The Circle Volume 7 by John Stretch

THE CIRCLE

VOLUME 7 OCTOBER 2021

In this issue: 1. Avignon: In 1309 the unthinkable happened - the Catholic church elected a French pope! Clement VI refused to locate himself in Rome, because of the civil war there. Between 1309 and 1377, seven successive popes ruled the Catholic church from Avignon. We spent a special week in and around this medieval city, known as the gateway to Provence.

2. Adam’s calendar: South Africa has some fascinating sites that point to its human history being far older than most people would imagine. What do you think of this one? 3. Girl’s best friend: In the Sperrgebiet you won’t find loose diamonds lying on the beach. But scrape off the top layer of sand and underneath lie these precious stones in their thousands.

This picture: Amphitheatre, Natal Drakensberg Front cover picture: Champagne Valley, Natal Drakensberg

1. Avignon

Introduction Our granddaughter au-pairing in France was due a week’s leave. As we debated where to go and what to do, my wife suggested Avignon, based on her memory of the television series “Die meisie van Avignon” from many years ago. It was an inspired choice. We spent a wonderful week in and around Avignon, the gateway to Provence.

Three and a half hours by TVG from Paris, Avignon is a fairytale city with a castle enclosed by ramparts that stretch for miles. Four million visitors visit the city and surrounds every year.

Avignon Avignon is more of a village than a city. Behind the ramparts you will find medieval streets full of history, alive with music and rich in art. Self‐contained and manageable, Avignon is easily explored on foot. You can stroll the streets without an agenda, peer into lanes to find art galleries, walk through ancient stone archways to discover sheltered gardens, and climb stone stairs for the best views over the city. Enjoy a coffee or a beer under the shelter of the broadleaved plane trees in the city’s squares. Or if so inclined, head to the city’s pedestrian-only zone to browse the local stores and indulge in some window shopping.

The famous bridge According to the legend, a shepherd heard voices telling him to build a bridge in Avignon. When it was built in 1185, it was the only place to cross the Rhône between Lyon and the Mediterranean Sea. The bridge was destroyed by flood waters and rebuilt several times, until it was finally abandoned in the 17th century. Today, all that remains are four arches and a chapel dedicated to Saint Nicolas. The bridge is famous the world over due to the lovely children's song "Sur le pont d’Avignon". Sur le pont d'avignon L'on y danse, l'on y danse Sur le pont d'avignon L'on y danse tous end rond

On the bridge of avignon They are dancing They are dancing On the bridge of avignon They are dancing all around

People did dance there, as in the song—not on it but underneath it, on the Île de la Barthelasse. A sturdy new bridge crosses the Rhône downstream.

Introduction Our granddaughter was au-pairing in France and due a week’s leave. While we debated where to go and what to do, my wife suggested Avignon, based on her memory of a television series “Die meisie van Avignon” from many years ago. It was an inspired choice. We spent a wonderful week in and around Avignon, the gateway to Provence.

A little history In 1309 the unthinkable happened - the Catholic church elected a French pope! Fearing for his safety, Pope Clement VI refused to base himself in Rome. Instead, he chose Avignon as his capital for its central location and fine climate. Between 1309 and 1377, seven successive popes ruled the Catholic church from Avignon. Papal control continued until 1791 when during the French revolution Avignon became part of France.

Your visit to Avignon has to include a visit to the Palace of the Popes, the largest gothic palace in the world. Its great walls and battlements, complete with turrets, moat and gates, circle the town and dominate the great cobbled square outside this fortress-palace.

The papal palace The city and the papacy in the 14th century did not enjoy a good reputation. The popes were accused of venality, nepotism and corruption, and were regarded as puppets of the French kings. In the mid-14th century, when the Popes ran Avignon like a Mafia business, the resident poet Petrarch wrote of the city, “It is a sewer where all the filth of the universe gathers. They despise God, adore money, trample divine laws and human laws. Everything there breathes deceit: the air, the earth, the houses and above all the bedchambers.”

