I then moved to a property investment and development company in the West End of London, starting as assistant to the accountant. During this year I was made assistant secretary, and decided shortly afterwards that my future possibly lay in South Africa. So here I am. Asfar as travelling was concerned,I managed to fit a good deal in, although I was restricted to a certain degree by the necessity of working. However, T saw and travelled as much as possible without giving the appearance ofabundant wealth to my erstwhile employers. In London I met up with several Old Boys, usually in pubs, and for six months shared a flat with Peter Rostron. London appealed to meimmenselyand Ispenttwo yearsin South Kensington, where I was in close proximity to Hyde Park and the WestEnd. On occasions, when feeling particularly energetic, I used to walk home from work, in the Haymarket,down into the Mall, past the Palace and along Knightsbridge. Very pleasant in the summer when the sun deigned to shine. Just before leaving England Ispent a very hectic two weeks motoring through France, Germany, Austria, Bavaria and Switzerland. I went with a friend and wetook camping equipment.Thecamping sites, without exception, were situated in delightful settings and had all the facilities one required, as well as being inexpensive. Excerpts from a long letter from I. Castleden (56-61): "Rounding a bend in the Wankie Game Reserve, doing a steady 10 m.p.h., we came across a herd of elephant, but did not see a cow elephant and calf, camouflaged in the bush. She did not see us immediately, but the moment she caught our wind she spun round on us. Trying to accelerate, we stalled. Thecow started trumpeting, flapped her ears, and put her trunk up. She charged,and as there was a tree between herself and us, she promptly flattened it. We thought the end had come...Her first charge hit the Kombi in the left front, slewing it right round. She then removed her tusks from the car and moved down the whole length ofit, bowling us over. We found ourselves sitting on the right side of the car on the door handle. She must have backed away and charged again, this time sticking her tusks through the floor of the car, lifting it over on to its roof. Still not satisfied, she backed off and stuck her tusks through the right side of the car, knocking it right off the road into the bush, on its left side. We both lay quiet until the cow stalked off. As the door was jammed, we climbed out of the window. As it was now past 5 o'clock we put the lights on and sounded the hooter in case anyone was passing on other tracks somewhere. At 5.40 the sun went down,so we collected a lot of brush to cook supper and boil coffee. By 10 p.m. it was obvious that no-one was coming to look for us. The car was a total wreck, with broken glass, petrol, battery acid, and gas coming from the cookers, so we took the seats from the car to sit on, and built two large fires for protection. Elephants were less than 4(X) yards away. We kept watch alternately throughout an anxious night, keeping the fires stoked. Looking around at the area we realised that we would have to move off pretty early, as this section was clearly an animal traffic centre, and so we packed two bags and were off by 6 a.m. Elephant and buffalo were less than 200 yards away, moving down to their water-hole, so we crept downwind and parked ourselves on a large rock. Eventually our well-tuned ears heard the sound of a car approaching .. ." (Their own car am uUimately towed away and repaired satisfactorily—Ed.) 1.29
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