patience grand frère ... patience big brother
Hello Hello Silver Bloggers, Dreemers and Hivians.
If you know me, I like to take the alternative route, the least trodden path, and so this post will be no different.
Welcome to Generations, my response to the second prompt in the Silver Bloggers / Dreemport collaboration challenge. If you have entered then thank you, if you have not then we can't read what you wrote!
When the prompt was being dreemt up I did presume that most people would be posting about what their mammy telt them so to speak. Or perhaps a grandparent or two thrown into the mix, maybe a Dad, father or even a teacher etc...
This is all super. but it is essentially passing down wisdom from our elders.
What I was keen to read of course, is people who were going to buck the trend.
We have a lot of youngsters joining in this prompt today, so I wanted to see how they were impacting the lives of elders or people older than them?
Are any of them doing this?
I love to listen and have been called Uncle since my teens. I can sit on a park bench and a total stranger will come up, sit down and then proceed to tell me their life story or worldy problems.
More often or not they were older than me, now of course the numbers are growing the other way round!
So what things do I remember from my Mother...
1 Edward you can do whatever you want.
2 You make your own luck, and you are lucky Eddie!
3 Count to ten.
4 No matter how tough you think you have it, there is always, always someone somewhere worse off than you.
So what sticks in my mind from my Father
1 No Surrender
2 Don't let the bastards grind you down!
No, of course there are a fluff load more of things that I took on board.
I want to tell you about a six year old boy and a chicken.
We make our own luck, to a large extent I believe that. Do you?
To cut a long story short, I got a phone call from a work colleague. I was in my early twenties and living in Newbury in the South of England, he was calling from Gabon in West Africa.
Their Site Process Engineer had resigned and they need a new one like now.
Me, fluff yes.
Puts phone down, where the actual fluff is Gabon
I got to Heathrow, London's big airport to be met by my agent...
Ehmm Edward ... You have to be 25, as Shell don't let Senior Engineers be under 25 in their African operations, so pretend to be 25 if anyone asks you. That's not a problem is it?
What was that about always telling the truth, the trick of course was not to be asked.
I boarded the flight to Paris...
I boarded the flight to Libreville the capital of Gabon
I boarded the flight to Port Gentil (the oil capital of Gabon).
I unboarded the flight to Port Gentil!
Nope someone had a chicken in a crate on my seat. No problem thought I, I will have a few beers and catch a later flight. Turns out the crate had two big white fluffy chickens in it, and when they went to lift it, the latch opened and out flew two white fluffy chickens on this little plane. People trying to grab them, do you know they are wee buggers when you want to catch them!
Eventually, they were caught, and I got on the plane to Gamba a village for the oil terminal. I was pretty fluffed.
I was to be based down here in Gamba and up country at Rabi.
Image by Mohamed Hassan from Pixabay
Here is a young white kid in deep darkest Africa, realising he never actually asked the agent anything about where the place actually was, or what the fluff he was supposed to be doing.
I met some of the construction guys who were just finished with a 48 hour shift, bed nah they were off to a bar. Fluff yeah can I come, okay into the jeep and down to the local village.
Talk about having your eyes opened. The bar was a table made from a pallet stuck on top of two big tractor tyres in the middle of the sand. There were no roads in the village. The kids were playing with no clothes on. They just peed on the sides of the houses, it was as if I was watching fans of a Celtic Rangers football game. The houses were shacks, a couple had managed to get corrugated iron sheets for a roof. The others not so good.
This was poverty, real poverty. Here was I coming to help a country with their oil production and the government was another corrupt piece of crap that had their citizens in poverty. But the kids, they laughed and they laughed.
I had a blast during my stay in West Africa. I worked in Gabon, Angola, Equatorial Guinea, Cameroon and the Daddy of them all Nigeria.
To me, everyone was so fluffing nice. I used to work for months at a time, and when I went on leave I will give whatever I had to the locals wherever I was.
I thought I could drink before I got to Africa. Boy did I find out you can drink more and sleep less.
