Zambia World Wide

Chapter 6

Having arrived at Lusaka airport, we prepared ourselves for the blast of heat which would hit us when we walked down the ramp from the aircraft. It was always the same, the blast would momentarily take our breath away, and the heat haze rising from the runway was almost blinding. It only took a few moments to adjust, but during that period of time it was like walking through a blast furnace. After collecting our luggage we went through Immigration and Custom’s. We declared a nominal amount of stuff that we had brought back, and paid a small sum in duty “many passengers say they have nothing to declare”, bad move! They finish up turning all their luggage out, and usually end up paying duty anyway. Having cleared Immigration and Custom’s we proceeded to the Internal Departure Lounge for our flight to Kitwe. The flight to Kitwe we always enjoyed as the plane was a turbo-prop, which flew much lower than the jets. This gave us the chance to look out and follow the ground below, we were able to see the towns and villages below and also follow the roads and rivers through the bush, many of which were now familiar to us.

What a relief to finally arrive home, it had been a long journey and although we had enjoyed our holiday it was still nice to be back in our own house. We began to unwind and relax almost immediately, unfortunately Gary and Craig were the opposite, and they couldn’t wait to start unpacking their toys and stuff they had brought with them. We compromised, they unpacked their stuff and we relaxed. While we were away we did wonder what state the house would be in on our return, however we need not have, the house was just as we had left it. We went into the swimming pool area, and true to his word Eddie had got his builders round and completely re-built the pool apron. They had not only re-built the apron but combed the surface which made it anti-slip. It was much safer now than it had been. Not only was it safer but also improved the appearance of the pool area.

Over the next few weeks we heard many tales of what went on while we were away. The first indication that we had was when Jan tried to play our records, there was not a single one that was not damaged. They were all un-playable, we had no choice but to bin the lot. It appears while Eddie had his son staying with him, he was a model citizen. After his son left and went back to school in South Africa, it appears he had many wild parties and orgies at the house. In the corner of the pool area we had erected a lamp-post with a 1000watt sodium lamp at the top. The lamp was so bright it not only lit up our garden, but also the gardens each side and at the rear. The noise of loud music and drunken people shouting and screaming was almost a nightly occurrence. Most night’s naked men and women were seen running between the house and pool area, also around the garden. I don’t think Eddie realised how visible they were when the light was on, this did however explain the damage to our records. Without music life would be rather dull, we didn’t have local radio, or TV that was entertaining to us. The highlight of our week was the BBC world service, which enabled us to keep in touch with the outside world. However Jan solved the problem, she went round her friends and recorded music onto a cassette tape recorder that we had, fortunately blank tapes we could get.

Once back it took very little time to settle, after a week or two it was as if we had never been away. We had brought a watch and some clothing back for Richard, which he was delighted with, although he pretended that he had expected nothing. Gary was now back at school and Craig was now going to a crèche in the mornings, at first he was not to keen but after a week or two settled down and then looked forward to going. For the next few weeks life was pleasant but a little dull, we went water ski-ing and swimming at the weekends. During the week we would have friends around for a braai and a swim, we also played golf and bowls at the company club. It does sound as if life was ideal but we were approaching the rainy season, and the weather has become very hot and oppressive. It will be nice when the rains start and the temperature cools a little.

Although we are taking life easy at home, work goes on and we are now entering into the rainy season. The rainy season is the busiest time of year, as at this time we have more line faults than the rest of the year. We can and are called out all hours of the day and night during this season of the year, life is mainly work and sleep, however it does only last for 3 months. It was about this time that Paul left and a new electrician arrived from UK, his name was Jeff and unfortunately he took nothing seriously, to him life would be easy just a holiday in the sun. It wasn’t very long before he started making mistakes, he drank like a fish but had a theory, however much you drink if you drink a pint of water before going to bed, next morning you will be sober “I wish”, his theory didn’t work. For the first few weeks he would work with me, as like me before coming to Zambia he had never worked on power distribution “power lines” unfortunately he thought it would be easy, which it can be but dealing with high voltage does mean following the rules. Jeff had no time for rules or even safety, life was just fun and a bit of a laugh! During the rains the lightning has to be seen, it is awesome the fork lightning lights up the sky for miles around and is really lovely to watch, when it thunders the noise is so loud that the houses shake, it is a sight that won’t ever be forgotten.

