BRING ON THE RAINS!!
- 18/11/2014 <--Prev : Next-->
The weather pundits are advocating a bad rainy season this year! Gloom!! So far so good however and every shower we have is a blessing, and every storm we have is exciting beyond all expectations!!
Much rivalry exists between we in Suburbs, and those snooty folk from Hillside/Burnside.... rain gauge levels are compared every morning, and if you do not possess a rain gauge you are certainly not in the 'in crowd!'
Unlike many countries, every Zimbabwean LOVES rain, we are extremely fortunate in that its generally warm and comforting rain, and it seldom lasts long enough to become annoying.
In fact some of the more crazy friends I have will go walking in the rain (myself included) and nothing makes us happier than rain trickling down our backs...
Rain dances are a common occurrence and all sorts of voodoos and taboos are broken in order to appease the rain gods!
We all watch, hawk-eyed, for signs of rain. Are the cactus flowers blooming How many chongololos did you count this morning, are the bullfrogs croaking excruciatingly How many termite wings did you sweep up in the kitchen last night
The frogs and kitties live in symbiosis with the termites as they (the termites not the kitties) pour in their millions from their holes under the streetlights, and every Matabele worth his salt, knows the juicy buttery taste of roasted termites!!
Somehow, every plant in our lovely garden, knows the difference between borehole water and rainwater, and grows uninhibited accordingly.
Our electrical thunderstorms are not as scary as some I have experienced in other countries, but they can still wreak a whole lot of havoc on one's electrical appliances believe me.
In fact I am told that Zimbabwe has a shockingly high proportion of deaths by lightening strikes. Hail is everyone's enemy though and the panel beaters revel in a jolly good Zimbo hail storm!!
Our home has a flat roof which boasts it's own peculiarities and idiosyncrasies. It's an old house relatively speaking, and as soon as the first drop appears, the 'Bucket Brigade' swings into well- oiled action. It is such a vast roof, that no amount of extra guttering has been able to save us from biennial flooding disasters. Our insurers tremble visibly during good rainy seasons!
This year the South Wind has been quite dominant, a meteorological phenomena which has us all quaking in our boots. Give us a good wind from Zambia and the ITCZ and we Matabeles are in seventh heaven.
The devil that works hand in hand with the glorious rain however is that demon ZESA!! With every rainstorm come the breakdowns in our antiquated electricity systems. I know where our problem lies, up the pole in front of the house. It gives up the ghost every rain storm and short of bribery, we are always the last ones on the list for the ZESA Faults team.
I can see it, I know exactly which piece of equipment it is that goes down, but I just cannot reach it!!!
We are still without power since Friday night, even the torches are going dim, the inverter died ages ago, HeeHoo is mutinous without his sport on the telly!! I am going to add up the hundreds of times I have phoned ZESA and charge them along with the deep freeze debris!!
But whatever happens, however much one is exasperated and irritated by the fallout - bring on the rains!!
