The Routeburn Track |
 On Saturday evening, 28 December 1996, David Novitz hosted a barbecue for us and for several mutual friends. David was probably the closest male friend I will ever have had. We met in Christchurch in January 1972, a few months after David, his wife Rosemary, and their then three-year-old daughter, Tonia, arrived in New Zealand. At that stage, David and I were both lecturers at the University of Canterbury – David in philosophy, self in political science. David and I shared a South African background – he’d been born and brought up there, while I’d lived in Johannesburg for 13 years. David and I also had a shared outlook on life and very similar senses of humour. This photograph of David preparing barbecued chicken shows David’s infectious smile. However, I now look back at this photograph with more than a twinge of sadness. When it was taken we did not know that David would die five years later after battling multiple myeloma for three years. |