It was so nice to be home again ! Smiling faces at the airport,
delightful customs officials doing their jobs in a most meticulous
fashion.
My garden a beautiful guilty green oasis in the midst of water
rationing, cheery taxi drivers and bus drivers did their best to
annoy us and run us off the road, but nothing doing ... we were
home
again !!
The potholes were a bother but we managed not to strip a tyre on
the
way home and smilingly handed our bags to an even more smiling
Charlie to be taken to the room for unpacking.
Oooooooohhhhh after a seventeen hour long haul flight plus two
other
flights of a couple of hours each - I thought longingly of my bath.
Now we have a daily ration of 400 litres which is hard to stretch
out
amidst a family of our vast proportions !! But we manage, because
of
that precious borehole ,albeit guiltily at the thought of our bosom
buddies on Knob Hill who have had NO water at all for week after
week.
But having been away for two weeks, we were now in CREDIT with our
water consumption .... and so that bath was going to be full to the
very brim, for the first time this summer !!
Hah !! a good dash of Radox Lavender Immersion Salts ... on with
the
radio, laid out the nice soft fluffy bath sheets ... and in the
company of four family hounds who would not leave us for a second
after our absence, turned on the tap of steaming hot water !!
Eeeekkkk !!! Out came this brown ghastly muck, litre after litre,
gallon after gallon. I tried to let the bad stuff flow out but it
kept coming and so I sadly gave up the thought of that foot deep
steaming bath, and did the Zimbabwe equivalent !!
I took a shower where one cannot see the muck !!
The thought of drinking the darn stuff was anathema but hey, we
found
out if you add our delicious Mazoe orange juice, you can easily
disguise the brown colour !! (And then there is always wine when
all
else fails !!)
The pile of trash that had gathered while we were away was not too
bad as the Mayor himself had given instructions to the citizens to
burn and bury what they could not collect !! And a run to the
municipal dump is always good for the soul as it makes you realise
just how lucky you really are.
You take your life in your hands trust me, lock the doors, make
sure
you don't go in a vehicle that cannot be jumped on and hung on by
at
least a dozen yelling young mad max scavengers who arrive in swarms
to "assist" you with the removal of your trash.
These pitiful little people actually live in the dumps, they live
off
the scraps and build their homes from our waste products.
I will always remember what My Mom used to say
" I cried because I had no shoes,
and then I saw one who had no feet "
IT IS WITH GREAT SADNESS THAT WE ADVISE THAT PHIL WHITEHEAD PASSED
AWAY ON SATURDAY 29 OCTOBER. PHIL WAS PARTICIPATING IN A CANCER
AWARENESS FUN RUN TO THE MATOPOS.
OUR MOST SINCERE CONDOLENCES GO TO SANDY, WENDY, MARK, LAUREN, AND
KRISTIN AND JOAN.
: E-Mail: philwzim@ecoweb.co.zw
"I am only one, but still I am one. I can not do everything, but still I can do something. And because I can not do everything, I will not refuse to do something I can do." ~~~ Helen Keller
ALEX GEDDES - LOVED FATHER OF MARGOT ROBERTS-MACDONALD, GRANDFATHER
OF GAVIN, ROUELLE AND MANDA.
MEMORIAL SERVICE
A MEMORIAL SERVICE FOR THE LATE ALEXANDER GEDDES WILL BE HELD A
GARDEN PARK GUEST HOUSE ON TUESDAY AT 3 P.M. ALL FRIENDS ARE
INVITED
TO BE WITH US.
Condolences
PEREZ, PAUL ADRIAN passed away suddenly on the 20th October in
Bournemouth, UK.
Paul was a leading member of the hospitality industry for many
years.
He held positions as General Manager at the following
establishments:
Bulawayo Sun, Manica Hotel, Hwange Safari Lodge, Great Zimbabwe
Hotel, Bumi Hills, Mahenye Lodge. His funeral will be held on 1st
November in Bournemouth.
MEMORIAL SERVICE - WILLEM HURN (BILL)
A memorial service for the Late Willem Hurn who passed away on the
1/10/2005 in South Africa, will be held on Sunday 13/11/2005 at the
Dutch Reformed Church corner G.Silundika/13th Avenue at 10.00am.
Tea
will be served after the service in the church hall. Ria thanks
all
for the wonderful support.
"The first virtue of all really great men
is that they are sincere.
They eradicate hypocrisy from their hearts"
- Anotole France -
"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands
in moments of comfort and convenience,
but where he stands at times of challenge
and controversy."
PLEASE NOTE THAT THE MIRROR CAN ONLY DEAL WITH E MAIL QUERIES, PLEASE DO NOT PHONE IN YOUR ADVERTS AND QUERIES... ONLY E-MAILS WILL BE CONSIDERED
