32) Stelco
Jonny’s friend Eric from old Northern Rhodesian days came to live in Salisbury. He and his stepfather Danny wanted to start an engineering business. Eric was, like Jonny, a boilermaker and Danny was an engineer. They had the money and the machinery and although we did not have much money they asked Jonny to join them as he had already been in business in Salisbury and knew lots of people there. The new business was to be called Stelco. We told Eric and Danny that we could not afford to go without wages but they assured us that they had the capital and we would not go short.
They managed to secure some nice contracts and things started out well but before long problems arose due to poor quotations on the work. Also work not being completed on time. Jonny always believed in being honest and up front with the customers the other two did not and would promise a job was almost ready when in fact it had not even been started. This meant unhappy customers, not a good thing for a new business. Before the bank account for the business was set up Eric paid us a weekly cheque out of his own account. The business was incorporated as a private company with Jonny as one of the directors. As time went on there were some weeks when we did not receive any pay and we had to go into overdraft. Eventually, when he could see that the writing was on the wall and there was disagreement on how the business should be run, Jonny decided to pull out. He wrote a letter of resignation and asked for the payment of the wages that we had missed. Then things got nasty and instead of answering our private letter Eric sent us a lawyers letter stating that all the money he had paid to us out of his own account before the business bank account was opened was a loan and he said he wanted his money back. That would have meant that we owed him more than he owed us. We knew this was not so and we were very worried about the whole thing. Jonny said that if we were telling the truth there was nothing they could do to us. The case eventually came before a magistrate and on the appointed day we presented ourselves at the court. We were there, our lawyer was there and the magistrate was there but there was not sign of Eric or Danny or even their lawyer. The magistrate adjourned the case for one hour to give them time to arrive but even after the hour they did not put in an appearance. Our lawyer presented our case and made an impassioned plea on our behalf. He said that Eric who had shown a complete contempt for the court by not showing up. He quoted a similar case when the party had not show up in court but had sent a card to say that he would not be attending and our lawyer said that Eric had not even “sent a picture post card”. (I think that he had been watching too much television) But his dramatics must have impressed the magistrate in his summing up he said that Eric was “obviously a scoundrel” and he not only found in our favour but also granted us full costs.
Some time before Jonny decided to leave Stelco, we told Eric that we wanted to take a weeks leave as we had not been on holiday for some time and it was arranged that we could have the week between Christmas and New Year as it was a quiet time in the engineering business. At the last moment Eric said that they were too busy and that we could not take the week off and that there was no money to pay us. But as our bookings had already been made and the holiday paid for we just went anyway. We had booked an all-exclusive holiday to Beira in Mozambique. Isn’t it funny how some things stick in your minds when so much gets forgotten, I remember so clearly that the holiday cost $70 per adult and half price for the children. So for $210 we got our return airfares from Salisbury to Beira, our hotel accommodation and three meals a day. The holiday was paid but we did need some spending money. I knew there was nothing in the bank. Jonny took a cheque for $100 to a small sub branch of our bank and they cashed it for us, I then went to another branch and bought $100 in travellers’ cheques. We were pretty worried about what the bank would say when we got back but we really felt we needed the holiday. Besides we had promised the children and did not have any other alternative. In fact the bank did not seem to have noticed. In those days one got a rather nasty letter if you went over ones prescribed overdraft so we expected to find that letter waiting for us when we got home, but we never got one and in fact the bank were very supportive when we were involved in the court case with Stelco and supplied us with documentation to prove our case.