One night we were called out to a line fault near Luanshya, the fault was on a section of line which crossed a swamp. The towers (Pylons) were 120feet tall and wide apart, the fault could be reached from one of the towers, with some difficulty. It was dark and the rain was sleeting down, the linesmen had been unable to fix the fault. It was now our turn, the fault had to be repaired or the line could not be re-energised. Jeff and I were working at the top of the tower, the rain was still sleeting down, and we could see in the distance the lightning was coming our way, time was getting short. We had to fix the fault and get down before the lightning reached the line. We had almost completed the repair when Jim (a new engineer from UK) decided to climb the tower as he wanted to see what was happening. Unfortunately we were soaked to the skin and feeling the cold, Jeff’s language by this time was really foul (he could hardly string two words together without swearing). Jim having reached the top of the tower and hearing Jeff’s language, decided to lecture Jeff about his swearing (Jim was a lay preacher before leaving the UK to come here). In the meantime I had finished fixing the fault and was ready to get down the tower. What happened next was unbelievable! The rain was still sleeting down, the lightning was getting closer and Joseph who was monitoring the radio was getting frantic messages from the control room, telling us to get down as the situation was now serious. Jeff and Jim were in the middle of an argument about religion, it took me about five minutes to get them to understand that we had to get down and if they wanted to continue to do it on the ground. Jeff went first and then it was Jim’s turn, he looked down and then froze, he couldn’t move (it turned out he had a fear of heights). Unbelievable! He had climbed the tower with the belief that once he was up then would have no problem getting down. I finally got him to move, I said that I would go first and place his feet in the right places as we went down. We finally got down, I did say to him not to put anyone in that position again. Was the night finally over “of course not”, I contacted the control room and gave them the OK to switch the line back in. They replied that their operator could not get to the Luanshya substation with the weather conditions as they were, could I go there and switch that end of the line back in which I did. Finally we made our way home, “what a night”.

There are a couple of other incidents involving Jeff which are worth a mention. I will say that working with Jeff, life was unpredictable but never dull. We were building a 66kv transmission line near Chingola and Jeff by this time was capable of supervising the work (so I thought) without me being there. This meant I could spend time catching up with the work the other departments were involved in. All was going well, I drove out every two or three days to sort any problems there might be with the construction of the line. At this point I will need to explain briefly the manner in which we constructed power lines. Each section of line had two strain towers, (one at each end) in between we built suspension towers. Strain Towers take the strain which is about 10,000 ft/lb, Suspension Towers hold the conductors the right height above the ground (the vertical weight of the conductors) and are therefore of much lighter construction. Jeff had pulled the conductor through the suspension towers until the drum was empty. Instead of pulling a new drum of conductor to meet the end of the first, he clamped the conductor to a suspension tower and pulled the conductor back towards the drum so that he could connect the second to the first without having to move the equipment (bad idea). While joining the conductors he noticed the line going slack, “to late” three of the towers were on their way down. Within a minute or two they broke at the waist and the top sections fell to the ground. Like I said with Jeff life was never dull. We did manage to rebuild the line, once we stripped the damaged steel apart, straightened some of the steel, other pieces were remade and then we re-assembled the towers.

