8) Friends With Two Legs And Four
When I got back to Chingola, thinking that Jonny could not have managed without me I discovered that he had not had to make a single supper for himself, he had been invited out just about every evening, people had been very kind to him. We decided to have a braai to return the hospitality and found that it got so big it had to be done over two weekends. We just weren’t equipped to cater for such a large number of people. It was good to realise how many friends we had made. Although we have lost touch with most of those people over the years some of them have remained our friends even though we have all moved many times. Doug and Anne Marshall and their little son Duncan were friends then, they now live in New Zealand but we still keep in touch. Also with Sonny and Isabel Mathieson and their sons Ron and Tom, who all live in Perth.
Sonny loved to make and fly model radio controlled aeroplanes. He had infinite patience with the kids and a birthday party at their house was always a great success because Sonny would give all the kids little chuck models for them to make and fly. Mostly the kids could not manage to make them so Sonny would help them all and then show them how to fly them.
We started keeping chickens and we made a vegetable garden. In Zambia with the wonderful climate and the very fertile soil everything grew well. We had a lovely avocado pear tree in the garden and also had bananas and pawpaw. When I had been back in Swansea I had told my grandfather that we had bananas in our garden and he would not believe me. He just could not believe that anyone could have bananas growing in their own garden and I could not convince him.
We started keeping chickens; we bought day old chicks and reared them under an electric light. When they were old enough we transferred them to deep litter, we had twelve hens and got eleven eggs a day. I can’t remember why but we decided that we would put them into cages. We were told that the hens would go off the lay if we changed them over but we decided to do it anyway. I clearly remember that on the day after we had moved them we got eleven eggs as usual and continued to do so pretty regularly so I am not so convinced when people try to tell me that keeping hens in batteries is cruel. I am afraid that I don’t think that chickens have enough brains to worry, as long as they get food and water, where they are.
Jonny liked to go fishing with friends and they went away one weekend to a very remote part of the country on the Lunga River. There was an African village near where they were fishing and the villagers had a small duiker in captivity. They said they were fattening it up to eat it but it did not look as if they were having much success, as she was very thin. Jonny and his friends felt sorry for the young animal and gave the villagers a pound for her. They brought her home and we had to make some pretty quick plans about what to do with her. We wanted to keep her but we had two dogs and we did not know how they would react to her. Luckily we had a small pen in the back of the garden that Jonny had built to house our young chicks before they were big enough to go into the large chicken run. We put her in there until we could arrange something more suitable for her and gave her the name of Bookie. A little while later, while we were having supper Mitzie gave a loud yelp and came running into the house. Our first thoughts were that a neighbour’s dog had got into the yard and was trying to get in at our new pet. We rushed out to see what was going on but could not find any intruders in the yard. We went up to the pen to see how Bookie was, she seemed calm and when Mitzie put her nose to the wire mesh Bookie lowered her head and gave little Mitzie a butt on the head. Mitzie gave another loud yelp and ran away again. We realised that Bookie would be able to defend herself from our little dog but Saint was much bigger and a different matter. Bookie did not like the pen and started butting her head against the wooden frame, making her forehead red and raw, so we decided to get her and Saint used to each other. One afternoon when Jonny came home from work he put the lead on Saint and used the same phycology as he had used when we brought Jonathan home. He took Saint into the pen on a tight lead and let him sniff all over the duiker, she was naturally nervous of the bigger dog and I suppose he sensed this and being a gentle soul just accepted her as part of the family and from then on would defend her if other dogs got into the yard after her. After that she was allowed the freedom of our yard and only went into the pen when it suited her. One night we were woken by the barking of our dogs, who slept indoors, we could hear Bookie running around the yard being chased by two large dogs. We did not know what to do for the best, Jonny was concerned that if he let Saint out he would do what we thought would be natural for him and join in the chase. We quickly made the decision that the only thing to do was to let out our dogs and see what would happen. We were so proud of Saint, without a moments hesitation he flew into the other dogs and chased them out of our yard. She was such a lovely pet, no trouble at all. She was always a little shy and spent a lot of time hiding in amongst the bushes but she would come out to talk to us if we brought her something to eat. She loved the flowers from the hibiscus hedge and also the avocado pears that fell off the tree. She was quite a personality in the area and people would stop at the fence to look for her. Sometimes parents would bring their children and ask if we would let them see her. Later on a man we knew who worked for an insurance company rung me and said that as we had one duiker maybe we would like to have another one. He and his wife had to move out of their house into a flat and they had a little baby duiker that needed a good home. We had thought that Bookie was young when we got her but when we saw the new one we realised that she must have been older than we had thought. The second little one, whom we called Bandy still had her baby hair and was soft and fluffy, She had never been mistreated by human beings so had no fear of them at all and used to come running up to get attention. As she was being bottle fed at the time, she expected a meal from me every time she saw me and whenever I went into the garden she would come and rub herself against my legs and ask for food. We thought that she and Bookie would be great friends but Bookie was nervous of her, I don’t think she knew what the newcomer was. Bandy thought that Bookie must be her mother and followed her around the yard to try and feed from her but Bookie use to hide away from her at first and they only became friends after quite a while. One day we watched them coming from different directions around the side of the house, they both seemed to be tiptoeing as if to creep up on the other one. They both got to the corner of the house together and their noses touched, they both got such a fright they nearly fell over, then they turned and fled in the opposite direction. Bandy decided that if Bookie wasn’t her mother maybe Saint was. She would come up to Saint and try to feed off him, he did not like that one bit and used to run away or just lie down. Bandy also loved the avocado pears and she did not care that Saint thought that they were all his. He would lie in the middle of the lawn with half a dozen or so half eaten avocados around him. Bandy would come stepping and prancing up to one of them and start to eat, Saint would make a mock charge and she would take off and run round to a pear at the other side of Saint’s hoard. Then she would tease Saint all over again. He would try so hard to keep all his avocados for himself but it was hard to guard them all at once and they knew he was an old softie and always got what they wanted.
