It's the funny little familiar things that keep you going...like the magnificent squeak on the Bulawayo Airport door when it is opened for boarding. Every time I hear that agonised squeak I promise myself I will bring a can of WD40 next time I travel!!!
My favourite sound of all used to be the sound of the dustbin lid clanging on the dustbin, but that was a long time ago before the advent of the black plastic bag!! Pamela Silver describes this sound most evocatively in her delicious book about Bulawayo - A Watercolour Diary.
A sound that brings exciting shivers to my spine, is the sound of the Jacaranda flowers popping, when you ride over their majestic purple carpet first thing in the morning!!
There is also something soporific, if mindless, about the sound of the Jacaranda leaves being raked. It's a common sound at the end of winter when myriads of glorious Jacaranda blossoms and countless millions of the tiny, minuscule leaves festoon the expansive verges of the Bulawayo Suburbs.
Then there is the 7am hooter from the top of the railway workshops building, calling the workers to work, such a poignant sound after all these years. I remember when the train used to run past the museum too, hooting at the crossings, but that was many moons ago....
Of course not forgetting the 'Eye keem man' as my 2 year old grand daughter calls him - the cherished sound of his bicycle bell as he labours up Selborne Avenue. What sight could be more heavenly than a fifth generation Zimbabwean child, barefoot, clambering onto the wheel of the cart, looking in ponderous delight at the contents of the 'Eye Keem Man's' dry-ice filled mysterious cavern.
In days gone by the Lyons Maid and Dairy Board carts would boast Cornish Mivvis, Zoom Lollies, tiny vanilla tubs with a flat wooden spoon, Choc Ice and sandwich wafers.
Today it is a choice of a Choc Dip Vanilla Cone or a Choc Dip Vanilla Cone, but the magic is still there.