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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Exeter Times-Advocate, 1966-08-18, Page 2Page 2 Times-Advocate, August 18, 1966 perfect summer treat for all the family. it's delicious and healthy. Try some soon and you'll agree - for a cool, tasty, protein lift - nothing beats milk. MEETS LATEST GOVERNMENT SPECIFICATIONS Keyhole Style Vests (a) Completely reversible. Up to .50 Lbs. -I 2 89 219 S t r o n g, rotproof, brilliant FOAM : KAPOK • L U p to 9A0 Adult s, 4.98 3.39 Size 6.98 4.29 FOAM KAPOK •50113Lib°s. 4.39 3.39 9 01j PL 1.4 . 518 9 3.89 Adult ' Size 8.39 5.19 b Orange covering over foam or kapok filling. Provides maximum buoyancy in un- expected emergencies. Reversible Life Jackets (b) Brilliant Orange. Foam or kapok filling. Sizes to fit the entire family. Front opening. The maximum in comfort, safety and value! EXETER Joins. IBM to see the world. Wears neatly pressed underwear Stay in Niger marked by two bloody revolts that one oil company executive had to pay five years in advance for the $10,000-a-year home he rented. However, labour comes very reasonable and most white people have at least one steward. The Taylors pay their man $40 a month ;which makes hini well- paid by Lagos standards) and for this he does all their cooking, laundry, ironing, housekeeping, serving of meals, etc. Many stewards also perform baby-sitting duties and wash cars, but for this they expect to be paid at least an extra 1 5e per hour. The Taylors live in a six- family apartment building and the stewards live in a motel-like structure "out back" with their wives and children, The stewards are provided with uniforms and are always neat and tidy, but Judie reports that most people demand that their helpers take a shower each day. Most companies make up the difference in the cost of living for their employees in Lagos, and as Don points out, it's the only way they could afford to live there. bed at night. they not only lock, the front dour at their apartment, they also lock the bedroom. While a night watchman is on duty, thieves often travel in groups of up to 10 and so one man provides no great deterrent to them. In addition, many of the night men are bribed by tin thieves, Occurrences of thieves moving in to remove all the furniture at a house or apartment are not uncommon, but the Taylors re- port they have grown accustomed to the fact it may happen to them qaundalms') s. they sleep without any However, with IBM supplyine their furniture, they don't have too much at stake, but lock the bedroom door lust to keep the thieves from confronting them at night. -The natives in Lagos are de- scribed as "nervy people" by Judie, but she notes they're not violent and "they'll laugh at any- thing". She and her husband quickly learned how to barter with the native peddlers and soon found out that Saturday night was "bar- gain night". The reason is that the peddlers want some betting money for the Sunday races and so have "clearing sales". White residents in Lagos are "expected" to pay at least three Life in Nigeria One of the most pleasant aspects of life in Nigeria is the ideal weather which prevails for most of the year. Mr. and Mrs. Don Taylor, right, take advantage of the climate to spend most of their weekends at their island retreat where natives erected a hut for them at a cost of $12, Below, Don congratulates a recent bride and groom during his attendance at their wedding. The groom is on the staff at International Business Machines and Don is branch manager for IBM in Nigeria. LOCK BEDROOM One probl em--described as tremendous by Don--is that of looting, and when they retire for at the age of two and this early start puts them well ahead of their counterparts In other lands. Teaching salaries are low in comparison to here and Judie receives 85 British poands ($255) per month, which is the top salary paid. Most native children do not go to school, h o we v er , and the streets are filled with naked urchins and youngsters ranging from six and up who are employed as peddlers. While the streets are swept daily in the city, it is still very dirty, There are open sewers and people go to the bathroom in the gutters. However, the Taylors "get away from it all" on the weekends when they jump in their boat and head for a nearby island on which they have a small "hut". This was built at a cost of $12. With ideal weather, Judie ex- plains that the weekends make up for the frustrations during the week. However, they report they live basically the same as they would here. They eat familiar foods, see American programs on TV, can visit good restaurants and night clubs, and enjoy evenings with other Canadian and Amer- ican families in their apartment building. Their most memorable exper- ience in the year was on their arrival when customs officials demanded a duty of 250 pounds ($750) on the jewellery Judie had taken with her. The jewellery was the normal array most women here have. Their shipping agent finally managed to get it out of customs (by bribing an official) but the next day the fraud squad arrived at their door to confiscate the jewellery with the hopes of drag- ging them off to court. However, they haven't made any charges yet--but then Judie doesn't have her jewellery either. times as much as anyone else, So haggling marks every sale. "We start at about one-fifth of what they ask and, invariably meet at one-third," Don states. "You can't let them know you may be interested in anything," Judie adds, "or the price won't come down." Transportation in Lagos is done mainly by bicycle, although the natives transport most of their wares on their heads. The loads are aften bigger than the people carrying them. There are manyEuropean cars in the city, and as Don explains, "there are far too many for the standard of the roads". The climate in Nigeria consists of about three months of rainy weather--in which it rains every day-and the remainder of fine weather, in which it hardly ever rains. Temperatures range from 85 to 95 degrees during the day and cool off by only five degrees at night. The proximity to the water also makes it very humid. It took the Taylors some time to get accustomed to the weather and report they need much more sleep than here, as the weather tires them more readily. The weather, combined with health problems, also makes the natives very lazy. Most suffer from a disease known as "bal- harzia" which attacks the blood and makes them very sleepy. Don has found another oddity too. He wears neatly pressed underwear to work. However, this is again for health reasons as insects