Zambia World Wide

We were enjoying a picnic at Cheeseman’s farm which was on the Ndola / Kitwe road just before the intersection with the Luansha / Ndola road. It was here that while playing with one of the children that a bee stung me in the back. The prediction made under the sub title “Getting to know more of the African Culture “ in Episode Three regarding bee stings suddenly became a reality. The next thing I could hear what was being said but I could not respond in any way. The owner of Cheeseman’s Farm forced some anti allergy tablets down my throat and I was bundled into Piet Vermaak’s Mercedes. We headed for Luansha Hospital with Piet’s foot often flat on the floorboards. At the intersection with the Ndola / Luansha road we came across a roadblock as President Kaunda was on his way to Luansha. The police fortunately allowed us through after checking on me. Piet was once more was off like a rocket. A few kilometers further two policemen sitting on their new B.S.A. Golden Flash motorcycles complete with windscreens that they had just received as gift from the British Government showed us to pullover. Piet ignored them, which of course was considered a big crime. They were catching up but still some distance away when I heard Piet say that one of them had left the road and has gone into the bush. The second one had stopped to aid his partner. We could only assume that the windscreen had come loose at the high speed. The doctors on duty were prepared to go to court to confirm that it was an emergency if necessary. Luckily this was not the case.

Ronnie Chisholm the General Foreman had a toy pistol that looked like the genuine article. He would take the pistol out of his drawer and pretend that the pressure since Independence was getting too much for him. He would point the pistol at his unsuspected quarry and convincingly inform him that he was going to take both their lives. Some nearly wet themselves when the shot went off. When Des Manthey a member of the switching staff stationed in Chingola nearly had a heart attack I thought it was time for revenge. I took twelve fairly large crackers and threaded a fuse wire through them and then tapped them up with insulating tape. The space between his office floor and a window he shared with the office below was used to conceal the crackers. The two ends of the fuse wire were extended to a kiosk near the mechanical workshop. The kiosk served as a distribution point for the telephone cables. From there I could see Ronnies office window and I could connect 220Vto the extended cable pair. Everyone in the workshop was aware of the situation and kept clear of the office below Ronnie’s office. I phoned Ronnie using a muffled voice. I told him that we were sick and tired of him and that to day we plan to take revenge. As he was inquiring to whom he was speaking to, I switched on the 220V supply. After the explosion I could hear the telephone as it fell, followed by the noise of furniture falling and shouting. The best of all I too got a good fright when I saw the window being blown open with pieces of crackers and its covering flying out of the window. When Ronnie came running out of his office he instantly knew that he had been conned as everyone in the workshop were in fits of laughter.