A Joubert Park flat, a job, a murder and a suicide

My first letter of employment, Carlton Hotel, 1974

My chest feels tight as I am blogging this morning.

This letter from the five star Carlton Hotel in Main Street, Johannesburg confirms my employment as an Information Hostess starting on the 11 November 1974.

My address is given as Jubilee Hall one of the Wits University residences.

I want to weep thinking about my young 18 year old self, how I got to this point and survived.

This is the same year my mother was having her cancer treatments. It was my first year of university doing a science degree. My first year of hard won freedom and I had no clue on how to manage any of the above.

I baled on my studies, found this job paying R250 per month and settled into a sparcely furnished flat in King George Street in Joubert Park, opposite the Johannesburg Art Gallery. I recall my parents assisting with some of the furniture but they were frustrated and disappointed with me.

Our relationship was strained, the year before I had been the Head Girl of Vaal High School, the Dux Scholar with 3 distinctions in Matric and arms full of trophies and awards for academic, cultural and sport events. A year later, I was a challenging and confused teenager.

As you can see from the job description that I worked shifts and would walk the kilometre from my Joubert Park flat to the Carlton Hotel. No wonder my chest feels tight, looking back I am terrified for me.

I loved the buzz of the hotel. Seeing Trevor Rabin the lead singer of Rabbit, a well known South African pop group in the 70's, was fun and I was a huge fan. I remember the 24 hour staff kitchen in the basement because I certainly did not cook for myself.

I was shocked rigid by the shooting described in the newspaper article below. I was on duty, in the Front Office on that saturday night. I heard the shots, the screams and the unbelievable noise of the massive pane of glass cracking when the gunman fell backwards.

All I could say when interviewed was, 'it was unreal'.

This whole phase of my life still feels unreal, the job and flat did not last long as I registered for yet another first year at Wits in 1975, swinging away from the sciences to the arts.
And the confused, difficult teenage years continued unabated for quite a few more years.

A postcard in my box of the Carlton Hotel

Post script:
In 2008 I bought the Tim Ecott book called Stealing Water. 
He describes life in the 1970's in Hillbrow and his stories of working at the Carlton Hotel brought back so many memories. He writes of the 'curious inverted Y-shape of the Carlton Hotel' its fabulous restaurants, The Three Ships, El Gaucho and Koffie Huis, the pool deck on the 30th floor and he reminded me that the Carlton Hotel was listed in the phone book as Africa's Greatest Hotel.
And I played a bit part in it's history.