In response to Mr.S's comment/question regarding which country did some of the chapters of Two Feet take place? Thanks for your question, Mr.S. and your spending your time to ask !! Always willing to oblige.
When I scribbled Two Feet I intentionally kept dates and the name of places vague -- Africa is and will always remain a mysterious continent to me -- perhaps because it is ever-shifting, forever in chaos, future events unknown.
Two Feet and its contents are primarily based in the mountainous Kingdom of Swaziland.
When I scribbled Two Feet I intentionally kept dates and the name of places vague -- Africa is and will always remain a mysterious continent to me -- perhaps because it is ever-shifting, forever in chaos, future events unknown.
Two Feet and its contents are primarily based in the mountainous Kingdom of Swaziland.
Where the hell is that you ask?
If you peruse the map of Africa, drop your eyes down South toward South Africa. Swaziland is nestled, somewhat fragile, between the borders of South Africa and Mozambique (...in my day it was called Lorenco Marques,http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Lorenzo+marques , and was Portuguese territory and promised the best King sized prawns since the invention of sliced bread). Alas, the prawns disappeared during the intervention/invasion of the Russians, Cubans and the AK 47. I do have a memory though that when Lorenzo Marques gained its independence, on that historical day, as the new flag was raised, the flag-pole collapsed. Somewhat symbolic, I dare to add.
But I digress as always -- Swaziland's claim to fame, during my young years there, was that it boasted the longest remaining monarch ( I think it still does?) His name was King Sobhuza II Longest reigning monarch. Maybe I was naive ( I was 10 going on twelve) but life seemed pretty good under King Sobhuza II. Fruit, cotton and sugar cane was abundant and rumour had it the King was well into his 200th wife and tourism was on the up : especially as across the borders in +South Africa both gambling and access to soft-porn and even a tantalising view of a woman's left or right breast, was religiously banned.
Swaziland jumped on the bandwagon and soon the valley of Ezulwini was festooned with casinos and a cinema that projected anything or anybody in the nude. My younger brother, not even sixteen, became the ticket seller, manager of the only Drive-In and its midnight attraction of French porn was well populated by porn starved South Africans. The Story of O being a major magnet.
Again I digress -- Swaziland was granted its independence from the United Kingdom in 1968. Much shield banging and drinking of corn beer heralded the event -- I was there and King Sobhuza II was festooned with the feathers of the Sobhuza bird. It was a momentous occasion and I would like to say the picturesque Kingdom has never looked back since. Alas, I read today that since Sobhuza's death in the 1980's, the country is now plagued by HIV and corruption. And that marijuana is now its major export -- ah well, another opportunity lost on my part. Marijuana in my time in Swaziland grew like trees -- even the birds flew higher than most. I don't jest.
So -- there you have it, Mr.S. -- Swaziland it was and no matter its present state, a country of many memories it will remain.
Thank you for your question -- I hope you enjoy the remainder of the read.
TWO FEET
But I digress as always -- Swaziland's claim to fame, during my young years there, was that it boasted the longest remaining monarch ( I think it still does?) His name was King Sobhuza II Longest reigning monarch. Maybe I was naive ( I was 10 going on twelve) but life seemed pretty good under King Sobhuza II. Fruit, cotton and sugar cane was abundant and rumour had it the King was well into his 200th wife and tourism was on the up : especially as across the borders in +South Africa both gambling and access to soft-porn and even a tantalising view of a woman's left or right breast, was religiously banned.
Swaziland jumped on the bandwagon and soon the valley of Ezulwini was festooned with casinos and a cinema that projected anything or anybody in the nude. My younger brother, not even sixteen, became the ticket seller, manager of the only Drive-In and its midnight attraction of French porn was well populated by porn starved South Africans. The Story of O being a major magnet.
Again I digress -- Swaziland was granted its independence from the United Kingdom in 1968. Much shield banging and drinking of corn beer heralded the event -- I was there and King Sobhuza II was festooned with the feathers of the Sobhuza bird. It was a momentous occasion and I would like to say the picturesque Kingdom has never looked back since. Alas, I read today that since Sobhuza's death in the 1980's, the country is now plagued by HIV and corruption. And that marijuana is now its major export -- ah well, another opportunity lost on my part. Marijuana in my time in Swaziland grew like trees -- even the birds flew higher than most. I don't jest.
So -- there you have it, Mr.S. -- Swaziland it was and no matter its present state, a country of many memories it will remain.
Thank you for your question -- I hope you enjoy the remainder of the read.
TWO FEET
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