Jeff’s final mistake after which we would never see him again. We were building a transmission line in the Chingola area, all the towers were up and stringing was ready to start. Problem was we had to cross a number of public roads. The procedure we used was quite simple, we would put signs up and have a landrover equipped with a radio at the crossing. It was simple and had never failed “until now that is”. We would contact the patrolman at the crossing to say we were ready to pull, he would then stop the traffic and inform us when it was safe to pull. One Sunday morning Jeff went out to pull the final section, it was a quiet morning so he decided not to position anyone on the road or waste time putting up the signs. He could see the road from where he was standing, but he had no contact at the road crossing. Apparently all was going to plan, they had strung four of the six conductors, and then it happened. While the fifth conductor was being raised a landrover came down the road, the driver didn’t see the conductor which was about 5 foot off the ground. It ran into the conductor and the conductor sliced the roof off the landrover, narrowly missing the heads of those inside. Having broken every rule in the book could things get worse? Yes! The occupants of the landrover were the District Governor and his driver. I received a call from the control room telling me what had happened, so I drove to the site, sent the men home and Jeff also, I then contacted the control room to say I was returning to the main Switching Station, and would explain what had happened. By the time I got there, the GM was also there, it appears that the District Governor had contacted him. We put the control engineer in the picture as to what had happened, and then the GM and I went to his office to discuss the options open to us. We already knew that the District Governor wanted Jeff charged with attempted manslaughter and that he also wanted him removed from the Country as a Prohibited Immigrant. We didn’t have much time so having discussed the situation, we decided that the GM through his contacts would get the air tickets “Jeff and his wife had no tax clearance so could not get tickets themselves”. The GM could get round that problem, I would explain to Jeff and his wife the situation they were in and also help them pack some luggage. I then explained that the company would send the rest of their gear to UK for them. The tickets would be collected Monday morning after which I would drive them to the airport in Lusaka and wait with them until they boarded the plane. It was the only way Jeff could avoid the charges. Everything went like clockwork and within 48 hours of the incident Jeff and his wife were back in UK. The company did get some backlash, but nothing that couldn’t be handled. “Good Bye Jeff” gone but not forgotten. Where ever you are, we wish you well. It would appear from what I have written, we went from one disaster to another. This of course isn’t true, we carried out numerous jobs every year without incident. I have written of the humorous side, incidents that will always be remembered.

We seem to be going through a quiet period at the moment, though I doubt it will last. A few months ago we had met a young couple, their names were Dave and Joyce. We were at their house one evening, sitting and chatting in the lounge when we heard a loud bang. It sounded as though it came from the bathroom. When we went in and looked, the taps and water pipes had melted, the damage was caused by a lightning strike. Apart from the transmission lines it was the first time we had seen what damage lightning can cause. At the time Joyce was pregnant, after the baby was born it was found to have a club foot. The doctors in Zambia were convinced that with a calliper the foot would correct itself over time. However in UK it was possible for their son to have an operation which would correct the defect. We all paid into a special medical fund to cover us and our families for overseas treatment if it should be necessary. Unfortunately the decision had to be made by a panel of doctors and in the case of Dave and Joyce’s son they decided it was not necessary for overseas treatment, as they believed their treatment would work. If the operation in the UK was carried out it had to be done whilst their son’s bones were still soft, it would not work if the operation was left until he was older. Dave and Joyce decided that the only choice they had was for her and the baby to return to England. Dave would stay in Zambia and complete his contract and then join them in England.

We heard some months later that their son had the operation and it was successful. Meanwhile Dave being on his own would often come to ours for dinner, the lads got on well with him and most nights he would end up in the pool playing with them. One evening about a month before returning to England, he said that his main regret would be, having to leave without seeing the Victoria Falls. Jan and I discussed whether we should offer to take him to the falls if I could get the time off. We decided to go for a long weekend and invited Dave to join us, which he was glad to do. I phoned the Fairmount Hotel in Livingstone and made the booking for the following weekend.

We left Kitwe about 05.30 on the Friday morning as it was a 600 mile journey to Livingstone and would take between 9 and 10 hours to get there. We stopped by the roadside after about 120 miles (natural break for the boys), when we tried to re-start the car the engine would not turn on the

starter-motor. Not a major problem as with Jan or Dave turning the ignition key I could reach under the bonnet and short out the starter contacts. We carried on until we reached Kalomo, a small town within 100 miles of Livingstone where we stopped to refuel. About 10 miles from Kalomo the car started to misfire, we ignored it at first as we only had a short distance to go. The misfire slowly got worse, after about 50 miles we had to stop as by now it was much worse. We were sure it was water in the fuel that was the cause, we stripped and cleaned the carburettor and then carried on. We arrived in Livingstone two hours late, booked into the hotel and noticed there was a garage opposite the hotel. However it had been a long day, we were all hot, dusty and tired so decided to leave the car until the next morning.

