Chilanga Company in Zambia Paves The Road to Hell

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This posting has been in draft for nearly a year. I wanted to wait until all the actions were complete before posting. I could not come up with a catchy title. This is a story of unintended consequences, and unexpected and, as it turned out, unwanted inheritance and Chilanga cement company in Zambia.

My father, Walter Jack Whiteside, died in 1989 and left a complicated estate. In terms of the will two thirds was left to my mother and the balance divided between my father’s two daughters from previous marriages. My brother and I were the executors. It took a long time but we managed to wrap up most of the estate by about 1992. I used a local Durban attorney, Russell Sobey to help with this as most of the holdings were in South African shares.

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Vignettes of spring and summer 2014

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My Skype picture is of a swallow. I think it is appropriate because I too flit between the northern and the southern hemispheres. Of course I put much less effort into this traveling than the birds do. Having said that, all my recent trips have been in economy class on KLM. Admittedly premium economy, but still economy! I won’t dwell on this other than to say the flights I took recently were packed, a combination of the holiday season and KLM doing really well.

I hope to put up a guest posting on my website as my daughter, Rowan has spent a month in Southern Africa, mostly Durban. We shared a road trip. I have invited her to contribute and we will have to see when this happens. No pressure Rowan. She is embarking on the MA in creative writing at UEA this academic year. It is one of the best MAs in the world, with an illustrious list of alumni.

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Six months in Canada and Interpol are looking for you

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Six months in Canada and Interpol are looking for you

What do Waterloo, Ontario and Mbabane, Swaziland have in common? Apart from the fact that I have lived in both! A few nights ago, in Waterloo, there was a severe thunderstorm, the first I have experienced here. The flashing and crashing reminded me of the summer afternoon thunderstorms in Mbabane. The high veld of Swaziland has one of the highest rates of lightning strikes in the world. I gleaned this factoid when, as a freelance reporter, on the monthly newspaper ‘Business in Swaziland’, I interviewed the CEO of the Swaziland Electricity Board. This writing experience of nearly 40 years ago was great fun. We were paid 75 cents per column inch published, which meant that as soon as the paper appeared, we ‘journalists’ took out a ruler to work out what was due to us.

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Settling in: flats, cars and furniture

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On 30 May I took possession of my new digs. It is an apartment in Seagram Lofts, an old distillery building, literally just across the parking lot from the Balsillie School of International Affairs. This will be the shortest journey to work I will ever have had. Given that I have always tried to take jobs that allowed me to go home for lunch, it is extraordinarily close, even by my standards. I will be putting pictures up on my website. The estate agent who took care of me Dave MacIntyre also introduced me to the Kitchener Squash club.  This has been a great help in making me feel I can live here! The lofts are really fantastic space and they have been extremely well converted. The squash club does what it says on the tin, and provides a good useful space to get together with a minority who share at least one of my interests.

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Teeth are trauma

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The idea that one should take good care of one’s teeth is drummed into us and we try to pass the message on. Boy, do I believe it now. The water in Kenya, where I was born and spent my early years, and Swaziland, where I grew up, did not have fluoride added. As a result I have more than the average number of fillings and crowns. It is likely the lack of brushing and eating sweets that were significant contributors, but I would prefer to think that fluoride was the issue.

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All the N’s: Norwich, Nairobi, Norwich, New York

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I wrote this post after travelling to Kenya and concluded it was a rather depressing trip in some ways. The reason for the travel was a board meeting for AIDSpan a small NGO whose mandate is to watch and support the Global Fund for AIDS, TB and Malaria. I went over from the UK on Wednesday and returned to Norwich on a late flight on Saturday evening arriving back on Sunday. The flight from Nairobi to Amsterdam is longer than the one from Toronto to Amsterdam. I don’t think I appreciated that Canada was so close, or maybe that Nairobi was so far.

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Still Snowing!

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Trying to start a new chapter is a challenge. I think though, the place to begin is to be grateful to have the chance to do it.

I arrived back in Waterloo in late March with the goal (other than work) of finding and buying a property. This has been made much easier by amazing modern technology. We have been able to look at properties online, mark them as favourites or possibles, and take virtual tours of the houses and flats. It is remarkable. Then, when it is bought, I will (I assume), be able to put a link on the website, and anyone who is interested will be able to have the same access.

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Alps

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I got back to Canada on 18 February after a short visit to the UK. It was, in my view, just long enough to thaw out. Of course most of the west of the UK was experiencing some of the worst floods on record. It looked quite desperate for many homeowners and farmers. Fields in the Somerset levels are still under water.

There was more snow in Waterloo and it continued to be bitterly cold. The time there on this visit was a little curtailed. I am getting a sense of the place, and what I need and want to do. Buying a car and finding somewhere to live is the next order of business.

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Assault and Battery

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I spent my first month in Waterloo starting in mid-January, and came back to the UK for 10 days in February. On the Saturday before I left, for the first time, the temperature climbed to 0°C. It has been as cold as -25°C. The town was covered by a white blanket. This is beautiful and has the effect of muffling sound; it makes everything seem very peaceful. There is a downside; it took me at least half an hour to dig the snow off the drive so I could get the car on the road. There is a snow plough that comes down the cul-de-sac where I am living that clears the road, leaving banks of snow across the driveway. The snow shovel is large and, although snow is light, I was sweating by the time it was cleared.

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New Beginnings

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The past month has been hectic but rather fun. I left Durban, as promised, on  19 December 2013. That was sad. The last days involved clearing out my office, deciding what needed to be shipped to Canada, stored in the flat, put in the suitcase, or given away. I know that to some extent, I keep my life in boxes. The University of KwaZulu-Natal box is now closed, and, hopefully, the important residual parts are in transit. There is a lot to reflect on, of course. How could there not be after 30 years?

I am extremely lucky to have had the opportunities I did, to connect with people, to build an organisation and support my team’s contribution to knowledge and science which, hopefully, makes a positive difference. I am proud of my own substantial publishing record.

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