I had never been to a restaurant until I was well over 18 years old.
I did not know, how the inside of a restaurant looked, nor how to even spell the word.
This, was both because they weren’t that many when I was growing up in the 1980s.
Those who will remember that far back, may recall that we would line up outside the local supermarket for sugar or cooking oil as early as 06:00 in the morning.
Only to be told at 11:00, that, the rumour that the shop would get a stock of sugar or cooking oil was false.
We would grit our teeth, not that we had lined up, but that we had lined up outside the wrong shop. So we would move to the next shop, until eventually we got what we wanted.
When I was invited for dinner at a restaurant called the Sparrow, in Kitwe, in those days, I was apprehensive.
One of my relatives, who seemed to be in the know, coached me on how to behave.
Nonetheless, I was nervous, I kept as silent as possible at the furthest part of the table.
I was afraid everybody would know it was my first experience. When time to order my food came I froze, the menu was passed on to me, and all eyes turned on me.
The waiter poised with his pen shouted from across the table, the rather intimidating question, “What’s your order, Sir?”
My nerves failed me, Ifelt exposed.My hands were unsteady, and I dropped the menu.
In an attempt to pick it up, I stooped, the table cloth caught my little finger, pulledthe wine glass and it shattered across the restaurant floor, attracting the attention of all the patrons.
I have got smarter and more experienced, since then. My technique, which always works, is to turn the tables on the waiter, and ask the rather sophisticated soundingquestion;
“What is the chefs choice for the entrée today?”
Then for good measure I ask for tooth picks. I have noticed lately that tooth picks are an essential accessories as you get older.
The jaw thins with age and the gaps become evident in the lower teeth. At  about this time people begin to bow when greeting you and you may begin to experience chest pain.
When this happens you know that you are on the wrong side of 40.One of the common causes of chest pain is the medical condition “Angina Pectoris”.
1.What is  Angina Pectoris?
Angina Pectoris comes from the latin words Angere-to strangle and Pectus-the chest. So Angina pectoris literally means to strangle the chest.
This comes from the symptoms that a person feels with this condition.
Typically you are just fine, then suddenly following some physical or emotional stress, the attack comes on.It  will often be brief about 3 to 5 minutes, and no more.
You get  a feeling  as if the chest is being crushed by a heavy weight like the engine of a small truck. Some people will begin to hit their chest to relieve this sense of  tightness.
The pain will  shoot into the left jaw area like an electric surge. It  spreadsto the tip of the left shoulder radiates to the back between the shoulder blades and the inner arms on both sides. Usually you will suddenly stop doing what you were doing and keep very still.
People around you will notice and begin to say what’s wrong. Many people at this point will simply say, I am fine and its nothing.
However they will have had a profound experience of fear. The pain is so severe that the person thinks they will die instantly.
It is an experience not easily forgotten.
The person will bow their head and make a fist in the centre of their chest.
If you have seen it before you will know instantly that this person has had an attack of heart pain.
It is an experience which many consider a scratch on the nape of the neck from God, saying “Just remember who is in charge of your life”.
People have been known to become more morally upright and religious after the experience.
2.What cause Angina Pectoris?
This is the same as asking the question, what causes heart pain. The heart is basically a mechanical pump.
If you have a water pump at your home, you will, occasionally switch it off.
This will increases its life span. In fact when you buy it, the company selling the pump, may say, if you use it well it has a life span of 15 to 20 years.
The heart pump, never stops, and on average has a life span of 100 years at least.
It has a leash of blood vessels that straddles across the heart in the groove between the receiving  chambers (the Atria) and the discharging chambers (the ventricles).
These vessels, sit like a tiara for the winner of a beauty contest or a crown for a monarch.
So the vessels are called the coronary vessels, because they sit like a crown on top of the heart. When these vessels get blocked, often by accumulated fat in the blood, which cakes, like the calcium at the bottom of an electric kettle, then the heart experiences a sudden cut in oxygen and food to its muscles.
This sudden interruption in the 24 hours supply of oxygen and food, causes the pain nerves in the heart to be stimulated.
The nerves that supply the heart arise along with those that supply the neck, shoulders and arms from a network of nerve arising from the back of the neck.
Therefore the sensation of pain is felt through a large part of the network of these nerves.
When you sit down to rest, and the demand on the heart is less, the pain gradually fades.
This is what occurs most commonly in Angina, especially in what is called Stable Angina.
Unstable Angina, is a more severe form of the illness and has slightly different mechanism. In Unstable Angina, the pain is more severe and lasts longer.
This can be anywhere up to 15 minutes. In this condition the already narrow Coronary blood vessels, get blocked by a blood clot. This blockage is complete. Therefore the effect on the heart is more severe.
If it persists long enough it will lead to injury of the heart muscle called Myocardial Infarction. However often the blood clot displaces and the heart pain is relieved.
3. What can I do to prevent Angina Pectoris?
Somebody said most people spend their life pursuing things they want to impress people they don’t even like. I have found this statement very true.
Nowhere more so than in the disease of Angina pectoris. In the first instance the main cause of the problem is narrowing of the blood vessels. This is often the result of lifestyle.
More and more Africans and Zambians are taking  on a western life style.
The more western lifestyle, we adopt, so it seems, the more successful we are seen to be by our neighbours and all and sundry.
This means we do less physical activity and we drive everywhere. It also means we eat out more and more at the latest fast food outlet. Especially in Ndola and Lusaka, we are just spoilt for choice.
Now remember that with the wall fences getting taller and taller, we don’t even know our neighbours. Also with the multiplicity of TV channels, we hardly socialise.
In fact when we hear, the horn of a car at our door, we are slightly irritated.
“Who dares to come and visit us at this hour”, is often the expression on our face when we open the gate. If at all we open it, after all it is often motorised, and opens itself.
So with the combination of eating habits, couch potato lifestyle and antisocial attitude we sow the seed for Angina pectoris.
Therefore our people skills deteriorate, we are no longer good at making friends, and we are impatient with small talk, on which friendships thrive.
The end result is that we are easily stressed. A word spoken out of turn, results in an explosive response. We don’t know our neighbor and we don’t like most of our workmates.
So we are always on edge, we are quick to misunderstand, and quick to get angry.
This restlessness means that our heart muscle is overworked, and with the high levels of circulating fat  Angina Pectoris is easily triggered.
Ok so what should we do. We need to do a bit more physical exercise. Leave the car parked and walk to the nearby market.
How about shopping more from the market. Try to eat more natural and unprocessed foods.
This keeps the levels of circulating fat in the body low.
If you are over 40 years old, and there is a family history of heart disease or high blood pressure, do a fat levels test, called a lipid profile.
If your fat levels are high, take the anticholesterol, or fat lowering drugs.
Take low dose Aspirin to keep your blood thin, and avoid the formation of blood clots.
This keeps the blood working well and running smooth. Think of it like the oil in your engine.
When it becomes too thick it fails to lubricate the engine parts very well.
Be more friendly, take a little time with family and friends.
Do some sport and physical exercise. Smile a little more and perhaps you may never have to suffer Angina Pectoris.