Where to from here?
I was now 17 going on 18 and had passed my driving licence test. As a celebration, I was coerced into taking my Mother away for a holiday. We went off for a holiday in the Drakensberg mountains, and while away, I received news that I had passed the matriculation examination.
As a child of about ten years of age, I stood and watched a Pharmacist at work dispensing prescriptions. He measured liquids and mixed powders using a mortar and pestle. Given my interest in science and chemistry, I liked the idea. Now thrust into a world with unlimited opportunity, I needed to be more mentally ready to embrace the unavoidable.
Being in the city, one day, near the College where the pharmacy school was located, I decided to visit the registration office. I made a spontaneous decision to enrol to be trained as a pharmacist. My family knew nothing about this. I had just completed the registration when a friend from school walked in. My Father knew his family; he was one of the most promising pupils at school, and he knew me well. His uncle was a Pharmacist.
Aghast, he stood for a moment and looked at me. "Glyn, he exclaimed, this is not for you!" Too late, I said, registration is all done and complete.
Little did I know then, but pharmacy and accountancy were among the toughest to achieve back then. Thousands of unsuccessful students were roving the country looking for jobs or apprenticeships.
I registered for the intermediate examination course to be taken over two years at the same time as doing a pharmacy internship. A final year had to be done after the three-year apprenticeship in a pharmacy. I cannot recall what made me commit to the endeavour. But upon reviewing the incident, I realised that the experience was another assurance of divine intervention. My friend chose to do the internship and the two-year full-time separately.
I can still vividly recall the day I went to purchase my textbooks. I have a clear vision of the bookstore in the Durban high street, "Griggs Booksellers" was its name. I remember the young fellow who served me; he had to help me pronounce the word "pharmaceutical". Where the money was coming from, I still needed to learn.
Pharmacy internship.
My Father had an acquaintance with a pharmaceutical wholesaler. Together, they found me a job in a pharmacy on the Durban high street. It was a bustling shop, and to be expected; I was given the most menial of tasks. Most aspiring pharmacists would have rejected the position.
This opportunity was another divine intervention. The job fitted me; I could cope and be happy doing it. I received and priced goods for the first year and did that well. I had no great expectations and attended College three nights a week, including a Thursday afternoon. That was a total of 12 hours.
I can distinctly recall my first pharmacy lecture. I arrived without a pen or paper. The lecturer strode in and delivered his lecture, and at the end, he gathered his pieces before departing, leaving me somewhat stunned. I sat in the empty lecture room and realised how alone I was. That was the turning point of my life!
There was little time for pleasure, and I had to work particularly hard. I then realised that I would need more effort to get by.
My parents provided a small car as there was no bus transport at night, and the College was miles away from home. I drove this little car until it wore out. In the end, it used about as much engine oil as petrol.
Whenever possible, I would escape and go walking in the Drakensberg mountains. I often walked alone, sometimes staying at the Himeville Hotel with my study books. The hotel was little more than a wood and iron structure back then, different from the plush luxury hotel at Sani Pass as it is now.
Looking back, I had a strange tendency not to be concerned about the future. I didn't seek status; I unquestionably went with the flow. I just took life as it materialised.
Despite being within the higher standards at school, I never took anything seriously. I spent most of my time in an old shed in the back of our garden. Uninterrupted, I spent time constructing my electric train layout decorated with paper mulch mountains and tunnels.
I dabbled with chemicals and mixed explosive concoctions to make fireworks. I did very well making flares of different colours. There was a shop in the city that sold chemicals and laboratory equipment where I could buy all I needed, no questions asked. That was in 1950, before all the regulations that were to come. I made glass distilling equipment to distil essential oils from roses and flowers.
I was very much alone in the shed; no one ever visited or took any notice. I now admit that what I did was dangerous and reckless, and I cannot recall where I gained the knowledge to do it. The same about my school examination preparation; while others were frantically preparing for the final examination and interviewing teaching staff regarding future careers, I was busy in the shed.
I lived with my sister, Molly, and her husband during that period. I was considered somewhat eccentric, being in a world of my own, and left to my own devices, whatever they might be.
The pharmacy's boss and deputy were demanding, but they soon learned I was very used to that behaviour. This opportunity was another divine intervention. The job fitted me; I could cope and be happy doing it.
I spent the first year in the stock room minding my own business. In those days, a pharmacist compounded almost all medicines and recorded the details in a large prescription book. Gradually I was given odd tasks in the dispensary, like mixing ointments that the pharmacist had prepared and ready for mixing and packing or indexing the prescription book.
Slowly I began to undertake more of the dispensing until I could do all the dispensing alone. By the end of my apprenticeship, I had the keys to the shop and would open it ready for business in the morning.
It was a fascinating period before branded products began to take over. I was fortunate to have had the experience; I made many medicinal products, from pills to suppositories.
Finally, my apprenticeship concluded, and I returned to college for full-time study. After a year of study, I became a fully-fledged pharmacist. Interesting to note that the friend who advised me to find an alternative occupation still had a year of study ahead of him. He had elected to do his apprenticeship and then two years of study. I passed the equivalent of the first year while doing my apprenticeship.
