Flying High: A Letter from my Younger Self  

Dearest Grace, 

This letter is about a wonderful memory of mine when I was just nine years of age. 

As you are aware, I grew up in a very poor home and as you can imagine, how the excitement ran through my veins when my eldest brother had given us the news that we were all going on a cruise, which would leave from Durban, stopping at East London, Port Elizabeth and Cape Town. We were also booked to go up Table Mountain and then fly back to Johannesburg. 

“Go up a mountain?” I said. “Are we going to climb up?” 

“No,” my brother said. “We are going up in a cable car.” 

Oh boy! This was amazing, fantastic news. 

“When are we going?” 

“Calm down,” my mother said and then, in the next breath she announced that we would all need a new outfit, Sunday best, to go on this ship called ‘The Edinburgh Castle’. A new outfit! Wow, I never got a new outfit as I always got my sister’s hand-me-downs. How my mother made a plan for us to all have a new outfit, I have no idea but she was so proud of us all when we stood on the deck in our outfits.  

The time arrived and there before me stood a gigantic, beautiful ship and I could not wait any longer to walk the gangway and experience what lay ahead. Oh boy, that gangway was scary, it wobbled as I ascended to the open deck. I was on the deck, it felt like a dream, I had to pinch myself to the reality [of it], I was finally on board.  

I was given a streamer and had no idea why or what to do with it. I am sure my face showed that I was bewildered, as a young man in a sailor outfit said to go up to the top deck and stand at the railing and as the ship set sail, you loosened the strip and holding onto it, you tossed it towards the people waving goodbye below. Then unexpectedly, a blast of a horn sounded, I almost dropped my streamer overboard. What a sight it was to see all these brightly coloured streamers blowing in the wind, as the ship gracefully moved out to sea.  

We had our own dining room, yes, a children only dining room, this was great, no adult telling you to take our elbows off the table, sit up straight and eat with the correct spoon. I had never seen such an abundance of food, array of desserts, so many flavours of ice cream and selection of soft drinks. I felt exhilarated. 

Our days were filled with activities: swimming, playing games and doing sports on deck. My favourite game was The Frog. This game required skill: you had a rope with a frog attached and you had to bounce the rope to make the frog leap forward, but just the right amount of bounce or else your frog fell over and you had to start again. Six frogs in a row – whoever got their frog to cross the line was the winner. I had to do this, I had to win this game and I did. What a sense of achievement. Daily we arrived at the Children’s Deck at 8 am and we were collected at 7pm. We all thought we were the bee’s knees, it was such a wonderful time.  

Late one afternoon, I could see flashes of yellow lightning coming through the thick dark clouds and then rumbling and I knew we were going to have a storm. Suddenly the wind picked up and in no time it was howling and the sea had changed to a dark and choppy appearance. The sea started to curl up as it made waves that crashed against the metal frame of the ship with such force, so powerful that it caused us to toss and roll from side to side, as if it was made of a light, flimsy, transparent plastic. That afternoon I understood the power of water and wind, and how one is in the hands of a storm while it raged through the early evening. Although I was scared, it was visually beautiful to experience. 

We docked in Port Elizabeth and my brother and I disembarked and walked up the street, on the pavement that was made up of stairs all the way the top of the steep street. My goodness, I had never seen so many concrete stairs. I started climbing at a remarkable pace but then started to get tired and out of breath. My top body felt like it was too heavy for my legs to carry, but then we heard a sound coming from a nearby building, we went inside to find a freestanding pipe organ. I was stopped in my tracks, I had never seen an organ with so many keyboards, never mind the large pipes of different sizes and lengths and the sound just gave me goosebumps, uplifting to my soul. The sound is produced by air being forced through the pipes. We had to make our way back to the ship and I must say the view of the harbour was amazing and our huge ship suddenly looked rather small from the top of that hill. On the way down, I had a wicked thought: if only we could sound that good when we passed wind!! 

We finally sailed into Cape Town and what a gorgeous sight of Table Mountain. The closer we got to port, the more spectacular that mountain became. We disembarked the ship, said farewell, stored our luggage and our transport was waiting to take us to the mountain. 

We were on the way to the airport for our flight back to Johannesburg. I was feeling a little sad as this wonderful adventure, amazing holiday had come to an end. Little did I know that the last of this journey would knock my socks off.  

There before me stood this very impressive 747 Boeing and although it was so big and wide, it was also so graceful in appearance. I walked up the metal stairs and on entering I was greeted by an elegant, beautiful lady who showed us to our seats. I could not get over the length and size of this plane. I got to sit at the window just behind the wing. How could that wing stretch so far and two engines hang off [it] and then to see and hear the fuel is held in the wings, wow this was just mind boggling, how could this lift into the air with all these people, weight, food; I could not imagine how! 

We were ready to depart, we taxied down to the runway, the plane turned and suddenly those engines roared and got louder and louder, the speed was exhilarating so much so that I found myself being pushed into my chair and you could hear the overheads rattle. Out of the window I could see the wing, it was split and had writing on it ‘do not walk’, the next minute we were lifting off the ground and everything became smaller and smaller the higher we climbed. The clouds were like balls of cottonwool, and I could not contain my excitement. This was the best feeling ever. On occasions the plane bumped like someone was tickling it under its wings, turbulence was the word and I found it fantastic. Then we descended to land. I could see and hear the wings as they changed in shape and the thump and bang as the wheels came out from under the plane, then the runway in sight and a skid, bump and down we were, the plane thrust reversal causing us now to be pushed forward almost out of our seats while it decelerated in speed. The wings once again now pulled up from their downward curved shape and aligned back into shape. We were now at the end of our journey and at that very moment I asked my brother: ‘what do you call this job?’ ‘A pilot,’ he answered that's what I wanted to be one day. My love for flying and travel has never left me since that day.  

I hope you enjoyed my favourite memory as much as I did and I hope to hear from you soon. 

Forever and always  

your best friend  

Judy Gold 

PS, I thought about how the children on the ship came from different backgrounds, cultures and countries and yet we all engaged in just being together and having the greatest time. It made me realise that none of us are born to hate or dislike any nation, religion, gender or culture and that saddened me to think how different the world could be. You will remember how I could not pursue my dream of becoming a pilot as I was told it wasn't a woman's job. I was torn apart, my world shattered and I carried that well into my older age and all that's left to say, the sky lost the best pilot it could ever have had.  

Soon, you turn 71, where has the time gone! 

The Art of a Good Business Letter 

Liandri Oosthuizen 

Co Down 

BTYY ZZ 

15th February, 2024 

[Travel agent’s details have been removed] 

To whom it may concern 

Subject: Accommodation Ref 5678 – Paris 

Thank you for your confirmation letter received today. 

I wish to bring to your attention that the names of the guests are incorrect. This would need to be changed as one of the guests requires a visa for his travel and proof of accommodation is a requirement. I will attach a note hereto with the correct spelling of all guests for easy reference. Please also note one of the guests requires wheelchair access, so should the hotel not have an elevator, we would need a room on the ground floor. 

I do apologise for this inconvenience and I am sure it was due to the telephonic booking and being from a different country, my accent is not always the easiest to understand.  

Yours faithfully, 

 L Oosthuizen