28) Earning Our Living
I haven’t said much about what Jonny was doing at work during this time. From the time he left Portland cement he had had a variety of jobs. Mostly they were with engineering companies but one was with a firm called Conspec that built prefabricated houses. He started with the company in the factory manufacturing the buildings but later he was sent on site to do erection work. He enjoyed that and learnt a lot. He was site foreman when they erected the site offices for a large project to build a new hospital in Salisbury. When they erected staff housing at a mine called Inyati Headlands Jonny was in charge there too.
The man who owned Conspec was called Alan Hackett and his younger brother-in-law Colin worked for him. (It was Colin and his wife who had come to visit us the night that Saint was run over) At that time Alan drove a large black Jaguar and Colin a small Mini. They subsequently sold those cars and I remember Colin telling me that quite a few years later he was driving through town and he saw an accident, a head on collision between two cars. He was amazed to recognise his Mini and Alan’s Jag, I wonder what the odds are on that happening.
Another interesting job that Jonny had was working for a firm called Allied Pipes. They had the contract to put in a metal pipeline between Salisbury and Lake MacIlwaine, which was the city’s water supply. The pipe was about four and a half foot in diameter and as the distance was about 20 miles of pretty hilly country there were different types of valve chambers along the length of the pipe. It was a big job with many varied difficulties. When the pipeline was finished Jonny was sent with some of the other workers to do a job in Bulawayo. I remember that one of the men he worked with was an Englishman called Tony Kee. He was single at that time and spent quite a bit of time with us. The boys got on very well with him, they used to get him and their Dad to play a board game called “Sorry” with them and Tony and Jonny would always playfully cheat and it caused immense fun and laughter.
At one time Jonny worked for a man who was called Pinkie Trollop, he said that it was because he was the fifth son and his mother was in the habit of telling people her sons names but lifting her thumb at the first ones name, the fore finger when she named the second one, the index finger for the third one, the ring finger for the brother just older than Pinkie and of course the little finger or the Pinkie to name her youngest, and the name stuck. I remember how Pinkie hated making up the wage packets at the end of each week. Jonny was sure I could do the job and volunteered my help. I used to go down to the workshop every Friday morning, work out from the time and wage book how many hours each worker had worked and calculate how much each of them was entitled to that week. (No computer in those days) I would make up a list of the cash needed to put into the pay envelopes and either Pinkie or his wife would make out the cheque, get it cashed at the bank and put it into the envelopes for the men. After Jonny had been there a while Pinkie and his wife decided to go away for a sort break and the left me a blank cheque so that we could pay the staff while he was away. Being very conscious of the fact that it was not my money that I was giving to the workers I was very concerned to get it right. If a worker had worked an uneven amount of time and his wage worked out to an amount with a half a cent on the end I was going to pay him the half-cent and not round it up to the next cent. Don’t forget half cents were still legal tender at the time. I checked it and double checked it before making out the cheque. I did not want any mistakes. The final figure had a half-cent on it so I made out the cheque and took it to the bank. The tellers looked at the amount and said that he could not cash it as the bank no longer dealt in half cents. I was amazed; I had never heard anything like that. The teller said “Just alter the amount and sign the alteration and that will be fine” I explained that it was not my cheque, so he told me to just take it to the person who had made it out but I had to explain that it was Pinkie Trollop’s cheque and that he was away on leave and the cheque was for the workers wages. I told him just to forget about the extra half a cent, I would put that in but I needed the money for the wages or I might have a riot on my hands. He was adamant that he could not change the cheque as having a half-cent on it made it invalid. I had to ask to speak to the manager and explain my problem to him. He was fortunately a little more flexible and as he knew Mr. Trollop he agreed to give me the money but he would have to hold the cheque for Mr. Trollop to come and alter it when he returned from his holiday. I had never heard of such a fuss over half a cent.
One of Jonny’s other jobs was for a firm called Brockhouse Engineering. There he met a man called Boet Van Royen who was a rigger. He and Boet worked together and they got on well. They used to park their cars at the back section of Brockhouse’s factory alongside all the other artisans’ cars and they noticed that the artisans’ cars were pretty old and dilapidated and the cars belonging to the bosses and the office staff that were parked at the front were new and shiny. Also there seemed to be many more people in the front section of the factory than there was in the workshops. They figured that it was the work that the artisans were doing that was the life blood of the company, without the artisans to actually do the engineering work no one would get paid but the white collar workers seemed to be doing much better financially than the artisans. So they decided that they should go into business together. They decided to call the business General Erection. The first job they got was to erect a new staircase in a large department store in Salisbury called Mielkes. The store was having an extensive refit and the staircase was a central feature of the new store. They put the steelwork into place and a Portuguese carpenter fit the timber stair treads and banisters, I remember he was a deaf mute and a wonderful tradesman and the staircase was excellent.
