Auctions leaving Zambia

When we returned from leave, we noticed a change. People were nervous and friends were leaving. There was a riot in Kitwe and Elice felt it wasn't right to raise the children in that kind of atmosphere.
We left our bits and pieces to be sold at auction by a man called Jo Jackson. There were frequent auctions at the time and one day Jo was selling a cruet set. Remember this was in the mid sixties  and prices were rather different. The bidding went up from two shillings and sixpence to five shillings to a pound. When it got to two pounds ten shillings, Jo stopped the bidding. 'Are you all mad?' he asked. 'You can buy these down town for fifteen shillings, who will offer me five?' Someone put their hand up and Jo shouted 'I'll take it. I'm not going through that again.'
Leaving turned us back into nomads and we returned from the sunny bushveld of Zambia to Glasgow, planning to go to Canada, where I had spent six months between third and final year university.

www.sullatoberdalton.com