A long, long time ago … aka in our early married days …. barely a rugby match at Kings Park (KP) would go by without a couple of Muirheads being present. Over the years KP had seem many of us grow up … or try to pretend at least. It had watched with horror as Cedara students made a braai after the match using the picket fence … me, meeting my future father-in-law clutching OBS, drinking out the bottle, wearing a far-to-big cardigan that took me to my Knees, in a brown paper packet… or my future sister-in-law changing in the toilet (into a very skimpy looking “dress” before going out to the Durban night clubs (all at the tender age of 15).
My father-in-law was an avid Natal rugby supporter with parking tickets on K1 and season tickets just below the coaching box. All our children went to many rugby games in their kango pouch and had the rite of passage of having a nappy changed on the floor of the public toilets and maybe a rinse in the basin. A few years later they all had the pleasure of playing on the fields after the game acting out their own darting runs and winning tries all with someone else’s rugby ball, getting “lost’ in the parking lot glaring through the braai fires looking for their parents and making new friends (no shoes, a little grubby, a little tired, a little thirsty, a little hungry ….
Natal rugby and KP was an integral thread that ran through the family that I would one day call my own …But as with many things this fixation had a cycle and before we knew it, it had been 15 years since we had gone down to KP and enjoyed Durban in winter ….
The excitement was next level… we were going down to The Rugby. To a test match, all together in a Land Rover, staying the night …. Road trip ! Excitement off the charts ….
So …. we pile in – 8 of us in the Landy heading down ….
Driving a Landy is an activity all on its own. It is not something you can just pop in or pop down, it is not something that just turns and has a quick response. You feel the environment through the open windows, you make a connection with all passers-by and you enjoy the whole ride. It is an all emcompassing / all immersive experience and one that will always mean fun and adventure.
Yes, people do tend to be more understanding when you are behind the wheel of a Landy – they wait at stop streets, yield for you at circles and give you a little more room to overtake and a lot of room when you need to speed up and yes, Landy drivers do all hoot / flash lights / greet each other. Now I was part of THAT club>>>>
When we got (dare I say finally …) to the rugby we found our way to the Weber stand and had the obligatory rugby / heritage day braai.
There were no parking tickets here, no season tickets, no familiar faces…. Just lots of similar minded people wanting to have fun, loving the crowds, feeding off the gees and keen for an afternoon of good, hard Springbok rugby.
Six packets of spice and so six entry tickets later and ……We won bokkie !!!
We found our tickets and I knew that I had friends in high places, but this high …. The views were spectacular.
After fighting your way through the ramp you pop out into freedom and fresh air …
After a true KP evening on the fields (a bit of gate crashing, a bit of drinking out of friend’s cooler-boxes, a bit of socialising, dirty hands, a chill in the air and a lot of laughs) we headed back to our accommodation for the night.
And yes. when the HF got home from driving the Landy back for Durban on the Sunday, he did need a sleep …. (every day is leg day when driving a Landy … no gym visit needed)
thanks so much to Trev ….
Pink Farm Chick 