Random thoughts of a happy brain damaged ex actress… Me!
Before my Cochlear Implants, going to restaurants with a group of friends, was a total nightmare. I battled to understand what was being said. I found that cupping a person under the chin made it easier for me to pick up what they were saying. I was able to feel the vibration of their voices
The older one gets, the faster time seems to move! I remember my thirtieth birthday party. And that was twenty-two years ago. Twenty-flipping-two years ago! But I remember it clearly. So clearly. Shirley Johnston is one of my closest friends. When I was playing in Camelot we used to share a lift to the State
Three months down the line, what differences has having my second CI made to my life? Let me tell you a story! I used to have a great voice. It was clear, strong and true. (Hmmmm, okay, so modesty might not be one of my strong points, but with brain damage, one always tends to
Dogs are amazing beings. Every night I take off my hearing appliances and go back to being as deaf as 43 doornails. Perdita, my dog, somehow senses this and from the moment my hearing appliances gets put in their box, I have one incredibly avid guard-dog, sensitive to all the night sounds. It was about
I was standing outside the front gate waiting for my lift to arrive. It was a beautiful, crisp winters day. The sky was that “South African” blue. I can’t think of a better word to describe it – South African blue. Come to South Africa merely to see the skies. They are like no other!
Let me tell you about B. I was chatting to some friends at a dinner party when suddenly I was tapped on the back. I turned to this petite, pixie haired woman. In fact, she was a tiny elf with dancing, crinkly eyes that met my stare quite openly. Then she spoke. Hell, I would
Janet Suzman, (now Dame Janet Suzman!) the international actress and director directed us in Othello. I played Bianca, the whore. At the time I was still a virgin. A virgin playing a whore! Tell me if that’s not good acting, huh? Othello was an incredible experience with John Kani playing Othello and Richard Haines, Iago.
I gave a talk at Fancourt. I was sitting on the verandah talking to Mum and Dad afterwards, when one of the delegates from the conference came and crouched down by my chair. She had obviously been crying. “Gaynor, many years ago my husband was a paramedic working in Pretoria. I was with him in
1963 I began wailing as my Mother swung me up and out the bath. “No, Mummy, no! Bath needs me!” My Mum laughed as she began towelling her two year old dry. “And I need you to put on your pyjamas. Then you can have your favourite supper – boiled egg and soldiers. After supper
“Those that wait upon The Lord shall rise up like Eagles.” Isiah 40 When I had my accident I was deafened by my fall. I had no hearing whatsoever in my left ear and two percent hearing left in my right. I was, to put it bluntly, deaf! I had a lot wrong with me
