Cape 2010 - Day 4 (19 Jan)

Awful humidity yesterday, full on rain today! Made my way to the Grocott's Mail offices for a 09h00 appointment with the general manager. Asked a lot of questions and got some good sources. She also showed me all the old equipment and type blocks they still have. Starting to get a better idea on how printing would have developed in South Africa.




Picked James up at the university bout 10h00 and we both headed back to the B&B for some more snooze time due to the late night! After lunch we headed back to the university where he settled in for the afternoon session of the conference and I started on old newspapers again.

Manged to get hold of the very first editions of both the Grocott's Mail and the Grahamstown Journal. Grocott's started in a bout 1871 and is still running making it South Africa's oldest independent newspaper. The Grahamstown Journal was the first Grahamstown newspaper and started in 1832. Yup, I got to play with 180 year old newspapers!

Also answered a number of questions I've had, such as: When did they start using images in adverts? What other things would a printing office have produced? Of course, with answers come a whole load of new questions!

Joined the Geologists just after five for the "closing ceremony" - essentially snacks and speeches. Then we went back to the B&B for a couple of quiet hours before heading out again for dinner at Gino's. James was pleased to find that their pizza hasn't changed.

Stopped by the party being held by the Rhodes students to drop off copies of some of the photos I've taken and for a last beer. We then bid the Tuks students farewell, since they intend to leave 05h30 the next morning.