For some people, a house is just a convenience where they sleep at night. Not for us. In 1999, my husband and I were charmed by a house in Melville, a lively suburb in Johannesburg. It has been our home for 22 years.

Born in Durban, I headed for London as soon as I finished university and I loved every minute there. I planned to make it home, but back in South Africa to visit my parents, fate intervened and I ended up in Cape Town for a year, which heralded my return to this country.
Professional ambition and my love of large cities saw me move to Johannesburg in the late 1970s, where I have been ever since. One of the first places I lived was in 6th Avenue, Melville, where I rented the upstairs of a property with a magnificent view of the Koppies and a spectacular experience of Johannesburg’s famous electric storms. That was the beginning of a love affair with the area, which I put on hold when I bought my first house elsewhere.
The return to Melville was largely motivated by wanting somewhere fitting for our housekeeper, Margaret, and her family, to live. When I showed her the cottage designed by architect Kate Otten, she burst into tears.

My stepson, who came to live with us when he was 14, liked the buzz in Melville and gave it his thumbs up. Given the choice of living in the main house or the bedsit next to the cottage, he unsurprisingly chose to be outside the main house, where he lived until he moved to his own place (give or take a gap year in the UK and studies there and Australia) and this time the tears were mine, but of course, I understood.

Sadly, Margaret’s husband died ahead of his time and we mourned his loss but life went on and our house was a haven for us all.
Our lives were very different in the days and months and years before Covid when we more or less had an open-door policy for our large circle of friends.

At that stage, I was a senior TV producer at SABC and the proximity to work appealed to me as did Melville’s trendy restaurants and the quaint shops and the camaraderie of the people who lived in and visited Melville. Some of Joburg’s most interesting characters lived or hung out here – artists, writers, performers, TV and radio producers and academics. Melville was also one of the most diverse suburbs, a racially mixed and harmonious place to live even before South Africa became a democracy. In short, it was the place to be and I knew pretty much everybody in the neighbourhood.

A conscientious, hard-working child, she made us all proud by achieving distinctions throughout school and university. She’s been abroad several times and now has a well-paid job with a leading bank.
None of Margaret and her late husband’s three children is a domestic (their son, more than 10 years older than his sisters, left our home some years before) and so the cycle has been broken. Their parents and we were proud of their progress in their chosen professional fields. We also had another generation join us one New Year’s Day when Margaret’s older daughter gave birth to a girl who added even more pleasure to our lives.


We were fortunate that my stepson and the girls stayed as long as they did. I worried about Margaret being lonely but she had been talking about retirement for a couple of years although neither of us spoke seriously about the dreaded subject. We made a cursory attempt to find someone else with Margaret interviewing three potential replacements who concluded we were inseparable.

Luckily Margaret’s brother always joined her for Christmas – as he did in 2019 – and my suggestion that he stay on was well-taken and he was still present when Covid brought lockdown to our household in March last year. My husband, Margaret and her brother and I lived contentedly here until Christmas last year when Margaret decided that for the festive season they were going to the house she’d inherited from her husband – where the four of us had recently been to check on it. I responded that it was time for her to live in her beautiful home, time for retirement. She protested she couldn’t leave us “alone” but my mind was made up and when the day came to say adieu, we all cried copious tears.

For Margaret and me, it had been 40+ years together without so much as an argument and it was a wrench to part ways. She and I phone each other regularly and she still says how much she misses us, Melville and her friends in the area, and her absence is sorely felt.

It was an adjustment for my husband and me to face the reality of our extended family going their ways and for us to adapt to our property in these Covid times. We realised that we too would have to move on and embark upon a new chapter in our lives.

Our house was a stumbling block because we could barely imagine living anywhere else. In winter, a wood-burning fireplace kept us cosy and in summer our beautiful garden flourished. We had wild Brazilian cherries, granadillas, lemons and an abundance of figs for green fig preserve, and the pickings from our scented flower garden were arranged in most rooms while also attracting birds and bees.




Fabulous memories. You’re lucky to have that. Not everybody does. I’m envious and oh so proud of you dear friend. And we never did get that cuppa together! Next time … xxx
You’re right. One of these days. Sx
Very moving.
And talking of moving… hopefully the dates will soon be forthcoming. Sx
Lovely article Suzanne and much resonates with me in our move to Melville. I do hope to see you before you move on. Much love
Thanks, Carol. I tried calling a week ago but will try again. Sx
Yes, it is always hard leaving a home as opposed to a house. I have been living in my ‘penthouse’ (really a top floor flat) in Hampstead for 15 years now and I love it. I dread the thought of ever having to leave. I have the whole of Hampstead Heath literally across the road and have made many lovely friends hereover the years. Good luck with your new home. Cape Town is, as you know, a special place too. If I wasn’t living here that wpuld be where I would want to live. Love.💕
Thanks, Martin. Yes, Hampstead is a special environment and you fit in so well. Sx
Hello Suzanne,
This is a lovely descriptive memoir of a lovely family home, garden and people ebbing and flowing in and out of your life. Well done.
Sending you lots of good vibes for the move. I am sure you will have an exciting new life.
Much love
Jenny
Loved your story Suzanne. I wish you the best with your move to Cape Town – the city in which I was born and raised (Pinelands). Enjoy – I’m sure you will!
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Many thanks, Mike. Good to hear from you.
Beautiful my friend. I wish you as much happiness in the Cape.
Hopefully will see you there sometime in the future. Hugs
Thanks, Nessa, Look forward to seeing you there.
What a lovely tribute to house, home and its people. You will miss Melville and Johannesburg but Cape Town with all its vagaries(that wind!) is waiting to receive you.
Good luck with the move and see you at the foot of Table mountain!
Thanks, Maryanne. Yes, at the foot of the mountain sounds diplomatic :-).
It won’t be the same without you round the corner! But we will chat lots!
I will miss you.
Very touching Suzanne – your love for your home and families, reached me. A big move indeed with all the threads of emotion, memory and sentiment, bound up in it. We will miss hearing from you on social media, and seeing you & Richard in the area … you’re part of the village! But a lovely city awaits you and know you’ll soon be making inroads and new memories there – all the very best xx
Thank you for your very kind words, Anne. Hope to see you in the Cape some time. Love to you and Gary.