The Dining Car
The icy Karoo morning air slips
through the cracks where the double pane used to be and makes its presence felt
kissing my cheek and gnawing at my finger tips and toes.
The dining room meets us
unadorned, its naked tables staring back at us, not a placemat, cutlery or
curtain in sight.
For a few seconds a flashback to
earlier times when as a child I travelled on the train from Cape Town to family
– reluctantly forces its way back into my brain. “Don’t live in the past”, I
think but the picture is indelible, printed in my memories forever and not that
easily brushed aside.
The sound of the gloomy meal time
gong once again echoes down the long winding corridors of the carriages. “First
sitting”, calls out the ghost of Christmas past. Tables elegant with white “brookie”
lace table clothes and serviettes greet the hungry traveler, ladened with
fresh fruit and a protea to remind us of the land of milk and honey that we all
were part of.
White waiters a splendor in
their black and white attire and waistcoats, sweep past with professional ease –
extending the warmth of a South Africa welcome to visitors to its shores and
taking orders for the steaming hot three course breakfast served on white
plates with heavy silver cutlery engraved with pride S&R.
Hot coffee would be served
warming the insides and the double window panes and bright curtains would fight
the battle and keep the icy fingers of the Karoo morning air outside. It feels
like yesterday and then reality kicks in tearing me back to the present with a
voice of the waitress wearing the same dirty apron she wore last night at
dinner.
“We have no..” as the waitress
starts to rattle off a list of what is not available on the menu once again. No
surprize here, we accept this without complaint or resistance. Our Fatherland
is slowly closing down one service at a time. Lack of service delivery, lack of
training, lack of insight, lack of implementing quality to enhance self-pride
in ones work – who knows, who cares?
“May we have two eggs please in
place of all the missing items”, sparks a running debate of over fifteen minutes
with the rest of the staff relaxing in the back chairs of the dining coach. The
team decides this time and only this time they will break the rule and supply
one extra egg. Thank goodness I almost thought we would have to wait till lunch
for a decision, making the extra egg redundant.
“I would like my eggs soft and
coffee please”, I dare to ask.
“What?” She scowls, reminiscent
of an old school ma’am in Oliver. “You want your coffee first?” The menu clearly states
juice (in a foam-a-lite cup), two choices of breakfast (of which they have
almost none of the ingredients) followed by coffee. I knew I was expecting too
much these people are trained like parrots and cannot deviate from the menu
without a “debate” with the rest of the staff texing in the back seats. My
heart sunk, lunch time was coming closer by the minute. Then she spun around walked
to the kitchen and brought me a cold plate of food with eggs so hard I would
need a hack-saw to cut through them, and then ten minutes later thankfully, the hot coffee
with steaming milk in a plastic cup appeared. No I did not ask for the juice,
would you have?
In the days of old the train
driver would slow down during meal times and catch up later. This train driver
put his “foot in die hoek”, with the wheels conveying his message – “I want to
get home, get home, get home, home”. Coffee splashed everywhere, the ice cold
butter tore at the cold toast, the eggs rolled over one more time to die. I
just sighed and ate as fast as I could, wrestling for the last time with the
Karoo air still sneaking through the cracks determined to freeze the coffee as
well, left a tip and in passing, glanced at the younger generation who had
crawled in late for breakfast - thankful that maybe it was just as well they
did not know what they were missing.
The Train to Matjiesfontein came as a result of us traveling to Matjiesfontein in the Western Cape of South Africa rural area, and was part of the up-liftment project of the Science and Technology train which will travel to all the poorer areas bringing the truth and a love for science to children who have never had the opportunity to see 'science' at its best. Partners are also erecting a gigantic telescope there - largest in African. I am working on the side project of community up-liftment and am busy upgrading the local rural Public Library, introducing technology and mentoring. I am trying to create a school library in the town at Matjiesfontein. The school has one store room it will let me use. Needs paint, carpets and windows.I have one computer and a few books. I am also needing tables and chairs for the school children. Can you help make make a difference in their lives. Do e-mail me kniped@tut.ac.za for an address if you want to be part of this project and have the finances to send the furniture or paint, carpets etc to me. I will make sure it reaches its destination via the Tshwane University of Technology, Science Library where I work as a Training Librarian.
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