Cinderella

I had my first experience of the theatre with Auntie Essie and fell in love at once. She took me to see' Cinderella' at the Empire Theatre in Johannesburg on a Saturday evening. We got all dressed up (which is what you did 50 years ago) and it was the most exciting thing that had ever happened to me in my first decade of life.. We had almost front row seats and I couldn't sit still waiting for the curtain to go up. I was enthralled, but when the golden coach, with four footmen and four white horses came on to the stage and this ethereal creature stepped from it in her swirly,voluminous white dress and those glass slippers, I thought I had died and gone to heaven. My mouth went dry and I gasped. I remember it so clearly, and feel my heart beating wildly thinking about that sight.When the curtain finally came down, I burst into tears and begged to come and see it again. Pure joy and pleasure to me is still a night out at the theatre.

Giggling in the bath

Auntie Essie was my mother's spinster sister. No, that's not quite right, she had been married very young, but the marriage was 'never consumated' (family gossip). She was like a much beloved maiden aunt, and I adored her. My parents sent me to her for school holidays and we used to have such fun. I went with her to work (Secretary at Anglo Vaal Company), went out with her and her best friend Madge Smith, bowling or to the cinema, and chugged around in her little black Austin. But, best of all was sharing the bath with her. She was huge, about 300 pounds, and everything wobbled when she moved. I had to squeeze into the bath with her, but how we giggled. I always remember the giggling. All the neighbours in her block of flats used to know when I was visiting, as they heard us giggling. She had a divan bed that we shared and we always fell asleep holdng hands. I wished that she was my mother! She died when I as 16 and left me feeling utterly bereft. Now, 44 years later, I love her still and think of those giggly nights in the bath.