Les Halles We were lucky to find an apartment a stone’s throw from the town square and its famous indoor market, Les Halles. Early every morning I strolled downstairs to buy fresh fruit and croissants for the family breakfast, just like a local. The indoor market is filled with local delights, ranging from delicately prepared pastries to fresh produce picked in farmers’ fields only hours earlier. Much more than a market, Les Halles is a meeting point, a one-stop-shop, and with the square alongside, the heart of the community.

Les Halles

Open from Tuesday to Sunday, it’s very busy on weekends. On Saturday mornings local chefs give live demonstrations of their prowess.

Ferry to Barthelasse The island of Barthelasse separates Avignon from Villeneuve-les-Avignon across the river. It’s a good place to have a picnic, a riverside stroll, or a leisurely bike ride. To get there, you can take a free ferry service. The navette fluviale leaves from behind the Pont d’Avignon at regular intervals throughout the day.

Wheel street In the Middle Ages a canal was built to supply water to Avignon’s textile industry. The mills were powered by 23 water wheels in the street along the canal, whose water was also used to rinse the fabrics. Most of the wheels were destroyed during the French Revolution and today only four remain. Locals refer to the street as the rue des Roues, or Wheel Street.

River cruises Many boat companies offer river cruises on the Rhone. You often see cruise ships moored next to the bridge.

The Roman city of Arles One day we cruised from Avignon down the river Rhone to visit the town of Arles. Retiring Roman soldiers were granted plots of land in this area. The Romans built a large coliseum in the centre of town to stage gladiator games, chariot races, and executions. Today the arena is used to stage bullfights and live music. You have a few hours to visit the coliseum and the nearby amphitheatre before the boat heads back to Avignon.

The artist Vincent Van Gogh lived in Arles before his untimely death and you can visit the sites of his famous paintings Starry night and Café la Nuit.

2. Adam’s calendar

Adam’s calendar On a plateau above the town of Kaapsche Hoop in the Barberton Valley, is a group of standing vertical stones that at first glance, seem to be laid out in a rough circle (give or take a few stones).

This archeological site at Blaauboschkraal is called Adam's Calendar and is claimed by some local people to be 300,000 years old. They say these peculiar structures are an ancient astronomical calendar. But there is no concrete evidence to support these claims and other authorities (Wikipedia) say the structures are the remains of 16th century cattle kraals. Adam’s calendar

Wikipedia “The Blaauboschkraal stone ruins are a provincial heritage site in Waterval Boven in the Mpumalanga province of South Africa. The ruins are thought to be the remains of structures created by the Bokoni people who settled the region in the 16th century and who altered the landscape to increase agricultural yields in high-altitude grasslands. The stone rings were probably used as enclosures for cattle (kraals). Pseudo archaeological alternative explanations have been put forward for the Blaauboschkraal stone ruins, attributing alien and/or ancient origins”.

Source: Wikipedia Standing stones Isle of Lewis, Scotland

Adam’s calendar Michael Tellinger, a local businessman, believes the "Adam's Calendar" site is the remains of a construction built by aliens 300,000 years ago. His partner Johan Heine says it is the oldest man-made site known on Earth. When pilot Heine was asked in 2003 to assist in the search for a colleague, he spotted a strange group of giant rocks from the air. Later he hiked to the monoliths and realized they were aligned to the cardinal points - north, south, east and west – of the compass as well as the equinoxes and solstices. Stone circle Adam’s Calendar

Adam’s calendar Heine and Tellinger have co-authored a book on the subject. They say that Adam's Calendar is an ancient accurate astronomical calendar. A central monolith casts the shadow of the setting sun onto a flat calendar stone next to it. Pictures taken from the air seem to support the hypothesis. Is it possible that these stones are indeed a functional, mostly intact, monolithic stone calendar? Heine says many people have seen the ruins and wondered what they meant and the mystery has now been solved thanks to his persistence and meticulous work. Great Zimbabwe