Next morning we had breakfast, and then Dave and I went over the road to the garage, where we stripped out the petrol tank. We drained the fuel out and then flushed the tank, plus fuel line and cleaned the carburettor. We then filled the tank with fresh fuel and the car ran perfectly, job done. I won’t go through our whole trip as I have already mentioned the Victoria Falls in other chapters. However there are one or incidents worth a mention, as they had not occurred on our previous trips. Both Gary and Craig were quite good swimmers, it was nice for Jan and me to have someone who was happy to play with them in the pool, Dave had a great time but finally called a halt, they had worn him out. Dave was quite lucky as we had been to the falls a number of times and knew our way around, this would save a lot of time which otherwise might have been wasted. One incident that comes to mind occurred in Livingstone Game Park. Most animals during the heat of the day take shelter from the sun and can be difficult to spot, for this reason we went there early in the morning. After having spent some time game spotting around the park, we drove to the fenced off area in the centre. The area in the centre contained the reptile house, animal orphanage and other animals that were kept in captivity. As we walked around the enclosures we met the game warden. We had over the years got to know him quite well, not only had we met him here but also at various shows around the country.

He was quite small in stature, with grey frizzy hair and a grey beard, I don’t know his age but he appeared to be quite elderly. Over the years he never seemed to age and was always happy and smiling. His love and enthusiasm for what he called his pets was apparent the moment he spoke of them. On this occasion he took Jan into the lion enclosure, so that she could stroke his pet lions. They did appear to be quite docile while he was present. Having left the lion enclosure he decided to walk round with us and talked about the animals as we wandered round. We were walking past an enclosure which contained a cheetah, as we walked round the enclosure we noticed that the cheetah’s head was following our movements. We asked the warder why! He explained it was because of the children, they were fair game although a cheetah would never attack an adult. Cheetahs’ are very fast and to prove his point, he suggested that Jan and Gary run the length of the enclosure. At first the cheetah seemed to be

uninterested, he then took off in pursuit at such a speed that he was just a blur as he flashed by where we were standing. When he reached the far end of the enclosure, he leapt up the fence and put one leg right through in an effort to reach Gary. The speed and ferocity of the charge was incredible! The only way we could get him off the fence was to throw lighted matches in front of his face. While this was happening Dave took a cine-film, we never have seen the film. Dave said that when he reached England and had the film processed he would send us a copy, however that was probably the last thing on his mind.

Apart from the incident in the Game Park the trip went as planned, we all had a good time and Dave was glad that he was able to visit the falls before leaving Zambia. The journey back to Kitwe was uneventful until we came to a police road block near Choma. We came to a stop and a police officer asked me to turn the engine off. I tried to explain that we had no starter but he insisted, after a number of questions “where are you from, where are you going etc” he said we could drive on. I got out of the car with a large screwdriver in my hand, Dave moved into the driver’s seat. As I walked to the front of the car the policeman pointed his rifle and said that I was holding an offensive weapon. I convinced him that without it I would be unable to start the car. Having returned to the car I noticed that Dave and Jan were both grinning, we drove off and I asked them what was so funny. Jan explained that all the time I was under the bonnet the policeman had his rifle pointing at me and did not move it until I was back in the car. We thought that was it, nothing else could go wrong or could it! We were travelling along the Fisenge Road with about 50 miles to go when the ignition warning light came on. We pulled off the road and checked under the bonnet, fortunately the fan belt was OK which meant that it was an alternator fault. I knew if we turned the radio off and the cold air fan we would make it to Kitwe, the battery power would be enough to power the ignition system. About an hour later we arrived home, hot, tired but relieved. I have never known so many faults occur in the course of just a few days.

