MAZOE WITHDRAWALS
- 16/ 10/ 2007 <--Prev : Next-->
MAZOE WITHDRAWALS !
It is economic treachery I know, sabotage in fact. I should be ashamed of myself for being
so false hearted, but then I suppose I had no option !!
I stretched out my hand and painfully placed the offending article in my shopping cart. I
felt two- faced, treasonous even..... "what would Mother think"? I gulped silently, casting a
furtive traitorous look up at the nearest cloud from whence She always sits watching me !!
After all, there was no other alternative but to take the Pick and Pay No-name brand of
Orange Juice rather than my usual favoured and much loved brand of Mazoe!!!
One could always blame it on "sanctions" I suppose like the rest of the nation but Mother
would never have relented under any such a ridiculous pressure.
For more years than I can remember Mazoe Orange Concentrate has been in our lives.
Every Saturday without fail, Brother Gavin and I would mix up our supply of Mazoe cordial
for the week.
In those days of yore, Mazoe produced a concentrated concentrate, where a diminutive
bottle of about 500 ml would eventually end up as 5 x one litre bottles of this superb
cordial.
Liberal amounts of water and sugar stirred continuously in a giant pot would dilute the
dense sour concentrate into sheer, unadulterated nectar !! Gavin and I would squabble as
to who would stir, who would pour who would sip first !!
There were very few affluent folk in Rhodesia in the fifties and sixties. Post-war Baby
Boomers were born into simple homes, where luxuries were few, and treats were seldom.
Coca Cola was only found in our house on high days and very special holidays, every other
day it was good old Mazoe orange.
A standard school day break-time lunch box comprised one of those oblong plastic
bottles filled with Mazoe orange juice, nicely chilled ..... and a Bovril sambo !!
Mum would sometimes allow us a tiny wee drop of her Roses Lime Juice that was reserved
for very special guests who drank Gin, Lime and Soda, (for medicinal reasons only you
must understand) but other than that it was Mazoe Orange Juice and nothing but Mazoe
Orange Juice !!
Sadly since the Price Freeze Frenzy ..... Mazoe has totally disappeared from our shelves, it
has gone so far in the black market underground that it has left a giant gaping wound in
our lives !!
I have on occasion tried delicious Mr Juicy but that has also disappeared !
And so this is my reason for being so treacherous and being forced to imbibe a no-name
brand orange cordial which is so foreign to my cultured and discerning palette.
I am so pleased Mum is not here to suffer the vagaries of Zimbabwe as it is at the moment.
You can bet your bottom dollar she is up there, as we speak, cigarette in hand, hurling
abuse and shooting arrows at the dreaded task force with her pretty little cupids bow. !!
Speaking about cigarettes, well that's another story which needs to be told !!
