Happily Travel Back To An Exciting Time Of Life
Step back into an era of trolleybus overhead lines, trains were most used mode of transport to get anywhere when I was fifteen years old in 1970.
School travel meant I commuted by train after walking to the station each day about 1 km (.62 mile) downhill in the morning return in the heat of the day uphill, not a problem, we walked most places to get shops, movies, or discotheques at local town halls. School was 2/3 Afrikaans only 1/3 English speaking learners, some subjects number of pupils factored in, taught in whichever medium was larger, a small Commercial High School of around 100 students.
During my early working years SYND 25-1-73 CONCORDE 002 ARRIVES IN JOHANNESBURG testing high altitude flight, thought the windows were going to nudge out of the frames with this booming affect going over the offices. Seeing progress first hand into supersonic speed in craft was exciting everyone spilled out the offices to witness.
City was changing as were the people at the time, visiting coffee houses in Johannesburg after commuting by train, walked to Flea Market mingling with everyone. Music stores to listen to the latest releases in vinyl or walked through Diagonal Street which is where the Tribal Vendors sold interesting herbs, shells, potions, or variety of artifacts our Bantu used in medicinal healing.
Up The City - A Film by Alan Michael Levy: Johannesburg 1970 - 1971
Johannesburg in the 1970s
In 1974 I traveled with my Mother and Sister to explore Britain, Scandinavia and Europe our first tour out the country, Mom and I should have gone as little sister suffers with travel sickness, literally sick most of the time being on Aircraft, Trains, Coach Tours she was green on the channel crossing!
Started writing to my husband during his army training, being conscripted one had no say in the matter, which led onto our marrying in 1976, traveling overseas once again in 1978 which I have shared previously here on Hive.
All the time remembering we never had cellphones, growing up you learned to go alone getting things done, tell the person when you met once again, or write!
Music with live bands at the Witwatersrand University, Johannesburg City Hall or an evening at the Planetarium with music to watch the stars.
Technology was slowly appearing with bookkeeping being the first I noticed sending documents to computers where the system ran through "ticker tapes" to convert into documents, telegram messages upgraded to fax messaging, typists were on golf ball electronic typing machines.
Much happened during the 1970's it was a time when if we missed out on restaurants we caught up in these years when working, going out became easier with a few friends owning their first motor cars, normally a VW Beetle. Owning your first stereo record player, taking your parents out... Oh that I do remember Star Wars in 1977 when the movie first got to our city, we took my parents for a "treat", they were mortified we were intrigued!
End of the 1970's we decided to move to the coast, Johannesburg was growing, yearning for a quieter tiny little house by the sea we moved, cutting our salaries by a whopping half, then slowly started building up once again.
Hope you enjoyed going down the years, memories of live ballet, full orchestra at Johannesburg Civic Theatre, when we afforded a vehicle to go into the city spruced up dressed to the nines, a night out on the town.
Communicating via snail mail, hoping the person read it before you got back home, postal service was good back then. Red phone boxes much like in the United Kingdom for calling if you never had a phone at home, our closest was on the railway station when growing up, however we did get a phone in the home with a lock to stop pesky teenagers abusing the system....
Looking at the positive is always way more enjoyable than the negatives, there was plenty happening in our country in the 1970's which I will always keep close, many were hurt during these days, fighting the 'system', hopefully tomorrow is better for all.
Keeping the positive in mind I would travel back to this at my age if time had stood still, in all honesty I would not go into Johannesburg today even if you paid me!
More suggestions offered by @galenkp for #WeekendExperiences
All photography is my own using Canon Powershot, resized sometimes manipulated using GIMP or FastStone. Any queries or requests please drop a comment below or make contact with me, have a wonderful day!
Thought for Today: "Life is lived in time. Therefore he who wastes time, wastes life." - African Proverb