lay eggs on clothing on the lines, and everything must be ironed to kill the larvae. Otherwise, they get under the skin and come out in the form of boils and must be squeezed out. One of the added benefits of life in Lagos is the fact everyone takes both the Christian and Mos- lem holidays, the latter being marked by some gay--and at times wild--celebrations, TEACHES SCHOOL Judie, who taught high school in Toronto before departing for Lagos, has joined the staff at one of the schools there. Attend- ing are both Nigerian and white children, the latter being depend- ents of the British American and Canadian personnel in the city. About 600 children attend and their parents pay about $40 for each eight-week semester. Each semester is then followed by a week's holiday. Children start nursery school Dampening a rug When Don and Judie Taylor purchased this rug from the native peddler, he decided it should be sprayed by water. To do this, he merely took a glass of water and spewed mouthfuls over the rug, much to the astonishment of the young couple. "It's just like Boy Scout Apple Day every day of the week!" That's how Don. Taylor de- scribes life in Lagos, where he Serves as manager of Nigeria for International Business Machines. He and his wife are presently on a six-week vacation from their residence in the West African city and are spending this week with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Ross Taylor, Huron Street. While the teeming hordes of street peddlers and ha wkers make Don think of Apple Days back in Canada, things inNigeria get a bit rougher than that at times, In January, the civilian gov- ernment was overthrown by mil- itary leaders in a bloody coup, and on July 29. that government was in turn overte rown. The Taylors remember that one best because it delayed their holiday departure by four days. They had been seheluled to fly out of Lagos or. tee 'CV onhig the revolt took place, but with the new leaders controlling the airfield, no airplanes were landing. In addition, there had been a con- siderable amount of shoeting in the vicinity of the airpora The airline informed the yeung couple on Monday they were ne- gotiating with the new leaders to use the airfield and by Tuesday things had cooled down enough to permit them to depart. While the two bloody rev- olutions created much concern among their parents and friends back in Canada, Don and Judie weren't all that concerned, pra- marily because they didn't know exactly what was going on. They saw armed patrols on the streets, but life went on in the normal way, although some for- eign companies did recall their employees from Lagos. It was two weeks before the Taylors knew that the former government leaders had been killed, as the local news media was very silent on the entire af- fair, awaiting the outcome to determine on which side they should be. The only report s available were on the BBC radio. ',The last episode (July) was more frightening," Don reported, noting that while it was more of a "quiet revolution" there was no indication of where it might stop. He explained that the unsettled conditions in the country have been having a great deal of bad effect on the economy, as foreign companies are naturally appre- hensive about pouring any more money into the economy as they could lose everything in a manner similar to experiences in other African countries. ENJOY IT While the entire situation may sound frightening to most people, NemeiNeureeNrei•eehiareeferd ENJOY YOUR HOLIDAY BE WATER WISE! eaaeleeeeeeere\aaeafteereeeraaseee it doesn't appear to bother the Taylor couple. They report they enjoy the life in Africa anti are looking forward to their return in early September. They were both excited about their new job when they were given the assignment about a month after they were married last summer, "We didn't know much about the country, but we were excited at the prospects of travelling in Europe and Africa," Don reports. On their way over last Sep- tember they enjoyed side trips through England, Franceand Switzerland. As a reward for his topnotch sales effort last year, Don was also awarded a trip to Rome and on their way home to Canada this summer they stopped in Berlin and plan a week's trip along the Costa DelSol in Spain on their way back. What was their reaction on their first glimpse of their new home? "We were slightly appalled at the number of people lined along the road from the airport," Don stated, noting peddlers were standing shoulder to shoulder for miles selling their wares from small stands. Each peddler had a small par- affin lamp on the table and so their first sight was that of "a lot of black faces lit up by par- affin lamps." Most of the people along the way were women, who were sell- in a to each other. They literally sold everything from "soup to nuts" and most were in small quantities, such as one or two cigarettes, a handful of peanuts, small boxes of soap, etc. This is the only means of support for most of the women, many of whom are married to Moslem men who either work elsewhere or not at all. Many of these men have three or four wives and do not provide support for them at all. The Taylors are surrounded by black faces in Lagos, as there are only 4,000 whites in the city of 400,000 people. The whites are generally managers of most of the businesses--with the ex- ception of the government--and so are in charge of the large oil operations in West Africa, the banks, department stores, hotels and accounting firms. While the standard of living is very low among most of the natives, who dwell in tiny shacks that bulge with children, the white people do not enjoy the type of economy one might expect. In short, it's expensive to live in Lagos if you want to maintain most of the way of life to which Americans and Canadians are accustomed. The. Taylors' menu consists primarily of imported American foods, and with the Nigerian gov- ernment placing heavy duties on it, their grocery bill adds up to about $50 per week--or at least double of that here. They pay $300 per month for their apartment and have to pay one year in advance. Some land owners demand three years' pay- ment in advance and Don reports SHEATHING 4' x 8' Sheet Standard FIR Select FIR 5/16" 3.52 4.10 3/8" 4.05 4.63 1/2" 5.48 6.09 5/8 " 6.59 7.32 3/4" 7.86 8.65 "MERMAID" the Water Skis with excitement "built-in!" COMBINATION SKIS PLYWOOD SANDED GIS FIR PLYWOOD LANCER (B) Strong mahogany. Laminated heels and toes. 66x61/2 " wide. Clear plastic coating. Vinyl bindings. One ski has keel and extra toe-piece. 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