Two very charming stories and some others that reflect the colonial attitudes of the time the events took place. I find this with almost all Gerald durrell stories that take place in Africa but particularly in this short story as although the white community is the butt of the joke most of the time it is more because Gerry hasn’t really taken the effort to know his servants etc as individuals. There’s a lot of excuses etc for british behaviour towards Africans within the story and he takes care to emphasise that he’s one of the good brits (he actually knows his servants first name for heavens sake *shock*) and although it is all well written and witty as ever it makes uncomfortable reading in the modern day. My edition was also printed in the 70s (it was a gift from my grandparents) and the cover has a cartoon depicting a black man in what I would describe as a racist way. The stories about Ursula and his time working in the pet shop are delightful and the only reason I keep the book on my shelf (if I could buy them separately I would).