In the then Northern Rhodesia. On film today it is certainly majestic, but to see the immensity, the rush of water, hear the noise and feel the constant rain of the spray in those simple, uncluttered days, is an unforgettable lifetime’s experience. The descriptions of The Victoria Falls runs to 11 pages on the Internet;… Continue reading The Victoria Falls
Month: October 2010
Conflicting Standards
I repeatedly find that the departments of the government, and local authorities issue edicts that conflict with another, or with every day practices. We were goaded at one time to switch off the idle lights on TVs and other equipment in order to save the world. What I find absurd, is that there seems to… Continue reading Conflicting Standards
Vandalism and our amazing World
I may be telling you something that you are well aware of, but I think it well worth voicing it again for the benefit of those who have been too busy to take time to contemplate. I for ever seem to be amazed at the way in which the world and we within it, have… Continue reading Vandalism and our amazing World
Fairytales circa 2010
I had always thought that fairytales were for the entertainment of the young. My definition of a fairytale is that it is an imaginative story not based on fact, generally gentle in concept, amusing, and with an element of danger as the spice. Now I find that we are being presented with a double diet… Continue reading Fairytales circa 2010
Africa 1928 – 30 A smal boy’s introduction to killing
With no homework, I had a long afternoon to put in. Ocassionally a few friends and I would go outside the limits placed by our parents, through the tall grasses of the Veldt, along wide deep drainage ditches waiting in their dusty state for the next onslaught of the monsoon rains. It was exciting creeping… Continue reading Africa 1928 – 30 A smal boy’s introduction to killing
Africa 1928 – 30, Life as we lived it in Livingstone
Indecent Exposure And The Rest I was in receipt of or witnessed discipline in the severest sense. The business of the witch doctor being arraigned for ritual killing could have been a case in point, but the first instance and the most frightful was to do with ‘indecent exposure’ and, if I had known of… Continue reading Africa 1928 – 30, Life as we lived it in Livingstone
The Tank
The house we occupied was at the corner of a roadway leading North into the bush. Across the road on the opposite side was the residence of my inseparable friend, Mike. For the two of us, every activity took on the drama of an ‘adventure’. Who was the instigator didn’t matter, the ‘adventure’ was important;… Continue reading The Tank
Africa 1928 – 30, The car as a battering ram
Our house was on a corner at the junction of two dirt roads and when we were going on trips my father would take the car and set it on the edge of the road, facing downhill, towards the River and the Falls. The servants would then load the car, my parents would get in,… Continue reading Africa 1928 – 30, The car as a battering ram
Africa 1928 – 30, The car as a Boy cartrier
They tell me that once a racist, always a racist, and they may be right. Brought up in the British Raj it is hard to eschew old habits so when I say ‘boys’, I mean men, big black ones at that, in this context anyway – although I have since been taught the error of… Continue reading Africa 1928 – 30, The car as a Boy cartrier
Africa 1928 – 30, Rugby and the sergical saw
Rugby Was Certainly A Culture Shock Prior to leaving England for Africa, the only male member of our family whom I had any regular contact with was my grandfather and he was rarely in the house when I was awake. Hence I had never heard of Rugby, as in those days it was mostly a… Continue reading Africa 1928 – 30, Rugby and the sergical saw