So I mentioned being up country. If I thought that Gamba with its shacks in the sand was basic well upcountry was jaw-dropping.
We had to be choppered in, this was proper broccoli jungle. When you fly over it looks like heads of broccoli from the air. There were no vehicle trails yet let alone roads, but there were bodies of water.
My job was to design Early Production Facilities for the production of oil.
That was where I learnt to think on my feet. What the actual fluff was I doing, half the time I had no clue. I was like Red Adair, working with the construction guys who were beasts. Play hard, party harder I learnt what that meant.
There was nothing to do up there, except work eat drink pass out and repeat. One week we decided to take a day off, and got a tree trunk dug-out canoe and went exploring.
Image by Valéria Rodrigues Valéria from Pixabay
We came across three straw type houses on the side of a river. We stopped and I saw three chickens running around.
Big fat plump chickens...
How I could go a roast chicken dinner!
Now you have to picture that we had been drinking palm wine by the bottleload as we had been chugging along on our wee adventure.
We stopped and got out, and were met by the wee chief with his gun pointing at us. They had never seen people up there until very recently so we were lucky he never took aim and blew us away.
We got chatting away, it is amazing how drink seems to make fluent in any language in their head, true for me anyway.
He got his special brews out, and by now the four of us were quite literally legless.
Then the fluffing chickens kept running and clucking and running and clucking, or at least I became aware of it.
Something inside me snapped and I went running after them, dived missed and landed with a thud on the dirt. Stumble up and proceed to do the same thing, again and again.
This went on for about five minutes and this time I just lay on the ground.
Next thing, this wee boy lies down beside me.
Puts his fingers to his lips and whispers patience grand frère....
Patience big brother, what the fluff was he talking about. Then the absurdity of the whole situation dawned on me. Here I was absolutely no idea where I was, off my head lying on the ground chasing chickens being told by a wee Gabonese boy to be patient.
Fluff's sake, it is normally me that tells people to be patient.
I have had enough of this I thought, and so proceeded to get up.
This little hand grabs my elbow and again he whispers patience grand frère
What is he on about, but I did as I was told.
The next thing I knew, he snuck out his hands and had a chicken up in the air by the feet.
Smile he is now shouting
patience grand frère... patience grand frère
Woohoo weeman, everyone was making jubilation noises and we go back to the chief.
I was in awe of this wee boy. Turns out he was 6 and a son of the chief, well he was head man so the law of this jungle was whatever he said it was.
He was some haggler though, we agreed to buy the chicken and paid a heck of lot for it, but it was worth it. I did infact roast it over a fire in their village.
Patience indeed is a virtue, some things are caught easily if you just wait and bide your time.
That little boy?
His name is Joseph which I found a coincidence as one of my father's middle names is Joseph.
Well Joseph and his sister Giselle now live in France, and Joseph qualified a couple of years ago as a Doctor.
Joseph and his chicken are forever stuck in my head, and he had such a profound affect on my life I helped sponsor him and Giselle to go to school and amazingly to actually goto university.
We can learn something from each and every one of us!
So don't lookdown your nose when someone younger offers you advice!
Thanks for visiting and enjoy the rest of your day!
All images and ramblings are from me, the mad Scotsman TengoLoTodo unless otherwise stated.
@tengolotodo April 21st 2023
DO WHAT YOU LOVE AND DO IT OFTEN
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I love this, Super Ed!
I remember a while ago you told me about those "adopted" nephews you had in France on one of the few times I asked you some personal questions;) I love the story of how you met Joseph. And yes, the younger ones can be very wise in their advice, we just have to listen to them and have an open mind and heart to learn from them. 💙🌀
PS: are you ready for another nephew, Super Ed? I'm not ready for another kitten in my life yet, but I think I'm being ambushed, and a friend is going to bring me one ;)
Thank you Super Eli.
I knew you knew about them, but not how I actually met them, well Joseph in particular!
Every time I have a roast chicken dinner I think of that night in Africa hehe!
