MATRONS WISH LIST !          - 26/11/2007      <--Prev : Next-->

MATRONS WISH LIST !

Have you ever seen a bar of Zimbabwe Soap ? It is quite different to any other soap you are used to....

First Wold Soap is generally oval shaped, comes in a variety of delicate colours, perfumes and sizes and holds nicely in the palm of the hand.

Zimbabwe soap on the other hand has character !! The colours used in the soaps are vibrant to say the least "Screaming Pink" ""Awful Orange" "Blasphemous Blue" and "Ghastly Green "......(apologies to the manufactures ... I know darn well that beggars should not be choosers !!

The sizes of the soaps are interesting, many Zimbabweans prefer a colossal bar of soap for some reason, so large that if it drops on your toe in the shower, it is instant hospitalisation.

HeeHoo likes the latter variety, far too large for my delicate paw, so I have to keep a left- over piece of his soap nestling on a ledge for personal usage.

The perfumes too, are larger than life, maybe that's why one of the brands is called "Lifebuoy" ? No there is nothing, absolutely nothing delicate about a Zimbabwe soap perfume. You can smell us coming for miles !!

But the most peculiar characteristic of a Zimbabwe bar of soap, is that it has wings !! Yes, one can think fondly of our soaps, until they are absolutely unobtainable on any shelf in any shop in any city....

Then one breathes fire at the attributes of the Soap.

The ever so posh Bulawayo Club, (wot even entertained Her Majesty once !! ) Has taken to cutting the bars of soap into miniscule pieces in the hope that they might last a little longer (a retrogressive step in any other country I agree, but quite necessary in this country of winged soap.)

You see, soap is at a premium, so no matter how many pieces an hotel, a club or a restaurant or a nursing home, lays out carefully in the bathroom, it will disappear in a flash and a blur !!

Now Matron at the Edith Duly Nursing Home has a wish list, and as far as we are able, her Committee tries to make Matron's wishes come true.

And so to this end, i am appealing to people who live in countries where the their Soaps do not grow wings, to send us some heavy metal liquid soap dispensers that we can fix securely to the walls .....

Aaah the vagaries of living in Zimbabwe .... there is no where quite like it !! We just love it. !!

e mail magskriel@mac. com

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What would I say to Paddy Vickery if I were to meet her right now ?

I would say "thank you for giving me a love for learning and literature, second to none....."

Do you remember Paddy Vickery ?

Any girls attending Eveline School in the fifties, sixties and seventies will never forget her.

Paddy is living in the UK right now, in Surrey to be exact, goodness knows how old she is but she is sprinting off this month to visit relatives in Cape Town, I am sure she is probably just as spry as she was when she was teaching us reprobates way way back.

It was Audrey Edington, an English teacher at Girls' College , who made such an impression on my own daughters, and it was Paddy Vickery, also an English teacher, who made such a difference to my life.

It all started with "The Wind in the Willows" by Kenneth Graham.

Mrs Vickery used to read it to us when we were in Form two. That voice !! it was glorious, full, sweet, resonant, so delicious to listen to, and the perfect way to start an undying love for all that is Englsh and all that is English Literature.

As we paddled along the river bend with Paddy, a longing to hear more, read more, and to learn more was instilled in each and every one of us.

With Toad, Ratty, badger and Otter we were transported into realms of delight that no modern child will probably ever know....

No matter how hot, no matter how tired, as teenage girls, we lived from English lesson to English lesson.

Audrey Edington is off to the U.K. too soon.

Why are we losing our most precious of all resources, the men and woman educators who made the difference in our lives, and for whom we must thank more than words can say.

No thanks can ever be enough for everything we ourselves have done, learned , said and written, thanks to very special people like Paddy Vickery ad Audrey Edington.

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