3 Preface

Preface

How and why this book came to be written.

I have written this book for our children. I had said something about an event in my life. When Suzanne, one of our daughters, heard it she said: “I wish you would write more about your life so that we will know more about you — where you come from, and the things that shaped you”. More than anything else, then, this memoir is written for our four children, Andrew, Jenny, Suzanne and Timothy, and to our granddaughters Zoë and Jasmine, and any grandchildren still to come. I call it a memoir because it is hardly an autobiography. It is of necessity a ‘confession’ in the sense of that word in the title of St. Augustine’s book, ‘The Confessions Of St. Augustine’. In that old usage it denotes a frank revelation of all things, both good and bad, that make up the life of a person. It is sketchy, recalling only those moments and episodes which imprinted themselves on my memory and which, therefore, give some understanding about where I come from, and why I am what I am today. That information, of course, is important to my children and those other chance readers who happen to know me but, while the narrative has been taking shape, I have realised that my story is the story of a countless number of ordinary lives, lives which pass unnoticed and unsung except by those closest to them. I trust that such people who happen upon this book will derive some pleasure from it, even if it is just the comfort of saying, “We are many; I am not alone”.

Thanks and Acknowledgements.

My sincere thanks are due to the people who contributed and assisted in the writing and production of this book.

First and foremost, my thanks go to  Dorothy-Anne who meticulously read, and reread, every page as each emerged, and then reread the whole work in its final stages.

Then my sincere thanks to Jenny, our daughter, who encouraged me all along the line as the project changed from being just a blog on the Internet, produced mainly, as I have said, for our four children and our granddaughters, but which turned into a serious desire to have it appear as a book in hardcopy; and for her constant help in bringing to the point where it was ready to place in the hands of a publisher.

My thanks also to Andrew, Suzanne and Timothy who read the chapters as they emerged and reminded me of episodes in which they were directly involved and which were then included in the text.

My thanks also are due to my friend, Boet, with whom so much of my life has been involved, as a companion in the early years, and as a friend throughout the years and who has contributed much to the memories that form part of the content of the book.

Jessop,

Cape Town