The pleasant memories of Happy Valley run deep. Once a marshland, development and industrialisation forced the waters to retreat and dry up. The area was then later developed into a park known as Happy Valley. As long as I can remember, every Christmas the park was decorated with lights strung beneath the undergrowth and in the branches of trees to light up statues, pathways and displays, giving it a wonderful, mystical feeling - a child's dream world.
But Happy Valley has since seen bad times in the last decade or so. Positioned close to the "Board Walk" casino, criminals have targeted unsuspecting holiday makers who frequent Happy Valley. Port Elizabethans have now infamously named the park Crappy Valley, with one story carried by the Eastern Province Herald of an unfortunate woman being stabbed in the face for her handbag. Because of the high incidence of crime, we do not go there anymore, but the fond memories of the better times at Happy Valley linger.
Copyright 2009
