Blasts from the past

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I recently realised that Facts About Durban has been going for 14 years (it feels more like a lifetime) and I had a happy morning trawling through the older parts of the site. There was no WordPress in those days and I manually created diary pages using Dreamweaver and posted links to new pictures and articles as I added them to the site. The old diary pages cover the period from June 10, 2003, to January 2011, when I added WordPress to the site, and are linked from here:

https://www.fad.co.za/diaryold.htm

I then decided to see what was happening 10 years ago on FAD so I called up the diary page covering that period and I found, among other things that:

  • Neil Gould contributed reminiscences about Durban nightlife.
  • A storm surge struck Durban.
  • Wade Kidwell contributed a number of postcards.
  • I wrote a story about a troopship revolt in in Durban in 1942.
  • There was a large fire at the Seaboard Hotel.
  • We heard from Hans Hallen — the designer of the Little Top.

AND

  • The third edition of my book Facts About Durban finally hit bookshop shelves.

I’d encourage everyone to have a browse through the early diary pages because it’s an excellent way of discovering stuff on the site that you might otherwise not see.

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  1. Gerald Buttigieg
    | Reply

    Hi Allan
    Yes times move on and one does not realise how quickly. I still recall contacting you when the first edition of Facts About Durban appeared. My wife had included it in my Christmas stocking with a note ” Here’s a little book I think you will enjoy”.
    I wrote to you to correct one statement you made about Durban having the first automatic telephone exchange and that was my start of being associated with FAD. A lot of water has flowed under the bridge since then but at least FAD has survived.
    It has been a fun ride.
    Gerald

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