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were off to work so I hurried to leave before they did. After a final good-bye and another
big thank-you, I joined the main highway and headed to Pretoria.
The last 45 kilometres were very easy and all I had to contend with was Pretoria's
mosaic of highways and overpasses. I arrived in the city centre and found the Canadian
Embassy very quickly. I signed the registry and waited for the officials to arrive. I was
warmly welcomed and was invited to stay at the home of Ian Ferguson who was a council
minister. I asked him if he could let the previous embassies/high commissions know that I
arrived safely in South Africa. He agreed and told me that a press interview was arranged
forthenextday.Afterreceivingdirectionstohishome,Ilefttheembassyandcycledalong
atreedboulevardtotheaddresshegaveme.ThegatewasopenedbytheguardandIsettled
in the guestroom.
I left the house in the morning for my 10:00 a.m. interview with a local newspaper.
I arrived and was interviewed by the most attractive woman I've ever seen and was pho-
tographed outside the building. I then spent the rest of the morning walking through the
shopping centres. My role as Zaïre's volunteer mailman officially ended when I mailed the
final letter that I had been carrying to the South African Correspondence University.
In the shopping centre, my heart went out for a guy I walked by dressed in tattered
clothing, dishevelled hair and disintegrated shoes. It was then that I realized I walked by a
full-length mirror. I couldn't believe how unkempt I looked. No wonder the women were
not making eye contact with me. I would have loved to go out for lunch/ dinner with one
of these beautiful women but not the way I was dressed.
The next few days were so uneventful that I longed to get back on the road. I just
spent my time playing Ian's piano, window-shopping at the Brooklyn Mall and watching
television.SinceIanhadaverybusylifeIrarelysawhim.Idecidedtoleavethenextmorn-
ing.
I thanked Ian for allowing me to stay in his home and left after breakfast. It was
with great joy that I was back on the road. I first climbed a huge hill on the N1 and had
manymotoristshonkatme.Iwasn'tsurewhy.Perhaps(a)theyreadthearticleinthepaper
andwerejustsayinghello,(b)SouthAfricansdidn'tlikecyclists,or(c)Iwasnotsupposed
to be on the highway. Whatever the reason(s) were, I simply waved at them cordially and
kept going.
The last 9 kilometres into Johannesburg proved to be the most difficult due to the
road construction. When I arrived in the city, I first found the home of Lucy Taylor, the
director of STC-Johannesburg. She offered me a room in her home for the duration of my
stay in the city. After I placed my things in the guestroom, I took a quick shower and ate
supper with the family. I met her husband Robert and her three daughters (Karen, Natasha,
and Jenny) and really enjoyed the humour and the warmth of the conversation at the table.
After dinner, I went with the two older daughters out for a beer in the city and got to see
the city's nightlife which I loved. We returned to the house and I hit the sack by midnight.
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