Adam’s calendar Adam's Calendar is protected as part of the Blue Swallow National Heritage Site, and you need a guide in order to explore the stones – and guess who it is? A full-on tour of the site with Michael Tellinger takes over an hour. You view the ‘Workshop' – a scattering of dolomite stones said to be where the stones were worked. You ponder the Stone Altar, see the Path of Initiation that local sangomas agree was used for ceremonies, view the Valley Created by a Meteor below you and the two Mounds Thought to Be Pyramids. Tellinger says this valley is the true Cradle of Humankind. Whatever your reaction to the claims, the tour through the stones is intriguing, and the view is marvellous. And great for local tourism too. Stonehenge

Adam’s calendar The area surrounding Adam’s Calendar is rich in gold. Several old mining shafts have been found in the area, and one of the richest working mines in the world today, the Sheba Gold Mine, is located in Mpumalanga. Early European explorers have found evidence of historic civilizations mining for minerals. The rich gold reefs led to a gold rush in the 1850’s. An ancient road structure that is visible from the air for hundreds of kilometres once connected these ruined settlements and forts and continued for 800 kilometres all the way to Great Zimbabwe. Mpumalanga

Adam’s calendar? Some mysteries of mankind’s history will likely never be solved, and some debates will never be settled. South Africa has turned up some fascinating sites – the Sterkfontein Caves, the Cradle of Humankind and its extensive fossil discoveries – that point to its human history being far older than most people would imagine. What do you think?

3. A girl’s best friend

Introduction “Will I be able to buy some diamonds?” asked Sandra. John Smith just laughed “Forget it Sandra” he said “That place is locked up tighter than a rat’s ass.” They were sitting in Smith’s office on a Sunday morning. The sign on the door read “John Smith – Investigations” but no one was quite sure exactly what he investigated. Sandra knew Smith had been a deep sea diver and truck driver in Namibia for a few years before he moved to Cape Town. Today she wanted information from him about the diamond mining town in Namibia, Oranjemund.

Girl’s best friend Some time ago, Smith approached Sandra through a “friend of a friend”, asking for advice about a client who needed to get married urgently to a rich young woman from a powerful family. But the client had a problem – he was already married to someone else. After hearing the facts of the case, Sandra suggested that for legal and security reasons it would be best if this couple were married in Goa in India. Smith had never forgotten. He had sent Sandra a jeweller’s tray of diamond rings as a thank-you.

A year later when the Hard Livings gang tried to set up a protection racket in the mall, John Smith sent a man with a gun. The man sat quietly at the boutique’s entrance for a week, and the gangsters took note. The boutique was not bothered. .

Girl’s best friend Today the two are enjoying their cups of coffee and Sandra is telling John about the Meyer sisters, twins who are getting married in their home town of Oranjemund, the diamond mining town at the mouth of the Orange River, where their father is a general manager. The sisters have had their first and second dress fittings and Sandra is flying there next Friday to dress the brides for their combined wedding. She asks Smith whether the legends of diamonds lying scattered on the beaches in Namibia are true.

Girl’s best friend Smith says they are. In 1907 a railway worker on his day off at the beach picked up a raw diamond lying in the sand. This find led to a diamond rush with hundreds of prospectors and miners scraping diamonds out of the sands and crevices, and taking pot shots at each other.

The government stepped in and quickly declared a vast region of Namibia's coast and desert to be a Sperrgebiet (prohibited area), monitored by armed troops and accessible only to persons with authorised mining licences.

Girl’s best friend Today Namibia and De Beers Consolidated Diamond Mines (Namdeb) jointly operate and control diamond mining in the Sperrgebiet. But you won’t find loose diamonds lying in the beach sand and in the bedrock crevices any more. Namdeb uses open cast mining to harvest the gems. They scrape off the top layer of beach sand and below lie rough diamonds in their thousands.