When we arrived back in Kitwe we found that preparations had stated for the annual Ski-Show, the Ski-Show was run by the powerboat section every year. It was the largest fundraiser of the year for the club and much enjoyed by the public. The show was the highlight of the year for the skiers, months of work was put in by all to perfect the various acts that would take place on the day. We had been involved in the previous ski-show, but at that time were limited with the assistance we could give as we were still learning to ski. This year we were all ski-ing and would play a bigger part in the show. Some months before the show was to take place, meetings were held so that members could put ideas forward for acts. Those that were feasible would be tried on land and then on the water. The acts would depend on the capability of the boats we had available which would also have to be taken into consideration. We would also have to look at the equipment we had available to cover the acts that were used, any equipment we were short of we would have to make. There were many other aspects of the show that had to be looked into, sponsorship, extra bars, programmes, tickets and of course groundwork and storage areas. These could be done at a later date. The local drinks companies would be the first we contacted as we would need beer and soft drinks on a sale or return basis, we didn’t have the finance to purchase such a large amount ourselves. Once the initial suggestions had been made we would then form a small committee to take control of the ski-show organising. The committee consists of four or five members and they have total control. Once the initial planning was sorted and the different tasks allocated to various members who volunteered, work and practice got under way. Mike was the organiser, he would arrange the programme, tickets and advertising plus take overall control. Ron and I would see to the equipment as we were in a position to obtain materials and make up the ski- handles, ski-ropes, pulleys and quick release units plus any other equipment that might be required. Iris, Ann and Jan would make the costumes and organise the catering. Pete and John helped with equipment and practice sessions. Between us we had most of the organising covered, other members would help wherever they could.

The ski-Show was always held in May, it took a lot of preparation and many hours of practice. However we all enjoyed the time leading up to the day of the show, it brought the members together and was a talking point for weeks beforehand. The most hectic time for me was the week, leading up to the show. We were fortunate in that the General Manager of the company I worked for gave us a lot of support. The company gardeners cut the grass and tidied up the grounds, the riggers erected a large marquee and the electrical department supplied the cookers and fridges, they also connected them to the club power supply. All of those involved apart from the gardeners worked for me, which meant I spent a lot of time at the club supervising the work. The women had a final fitting of the costumes and others were involved in the delivery of drinks, collecting programmes and tickets and taking on extra staff for the day. Most of the extra staff would be house-servants and company employees that we knew could be trusted and it also meant extra pay for them. On the Saturday before the show the drinks and food would be delivered, the food would be stored in the fridges and the beer and soft drinks would be stored in bins packed with ice. The final job of the day was to rope off the ski area and petrol storage area. After we were satisfied that all was ready, we would have a braai at the front of the clubhouse and take the chance to relax, knowing we were in for a busy day tomorrow. On the Sunday we would be at the club very early as we had to launch the boats, lay out the ski equipment and take the petrol to the safe storage area. Once again the company helped as they always donated 210litres of petrol, this was just over 50% of what we would use on the day.

The first ski show was held in 1975, since then there have been improvements in the standard of ski-ing and also the quality of the acts performed. The first shows that we had any real involvement in were in 1978 and 1979. These shows were modelled on shows members had seen at Surfers Paradise in Australia and Cyprus Gardens in the U.S.A., most of the acts were copied from these shows although there were a number that were developed by our own club members. The show always started with the skiers salute, three boats were used to pull the skiers out of the water, then the two outside skiers would link up to the main boat, the other two boats would then peel away. The salute was performed by seven women skiers, dressed in matching costumes and each holding a flag. Once the salute was over the other acts would begin. Eddie would give a demonstration of Barefoot Ski-ing, which appeared to be quite easy but was in fact very difficult. There was a trick ski-ing exhibition which was fun to watch as the skier would ski backward, sideways and also turn in the air performing a number of stunts. There would also be a slalom demonstration, this performed on a single concave ski and impressive to watch. These are the conventional demonstrations which can be seen at most ski shows throughout the world.

