Steve Mandy

I suppose my the “my Travels” story starts with leaving South Africa.

After my wife left, I had some decisions to make. “should I stay or should I go”.

Everything had to be sold, including the house, to take care of the settlement, so, for the first time since about 1994, everything was liquid. I didn’t own a house, a car, just a bunch of furniture, 2 dogs (with no home to go to) and a cat that my ex wanted to take.

Andre de Ruyter had just delivered his expose on eskom and I must admit, it hit me hard. I knew that things weren’t going well in the country – corruption – but I had no idea how bad it was.

A lot of people have made the decision to stay in South Africa and I wish them well, but, I was sure that I would not see anything but doom and gloom in the rest of my life in a place so impregnated with immoral, evil people in control of everything that matters.

The coincidence of being liquid and having the opportunity to leave with the realization that things were going horribly wrong was too much to ignore. The writing on the wall was screaming at me. There is just so much head burying one can do before you have to listen to the drums.

It was a horrible decision. My heart was broken. I LOVE South Africa, love being South African, and the thought of leaving was a bitter pill. Without doubt the hardest thing I have ever had to do. My memories of the UK were not happy ones. It was as if my life began when I returned to SA.

And so, we start with journey one. From Durban to London, London to Wales. I have family in UK. Estranged, but, none the less, family. My sister, who I had distanced myself from all my life became the most viable option. Her situation, she had a large house in Wales that my dad had financed with no one in it except her. I told her of my plans to come and stay with her (I have 3 brothers as well) and she was enthusiastically receptive to the idea, as long as I had enough money to support myself. I did. All these years from 1979 to present day, I kept up my UK pension payments. I got a UK pension which started in July 2023. I didn’t trust it. Until I saw money falling into my bank account, it was still a fantasy. Sure enough, 3rd July 2023 I received my first payment. I was flabbergasted. Now, I had a future.

Finding my feet in Wales, a happy surprise.

I was born in South Africa. I have always been proud to say that. My family left SA in 1960, I was 3, but I clung on to the fact that I was different. It may be something to do with the terrible reputation brits have in Europe, but I was different.

My memories of growing up in UK were not happy. I really don’t want to bog this journal down with that part of my life and hows and whys. It just wasn’t happy for me. The romantic countryside visitors saw was just a bunch of fields to trudge through on the, all too frequent, cold rainy days. I had no illusions that Wales would be any different.

But they were.

I knew I wasn’t going to like the weather, but, I thought I wouldn’t relate to the people. I was wrong. It was the people I met in Wales that made the difference. Some truly magnificent humans. Dynamic people driven by noble goals. Welcoming people attached to simple pleasures. I could list them, but for fear of leaving someone out, I won’t. The most unlikely friendships blossomed.

I got thoroughly involved with the community and more specifically, The Fishguard Food Festival.

Eilish Blade is a woman with powerful vision. It was her idea to bring a food festival to Fishguard. Supported by the super intelligent and hyper energetic James Hunt had all the enthusiasm in the world for creating an event, but very little direction on how to get people to come to it. That became my job. This was my opportunity to show what I could do with social media marketing.

I set about the task with the enthusiasm of a man possessed. We, the three of us, created videos and posts that captured the hearts of Fishguardinians and got them all fired up to come to the greatest festival they would ever see, and in some ways it was. I decided a flash mob using a Mens Welsh Choir would become our secret event. The choir loved the idea and we put in motion one of the most memorable events Fishguard had ever seen. The ensuing flash mob video got over 70,000 views and firmly put Fishguard on the map. It was historic.

The Festival took up most of my time and gave me great purpose. I also became a director of “North Pembrokeshire Trade and Tourism” (NPTT) where I met and formed a friendship with Jeremy Martineau. Jeremy and I attend anything we can that focuses on tourism that can help the area. His energy at the age of 80 odd, is nothing short of miraculous, and on top of that, he enjoys a beer.

So, in short, my time in Wales became really pleasant, but, I knew that “winter was coming”, and I needed to dodge the cold driving rain. Many people in UK adjust to the different climate. Its one thing I can’t do. I planned to leave in December. Where? I had no idea. I just knew I wouldn’t be happy in Wales. A friend of mine, Zano from South Africa had just emigrated to Cyprus, he suggested I come to Cyprus. Why not? and so, my next destination was set. The thing about Cyprus, apart from being a bit warmer that Wales was that it hardly ever rained there and the big bonus, the country has an agreement with UK National Health, so I am sort of covered for that type of eventuality.