I am cross-eyed.
We decided to use today and tomorrow to do
a number of things we need to do here in Johannesburg before trekking off to
Swaziland…one of which was to go to the University of the Witwatersrand to see
if we could find any references to my great-grandfather, Arthur Lomax, by
sifting through the many letters and reports to and from the SPG.
Unfortunately, the period we are looking at includes the theological fisticuffs
between Bishop Grey of Cape Town and Bishop Colenso of Natal…so there’s a lot
of material to look through!
But getting to the university was an
equally frustrating ordeal. Our dear Miss America GPS does not always know that
some roads are one ways…and she certainly has never driven in Africa! Who stops
at a red light here? One learns to weave through cars, and taxis, and
people…thankfully we have not encountered any livestock on the roads…yet. Our
nerves were shot by the time we got to the University gate. Thankfully everyone
was super friendly and super helpful.
But starring at microfilm after microfilm on
a small screen…turning the reels by hand from frame to frame…straining to read
the scribbles from yesteryear…scribbles made worse by poor copying…really took
the wind out of me. Of course we hit the rush hour traffic on the way back to
St Benedicts…why not throw that in for good measure? So, we may return tomorrow…but
for now, we are in recovery mode…
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