Zambia World Wide

We had mango trees in our garden, and banana trees. When the mangoes were ripe, my mother used to sit her four daughters in a warm bath, peel the mangoes then give them to us to eat. They were so very juicy, we would have made a horrible mess had we eaten them anywhere in the house, and perhaps we would have attracted unwanted insects had we eaten them outdoors, so the bath was the answer, and we loved it. The mangoes one buys in European supermarkets have nothing on those wonderful fresh ones from our garden! My father, who I think was quite high up in the CID, had an avocado tree outside his office, and I remember him bringing those that fell off the tree home. We would ripen them on a windowsill, then feast upon them - again, the taste was far superior to anything I have consumed in Europe - but again, perhaps the idealism of childhood memories has a part to play there. We also had a hedge in the garden which bore delicious passion fruit once a year, although we never referred to them as passion fruit - to us, they were granadillas, which possibly was an African word for them. I remember we called tangerines "narchees" - I suppose it was inevitable that we would adopt words that we heard around us daily.

I remember one Christmas (or maybe more) we were taken to some kind of huge outdoor sports stadium for "Carols by Candlelight". Everyone was given a wide plastic candleholder with a handle, bearing a lighted candle, and we stood and held these whilst singing traditional Christmas carols. It would be hard to organise such an outdoor event at Christmas in the UK, because the weather was unpredictable, but there, Christmas happened in summer, so it was fine. Towards the end of the carol-singing, Father Christmas was towed out into the middle of the stadium in a sleigh pulled by horses. As far as I can remember, he didn't dole out presents, but it was thrill enough for me just to see him in the flesh - a truly magical experience. I can't remember whether our house had a chimney, but I never had any worries about getting my stocking filled, and I remember Christmases as joyful occasions with mountains of gifts. I remember my delight at being given twin dolls one year, and I remember my mother telling me of her embarrassment one year when I went round telling everyone, "I had a bath for Christmas!" - but I suspect that may have been after we moved to the UK, as I remember that bath clearly, a white plastic doll's bath with a blue folding stand.

Another magical time for me was when a travelling funfair known as "Lunar Park" visited the area, and our parents would take us there at night. Possibly it was really quite small, but to a little girl unaccustomed to theme parks and the like, it was vast, and the rides thrilling. I can remember being at the top of the ferris wheel with my father, and him pointing out the Milky Way in the sky. I didn't feel the slightest bit afraid of the height. However, I did feel pretty scared on the rocket ships, as I had not realised beforehand that they went higher once the ride started. There was a lever to press which made the ship you were in soar skywards, and I was half convinced we really would take off, or worse, fall. So I used to hide in the footwell of the ship we were in, and just peep out at the stars whizzing by until we descended again. I loved the sensation of speed, and of course, being with my daddy.