Keep watching it past the "NTSC NO SIGNAL" pauses, of which there are several
I do now, thanks to an old mate from my Bougainville years, Des Hudson, who had just phoned introducing himself as Mr Biden. Padma had answered the phone and, suspecting another bl***y marketing call, said she didn't know any Mr Biden, and hung up again. Next time introduce yourself as Herr Schicklgruber, Des!
After our years on the Bougainville Copper Project in New Guinea, we had by chance both finished up in Saudi Arabia, he working for Butler Building Systems, a "civilised" Saudi-American joint venture, I for a chaotic Saudi family business as the only Westerner in an office full of Lebanese, Pakistanis, Eqyptians, Sudanese, Iraqis, and Syrians; he living in a comfortable villa in a Western-style compound, I in a five-star hotel strictly obeying Islamic laws. Working six days a week left us one day, Friday, to occasionally meet up either in my hotel or in his compound.
It was at his compound that he took this video which he now wanted to share with me. It shows his charming wife Leila, their kids Jenny, Mark, and Kristen - who have all grown up; Des still hasn't! - and a camera-shy yours truly in Jeddah in 1984. He was both cameraman and narrator but his comments "... so you can remember in twenty years' time what you looked like" are very close to an extra twenty years off the mark.
Although far too late, I am happy to see myself playing in the world's largest sandbox almost forty years ago. Thanks for the memories, Des!
P.S. I'm happy to say that, while I still have that book somewhere and occasionally still shout at the devil for having made me lead such a peripatetic life, my WILBUR SMITH-days are behind me and I no longer read books whose titles are printed smaller than the authors' names!
