Zambia World Wide

My initiation

Initiation normally took place during the Xmas work parties held in the Main Workshop. I had heard no one dared wear a tie to these parties as it was cut off with the exception of Dave Mc Kay. The reason being that he was a South African boxing champion. Before the party the workshop was cleared of all equipment. A metal trough used to house circuit breakers and transformers to prevent oil spillage on the workshop floor while undergoing an overhaul was cleaned. In it was placed the large ice blocks purchased from Coca Cola to keep the beers etc. cold. In here I was told most of the initiations took place. One of the clerks and if my memory serves me correct it was Andy Anderson was the exception. He was dumped in the trough every year.

At my first party I noticed that the info I received was genuine yet I seemed to go unnoticed, as it was already dark outside. This however was not the case as they had already decided on an action plan. It all happened so quickly and before I could react my shorts and underpants were gone. There was no recovery as they were thrown over the fence with my shorts lying on a circuit breaker. Later I managed to slip away and contact Pauline. I kept a low profile until I saw the lights of a car. As the car approached I ran out and showed the driver to stop. As I passed the car’s lights I realized it was not my car and neither was the woman behind the steering Pauline.

Another embarrassing moment

When going on holiday and sitting behind the wheel for a long time I would develop a pain in the area of my appendix. I found that by unclipping the top clip and undoing part of the zip of my shorts it helped in relieving the pain. Mac (McKenzie) also of the light current section not only had the same problem but he too adopted the same procedure as I did. Mac made two reels for extension leads. The one he gave me and to this day I still use it with its original cab tyre.

Coming back from leave I stopped at Messina to draw money in a rather full Standard Bank. On leaving the teller with my passport and letter of credit in one hand and my cash in the other the zip came loose, as I had forgotten to replace the clip. With my hands full, my shorts on the floor and the suppressed giggles coming from all directions I knew I was the main attraction. This had me at sixes and sevens. A woman came to my rescue by offering to hold the items I had in my hands.