We as a family tried to get back to England to see the family we had left behind, Christine, Eleanor, Audrey and Dick. It coincided with VJ (7) day and all places on boats were filled with returning soldiers. My Dad was on official business, so he got a place, but we had to return.
We were short of money, so my Mum had to get a job and she found one in Harar, a town to the east of A.A as headmistress of a girl’s secondary school. K.T was living with us and she opened a British council office.
I remember various unrelated incidents there. Harar was an ancient semi walled city so there was a hitch pot of tribes there, Somali, Amharas and Oromo.
There was also The Hyena Man. He used to feed hyenas with meat and bones and hyenas would come up and take the meat from him. My memory is that he held the meat in his mouth and the hyenas took the meat from there.
There was a British consul stationed in Harar and his wife use to cook a marvellous banana cake. I still have her recipe and cook it still in 2019.
The market area was a warren of small shops raised on platforms to keep out the dust. If the stall holder had to leave his stall, he simply covered it with a large cloth and his merchandise was safe until he returned.
I also remember a New Years Eve party to which we all went to, and my mum discovered Stephen and I are being treated to glasses of brandy by some Roman Catholic priests.