Thunderstorms - flies - ants - cats
Tuesday 5th January 2010
My Dear Jeremy,
Two weeks have passed since I last wrote to you - two very happy weeks celebrating Christmas with Cathy, Steve and Imogen and Celia, Geoff and Tom in Hythe. Back home for Tuesday 5th January, 2010, two days to repack my suitcase when I was whisked away by Christopher to celebrate his birthday and New Year with him, Susan and Jonny in London. We also visited Timothy, Deborah, Allie and Mac.
After all that celebrating I am trying to get back into routine but the freezing temperatures are not helping - 0.9 degrees this afternoon. The heaters are on full blast and more snow is expected.
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There were advantages and disadvantages bringing up children in tropical Africa. For six months of the year the weather was dry so their lives were spent outside in the fresh air in open spaces in which to play. As October approached it got hotter and hotter and this was known as suicide month. Every day large threatening clouds would gather in the sky then go away and we knew another hot day was coming. Finally the rains broke and they were accompanied by violent thunderstorms and I never felt safe as there was ironstone from which the copper was mined in the ground.
Although the children lived in light cotton short, shirts and dresses and sandals they always had to wear a hat in the sun. Their school hats were made of felt. Every garment had to be ironed as well as nappies and towels to destroy the eggs of the Putzi Fly. These eggs would hatch out a little worm which would burrow into the skin and form a blister in which one could see the little worm wriggling around. Celia had one on her little foot and it was not a nice thing to see on my baby girl. When it was ready or ripe as they called it had to be pricked out and one had to be very careful not to damage the worm as the skin could then become infected.
Fortunately the Copperbelt was free of malaria. We were, however, told to boil the drinking water but when I found Christopher and Jill drinking from the garden tap I abandoned that and they did not get upset tummies. I reckoned that if the water came from deep down in the mines it must be pure.
Another hazard were the Army Ants which just marched through a house and if left could destroy the contents. This was the reason all the houses had concrete floors. One night Jill woke up screaming. The ants had come up the wall and in by the window and were attacking her in her cot. We took the hot coals from the woodstove in the kitchen and spread them all round the house and that drove them away.
Two nights before we were due to leave on our six month furlough Elsie Laws invited us to dinner. She lived in the other half of our semi-detached house. There was an almighty thunderstorm and a crack so close we all jumped and I shook with fear. Little did we know that the chimney of our house had been struck by lightning. The concrete slab which covered the chimney was knocked on to the drive by the back door. We always parked the car there but for some reason Michael had put it away in the carport otherwise our holiday plans would have been smashed too.
Next morning George Buckmaster came round to see the damage and asked if it had been on of my continental recipes which I sometimes made for parties - not very complimentary about my cooking, eh?
To carry our luggage which included pram and typewriter Michael made a roof rack from wood and tied it down with ropes. We were travelling merrily on our way down south on bumpy, dirt roads which were very corrugated when a car overtook us and flagged us down.. Have you lost your luggage? he asked Imagine the shock we got as we jumped out to see no luggage on the roof It is lying beside the road further back. What a shock. So back we went and were very relieved to find it all still intact and not scattered to the four winds. This time the roof rack was tied down very securely with much extra rope.
We must have stayed with Gerry, Val, Kevin and Michael in Bulawayo but I have no particular memory of this. However, the night we stayed with Joyce, Dennis and Shawn remains etched on my memory. They had many cats which were locked up in the kitchen at night I opened the door to get some water and there was this movement of cat towards me. I beat a hasty retreat back down the passage and sent your Father to get the water instead.
Bye for now and lots of love,
Mum