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My GF while I was at Sandhurst got in touch out of the blue a week ago
She was South African and came to the UK when she was 12
Her parents were liberals in SA, but would be considered very conservative over here. Fundamentally they believed that black people in SA deserved better
They became known to the authorities because of this belief, and their close circle of friends, who felt similar
The country was sanctioned, money couldnât be moved out of the country and emigration wasnât possible either
One summer, GF and mother had to go to England over the summer to be with an aunt who was dying. Those that needed to know - schools, business acquaintances etc were let know about this, but not too many
âAmosâ, GFâs father, took up sailing to pass the time while GF and mother were overseas. A couple of friends joined him, as moral support at this difficult time
Amos let it be known that the aunt was nearing death and that they stood to inherit a considerable amount of money. He visited estate agents to look at properties previously unaffordable to him
He put his nice home on the market, and it sold quickly
He (together with the two friends) bought a sailing yacht - a real yacht, worth roughly three nice, suburban SA homes
Within a week, the three friends slipped anchor out of a harbour in Cape Town for an outing in their new yacht
13 days later, they landed in St Helena. Two weeks after that, Gibraltar and a couple of weeks after that, Brighton
The beautiful yacht was sold and the three families bought houses on the South Coast
In desperate times, people do desperate things
