The Daily Dispatch In East London

The building of the ' Daily Dispatch", a South African newspaper published in East London in the province of the Eastern Cape. It was founded in 1872 as the East London Dispatch. According to the Wikipedia, the Dispatch is today the Eastern Cape's best selling daily with a circulation of about 33,000 copies. The newspaper covers areas such as local news, sports, business, jobs, and community events. Published in English also includes a supplement in Xhosa.

 

 The newspaper is internationally known for its editor from 1965 to 1977, Donald Woods.

Woods became a friend of Steve Biko, leader of the Black Consciousness Movement, and provided support to Biko through his editorials.

After Biko's death in police custody, Woods went into exile to expose the truth surrounding Biko's death in his book Biko.

Today Is A Good Hair Day

Another Classy Old Lady

One of the many classy old ladies in Southernwood

Slippery When Wet

Christmas Time is the great holiday season in South Africa for everybody. It's summer in Mzansi and many businesses close their doors around the 15th of December or even earlier for a month of long anticipated  holdiays. 

That is the time when a majority of South Africans travel to the coast to enjoy the sea, the beach and the sun as well as many outdoor activities. But instead of summer, winter reigns in the Southern Hemisphere with temperatures of 12 degrees in the morning.

If someone still believed that global warming is only a threat to come and that we still have a lot of time to deal with it, spending the last few weeks with us in South Africa might convince him of the opposite and make it very clear that we are already dealing with the impact of climate change.

For him to steer alone a wheeled cart, fully loaded with sugar, weighing more than a 200 kg, down a steep drive way, flooded by rain and slippery as the mossy rocks on the beach, is more than an artistic endeavour. And still the rain is pouring. 

But God blessed Africa. One thing the African People hardly loose is their sense of humor.

In Between Rides

The One On The Right Is On The Left

JOHNNY CASH (adapted and shortened Buffalo Street Version)

There once was a musical troup

a singing picking folk group
with great musical ability

The one on the right was on the left

and the one in the middle was on the right

and the one on the left was in the middle

This muscial aggregration toured the entire nation

they performed with great virtuosity

well, the one on the right was on the left

and the one in the middle was in the back

and the one on the left was in the middle

 when the curtain had descended

thousands were gathered

as the audience watched hilariously 

Cause the one on the right was on the bottom

and the one on top was in the middle

and the one on the left got a broken arm

and the guy in the rear said:  Oh Dear !

East London, Southernwood, Buffalo Street

100 % Pain Free

 

The Ann Bryant Gallery

The Ann Bryant Art Gallery in Southernwood is a place well worth visiting when you are in East London.

Not only is it a love nest for two pictoresque doves having found their spot under the roof but the building's architectural structure takes the visitor back into a colonial past when space was not considered to be a luxury. 

The house, called originally The Gables, was built by the Savage family. Mr Savage had an export import business in East London and he built the stately house for his family but it must have cost him more than he could afford because shortly after the house was completed, he was declared bacnkrupt.

In 1907 the house was bought by Mr. Bryant to house his wife's art collection.

 

It is a host to a variety of art pieces of different styles and epoches.

They are tastefully exhibted in old colonial rooms with high pressed ceilings and large windows, having the right light and the right size for an art gallery 

It is a house that creates a desire to inhabit it. To make it your own.
Usurp it.

By the way, I find it an absolutely breath taking idea that there could be a husband somewhere out there who would buy a house to host my art collection. I must be definitely living in the wrong decade or centruy even. I love, love, love that thought. That is the husband I need. Well, Mrs Bryant had one like this.!

The building itself is a piece of art.

with wooden mahagony staircases, long drapes

colored glass windows

 the flair of the last century

and an absolutely majestic door

Local East London artist, Terry Flynn, famous for his Nahoon Beach landscapes oil paintings is also the assistant curator of the Ann Bryant Art Gallery. His work gives him still enough time to paint in the afternoon and it is easy to understand why he calls himeslf very lucky.

While he explains to me the structure and the composition of the painting he is presently working on I look around.

Terry's painter palette........

 

A table for playing cards

Hard to not envy him for his working place.

But since envy is a truly bad thing
let's rather enjoy the magic of this slightly wild garden outside

and the paintings and the aura
inside this beautiful house with it's Art Deco atmosphere

and lovingly arranged art pieces

always captivating my eyes is the one that does not want to stay in place and hangs skew

which you can find in any gallery

and then have a coffee and Lemon meringue at the Coach house.

The Color Purple To The Power Of 5 Is Called Jacaranda

A street in Southernwood in East London

You can say these are just purple petals.

But on the other hand I think it's a completely mystical experience in bright day-light to walk under these trees when in blossom.