Durban - A shot in the dark has paid off for a British man who finally fulfilled his dream held for half a century.
In 1967 John McGuinness from Chester in England met Neville Holland from Durban, who was on holiday in the UK. They struck up a friendship over three days but McGuinness remembered it for the next 50 years.
This week McGuinness, who was sold a dream of the beauty of Durban by Holland, flew to the city to experience it first-hand and try to reconnect with his old friend.
He arrived on Friday and watched the annihilation of the Springboks by the All Blacks at Kings Park stadium. He left on Sunday afternoon.
McGuinness, who contacted The Mercury asking for help in finding Holland, was sad to find that he had died more than 20 years ago, but he was able to meet Holland’s brother Shaun on Sunday.
“I do not even remember how we started talking but we were not chasing the same girl I am sure,” he laughed as he remembered Neville.
The two were around 20 or 21 when they met. “I lived in Chester, which is one of those old Roman cities where the city is still surrounded by walls, and I had a car and we drove around for three days.
“Neville told me about Durban, how beautiful the city was, that the weather was much better than in Chester and that the people here were very nice, which I have since discovered,” he said.
He said the city - bar the poor weekend weather - had exceeded his expectations. “It is also very cheap,” he said.
He said that as he planned his trip to Durban he had been determined to reunite with Holland. “It was difficult, I researched all the newspapers in Durban.
“I had to go through the (online) classified section. If I was not determined I would have given up - it was just a shot in the dark,” he said.
He said meeting Holland’s brother was magnificent and like a reunion of old friends.
The Mercury