Our hotel, The Don Carlos, was right on the beachfront and in Beira there was nothing to do except laze on the beach or do a spot of fishing. We did not feel obliged to rush around seeing the sights so we had a really good rest, which was great. It was the first time that Dominic had been to the seaside and Jonathan had only had that week in Paradise Island when he was only two. He had been sick then that it was new to him too. As it was an all-inclusive holiday we were given a book full of vouchers and we were told to present them to the hotel for each of our meals. We went to the self-service restaurant for our first meal it was fine, but very basic. One was allowed in there in ones beach wear but we discovered that if we took a few minutes to change before our meals we could go into the restaurant in the other side of the hotel that had carpeted floors, white clothes on the tables, good silver and glass ware and best of all waiters to serve us. As I have never liked sitting to eat with a costume full of sand we decided that that was a much better bet. From then on we ate in the plush restaurant and really enjoyed the food. The waiters were mostly young Portuguese lads who were in Mozambique doing their five years national service. They took jobs during their leave, as they could not afford to go back to Portugal. They were away from their family for so long that they liked to spoil the children and our two made the most of it. If Jonny and I had a bottle of wine with our meal the waiter would pour a little into the glass for Jonny to taste. Then the boys would ask for a cool drink and the waiter would pour a little into their glasses for them to have a taste before they poured the full glass for them. The food was great and it was so much nicer to be served and spoilt rather than standing in a queue to put your food on a plastic tray and eat at a table without a cloth in a room full of people in their bathing clothes. It meant we had to leave the beach a few minutes earlier to have a quick shower and change before going into a meal but it was worth it. We could never understand why everyone else at the hotel did not do the same. .
I liked Beira, it had a lovely relaxed atmosphere. The shops were open until quite late in the evenings and people would stroll around the streets. Most of the squares in the town were surrounded by small cafés patronised by the local people, drinking coffee or a cool beer. The whole family would be out together. Mother and Father, the children and the grandparents, all enjoying the balmy nights. On one street corner near our hotel there was a glass blower that fascinated us. The man worked with old florescent tubes. He heated them with a small gas blowtorch and twisted and turned them into different shapes. We bought two small ornamental lamps from him.
Because both Rhodesia and Mozambique were fighting terrorist wars, security at the airport was pretty tight. (by the standards of that time). All our baggage was opened and checked. Jonathan and Dominic both had small suitcases, mostly for their toys and things they felt they could not travel without. On our way home the customs officer opened Jonathan’s little case and the smell from a dead crab that he had found on the beach nearly knocked us all out. The man just closed the case and waved us through, I would have thought that he would have suspected that the smell was hiding a bomb or something and looked a little closer but maybe he was accustomed to little boys bringing home dead crabs when they went to the seaside.
Yes, we had a lovely holiday and a good rest but when we got back things were not good at Stelco and it was not long after Jonny decided to pull out and resign from the company.
They managed to secure some nice contracts and things started out well but before long problems arose due to poor quotations on the work. Also work not being completed on time. Jonny always believed in being honest and up front with the customers the other two did not and would promise a job was almost ready when in fact it had not even been started. This meant unhappy customers, not a good thing for a new business. Before the bank account for the business was set up Eric paid us a weekly cheque out of his own account. The business was incorporated as a private company with Jonny as one of the directors. As time went on there were some weeks when we did not receive any pay and we had to go into overdraft. Eventually, when he could see that the writing was on the wall and there was disagreement on how the business should be run, Jonny decided to pull out. He wrote a letter of resignation and asked for the payment of the wages that we had missed. Then things got nasty and instead of answering our private letter Eric sent us a lawyers letter stating that all the money he had paid to us out of his own account before the business bank account was opened was a loan and he said he wanted his money back. That would have meant that we owed him more than he owed us. We knew this was not so and we were very worried about the whole thing. Jonny said that if we were telling the truth there was nothing they could do to us. The case eventually came before a magistrate and on the appointed day we presented ourselves at the court. We were there, our lawyer was there and the magistrate was there but there was not sign of Eric or Danny or even their lawyer. The magistrate adjourned the case for one hour to give them time to arrive but even after the hour they did not put in an appearance. Our lawyer presented our case and made an impassioned plea on our behalf. He said that Eric who had shown a complete contempt for the court by not showing up. He quoted a similar case when the party had not show up in court but had sent a card to say that he would not be attending and our lawyer said that Eric had not even “sent a picture post card”. (I think that he had been watching too much television) But his dramatics must have impressed the magistrate in his summing up he said that Eric was “obviously a scoundrel” and he not only found in our favour but also granted us full costs.