“But where did the diamonds come from?” Sandra asked. It was a freak of nature, Smith said. Billions of years ago pressures in volcanoes deep underground created a porous plastic-like soup full of diamonds called Kimberlite. The semi-liquid rock was forced to the surface through weaknesses in the earth’s crust.

Girl’s best friend The rock cooled down into solid pipes. Southern Africa has been blessed with many kimberlite pipes. The bestknown are in Kimberley and Cullinan in South Africa. The mighty Orange River and its tributaries, drains a huge area of inland Southern Africa from east to west. The river water has run over the kimberlite pipes for billions of years and pushed millions of diamonds along the river bed to the mouth of the river and then into the Atlantic Ocean.

The strong Benguela current, storms and changes in sea level over the millennia distributed the diamonds along the Namibian sea shore. The percentage of highquality gems recovered in the Sperrgebiet is very high, Smith said. The weaker faulted diamonds are destroyed by river and ocean, wind and weather.

Girl’s best friend With some trepidation Sandra climbed into the 10seater propellor driven airplane at Cape Town airport. The interior looked really old. The rear of the plane was used to store luggage - there was no luggage compartment- and Sandra noted cases of wine, bags of vegetables and even a basket of pigeons being loaded.

The flight itself was interesting with views of rocky coastlines and deserted beaches as they flew further north. Then suddenly a bird started flying around inside the aircraft cabin. Fortunately, the stewardess was able to calm the shrieking passengers and with Sandra’s help, to corner the bird and wrap it in a tea towel. Sandra noted it was a pigeon.

Girl’s best friend An hour later they landed safely at Oranjemund. The town is closed to the general public and the company owns everything including the school. You need to have a good reason and a permit to enter. Sandra was x-rayed and her belongings searched before she could pass through the security turnstile to leave the airport.

She was amazed to see an Oryx in the main street, apparently a common sight.

Driving into the town, Sandra had a strong sense of being in a time capsule. Some of the buildings and houses date from the early founding days of the 1940s and 1950s.

Girl’s best friend At dinner that evening she learned that with only 4000 inhabitants, Oranjemund has a school, a supermarket, a hospital, and six churches. And a surprising number of hobby and sports clubs. The brochure at her guesthouse listed golf, model airplanes, darts, rugby, two computer clubs, racing pigeons and even jukskei. The weddings went off as expected, with the normal last-minute panics, laughter, tears and bad jokes. The entire town population seemed to be at the church, before moving off to the emerald green golf club in the desert for the twins’ reception.

Girls best friend On Sunday morning her driver took her on a circuit round the town past the maintenance sheds where the giant mine operations vehicles are repaired and serviced. Sandra marvelled at these bizarre vehicles ten times her height. She didn’t see any diamonds, however. The mining operations are located well out of town, and surrounded by impenetrable security. She was x-rayed and her belongings searched again before she passed through the security turnstile at the airport.

Girl’s best friend A week later she was in her office when John Smith appeared at the door. “How was Namibia?” he asked “Did you find any diamonds?” “No, of course I didn’t,” said Sandra. “You were right about the security”. Smith winked and tossed a small muslin bag onto her desk. “How about these?” he said. The bag contained two small uncut diamonds. “Where on earth did you get them?” asked Sandra, nonplussed.

“Well, you see”, said Smith, “I have a contact in Oranjemund who keeps racing pigeons. So, I send him a few of my own pigeons on the company ‘plane from time to time, and sometimes the birds fly back with a little gift”. Sandra sat there with her mouth open. The pigeons were on the plane! Smith winked again. “As I always say” he smiled “There’s no security system that can’t be broken!”

Wreck of the ”Eduard Bohlen” Skeleton Coast, Namibia

The Circle is a limited circulation magazine produced as a retirement hobby for family and friends, past clients, and fellow Midstreamers.

Photographs in this issue have been sourced from Unsplash.com, Google images, and my personal collection. Content for the Adam’s calendar article was sourced from Wikipedia.