Some of you guys are very nice and gentlemen of the highest order...others are best left on the balcony before you push them off.
I am a bastard...my grandfather was from Cork, granny from Paris...that's just dad's side.
Mom was Scots and Scots 1820 settler stock,,,,sooooooo I'm relieved no Pommmy stock.
My only regret that mixes do not always get it together,
You've lost me in the whereabouts of Cork, but I'm also glad I'm not a pom. Also glad I don't hit people when the Stormers lose, don't kick the dog either. Do a bit of swearing though. I shall have to work on that.
Ddraad
Cork is in Ireland. So Seb is desended from Scottish, Irish and French ancestry.
I am a bit of a mixture. The first ancestor of mine on m father's side landed in Cape Town on 26 January 1709 - married to a local who was the daughter of a Danish slavetrader and explorer by the name of Meerhoff and Eva of the Goringhaikona, the local girl brought up by Van Riebeek to serve as a translator. I therefore can claim Black Economic Empowerment. :LOL
His mother was descended from the French Huguenots and since the family basically always marries people of similar descent - she was more French than anything else.
My mother was from Dutch descend - with a bit of local blood mixture. Another claim to BEE (LOL).
I cannot really lay claim to any nationality because of the situation and can only be regarded as an African - despite what the politicos say.
What can I do - I can curse a hell of a lot when the Springboks fail and call down curses galore. Same with the Stormers and my favourite Sharks. You should have heard me during the Brumbies game. Cannot help it though.
Interesting old Maaik...we cannot choose our background...probably explains my madness...although I love the Irish...best pubs in the world...wicked sense of humour...all mixed up...gentle and sentimental at times and incredibly ugly and violent at worst...although gramps was a south boy he was kind and gentle and very stable...never understood the conflict with the Ulster boys...I don't either...shows the evil in politics...The French side well that's another story...gran was a romantic but became eccentric in old age. Probably explains why I enjoy the Les Bleus style of rugby. Incidentally the French Huguenot side in Afrikaaners...Du Plessis,Du Toit, De Villiers etc has come out in our rugby over the years,,,certainly the Du Plessis ancestry has produced legends.
The Frogs are not bad people...a lot of Saffas and Poms don't like them but thats probably they do not know them or cannot be bothered to get to know them. Thierry La Croix and Freddie Michalak were very popular guys in Natal...not only incredibly talented players that helped the Sharks to reach the highest level but were popular as just ordinary decent guys. They certainly won our hearts here in Natal.
I;ve found that ignorance and indifference is one of the worst traits in human beings...when you take the trouble to understand different nations you find them great oaks...because my wife is as foreign as you can get, it's taught me to respect her nation...indeed the Russians and Georgians are lovely people...totally opposite to what the west has portrayed them in the past...especially USA propaganda...today they are totally anti communist/socialist. But even so my wifes parents are old school die-hard communists but they are warm and kind people (not all of them are like this...you get the real nasty ones). The sad thing in Russia is that the older people were better off before Perestroika...Russia's wealth has fallen into the hands of ex communist bosses...the worst capitalists from ex communists. George Orwells Animal Farm to the tee...except the other way round.
It's the politicians that I despise...the bulk of them are selfish greedy people that have zilch scruples and integrity.
Seb
I agree with you about the Russians. One of my earlier friends - a Prodessor In Russian at the University of South Africa - was professor Elisavata Kandyba-Foxcroft. her father was a baron in Russia and fled the country in 1917. She was an extremely cultured person.
In 1993 I visited Russia and I was impressed by the firendliness of the local people - many of them extremely poor. I was on a flight from St Petersburg to Moscow when a passenger sitting next to me offered to buy me a beer. He obviously was poor - but extremely nice. Did not anderstand much English - but knew a smattering of German.
I do not like politicians. That includes all ranges anywhere in the World. From stories told me by people in Russia - Stalin was a monster who was so cruel that even Hitler paled in comparison. Most politicians are mongrels and should be treated in that way.
Fact is I have become a bit of a royalist. If I look at Queens like Juliana and Beatrix of the Netherlands and even Elizabeth of England and read the historic books on people like the Emporer Franz Joseph of Austria - I see rulers who put the interest of their countries first. They conduct themselves better than the untrustworthy politicians that ruin their countries through irresponsibility and enrichment of themselves.
Ja Mike, that's interesting...you wrote, her father was a baron in Russia and fled the country in 1017. Must have been 1917...just before the Bolshevik revolution.
I met an elderly man in Russia who was a naval officer in the USSR navy...he was also a heart surgeon (cardiologist) and was a great fan of the late Chris Barnard whom he had met in the USA at a conference.
What a gentleman he was...lived in a modest flat with his wife and daughter but extremely intelligent and well read...had a great interest in history and geography. We discussed SA and Russian history...I was amazed at his knowledge...he told me he felt ashamed of what his people did to the royal family...Czar Nicholas, Alexander and the children. He was a royalist and felt the revolution put Russia back and that Russia would have been a world leader in many things if the plebs never took over. He said he and his family had to live in silence for many years. He had priceless books and photographs of his history.
He was a hunter and great fisherman and showed me the huge elks, bears, boars that he had shot in Siberia and Kamchatna and massive salmon he had caught on the Kola Peninsula.
I met many friendly Russian people when I was in Moscow and St Petersburg...got motherless with a bunch of students at the hotel where I stayed...bottles and bottles of real vodka...they refused to let me pay...really nice guys and gals...highly intelligent and great musicians...they played Beatle songs almost perfectly with guitars and sang very well. It was a gas.
I am digressing away from the topic at hand, Mike but I know this will interest you because you mentioned an interest in the royalty a subject that intrigues me as well.
I've just laid my hands on a book in the Hillcrest library written by Grania Forbes,called "My darling Buffy"...The early life of the Queen Mother.
It is well documented and well written and revealing. What a great woman she was. As pretty a picture you could ever imagine when young, full of mischief (but moral) and wit. The cream of the crop of suitors of the world used to swoon at her feet before she finally decided on her darling Bertie (Duke of York...later King George V1) to get engaged. Read it ...you'll enjoy it. A must read.