Most of the unusual acts we developed ourselves, one of these we called “Handstand Topside”, Laurie and I wore belts with D rings fitted, which we would connect our ropes to. Jan had no ski rope, she would come out of the water with one foot on my left ski and one foot on Laurie’s right ski. Once out of the water Laurie and I would connect our ropes to the belts, leaving our arms free. Jan supported herself by putting one arm on each of our ropes, and then lift her legs onto our shoulders. We would then lift her legs up into the handstand position, which she would hold for the length of the course without losing her balance. Another act that she was involved in with Ron was “Handstand on Disc”, this called for good balance by both of them. When they were pulled out of the water, Ron was kneeling and Jan was laying down lengthways holding onto the front edge of the disc. Once on the surface, Ron stood up and Jan worked her way to the front of the disc. Once in position she kicked up into the handstand position where she was then supported by Ron.

Some of the acts were comedy acts, one of which was to have a drunk stagger from the bar down to the ski jetty, shouting abuse all the way. Then ski-ing off and wobbling all over the place. Another comedy act was a bath filled with bubbles towed behind a boat with a man and a woman having a bath together. Another of the comedy acts was a bicycle on a ski with the cyclist pedalling furiously pulled behind a boat, the ski was hard to spot from the shore. One of the best remembered acts for us was the “Family Pyramid”, not because pyramids were unusual but this time Laurie, Sandra and their son Geoffrey formed one pyramid and Jan, myself and Gary formed the second pyramid. The two lads were a little worried to start with “they were only seven”, we assured them that they would come to no harm. We practiced on land until they felt more confident, then started practice on the water. Their confidence did ebb a little when they saw the skis’ cutting through the water. We had worked out a safe way for them to come out of the water, they would stand on the front of their mothers skis’, once on the surface, Laurie and I had a free hand and lifted them onto our shoulders. Once they were up our two wives passed them their ski ropes and they were on their own. It probably was a little worrying for them as we were travelling at 25mph across the water, but they pulled it off. As far as I’m aware this was the only time a two family pyramid had been performed in Zambia. When the boys dropped off in front of the clubhouse, where most of the spectators were. They received so much applause and had to shake hands with so many people, I am surprised their arms didn’t fall off. I am sure the welcome they received made up for the worry and practice they had put in over the past few weeks.

There were many acts, I will mention some but to write about all would take forever. Pete had always been keen on the disc, we had watched a film taken at Cyprus Gardens of an act which he felt he could improve. He painted one side of the disc and sprinkled sand over the wet paint, to get more grip. The idea was that he would take a chair with him and once on the surface, place the chair and then stand on it. He practiced quite hard and finally his efforts paid off, not only could he stand on the chair but also turn in circles. The boat drivers played a very important part in the show, most of the acts required a very steady and correct speed which the drivers would have to maintain, the speed also varied constantly as the acts changed. Generally there would be a co-driver in the boats who would monitor the position of the skis’ and watch for hand signals from the skiers, the co-driver would constantly update the driver with any information he needed to know. Some of the acts needed a quick release mechanism between the boat and skiers as in the case of the “Handstand topside”, Laurie and I were held by the ropes and could not let go if anything went wrong. It was the job of the co-driver to watch and if things went wrong release us from the boat. Every year the number of spectators increased, they came from all over Zambia. Many camped overnight, if they had to travel a long way, within a short time of the show starting there would be a holiday atmosphere. At lunchtime and after the show we had boat rides for the children, which were a great success, many had never seen a high powered boat and the chance to ride in one was exciting for most. We then started to get complaints from some of the spectators who wanted to know why we didn’t offer rides to the adults also. Ah Well! Why not, so we gave rides for the adults also. We made no charge for the boat rides, the pleasure we received from seeing the look on the children’s faces was enough. At the end of the day there was so much clearing up to do, we generally left it to the following morning. It had been a good day and given a lot of pleasure too many people, we also enjoyed the day although it was hard work, and the day of the show was the conclusion to weeks of work and fun until next year when we would start again.

