Get back soon, Petroc

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Sorry, Calum, but anyone dislocating their shoulder whilst in Police custody (whether in Harare or Birmingham) would wipe any potential smile off my face.

When he's back home we can discuss the (lack of) wisdom of doing work in a foreign country without a work permit, and maybe even indulge in a bit of schadenfreude. Until then (and I hope it's very soon) I can't join in the chuckling.

[doversoul1]

No update but more support (scroll down)

http://intermezzo.typepad.com/

aka CDJ
I don’t think it is the arrest itself that we are concerned at this moment, but the condition in which Petroc might be kept. It isn’t a manure heap he has stumbled in but something that could be a lot worse, as reported by those who had similar experience.

If a Zimbabwean radio DJ were treated likewise in the UK, I expect we would be similarly concerned, irrespective of his legal status.

Let's hope that no news is good news and we'll hear the good news on Monday.

[Flay]

why was he there without a work permit? it was an event at the Zimbabwe Academy of Music ... this might put it in a lighter perspective....

I cannot see anything "light" in the article you quote from:

Bulawayo-based Magodonga Mahlangu, who has been arrested nine times and won international awards for her women’s rights activism, warned: “Bulawayo police station is not a good place. Any police station in Zimbabwe is not a good place. You can be beaten by other inmates. Officers don’t protect inmates and can harass you themselves. All sorts of things can happen to you.”

He is BBC so may well not be treated sympatheticaly. Did you actually take time to read the article above posted by Ammy about the NZ photo-journalist Robin Hammond imprisoned in Zimbabwe for nearly a month?

A single toilet served the 250 prisoners in the police station, with no toilet paper or soap provided. Time was passed crushing lice between fingernails and picking weevils out of the disgusting food provided for nourishment.

Why not sit this one out in silence, Calum? My best wishes go to Petroc and his family. Get home soon and a swift recovery from the injury.

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

Sorry, Calum, but anyone dislocating their shoulder whilst in Police custody

quite agree and had i known that bit of news i might have left the chuckles out ... but my impression on first glance was that he had just been arrested .... i can imagine that if the trip had been to the Brooklyn Academy of Music proper care would have been taken with the immigration and paperwork requirements .... the Zimbabwean Authorities are perfectly entitled to enforce their law and regulations and also entitled to not have them ignored whether from inept administration or any other cause and given the reputation of our own immigration police and facilities it ill behoves us to demonise Zimbabwe ... enuff from me no doubt

[Dave2002]

I too wish Petroc a speedy recovery from his shoulder injury, and a quick release from the situation he is currently in. Hopefully he'll be back with us soon.

[PJPJ]

... enuff from me no doubt

Probably a wise move.

[french frank]

I thought I'd already posted this several hours ago but it seems I failed ... Ian Skelly is presenting Breakfast tomorrow and Tuesday and Petroc is billed to be back on Wednesday. Not sure whether that's a sign that they expect him to be back then or whether, possibly, this isn't a change of plan at all, given that Petroc was going to be in Zimbabwe.

[teamsaint]

Any shortcomings of our police and immigration staff are absolutely no reason not to speak out against shoddy behaviour by the Zimbabwean police. (Unless of course you think our guys are spotless....).

Lets hope Petroc is out soon.

On a positive note, and I don't mean this in a trite way, though he has no doubt been through a really nasty time, we learn and grow through bad experiences, and I have no doubt that he and others will eventually take positives from this. I really hope so.

[PJPJ]

On a positive note, and I don't mean this in a trite way, though he has no doubt been through a really nasty time, we learn and grow through bad experiences, and I have no doubt that he and others will eventually take positives from this. I really hope so.

I hope you're right - I'd rather not have lived through my bad experiences and would have willingly forgone the learning and growing, if, indeed there was any.

[Norfolk Born]

I cannot see anything "light" in the article you quote from:



He is BBC so may well not be treated sympatheticaly. Did you actually take time to read the article above posted by Ammy about the NZ photo-journalist Robin Hammond imprisoned in Zimbabwe for nearly a month?



Why not sit this one out in silence, Calum? My best wishes go to Petroc and his family. Get home soon and a swift recovery from the injury.

Wouldn't that be nice!

[teamsaint]

I hope you're right - I'd rather not have lived through my bad experiences and would have willingly forgone the learning and growing, if, indeed there was any.

Yes, nobody wants bad stuff to happen. But it does, and when it does, we need to learn and grow, is all. I didn't want what I said to sound trite, and I hope it didn't come over like that, and I certainly wasn't suggesting any fault on Petroc's part.

[PJPJ]

Bulawayo Music Festival

The annual festival seems to have been an enormous success since it started in 1997. I wonder if any other forum member remembers Derek Hudson who was one of the founding pushers for this. He was an up and coming young English conductor who, due to unreliable health, went to live in Africa, first in Cape Town, where he was conductor of the Cape Town Symphony Orchestra, after Enrique Jorda and before guests Hugo Rignold and Louis Fremaux. He went to Bulawayo 4500 ft above sea level for its healthy climate.

More recently during the first festival Tasmin Little had a musical encounter with a hippopotamus, and I notice this year's performers include the wonderful Leon Bosch. No doubt PT will fill us in on Bulawayo's music and arts scene. I hope so.

[Quarky]

I thought I'd already posted this several hours ago but it seems I failed ... Ian Skelly is presenting Breakfast tomorrow and Tuesday and Petroc is billed to be back on Wednesday. .

Latest news reports is that he is suffering a dislocated shoulder and was in hospital -
While being held in a crowded police cell he slipped and fell, dislocating his shoulder which required an operation to reset it. On Saturday he was recovering in hospital in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe's second city, but remained in official custody and was expected to face a court appearance on Monday. - see http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/9292...-festival.html

so I would guess he will be out of action for some time.

[Norfolk Born]

Can we have a separate thread for people who find his predicament funny? The rest of us can then take a more sympathetic approach. There's a world of difference between challenging the majority view and mocking another's misfortune.
EDIT: I daresay aka will manage to bring us some humorous extracts from the court proceedings.

[doversoul1]

I thought I'd already posted this several hours ago but it seems I failed ... Ian Skelly is presenting Breakfast tomorrow and Tuesday and Petroc is billed to be back on Wednesday. Not sure whether that's a sign that they expect him to be back then or whether, possibly, this isn't a change of plan at all, given that Petroc was going to be in Zimbabwe.

I have noticed that change too, but as BBC says ‘Mr Trelawny was not attending the event, organised by the Zimbabwe Academy of Music, in any BBC capacity’, I imagine Petroc was planning to come back by Monday, and this is a change to cover the situation.

I think they (R3 and BBC) are simply hoping that he will be coming back on Monday, as we all are.