Many youngsters are very wise and they have a different perspective which can make sense, and yes we should all have open minds and hearts 💙🌀💙
Oh goodness, my Super Eli is getting ambushed and it is not even by me!
Well of course, I will welcome another nephew Super Eli, let's see what happens!
And the story is so great. I can understand why you remember it every time you eat roast chicken.
That's right, Super Ed, an ambush, everyone against me hehe. Tomorrow my best friend to whom I've said I don't want another cat by now, 😏 will bring one of the kittens her sister's cat had three months ago. She just weaned them a week ago. I told her a thousand times no, but even though, with the support of C, my mom, my aunt, and everyone who said a word on the subject, lol, tomorrow will bring him. At least I got her to ignore Carlos who wanted two. We'll see how it goes... for now I need a name.
I hope you had a great Saturday, Super Ed 🌀🌀
Yes winner winner chickendinner has a special meaning to me hehe!
Oh wow you are really being ambushed!
I am sure when you see the kitten a name will come to you Super Eli 🌀💙🌀
I never knew you've been here. I feel a more profound connection and respect for you Uncle T and you are truly amazingly different. I'm trying to imagine you drinking palm wine and running after chickens, a most wonderful sight indeed.😂
That's a valuable lesson you got there. Patience. No rush. Steady. You had me grinning from the first line to the last. !LUV it.🤗
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Oh yes I have been there, and that is what pisses me off the most, countries are still full of corrupt officials as before and nothing gets done.
I think more staggering than running but it was hilarious Tessa 🤣
Patience exactly, well I am glad I had you grinning, that is what I like to hear.
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One. It's a trick question.
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We try our best Uncle T but we've come to understand that the country isn't ours but belongs to a few elite individuals who basically plays a good round of soccer with it once the mood hits.
Lol, The palm wine must have been that good then. Have you tried it again since then?
Yes a game of soccer, oh that is one way to put it. Sad but true huh Tess:(
Many times but not for a long time now
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What an adventure you had, Tito Ed. And how wonderful it is to meet someone like Joseph who leaves us with something we can never forget. Great to hear you're connected with them up until now. That's really amazing.
Just one of many adventures over there CJ, but the weeman was a star, and just so matter of a fact, as in this is what you do big brother!
Wow - fantastic story - thats great !!! And fair play on sponsoring them - thats brilliant.
Cheers
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I asked him to wait till after finals.
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Yeah so many African stories, some things stick in your mind forever, that was one of them.
Thanks hoosie
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Chicken tenders
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From the mouth of babes comes truth, you learned a great lesson here. I think of anyone under age 7 to be a child, that still soaks up knowledge like a sponge! Where did he learn his patience from, his Mom most probably as it's her chore to catch the chickens for the dinner !LOLZ
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He could never reach the city limit.
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Oh yes they are sponges, and it is great to see.
Yes wee Joseph I am sure will have watched his mum do things.
Tasty dinner though!
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Of course, those are only round figures.
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Little people are direct and honest, pity they all tend to lose that at around 8 years of age !LUV
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Ah yes that is very true
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Patience Grande Nightowl :-)
Just opening mind we can learn from everywhere. Its so wonderful that you supported them to find their way. !LUV
Only wished they had Smartphone Back them would love to see a photo you jumping for the chicken
Yes open our minds and we can learn so much. Yes smartphones would have been so cool, pics have been lost over the years :(
Never look down on your nose when someone younger advises you. This is brilliant. Nobody is an island and a wise man doesn't look at people's age to learn.
We can learn from lots of people and things if we are patient and calmly listen to instructions.
Exactly my fluffy B, age is just a number, in life we should keep an open mind and there is so much we can discover and have learn with :)
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Keep an open mind. That is how we survive the storm. Thanks for your words, My Fluffy Teng😊
hehe very true my fluffy B the storm is easy enough to ride out and thanks for tuning in last night 😎
Thanks for the amazing show Teng, I had fun
Sorry I had to leave. I !luv you and Matilda. All in one.😁
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ah, the days of work play and little sleep!
great account Ed, thanks
Aye those were the days, cheers Stuart 😄
Awesome post! Sounds like an amazing experience, especially at such a young age! Back in the good ole days when you could just 'pretend' to be any age, nowadays we need to 'identify' as a younger person lolol but that's a point for another time!
