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[Trevor Watkins]

Links article on Jim Harris

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Links Harris <madter...@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 12 Nov 2024, 19:32
Subject:
To: Trevor Watkins <bas...@gmail.com>

Jim was born on 28 February 1946 in Haddington, Scotland. His father was the local bank manager and his mother looked after Jim and his two sisters. In winter, ice used to form on the inside of his bedroom window.  

It became clear pretty soon how clever he was, so he was sent to the fee-paying Royal High School in Edinburgh, whilst his two sisters were seconded to the local government school, something that annoyed them a lot.

He took up scouting and became a Queen's Scout.

He was of course Dux at school.

He studied science at St Andrews University and then did his PhD in Chemistry at the Royal Institution in London.

After his graduation he got a job with ICI but was then offered either retrenchment or a move to SA to join AECI. On his move to Modderfontein HQ he met his lifelong friends Dennis and Rod, and started caving with them. This turned into an every weekend pleasure. Jim and Links met in a cave in 1975!

He and Links got married in 1977 and moved to Sasolburg. About a month after marriage, Links brought a kitten home and this was the beginning of a wonderful life with loads of animals. This was new to Jim as he'd never been allowed pets when growing up.  In Honeydew there were seven dogs, four cats, three horses, ducks, chickens and rabbits.

Jim always had a mild interest in homesteading, but when Links bought him a book called Self Sufficiency, a plot lifestyle seemed like a great idea. And it was! Apart from growing fruit and veg, Jim decided to rear rabbits and chickens too for food. He used to dispatch them in the garage and it was horrendous.  Links had to cook the bodies of those who'd recently been pets.....

Thank heavens this gory phase blew over soon.

Two glorious children were born. Jim was a superb, involved father, though not always very focused. He dropped Laura off at Redhill for her school trip to Sordwana Bay. A couple of hours later, he found her suitcase in his boot. So off he drove to the sea side to deliver the case!

When Adam was learning to fly, Jim happily volunteered to fly with him, and they found their way back to Lanseria together, by following the main roads.

Jim started riding, first on Perry, then on Firefly and finally Moose. He fell off constantly and was always sore and achey.

His work career continued with Gundle Plastics and then Voltex, but he was never really engaged. What he loved doing was writing articles and having intense arguments about economics and libertarian principles.

He retired when he was 52 and he and Horst used to do a glorious hiking trip each year. Svalbard, Greenland, Iceland, the Shetlands,  Norway, Faroe Islands, Patagonia and Pyrenees. Thank goodness he did these, as his life was cut short.

[Gabri Rigotti]

Yes I remember his articles, going way back ... I recall him being a chemical engineer at Sasol ... 

Lovely and poignant article, he must have been multi talented ... 👍👌👌👌

Virus-free.www.avg.com

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" It is not the water in the fields that brings true development, rather, it is water in the eyes, or compassion for fellow beings, that brings about real development. "

—Anna Hazare