Some time before Jonny decided to leave Stelco, we told Eric that we wanted to take a weeks leave as we had not been on holiday for some time and it was arranged that we could have the week between Christmas and New Year as it was a quiet time in the engineering business. At the last moment Eric said that they were too busy and that we could not take the week off and that there was no money to pay us. But as our bookings had already been made and the holiday paid for we just went anyway. We had booked an all-exclusive holiday to Beira in Mozambique. Isn’t it funny how some things stick in your minds when so much gets forgotten, I remember so clearly that the holiday cost $70 per adult and half price for the children. So for $210 we got our return airfares from Salisbury to Beira, our hotel accommodation and three meals a day. The holiday was paid but we did need some spending money. I knew there was nothing in the bank. Jonny took a cheque for $100 to a small sub branch of our bank and they cashed it for us, I then went to another branch and bought $100 in travellers’ cheques. We were pretty worried about what the bank would say when we got back but we really felt we needed the holiday. Besides we had promised the children and did not have any other alternative. In fact the bank did not seem to have noticed. In those days one got a rather nasty letter if you went over ones prescribed overdraft so we expected to find that letter waiting for us when we got home, but we never got one and in fact the bank were very supportive when we were involved in the court case with Stelco and supplied us with documentation to prove our case.
Our hotel, The Don Carlos, was right on the beachfront and in Beira there was nothing to do except laze on the beach or do a spot of fishing. We did not feel obliged to rush around seeing the sights so we had a really good rest, which was great. It was the first time that Dominic had been to the seaside and Jonathan had only had that week in Paradise Island when he was only two. He had been sick then that it was new to him too. As it was an all-inclusive holiday we were given a book full of vouchers and we were told to present them to the hotel for each of our meals. We went to the self-service restaurant for our first meal it was fine, but very basic. One was allowed in there in ones beach wear but we discovered that if we took a few minutes to change before our meals we could go into the restaurant in the other side of the hotel that had carpeted floors, white clothes on the tables, good silver and glass ware and best of all waiters to serve us. As I have never liked sitting to eat with a costume full of sand we decided that that was a much better bet. From then on we ate in the plush restaurant and really enjoyed the food. The waiters were mostly young Portuguese lads who were in Mozambique doing their five years national service. They took jobs during their leave, as they could not afford to go back to Portugal. They were away from their family for so long that they liked to spoil the children and our two made the most of it. If Jonny and I had a bottle of wine with our meal the waiter would pour a little into the glass for Jonny to taste. Then the boys would ask for a cool drink and the waiter would pour a little into their glasses for them to have a taste before they poured the full glass for them. The food was great and it was so much nicer to be served and spoilt rather than standing in a queue to put your food on a plastic tray and eat at a table without a cloth in a room full of people in their bathing clothes. It meant we had to leave the beach a few minutes earlier to have a quick shower and change before going into a meal but it was worth it. We could never understand why everyone else at the hotel did not do the same. .
I liked Beira, it had a lovely relaxed atmosphere. The shops were open until quite late in the evenings and people would stroll around the streets. Most of the squares in the town were surrounded by small cafés patronised by the local people, drinking coffee or a cool beer. The whole family would be out together. Mother and Father, the children and the grandparents, all enjoying the balmy nights. On one street corner near our hotel there was a glass blower that fascinated us. The man worked with old florescent tubes. He heated them with a small gas blowtorch and twisted and turned them into different shapes. We bought two small ornamental lamps from him.
Because both Rhodesia and Mozambique were fighting terrorist wars, security at the airport was pretty tight. (by the standards of that time). All our baggage was opened and checked. Jonathan and Dominic both had small suitcases, mostly for their toys and things they felt they could not travel without. On our way home the customs officer opened Jonathan’s little case and the smell from a dead crab that he had found on the beach nearly knocked us all out. The man just closed the case and waved us through, I would have thought that he would have suspected that the smell was hiding a bomb or something and looked a little closer but maybe he was accustomed to little boys bringing home dead crabs when they went to the seaside.
Yes, we had a lovely holiday and a good rest but when we got back things were not good at Stelco and it was not long after Jonny decided to pull out and resign from the company.
posted by JC at
11:26 pm
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home