Going to town in Bulawayo these days is costly! The second one parks one's car the blitz begins! Firstly the car guard sidles up, bogus parking meter ticket in hand, advising one that he will 'guard the car!'. One outlet on Robert Mugabe Way has a car guard every two parking spaces!
Then the veggie vendors arrive, in their droves, pedaling mangos, potatoes, peanuts, makamanis or whatever is in season. As one exits one's car, clutching handbag covetously, the bogus school boy arrives with his 'sponsor form'. This is a form supposedly issued by schools whereby the students are required to obtain financial sponsorship for various tasks like spelling or maths!!
In hot pursuit is a bevy of beggars, ladies with babies, old men, young children, all asking for a 'few coins to buy bread'. The golden rule here is 'don't make eye contact', one kind word or gesture and you are done for!! It is inadvisable to dig about in ones' bag for one's purse and so the ziplock bag comes into play.The ziplock bag gets heavy-duty work (and one is only on one's first shopping stop!!)
At first the assorted hangers-on had 'Zim coin resistance' they only wanted South African Rands or dollar notes ! But now, as the economy gets more and more weary, the shiny bronze coins are more than welcome.