It is now time to move on, it was about this time that Jan had a confrontation with a stall-holder at the market. The market is the only place in town where fresh vegetables and fruit can be bought. This particular day Jan was looking for tomatoes she stopped at a stall to look at the tomatoes. The stall-holder made a couple of remarks which she found annoying, Jan then asked what the price was. As soon as he gave her the price she knew he was overcharging, she asked why his prices were so high compared to the other stalls. He replied “if you don’t like my price go elsewhere”, he then told her to put the tomato down and leave his stall. She looked at him and said if you want your tomato you can have it, by this time she was quite angry. She then threw the tomato at him, the tomato hit him in the face and burst open. He was not a happy man! He ran from behind the stall after her, Jan took one look at his face and knew it was time to move. When she reached the car-park she looked back and saw about twenty market traders in pursuit. She jumped in the car, started the engine and told Val her friend to get in quick. Val had no idea what had taken place, she did see the people running towards them as she got in the car. They roared out of the car-park with the trader’s only yards behind the car.

Was that the end of the affair, No! Jan knew she would have to go back, it was the only market in town. The following weak she dressed differently, wore a head scarf and sun glasses, sure she would not be recognised. She then drove to the market and did her shopping at the far end, sure she had not been recognised. As she was leaving the market, really pleased that she had not been recognised, the stallholder who she had thrown the tomato at walked up to her with a smile on his face. It appears the market traders had been having quite a laugh as she walked round, some who had served her struggled to keep a straight face. He told her she was welcome at his stall providing she stopped throwing tomatoes. They both laughed and later became quite good friends although for some time after she had to put up with a lot of leg-pulling from many of the stall-holders.

There were too many incidents that happened over the years to mention all, both humorous and sad. Zambians have a code of conduct which should not be broken, breaking of the rules generally means expulsion from the family and tribe. Late one night in the middle of the rainy season we were called out to a line fault. We found a section of line down near Itimpi (Garneton), the line had been hit by lightning. The damage was quite severe and could not be left till daylight, we used potable lights and generators. As we were installing the lighting one of the crew saw a bundle lying at the foot of a tower. The men called me over to see what they had found, I went over and unwrapped the bundle. I found that the bundle was a new born baby wrapped in a blanket. I had never been in a position like this before so called the control centre and explained what we had found. Silly question! They asked me what they should do. I explained that because we were on the radio, we had no means of communication with anyone but them. I then suggested they should phone the police, explain the situation and tell them where we were. They came back to us and said the police were on their way and we should stay until they arrived. I asked the police why any woman would leave her child to die in the bush in this way. They said that if she was a single woman, she would have been sent away by the family until after the child was born, as to stay would bring disgrace upon the family.

Let’s return to a lighter subject. Jan’s birthday was coming up and I had no idea what to get for her birthday present. Some months earlier I had become friendly with a pig farmer who also had a herd of goats. While I was at the farm one afternoon he was saying he had too many Billy-goats and would have to get rid of some. I had met a Billy-goat at the farm earlier, who followed me everywhere and I had become rather attached to. Knowing that Jan liked animals, I decided to take him home as a birthday present for Jan. He was a lovely little guy and full of fun, Jan asked the lads to think of a name for him. The name they chose was very original “Billy the Kid”, what could we say, it was their choice. Over the next few months Billy would really live up to his name, there can’t have been anyone around who did not know “Billy the Kid” or at least had heard of him. Once again he had total freedom to come and go, through the house and garden. He took over the sofa in the lounge as his own and would allow no-one on there while he was in the house “it was his” and he made that quite clear. We mistakenly though he would eat the grass, No! He had a preference for flowers, plants and vegetables, within a few days he destroyed the vegetable garden and decimated the flowers and plants. We then decided to erect chicken wire around them all, to keep him out which seemed to work.