This post gave me a little boost for the day! I'll need to try to get around to the #silverbloggers weekly prompts! Some great posts coming from the community! We'll need to see if we can find a way to help make some Buzz between the communities! Smashed the full upvote from the sloth.buzz curation team and made it to the homepage too! Keep on buzzin!
Yeah it was some life changing experiences indeed!
The silverprompts are great and we have had a raft of good posts lately.
We are always looking to collab with others so yeah so buzz making would be a great thing!
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That was a fun way to write the entry... I like your addition of what stuck with you from your parents, some parts were hard to understand, as if you're talking a kind of English that's new to me, but I like the part of "If they asked you, you're 25." "What happened to' always tell the truth?' The trick is not get asked."
Oh, and I'm going to steal this phrase:
The naked boy part stood out to me... It's sad:
Anyway, I loved the conclusion at the end, (patience is an important virtue,) and I learned a new word "grand frère."
!PIZZA !LUV
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Hiya and yeah grand frère is French, the whole thing was quite a surreal experience, but it was fun and amazing all rolled into one.
I am glad that you enjoyed it and yes patience is a virtue, something I reming myself every day.
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So, you're okay with me fluffing stealing your "what the fluff" phrase?
Haha, I hope to increase my patience, I'm a pretty impatient guy!
!PIZZA
hehe I have been using What the Fluff for ages and so do other people, so you are not stealing it!
In fact you will find it comes in fluffing handy quite often!
We can really learn something from each and every one of us 😃
Thanks for sharing this Amazing piece
Came from @dreemport
Yes we can Sommy, is does not matter how old someone is, we all have guidance to give!
Thank you and I have not seen you for ages. Hope everything is good with you
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He lacked COO-rage.
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An fyn sir has really been busy with school.
h well, I hope that school is going better than you hoped for.
I honestly feel like I just got to know you on a deeper level. I love your stories and your life. Thank you for sharing this with us. You inspire me a lot and I remember that phrase anytime I'm feelin a little lost,
"Someone has it worse"
So I always try to be grateful if anything. And you have taught me a lot too. Wee Gabonese boy taught you too, huh?
#Dreemport
Yep a wee Gabonese boy taught me and in French too!
Thank you Deraa and you know it is a two way thing, take today and the ttt post I am writing, it is off the back of a comment from you!
Yes whenever the way is blurred then just remember "Someone has it worse"
!LUV
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Look at me seeing this just now...
That is okay, I have just finished the show!
Uncle T?? Is this where the TEd comes from?
Yes very much, the daddy of them all😂😂😂
It's always best to be very receptive as you don't know when and where you'd learn something new. Who would have thought that you would learn something after falling face down in the mud. ..no one 😅
Now I see why you were so determined to catching the fluffing chicken... because it's part of your favourite dinner. The chicken on the other hand was playing mind games with you😂 It's good to know that you're a fellow chicken lover.
Edward is me, and that is where Teddy Edward come from, the T in uncle T is more from Tengo...
Yes we always need to keep our mind open and receptive, as you say we just never know when we will learn something and have fun too!
Oh yes I love chicken and yes my face ended up in the mud more than once 🤣🤣🤣
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A hardened criminal.
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Okaaaey..
Now it all adds up.😂
Hehe I deserve a wongi now 😎🤣
What wongi would you like to have uncle T.😊
Ah good question, I have not thought🤔😎
I'd be waiting for your response then😅
I forgot to ask you for screen shots as well!
naughty me!
Screenshots? Which?
Of the attendees
I didn't get that today uncle T 😪. I felt really fatigued and had to leave a little early.
Yeah I hope you are okay, and don't worry about it :)
Hehe 2 and 2 makes 4 right enough!