There was never really enough work for General Erection to pay both Jonny, Boet and their team of workers so they decided to split up. Boet kept General Erection and Jonny went back to working for a boss. But not long, after that an old friend from his Northern Rhodesian days turned up. Eric Davis had gone to the U.K. with Jonny after they had finished their apprenticeships and he wanted Jonny to go into business with him but that’s another story for another day.
The man who owned Conspec was called Alan Hackett and his younger brother-in-law Colin worked for him. (It was Colin and his wife who had come to visit us the night that Saint was run over) At that time Alan drove a large black Jaguar and Colin a small Mini. They subsequently sold those cars and I remember Colin telling me that quite a few years later he was driving through town and he saw an accident, a head on collision between two cars. He was amazed to recognise his Mini and Alan’s Jag, I wonder what the odds are on that happening.
Another interesting job that Jonny had was working for a firm called Allied Pipes. They had the contract to put in a metal pipeline between Salisbury and Lake MacIlwaine, which was the city’s water supply. The pipe was about four and a half foot in diameter and as the distance was about 20 miles of pretty hilly country there were different types of valve chambers along the length of the pipe. It was a big job with many varied difficulties. When the pipeline was finished Jonny was sent with some of the other workers to do a job in Bulawayo. I remember that one of the men he worked with was an Englishman called Tony Kee. He was single at that time and spent quite a bit of time with us. The boys got on very well with him, they used to get him and their Dad to play a board game called “Sorry” with them and Tony and Jonny would always playfully cheat and it caused immense fun and laughter.
At one time Jonny worked for a man who was called Pinkie Trollop, he said that it was because he was the fifth son and his mother was in the habit of telling people her sons names but lifting her thumb at the first ones name, the fore finger when she named the second one, the index finger for the third one, the ring finger for the brother just older than Pinkie and of course the little finger or the Pinkie to name her youngest, and the name stuck. I remember how Pinkie hated making up the wage packets at the end of each week. Jonny was sure I could do the job and volunteered my help. I used to go down to the workshop every Friday morning, work out from the time and wage book how many hours each worker had worked and calculate how much each of them was entitled to that week. (No computer in those days) I would make up a list of the cash needed to put into the pay envelopes and either Pinkie or his wife would make out the cheque, get it cashed at the bank and put it into the envelopes for the men. After Jonny had been there a while Pinkie and his wife decided to go away for a sort break and the left me a blank cheque so that we could pay the staff while he was away. Being very conscious of the fact that it was not my money that I was giving to the workers I was very concerned to get it right. If a worker had worked an uneven amount of time and his wage worked out to an amount with a half a cent on the end I was going to pay him the half-cent and not round it up to the next cent. Don’t forget half cents were still legal tender at the time. I checked it and double checked it before making out the cheque. I did not want any mistakes. The final figure had a half-cent on it so I made out the cheque and took it to the bank. The tellers looked at the amount and said that he could not cash it as the bank no longer dealt in half cents. I was amazed; I had never heard anything like that. The teller said “Just alter the amount and sign the alteration and that will be fine” I explained that it was not my cheque, so he told me to just take it to the person who had made it out but I had to explain that it was Pinkie Trollop’s cheque and that he was away on leave and the cheque was for the workers wages. I told him just to forget about the extra half a cent, I would put that in but I needed the money for the wages or I might have a riot on my hands. He was adamant that he could not change the cheque as having a half-cent on it made it invalid. I had to ask to speak to the manager and explain my problem to him. He was fortunately a little more flexible and as he knew Mr. Trollop he agreed to give me the money but he would have to hold the cheque for Mr. Trollop to come and alter it when he returned from his holiday. I had never heard of such a fuss over half a cent.
One of Jonny’s other jobs was for a firm called Brockhouse Engineering. There he met a man called Boet Van Royen who was a rigger. He and Boet worked together and they got on well. They used to park their cars at the back section of Brockhouse’s factory alongside all the other artisans’ cars and they noticed that the artisans’ cars were pretty old and dilapidated and the cars belonging to the bosses and the office staff that were parked at the front were new and shiny. Also there seemed to be many more people in the front section of the factory than there was in the workshops. They figured that it was the work that the artisans were doing that was the life blood of the company, without the artisans to actually do the engineering work no one would get paid but the white collar workers seemed to be doing much better financially than the artisans. So they decided that they should go into business together. They decided to call the business General Erection. The first job they got was to erect a new staircase in a large department store in Salisbury called Mielkes. The store was having an extensive refit and the staircase was a central feature of the new store. They put the steelwork into place and a Portuguese carpenter fit the timber stair treads and banisters, I remember he was a deaf mute and a wonderful tradesman and the staircase was excellent.
There was never really enough work for General Erection to pay both Jonny, Boet and their team of workers so they decided to split up. Boet kept General Erection and Jonny went back to working for a boss. But not long, after that an old friend from his Northern Rhodesian days turned up. Eric Davis had gone to the U.K. with Jonny after they had finished their apprenticeships and he wanted Jonny to go into business with him but that’s another story for another day.
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