South Africa We've Left
08th April 2009
I tasted my first ever cappuccino yesterday. Not just any old cappuccino I’ll have you know, but one with spices and froth and made by Goran. He’s the man responsible for assembling our crack team in South Africa: Dusko, the former Yugoslavian sharp shooter, South African Tony who doesn’t like ties and the silent but deadly ‘M’, our driver.
We were gathered in Goran’s office to say our goodbyes. Whilst sipping cappuccino, and working on my froth moustache, my circle of friends with names ending in ‘o’ doubled with the introduction of Vesko. Suddenly, I felt like I was in a very bad soap opera for former Yugoslavian ex-pats. This last week, however, has been anything but a drama. It’s been hard work and exhausting, but relatively smooth considering.
When we left London half of the trip was organised, 8 days later we returned clutching hours of rushes waiting to be knocked into shape in the edit suite. We’ve had so many highlights during our sojourn in South Africa, most of which are detailed in the previous watts happening entries. To round it up simply, everybody we’ve met, has been fantastic.
As well as the people, there are everyday moments that stand out. In fact, I’m sure the following snapshots will continue to make me chuckle for years to come. You know the kind of thing, driving along an 8-lane highway and opening the sliding door of the van to film the city skyline rushing by. Unfortunately, the only the thing that went whizzing by was Dusko’s jacket, flying out the door faster than you can say “catch it!” Clearly, the obvious thing for Dusko to do was run up the inside lane (no hard shoulder) into the oncoming traffic to retrieve it. He sauntered back towards us as if he was on a Sunday stroll, jacket and phone intact. Of course, Africa being Africa, everyone just went round him, not one beep of the horn.
Then there’s the time the guys were filming and Matthew was home alone in the crew vehicle. He called me over: “Laura, Laura” in hushed tones. Busy thinking about the shot list, schedule or something, I was slow to respond. “Laura!”
I turned to see him pointing at the glove compartment. I couldn’t make out what was inside, so Matthew picked it up. Of course, it was a gun. I mean, keeping a couple of empty CD cases, a road map and some used tissues is so passé when you can have a pistol in your glove box. Ironic too, that our driver had a weapon to protect us when he clearly wanted to scare the life out of us on ‘Death Highway’ to and from Jo’burg. At least ‘M’ entertained himself, turning to laugh every time we flinched, shouted “slow down” or just adopted the brace position.
Our week in and around Johannesburg will live long in the memory. Places are what they are because of the people in them (and the sunrise), so for me, this has been a very positive experience. As for the future, we’re already planning our next project, all I can say is, watch out Afghanistan, we’re on our way!
We were gathered in Goran’s office to say our goodbyes. Whilst sipping cappuccino, and working on my froth moustache, my circle of friends with names ending in ‘o’ doubled with the introduction of Vesko. Suddenly, I felt like I was in a very bad soap opera for former Yugoslavian ex-pats. This last week, however, has been anything but a drama. It’s been hard work and exhausting, but relatively smooth considering.
When we left London half of the trip was organised, 8 days later we returned clutching hours of rushes waiting to be knocked into shape in the edit suite. We’ve had so many highlights during our sojourn in South Africa, most of which are detailed in the previous watts happening entries. To round it up simply, everybody we’ve met, has been fantastic.
As well as the people, there are everyday moments that stand out. In fact, I’m sure the following snapshots will continue to make me chuckle for years to come. You know the kind of thing, driving along an 8-lane highway and opening the sliding door of the van to film the city skyline rushing by. Unfortunately, the only the thing that went whizzing by was Dusko’s jacket, flying out the door faster than you can say “catch it!” Clearly, the obvious thing for Dusko to do was run up the inside lane (no hard shoulder) into the oncoming traffic to retrieve it. He sauntered back towards us as if he was on a Sunday stroll, jacket and phone intact. Of course, Africa being Africa, everyone just went round him, not one beep of the horn.
Then there’s the time the guys were filming and Matthew was home alone in the crew vehicle. He called me over: “Laura, Laura” in hushed tones. Busy thinking about the shot list, schedule or something, I was slow to respond. “Laura!”
I turned to see him pointing at the glove compartment. I couldn’t make out what was inside, so Matthew picked it up. Of course, it was a gun. I mean, keeping a couple of empty CD cases, a road map and some used tissues is so passé when you can have a pistol in your glove box. Ironic too, that our driver had a weapon to protect us when he clearly wanted to scare the life out of us on ‘Death Highway’ to and from Jo’burg. At least ‘M’ entertained himself, turning to laugh every time we flinched, shouted “slow down” or just adopted the brace position.
Our week in and around Johannesburg will live long in the memory. Places are what they are because of the people in them (and the sunrise), so for me, this has been a very positive experience. As for the future, we’re already planning our next project, all I can say is, watch out Afghanistan, we’re on our way!