Another Twist in The Tale

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RATS IN THE CURTAINS One day Valerie and I returned to our property after having a short leave in England with the boys. On the second night we went to the open air cinema again, returned home, tipsy as usual, boys in bed and us also, about midnight. Val and I slept like a log then suddenly about 3 o’clock in the morning I felt something move in the bed underneath my buttock as I was laying on my back, then it stopped then it wriggled again and I thought “what is happening here” so I didn’t wake Valerie up because I wanted to find what the problem was, so I slowly crawled out of bed, and just as I put the bedside light on I was absolutely shocked because our large curtains over the window was crawling with rats, not mice, 15 baby rats, and without the tail at least 12 inches long and they were running up and down, left and right over our curtains, and poor Valerie literally freaked out and went screaming out of the bedroom. I stood there frozen, trying to wake up and come to a decision what we had to do, so I switched the light off, crept out of the room, leaving the bed as we’d left it, slammed the door shut and met Valerie, who was really shaken. So I said “don’t worry, we will sleep in another bedroom” but she said “we don’t know if there’s rats in there also” so I ran into the other bedroom, had a good look around and everything was neat and tidy so we slept there until the following morning. I then phoned Ray and said I’d be late into work and explained what happened, and he just burst out laughing, so I set to on my own, by killing the rats in our main bedroom and I’d found a very large nest of baby rats in the mattress and that’s what I felt move the night before. The servants couldn’t believe what had happened and helped me tidy up our room, burning the mattress and also linen, such as sheets etc. which we found in the cupboard which also had rats nest inside, very very scary indeed! 121
POTENTIAL HEAD HUNT FROM CYPRUS AIRWAYS One day after a very enjoyable lunch at the Hotel School Restaurant with 2 guests, I arrived back in my office and on my desk I found a telegram which really surprised me, (don’t forget in those days, approximately 1970 emails were not heard of then). My secretary, Ero, was away for her lunch break, so I decided to open it very quickly whilst on my own and found it had been sent by Andreas Christou, catering manager of Cyprus airways based at Nicosia Airport, Cyprus. I was very excited but also very happy with my present position with Hallmark Hotels, in East Africa. He explained he had heard from various sources my work, firstly based in Sri Lanka as vice principle of the Hotel School and then as principle at the Hotel Training School in D E Salam. Andreas then explained he was responsible for the food production at Nicosia Airport and also for all the uplift catering, meaning the transport of the prepared food menus from the kitchen to the various aircraft which were waiting on the side of various runways for their next destination. He explained also they had a head chef, his knowledge was very limited and he felt he was under so much pressure keeping an eye on the production side and also the uplift side, he could not possibly continue much longer before he had a heart attack. He then mentioned he had previously had several meetings at Board room level with the Chairman of Cyprus Airways and his boss at last agreed that Andreas should approach me by inviting me on a free return trip to Nicosia and my stay would be at the famous Ledra Palace Hotel for a week or longer if I so desired, with all expenses paid for. I was really stunned to receive this message so I mulled it over for some time, and decided the next day to have a chat with my boss the GM, Ray. I said to him ‘what would you do if you were me as I’m very contented working here’, and then I let he read my telegram from Andreas. He laughed and said ‘you would be a fool not to accept the invite, just go; we will get by without you for a little while!’ After a few days I sent a telegram to Andreas saying what great news you sent me and I would certainly, within a week or so, give you details of my arrival date and appreciated hearing this good news about me. Well everybody, I’m going to cut off at this point and leave you with baited breath, wondering the result of this invitation. All I will tell you at this stage is that it was one of the biggest challenges I’ve ever had in my life, very scary, very happy with lots of high’s and low’s, it had so many ‘twist to the tale’ which I never thought was possible to happen to myself, so read this news in my next edition, book number 2. 122
Page 2 and 3:
PREFACE My name is Derek, I w
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INDEX PAGE 7 My Life Experienc
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MY LIFE EXPERIENCES BY DEREK R
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I remember very clearly as a
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DOODLE BUGS During the blitz o
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OUR MARRIAGE Valerie and I wer
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THE RECEPTION Our reception was
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VISITING THE BOSS WHO OWNED TH
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DAILY GRIND TO GET TO LONDON
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LITTLEWOODS FOOTBALL POOLS In t
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The boss was a very old schoo
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Half way through the party Ala
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ut I was bursting with laughte
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HORLEY ROUND TABLE - 1960’S
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OUR PET ALSATIAN NAMED VANDYKE
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SON NO. 1 PETER WAS BORN KING
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‘Choose which pile you want
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Over a cup of tea we sat dow
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THE NEXT STAGE OF THE STORY W
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Once the summer holiday period
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my spoons to take samples of
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‘THE OVEN’ BAKERY, SELSEY,
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that if ever a vacancy arrived
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WE PURCHASED A DETACHED 3 BEDR
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All the family went to London
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will be etc. Your job Mr Rich
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However you were compensated by
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I soon found out that every m
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“now I want your help, we c
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John and I decided that day t
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The culture in Sri Lanka is v
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There were 4 meat hooks on th
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got another girlfriend by the
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Just to remind you these guest
Page 70 and 71: The mentality of some of the
Page 72 and 73: We went to bed by about midni
Page 74 and 75: traffic lights you can't see t
Page 76 and 77: Little did I know, through Chi
Page 78 and 79: After approx 3 weeks of not s
Page 80 and 81: I should have mentioned this e
Page 82 and 83: My Trip To Italy My trip to
Page 84 and 85: 'You' I soon found out was my
Page 86 and 87: very strange, why wasn't I sta
Page 88 and 89: DAR ES SALAAM During my remain
Page 90 and 91: The background of my work in
Page 92 and 93: Me, my wife & young family Pe
Page 94 and 95: BREAKFAST MENU This never chang
Page 96 and 97: lunch I said to Mr Nazunda I
Page 98 and 99: now be imprisoned and as you
Page 100 and 101: I’m laughing now because I’
Page 102 and 103: We settled in and Peter and J
Page 104 and 105: ROBBERY AT OUR BEACH BUNGALOW
Page 106 and 107: THE ROBBERY -‐ PART 2 Afte
Page 108 and 109: HAPANA LALA Oh yes I must tel
Page 110 and 111: MY WIFE, VALERIE, RETURNS TO D
Page 112 and 113: family in an upmarket area in
Page 114 and 115: 3. 1 table spoon full of whisk
Page 116 and 117: THE DAB CHICK STORY After seei
Page 118 and 119: DOG BITES LANDLORD! One late a
Page 122 and 123: LEAVING DAR FOR PASTURES NEW I
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