WITH MEMORIES OF SOUTH AFRICA LOCKED IN MY BLOG WE NOW DEPART (ADIOS)

I have spent a long time reaching into the depths of this old mind, in order to set in print some of my remaining memories of South Africa. I have truly enjoyed digging out memories, some of which have been repressed for years, but all of which are true. Possibly, I have bored the hell out of many of you, but I see that I still have a few loyal readers. So at the risk of losing any more, I will not post one more article of South Africa. Unless, of course, I am made too by Deysi.

Our next landing was to be in New Zealand where we settled in for a long haul, that turned out to be, only, about 8 months. I must say it was very hard to leave South Africa, but the time had come and the offering of a new adventure was alluring. So like every other move we made. Deysi took charge, organized everything, made time for herself and the girls to make a quick visit to Canada, while I strapped on my para-glider and headed straight off to work on a new assignment.

Now, I was going back to work for my former employer and for a friend that I had also worked for in the past, in Japan. My heart was heavy on leaving South Africa. We truly loved our time there and the people we met. My new Mercedes was just recently ordered and my new position in that company was going well. The catalyst of our move from Africa was. At near the same time when my friend asked if I would be interested in joining him in New Zealand, a young mother just up the street from us had been shot and killed. This happened when she was opening the gate to her property to get her car out. Suddenly, two guys entered behind her, shot her and stole her car.

I was at a point in my life, where I was very close to buying and carrying a weapon, for the protection of my family. I also knew that I couldn’t be there to protect them every minute. Also, that if confronted by someone putting them or myself in danger, I would, without hesitation, shoot them. I did not want to be in that situation. I called my friend back and accepted his kind offer. At that time it was a demotion from the position I held in South Africa. But in exchange it meant returning to a long time California based employer. Once again, reuniting with a friend and his family. Then, travelling to a place that was both safe and secure for my family. I did not hesitate.

The project in new Zealand, was the re-vamp and expansion of a major operating pulp and paper plant. The project was to be broken into two phases. The first, of which, was in the final stages. To be followed, the second phase, a major addition to the plant (which had not yet been started). We were looking at maybe 2-3 years employment in the beautiful New Zealand. We were pumped! My first day in New Zealand and my first visit to the Project left me with a memory that I had never been able to shake all of these years. It was similar to the indelible memory of the tune “It’s a Small World After All” which played in my head for years after only one day at Disneyland.

This one of the pulp and paper plant, was the smell of pulp, being readied to make paper out of. It was overpowering to me. It smelled like old, burned, rotten cabbage, mixed with dead buzzard, or something worse. And it smelled like that each and every day. It followed me like a bad cloud hanging over me and no matter how much I scrubbed, gargled or purged, that smell was around me for years. Can you imagine smelling like that, with that music ricocheting around in your head and three girls picking on you. No wonder I was a “nutter”. Anyway here we were in Rotorua, New Zealand and a new chapter in our lives about to unfold. A note: the demographics of New Zealand at the time of our arrival were 4,000,000 people and 16,000,000 sheep. Yummm where do I start?