Zimbabwe, in 2006 was ranked the unhappiest country in the world, but things have changed, in 2022 we were two away from the bottom of the list!! So you see, things are looking up!! Mind you the two countries after us on the list were Lebanon and Afghanistan....
We may not be the happiest nation in the world but I doubt we are the unhappiest and we are certainly the most innovative nation in the world !!
We Zimbabweans are an intrepid bunch, "let's make a plan" has got to be our community motto !!
Our lives are indeed much more fun than the lives of ordinary mortals.
We are absolutely amazing under duress !!
Water (or lack of it ) has been probably the single most irritating thing to some folk in Zimbabwe. I know our rural people are quite used to surviving on a couple of buckets that they have to probably carry for quite a few kilometres every day, but when one is accustomed to opening the faucet and having water appear miraculously, one gets kind of spoilt.
So when there IS NO water, it is quite a shock to the system naturally ...However many a happy shower has been taken with a neighbour and many parties have indeed developed when one has to visit one's dear friend on a regular basis to obtain the precious H20.
We have a friend who thrives on his thrice weekly visits to a neighbour to obtain water, they probably drink more beer and wine than they fetch water on most days !!
Electricity cuts have been another challenge that one has had to endure, some are lucky enough to be able to start up their generator when the lights fail, but to others, candles must suffice and it is amazing how much fun one can have by candlelight !!
The best thing is that the telly does not work and one has to get down to a game of scrabble or candle- light monopoly !!
The potholes in the roads have been a constant source of consternation and amusement. I started a campaign in 2006 entitled "Adopt a Pothole" and it was hugely successful as everyone took on the task of fixing his or her favourite pothole. However the Municipality has since declared it illegal to fix ones own potholes!
My car is no fun on a pot holed road. Its very low slung (like its owner) and so its not so easy to detect a pothole in enough time to avoid it. Those snooty folk in those large 4 x 4s have it easy ..... way up there so high.
But as our said our motto is "make a plan" and so I am in the process of devising an ingenious but simple plan.
It involves opening the sun roof and a erecting a periscope and if that is not possible, I shall employ a young school leaver to accompany me to the shops. I shall seek out a gangly sort of fellow, who has just passed his "O" levels, I am sure he would love to earn a few bob in the school holidays.
He can stand on the chair of the car next to me, with his head out of the sun roof and warn me of any impending potholes. However things have got so bad on many roads, that the warning must be not of a pothole, but rather of a piece of intact tar.
This will also sort out my dilemma at the stop streets in the suburbs where the grass has grown so high that I am unable to give way to the right. I cannot for the life of me see anything at all at any intersection because of the long grass. Here again my periscope invention will be a superb asset !!
The potholes are no joke believe me, a small car could disappear for days when there is rain around.!!
But on a more serious note, our main problem this year could be that our City Dams could dry up. Thoughts drift back to 1994 when I ran a TV programme called Bulawayo Must Live. Already we are on tight water restrictions and our rains are still not forecast for several months.
I think the lack of rainfall has played a big part in making us all unhappy, but that aside we have so many glorious things to be happy about. Sunshine, some folk pay for sunshine, we get it for free!! Magnificent trees, our City has a plethora of remarkable trees that somehow manage to make it from one drought to the next.
Our beautiful City, once a melancholy mess, is now, under the guidance of a new and vigorous Mayor and his City Council, fast developing a new and glamorous look. Our verges are being cut, our potholes are being filled by a fancy new bitumen pouring machine. We are getting new street lights in some areas. Our refuse bins are more likely than not to be collected.