Sonny loved to make and fly model radio controlled aeroplanes. He had infinite patience with the kids and a birthday party at their house was always a great success because Sonny would give all the kids little chuck models for them to make and fly. Mostly the kids could not manage to make them so Sonny would help them all and then show them how to fly them.
We started keeping chickens and we made a vegetable garden. In Zambia with the wonderful climate and the very fertile soil everything grew well. We had a lovely avocado pear tree in the garden and also had bananas and pawpaw. When I had been back in Swansea I had told my grandfather that we had bananas in our garden and he would not believe me. He just could not believe that anyone could have bananas growing in their own garden and I could not convince him.
We started keeping chickens; we bought day old chicks and reared them under an electric light. When they were old enough we transferred them to deep litter, we had twelve hens and got eleven eggs a day. I can’t remember why but we decided that we would put them into cages. We were told that the hens would go off the lay if we changed them over but we decided to do it anyway. I clearly remember that on the day after we had moved them we got eleven eggs as usual and continued to do so pretty regularly so I am not so convinced when people try to tell me that keeping hens in batteries is cruel. I am afraid that I don’t think that chickens have enough brains to worry, as long as they get food and water, where they are.
Jonny liked to go fishing with friends and they went away one weekend to a very remote part of the country on the Lunga River. There was an African village near where they were fishing and the villagers had a small duiker in captivity. They said they were fattening it up to eat it but it did not look as if they were having much success, as she was very thin. Jonny and his friends felt sorry for the young animal and gave the villagers a pound for her. They brought her home and we had to make some pretty quick plans about what to do with her. We wanted to keep her but we had two dogs and we did not know how they would react to her. Luckily we had a small pen in the back of the garden that Jonny had built to house our young chicks before they were big enough to go into the large chicken run. We put her in there until we could arrange something more suitable for her and gave her the name of Bookie. A little while later, while we were having supper Mitzie gave a loud yelp and came running into the house. Our first thoughts were that a neighbour’s dog had got into the yard and was trying to get in at our new pet. We rushed out to see what was going on but could not find any intruders in the yard. We went up to the pen to see how Bookie was, she seemed calm and when Mitzie put her nose to the wire mesh Bookie lowered her head and gave little Mitzie a butt on the head. Mitzie gave another loud yelp and ran away again. We realised that Bookie would be able to defend herself from our little dog but Saint was much bigger and a different matter. Bookie did not like the pen and started butting her head against the wooden frame, making her forehead red and raw, so we decided to get her and Saint used to each other. One afternoon when Jonny came home from work he put the lead on Saint and used the same phycology as he had used when we brought Jonathan home. He took Saint into the pen on a tight lead and let him sniff all over the duiker, she was naturally nervous of the bigger dog and I suppose he sensed this and being a gentle soul just accepted her as part of the family and from then on would defend her if other dogs got into the yard after her. After that she was allowed the freedom of our yard and only went into the pen when it suited her. One night we were woken by the barking of our dogs, who slept indoors, we could hear Bookie running around the yard being chased by two large dogs. We did not know what to do for the best, Jonny was concerned that if he let Saint out he would do what we thought would be natural for him and join in the chase. We quickly made the decision that the only thing to do was to let out our dogs and see what would happen. We were so proud of Saint, without a moments hesitation he flew into the other dogs and chased them out of our yard. She was such a lovely pet, no trouble at all. She was always a little shy and spent a lot of time hiding in amongst the bushes but she would come out to talk to us if we brought her something to eat. She loved the flowers from the hibiscus hedge and also the avocado pears that fell off the tree. She was quite a personality in the area and people would stop at the fence to look for her. Sometimes parents would bring their children and ask if we would let them see her. Later on a man we knew who worked for an insurance company rung me and said that as we had one duiker maybe we would like to have another one. He and his wife had to move out of their house into a flat and they had a little baby duiker that needed a good home. We had thought that Bookie was young when we got her but when we saw the new one we realised that she must have been older than we had thought. The second little one, whom we called Bandy still had her baby hair and was soft and fluffy, She had never been mistreated by human beings so had no fear of them at all and used to come running up to get attention. As she was being bottle fed at the time, she expected a meal from me every time she saw me and whenever I went into the garden she would come and rub herself against my legs and ask for food. We thought that she and Bookie would be great friends but Bookie was nervous of her, I don’t think she knew what the newcomer was. Bandy thought that Bookie must be her mother and followed her around the yard to try and feed from her but Bookie use to hide away from her at first and they only became friends after quite a while. One day we watched them coming from different directions around the side of the house, they both seemed to be tiptoeing as if to creep up on the other one. They both got to the corner of the house together and their noses touched, they both got such a fright they nearly fell over, then they turned and fled in the opposite direction. Bandy decided that if Bookie wasn’t her mother maybe Saint was. She would come up to Saint and try to feed off him, he did not like that one bit and used to run away or just lie down. Bandy also loved the avocado pears and she did not care that Saint thought that they were all his. He would lie in the middle of the lawn with half a dozen or so half eaten avocados around him. Bandy would come stepping and prancing up to one of them and start to eat, Saint would make a mock charge and she would take off and run round to a pear at the other side of Saint’s hoard. Then she would tease Saint all over again. He would try so hard to keep all his avocados for himself but it was hard to guard them all at once and they knew he was an old softie and always got what they wanted.
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