Hoarders, the SA edition

The ad said: 300,000 LP records on the fifth floor. Sister did the research, Mr. M was ecstatic. So we drove to Johannesburg to see for ourselves. They lied. There were closer to half a million, along with eight other floors of antiques, books and things you could not get to because it was stacked on stacks of other stacks that were precariously stacked on other stacks. I have never, ever, seen anything like it. It was unsettling, a movie set, for sure, except real. Deep in a nook on the second floor I found a box of old cameras. I think some of them were from the 20's. Close to it I found an optician's kit from the early 1900's. Next to it was a box of old woodworking hand tools. My eyes were popping, my nostrils burning from ancient dust. We took an elevator, so crammed with books for ballust that four of us could barely squeeze in.

We came away with three records and nothing else: too overwhelming and not enough time. Drove through the center of the city and marveled at the street vendors and shop fronts, the beehive of activity. Had lunch in Melville at The Service Station, a gem of a small eatery.