at Fort Nottingham the surrounding hills were covered in snow. At Balgowan it was sunny and benign and the new setting, on one of the Michaelhouse playing fields at the top of a small valley, brought to the Games a new proximity – most of the activities being conducted at the same time and in the same place, all of it to a skirling of the pipes. There was a continuity.
In the army mess tent I heard afterwards that a woman soldier of one of the competing regiments in the traditional "walking the weight" contest – where a huge boulder is carried on the shoulder for as long as possible – placed it on her head and carried it with aplomb.
A caveat: This was an army mess tent and the whisky was flowing. But it does sound like a successful blending of two ancient cultures.
Scots secret
OVERHEARD at the Highland Games:
"What's worn under your kilt?"
"Nothin's worrn, ma'am. Everything's in pairfect worrkin' orrder!"
Heresy
YOU CAN PLAY only as well as the opposition allows. Argentina allowed us precious little on Saturday, their forward driving was superb.
How does one explain a turnaround performance such as this, following the debacle of the previous weekend (from Argentina's point of view)? Could it be jet-lag, the effect of flying a long distance eastward (the way we have to when we play in Australia and New Zealand)? Is jet-lag more potent than we thought?
Foul heresy enters the picture. Our rugby relationships with Australia and New Zealand were formed at a time the teams travelled by sea. There was no such thing as jet-lag. They continued in a time of long tours, where the jet-lag factor soon disappeared.
But today with the constant flying about? Should we not be on a north-south axis, the Boks playing in what is currently the Six Nations, our provincial sides in the Heineken Cup?
Foul heresy. Or maybe not.
Graeme Charter
I'M DEEPLY saddened to learn of the sudden death of Graeme Charter, retired CEO of the Natal Sharks Board (as it was still known during his tenure). Graeme spent a long career with the Board, from the early days when it rescued the tourism industry in this province from melt-down following a spate of shark attacks.
It was arduous and often dangerous work, that sometimes ranged a lot wider than its brief. The Board's boats and crews were involved in recue work during flooding in Mozambique. On one memorable occasion its nets were spread below a building off the Durban beachfront to make an impromptu safety net while the police tried to talk down a potential suicide.
Graeme was fully aware of the environmental consequences of netting and for many years sought alternatives such as electric barriers. He was still pursuing this in retirement.
He and I had been engaged in writing a book on the story of the Natal Sharks Board. For various practical reasons this had been delayed, and we were due to resume work on it in about a month.
Tailpiece
Last word
Whenever two people meet, there are really six people present. There is each man as he sees himself, each man as the other person sees him, and each man as he really is.
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