Friday, Jul. 27, 2007 - 2:26 p.m.
Jinky & the Crocodile Hunter **************************** After I let him out this morning he was gone maybe 20 minutes when the phone rang.. an elderly man called to say " if my ginger cat was missing he could be found at his place " I pressed him to find out where that was and I received an vahue reply " that's right- by the new house construction site your kitten seems to adore the hole in the ground there .. I live on the next street over" and then he hung up I went over the the vicinity of a construction site in case the sounds of power tools had attracted Jinky but no crew so no Jinky I went on with my day At 8 pm the same gentleman phoned again and said " Your ginger kitten has returned! and he is inside out house now you can stop by and fetch him " I begged a house number and did in the end receive one the gentleman was decent and polite but somewhat deaf I went over and there was Jinky looking out the window at me from inside the house I knocked and when the door opened I recognosed the gentleman as someone I had randomly chatted with in the park on occasion in fine weather and O had found him very interesting "Lovely cat, very friendly" refering to Jinky swimming at his ankles I was ushered inside to meet his blind wife and just sit for a brief time and vist them as they sat before a wide screen tv blaring so loud I had to lean over to hear them speak Their home was decorated pretty much like every first generation British home I had ever visited - pictures of the Queen -various castles -floral china plates on the wall - brass knick knack horse things -and towels draped over the furniture .... to keep it nice.. I learned he was 89 and his wife was 91. They had lived all over the world and been married for 63 years ............. "to each other" he pointed out and was very proud to show off the certificate of merit the Queen herself had signed and sent to them for their long hard service to the British Empire He had joined the British army in 1937 and had worked in the medical corps during the war with" Those Germans" and had been stationed in almost 20 countries over the next 35 years.. Africa, the Middle East. the Carribean. S America, British Columbia, Singapore, India - and raised a British family in a very British way in the outbacks of the Sudan, in Kenya. Rhodesia and Ethiopoa and almost every hot place in the British Empire that had a problem with malaria mosquitos, deadly snakes or leprosy
He specialised in biting insects, deadly vermin, contagious disease and poisonous or dangerous living things in general On occassion he would shoot enormous crocodiles eating native women washing clothes at the river but his main job was spraying mosquito swamps and vacinating the backwater army staff & natives who worked for the British' he looked in on British Missionaries living alone as the sole whiteman in their corner of darkest Africa who had been in the Jungle since the 19th C "Like Dr Livinstone I asked? Those blokes worked harder than Livingstone ever did They were highly respected as doctors faith awakeners and advisors to the Islamic warlords They knew ther Koran by heart as well as the King James Bible " same God up there " he teased I learned he could speak five languages Arabic, Bengali, Urdu old Persian and German.. - the latter handy in case those pesty Krauts showed up again He was with the Army Corps in the 50s and 60s who oversaw and guarded the massive hydro elecrtric installations that were being constructed in Africa -mega projects that have only been online for a few years now' they took 25 years to construct and thats full time work.. I had no idea that the Africa of the 21st Century had been under construction since the 1950s.. that that entire continent was earmarked for upgrade two generations ago.. All the while Jinky played with the mans thin fingers as he dangled them over his chair he didn't seem to mind at all that a curiousred kitten was biting him as he talked a man who had shot crocodiles was being nibbled by a little red kitten His blind wife said she loved moving all over the world every two years- it was glorious to experience the world as history was being made' Former colonies going it alone on the world stage entire public works rising from the jungle bridges, dams, quays and railroads started from scratch she had met some wonderful people as well as some "stinkers" her grown up children were well adjusted and easy in the company of people of every stripe They found rural England too boring when they retired so they emmigrated at age 70 and came to Canada here they live' in a small house feed the squirrels and welcomed Jinky when he walked into their house and into their lives today We were welcomed back to visit anytime we wanted I am sure Jinky will be back and I will go fetch him and learn more about that era from people who were actually there and active in the building of the modern world
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