Chalk, Baked Beans, and Bog Rolls

by Michael Apsley Jenvey

This autobiography seizes the past seventy years by the scruff of the neck and nostalgically frolics down memory lane in South Africa, Rhodesia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, and England.

Plentifully laced with humour, possessing a warmth of love for humanity, spiced with a wide ranging set of anecdotes, it encompasses the free range days of living in southern Africa. Whilst
filled with the nuances and aromas of that continent, it expresses the joy of life and a ceaseless zest for living, set against an ever changing, diverse backdrop of the military, education, and retail.

It dwells within a wide panorama of loving family and friends, and it touches on spirituality, philosophy, history, theatre, and travel whilst offering several messages to its readers. It resonates with the assorted emotions that make humans so fascinating. Th is story
line compels one to recall past experiences, both happy and sad memories, and above all, it offers a beacon of steadfast hope.

Michael Jenvey was born in 1942, in Pretoria, South Africa. Initially schooled in both King Edward Preparatory and High School in Johannesburg, he completed his education at Chaplin High School in Gweru, Zimbabwe (then Rhodesia). Tertiary education included teacher training at the Teachers’ College, Bulawayo, and a year’s business study at the University of Zimbabwe.

In between teaching, two deputy headships, two headmaster roles, and an appointment as schools’ inspector, he served as an officer (rising to the rank of major) in the Rhodesian Territorial Army during the Rhodesian Bush War.

When Zimbabwe gained independence, he joined the whirlwind environment of retailing and became an executive within TM Supermarkets, part of Zimbabwe’s largest retail chain. Happily married with a delightful family of a son and four daughters, he and his beloved family relocated to England after his retirement.