N.A.P. extract

I was lucky to be young enough to experience living in a paradise without TV, discotheques, fast cars, drugs and crime.

We had the beach at walking distance — just 1.5 km. The weather was temperate and winter lasted just over a couple of months and was called cacimbo. Rare fog and drizzles. Thus, open air cinemas throughout the year. I remember going every Saturday to the movies. The interval was 30 minutes, during which we walked on the praceta looking for friends and showing off our latest attire. When my sisters and I were teenagers we loved Sidney Poitier, Alain Delon, Paul Newman, Faye Dunaway, Katharine Hepburn, Mia Farrow…

We went to Praia Morena beach every Sunday morning. None of us liked to sit in the middle seat of the Renault 4, so on Monday one of us was saying “I have the window seat on Sunday”. First come, first served. On Sunday nights we either went to the boardwalk or walked up and down on the main road with our friends. Our parents were window watching and meeting friends. Once again the latest attire was of uttermost importance. Back then all our clothes were made by Mamã, who started working in Lisbon when she was eighteen as a bespoke tailor. She made suits, dinner jackets and tuxedos for the richest men in Lisbon. The fittings were always made behind the closed door.

Our first clothing purchase were La Finesse trousers from South Africa. Mine were canary-yellow.

If you didn’t guess yet, I was born in Angola. So was my father and my grandparents. I graduated in Angola as a Civil and Mining Engineer at the age of twenty. My first job was working for Public Works. I was the second in charge. Everyday I did the rounds of the Hospital wings and Industrial School, which were having alterations and additions.

Still odd to me, and I have that official bulletin somewhere, I was approved to work for the Public Works and simultaneously teach 9th grade Maths at the Benguela Lyceum during 1 hour every afternoon and 1 hour at night for adults.

Extract from my autobiography N.A.P.