One morning Carol, a friend of Jan’s came round for coffee, Billy was in the garden. He came into the lounge and saw her sitting on his sofa, he jumped onto the sofa beside her and got his head between her and the back of the sofa. He had so much strength in his neck that with one movement he pushed her off the sofa and onto the floor. On another occasion Linda another of Jan’s friends came round and having parked on the driveway came into the house. By this time most of our friends were a little wary of Billy and when coming to the house would look to see where he might be. Linda asked Jan where Billy was, she replied in the garden. Linda stopped for a while and then left, within a minute or two she came back. She was not too happy and said can you get your goat off my car. When we went outside there was Billy, sunbathing on the roof of her car. I lifted him down and Linda drove off, she still didn’t look too happy. Fortunately there was no damage to the car.

There are a couple of more incidents involving Billy which really are worth a mention. One morning I was cleaning the swimming pool, Billy as usual was nearby. Suddenly I was sent flying through the air into the middle of the pool. When I surfaced, there was Billy standing on the spot I had been earlier. He had head-butted me into the pool, it was almost possible to see the grin on his face. You might have heard of “Mary and her little Lamb”, well we had “Jan and her little Billy-goat” and everywhere that Jan went, so did her Billy-goat. One afternoon there was a breeze blowing, so Craig decided to go fly his kite on the waste ground opposite the front of the house. Jan meanwhile was in the pool with Billy standing close by as usual, she heard Craig call out and went across the road to see what was wrong. Craig needed the toilet, so asked her if she would hold his kite until he got back. There was Jan standing on the waste ground, wearing a bikini and flying a kite with a goat standing beside her. At that moment a young couple who had arrived that morning walked round the corner, there was not a child in sight. By the time Craig returned from the house they had disappeared from view, we did wonder later what they must have thought about the kind of people they would be living and working with, I think that’s enough about Billy.

About 2km. off the Kitwe/Ndola road, just past the Luanshya Tee was a tar road to the left. It is rare to find tar roads out of town and so we decided to follow it, to see where it went. When we reached the end of the road, we found a memorial in a large clearing, the clearing had a superb lawn and a number of flower beds around the memorial. There was a large plaque at the foot of the memorial which explained the reason for the memorial being where it was. On the 18^th September 1961, Dag Hammarskjoeld who was the Secretary General of the United Nations was on a peace keeping mission to the Belgium Congo (Zaire). It was during the rainy season and there was a violent thunder storm, the aircraft lost all communication and wandered miles off course. The memorial marks the spot where the aircraft crashed, and there were no survivors. The aircraft was so far off course, it took many days to find the crash site which was in the Ndola West Forest Reserve. It was a lovely peaceful place to spend an afternoon, we would walk among the trees, the lads would play football or “hide and seek”, after which we would usually have a picnic. Over the years we visited the site on a number of occasions, but never saw any other people there. On our way back to Kitwe we would stop at the Fisenge roadside market, so that Jan could buy her boiled groundnuts, yams and maize cobs. During our travels around Zambia we often bought food from the local markets and always had fun, usually with a great amount of banter. We also found the food to be good and very reasonably priced. The children were always made welcome, not many Europeans would stop at these markets, but we always found people very friendly and enjoyed the experience.

After leaving the market we would usually drive on to Luanshya, the road leading into the town was lined with trees, which were of course Flamboyant and Jacaranda, which was quite a sight when in flower. The town was quite small and laid out in a grid pattern as are most of the towns in Zambia. Although quite small, the town was spotlessly clean and consisted of mainly small shops, there were fewer goods available but it was a nice shopping area to wander round and browse. Through the town and out towards the copper mine was the swimming pool. The swimming pool was surrounded by grass and shrubs, we spent many a pleasant afternoon there. Driving on from there we passed the mine township and the mine and came to the Collier Monument. The monument is not spectacular but the story about why it is there we found interesting. In 1902 a prospector who’s name was William Collier shot a deer at that spot and found copper. The mine is called the “Roan Antelope” mine, driving on through the mine area we followed a long conveyor-belt which was many kilometres in length and went to Baluba Shaft and then on to Maclaren Shaft. We were quite fortunate as many of the places we went, I had found through travelling the power lines while working.

For some time now the Chinese have been building a railway from Kapiri Maposhi in Zambia to Dar-es-Salaam in Tanzania. We have been following the building of the railway with some interest, as it is a massive project.