Publications
Partners
Bathurst – The happiest man in Bathurst walked into the pub in the Eastern Cape village's Pig and Whistle Hotel on Tuesday evening, ten minutes after his countrymen beat Uruguay in the World Cup semi-final.
"It was amazing, but I just hope Spain wins tomorrow (in their semi-final clash with Germany)," said Hans van den Nouweland.
He had watched the match at another bar up the street, but had stopped in at the Pig and Whistle – the oldest and longest – licensed watering hole in South Africa, to share his joy with its patrons.
He did not find many.
Maybe it was the ghosts that are said to haunt the hotel that kept the residents of the historical Eastern Cape village away on Tuesday night, because when Holland kicked off against their opponents at 20:30, there were only four people at the bar, and one of them was manning it.
"There'll be a big crowd tomorrow to watch Germany. It’s the cold weather," Pig and Whistle barman Gavin Johnstone-Robertson explained.
He hailed Van den Nouweland as "the only Dutchman in the village", but he was corrected.
"No, there are four; my brother, and his wife, and me, and my wife." Van den Nouweland was too happy, and relieved at the outcome of the game, to worry about the turnout.
"I didn’t breathe for two hours," he said, ordering a beer.
Ghosts haunt the hotel
According to retired librarian turned local historian, Merwynne Jones, a pair of noisy ghosts haunt the old hotel.
"Seriously, it has a pair of ghosts – a man and a wife. The building is on the site of an old forge. The farrier had a daughter who made a tragic marriage. Her husband was a spendthrift and a drunk.
"Now, all these years later, you can still hear the shouting and the tears. There is stamping up and down the staircase, and you can sometimes hear her terrible cries," she told Sapa earlier on Tuesday.
Hotel barmaid Kotie Smit was equally adamant the hotel has a ghost.
"I’ve seen and heard it; it has no features, it’s just a shadow." She said the ghost had never given her any problems.
"But I know when it’s close – I get goose bumps," Smit said.
Manager Claire Cawthorn was more circumspect.
"I think you have to believe in it to see it," she said.
Waitress Bukie Zweli insisted that while she had never actually seen a ghost at the hotel, something kept shifting the mirror on the wall in the hotel’s entrance hall.
Mirrors moving
"In the morning, when I come in, the mirror has moved," she said.
But the only spirit to be seen in the Pig and Whistle on Tuesday evening was being passed over the bar.
According to a sign on the pub’s door, there is "No Thirst Like Bathurst", a claim jokingly endorsed by Jones.
Asked how the World Cup had affected Bathurst, she told Sapa: "Everyone’s drinking to excess, of course!" According to a resident of the nearby coastal town of Port Alfred, who declined to be named, locals refer to quart-size bottles of beer as "Bathurst dumpies".
The village, which has about 600 permanent residents, boasts three pubs along its main street. The Pig and Whistle is the oldest, having started serving drinks to thirsty farmers back in 1832.
Visitors are left in no doubt they have entered pineapple country.
Just outside the town is a four-storey high, fibreglass-and-steel pineapple. From the observation platform on top, there are fine views of the surrounding area.
Sitting behind a desk in the base of the giant yellow pineapple at midday on Tuesday, cashier Dawn Olivier said it had attracted a lot of interest from foreigners.
"We’ve had lots of World Cup tourists through here, especially the Portuguese," she said.
"It was amazing, but I just hope Spain wins tomorrow (in their semi-final clash with Germany)," said Hans van den Nouweland.
He had watched the match at another bar up the street, but had stopped in at the Pig and Whistle – the oldest and longest – licensed watering hole in South Africa, to share his joy with its patrons.
He did not find many.
Maybe it was the ghosts that are said to haunt the hotel that kept the residents of the historical Eastern Cape village away on Tuesday night, because when Holland kicked off against their opponents at 20:30, there were only four people at the bar, and one of them was manning it.
"There'll be a big crowd tomorrow to watch Germany. It’s the cold weather," Pig and Whistle barman Gavin Johnstone-Robertson explained.
He hailed Van den Nouweland as "the only Dutchman in the village", but he was corrected.
"No, there are four; my brother, and his wife, and me, and my wife." Van den Nouweland was too happy, and relieved at the outcome of the game, to worry about the turnout.
"I didn’t breathe for two hours," he said, ordering a beer.
Ghosts haunt the hotel
According to retired librarian turned local historian, Merwynne Jones, a pair of noisy ghosts haunt the old hotel.
"Seriously, it has a pair of ghosts – a man and a wife. The building is on the site of an old forge. The farrier had a daughter who made a tragic marriage. Her husband was a spendthrift and a drunk.
"Now, all these years later, you can still hear the shouting and the tears. There is stamping up and down the staircase, and you can sometimes hear her terrible cries," she told Sapa earlier on Tuesday.
Hotel barmaid Kotie Smit was equally adamant the hotel has a ghost.
"I’ve seen and heard it; it has no features, it’s just a shadow." She said the ghost had never given her any problems.
"But I know when it’s close – I get goose bumps," Smit said.
Manager Claire Cawthorn was more circumspect.
"I think you have to believe in it to see it," she said.
Waitress Bukie Zweli insisted that while she had never actually seen a ghost at the hotel, something kept shifting the mirror on the wall in the hotel’s entrance hall.
Mirrors moving
"In the morning, when I come in, the mirror has moved," she said.
But the only spirit to be seen in the Pig and Whistle on Tuesday evening was being passed over the bar.
According to a sign on the pub’s door, there is "No Thirst Like Bathurst", a claim jokingly endorsed by Jones.
Asked how the World Cup had affected Bathurst, she told Sapa: "Everyone’s drinking to excess, of course!" According to a resident of the nearby coastal town of Port Alfred, who declined to be named, locals refer to quart-size bottles of beer as "Bathurst dumpies".
The village, which has about 600 permanent residents, boasts three pubs along its main street. The Pig and Whistle is the oldest, having started serving drinks to thirsty farmers back in 1832.
Visitors are left in no doubt they have entered pineapple country.
Just outside the town is a four-storey high, fibreglass-and-steel pineapple. From the observation platform on top, there are fine views of the surrounding area.
Sitting behind a desk in the base of the giant yellow pineapple at midday on Tuesday, cashier Dawn Olivier said it had attracted a lot of interest from foreigners.
"We’ve had lots of World Cup tourists through here, especially the Portuguese," she said.
