1980 - ZIMBABWE Exploratory Visit - Last day in Salisbury

Wednesday December 10, 1980 – Salisbury

Woke up early as usual and phoned Matt. We got through quickly, so he was still asleep. He still sounds happy having been to miniature golf and Smokey II yesterday.

Rab on left with Ros (seated) about 1960

The weather was very overcast and it rained most of the day today. We visited Marilyn Hartley, the sister of Ros a good friend of Rab’s who travelled with her in Europe. She has a lovely house in Highlands – and two yapping fox terriers plus a house servant whose name was Cigarette. After coffee with her we popped in at the local supermarket – this one called TM. They were by coincidence having a special on tambala nuts so we bought four kilos, surely enough to last us for a long, long time. (it is difficult to understand this apparent obsession with tambala nuts from this distance. They were very big, very tasty, but heck, when all was said and done they were just peanuts!) We also bought some local marmalade for Matt.

I had to hurry back to the hotel because I was down to take some of the staff to the Christmas Party which was to be held at the Royal Salisbury Golf Club, while Rab had lunch with Deirdre. The party was happy and good fun, although there were some aspects that concerned me somewhat. The concept of multi-racial parties was in its infancy and the black staff had been given no background information about the food which would be on the buffet or how to eat it. There was a deal of sniggering among the whites at some of the inappropriate choices. (This event came back to me some years later when Rab and I ordered a meal in Singapore and could not identify the dishes or how we were to eat them.)The staff gave Eric a beer mug and a parrot for his present on the basis that since he now had a boat, he needed a parrot – “Every sailor needs a parrot”. Not a live one of course but one made of wool and material. As I left the Club I saw the ‘lawnmowers’ on the polo field, which had created a bit of laughter during the lunch. A flock of between twenty and thirty sheep who keep the grass short enough. They started using the sheep instead of a lawnmower when petrol rationing was introduced during the War.

I got back from the lunch at about 15.00 and after getting some funds from the office for our trip tomorrow – we are going to stay at Leopard Rock – we went to visit Mrs McMillan. Ros’ mother. She lives in a block of flats and is on the fourth floor. The passage to get to her flat gave me the willies because it was only guarded by a low railing and as it was wet polished concrete, I could just imagine myself slipping and crashing over the railing. Her flat was full of paintings, all her own work, which seemed to us to reflect colours that did no occur in nature.

Leaving her to her art we went on to the McBeans for dinner and had a lovely evening catching up on family news. We also watched the Dave Allen Show – banned in South Africa for blasphemy - on TV with them which we thoroughly enjoyed  and then headed back to the hotel to pack.