JOYOUS TIMES

Its officially the rainy season in Zimbabwe, and rain is one thing that is sure to put a smile on everyone's lips !! Matabeles especially live for the rain, rain-spotting is an age old pastime born of seasons of dry despair.

This year we have been warned that El Nino is going to rear his ugly head again, but so far we have had several nice little thunderstorms to keep us smiling.

This afternoon we had a glorious, gadget-destroying, typically Zimbabwean electrical storm, it was so fierce we had to galvanize the "Bucket Brigade" in our ancient old mansion.

Thirty mm in just thirty minutes, it was just divine in spite of the waterfall in the indoor garden. The rain flowers on the cactus have been extra specially spectacular, the flamboyants outdid themselves in their glory.

Soon it will be cassia time and those yellow flower laden trees will thrill us all with their glorious perfume.

It is just so exciting to be in Bulawayo this Christmas. Last year and the year before, Christmas was a non- event ... no Christmas parties .... no decorations ... no dried fruit for the cake .... no mince pies to be seen anywhere.

This year suddenly there is a real, almost festive feel. there are even a few Christmas parties, low key, but there are a few just the same.

Loads of new restaurants and coffee shops have opened up in Bulawayo, check the adverts in the Wining and Dining section in the Mirror !!

And what's more exciting is there is FOOD on the shelves.

We forget so easily, we forget that last year you could not buy a chicken or a loaf of bread unless you went under cover of darkness to the back door ! The shelves were empty, totally empty and the feeling of despair was real and gnawing.

The Zimbabwe dollar was running at hundreds of trillions, and you could only draw from the bank daily, enough for a loaf of bread, so life took on a desperate agonising face for many people who did not have the wherewithal to "make a plan".

Fuel was available only from drums kept at the bottom of the garden or on the black market. Now you can drive into a service station and say "fill her up" just like the good old days ! You can even get your oil and water checked, a simple service that we have not had in Zimbabwe for at least five years.

Doctors say that strokes and heart attacks as a result of these peculiar stresses have taken a serious toll on the Zimbabwe population over the past few years.

Last year there were no medical supplies available at all, to get one's daily chronic medication was so difficult, it was a serious medical stress in itself. Now all of ones needs are available if pricey.

I cannot believe we have forgotten those horrors so easily, all brought about by the stupidity of a frantic government that had lost its head.

Wickipaedia has Zimbabwe listed as "nationalizing its food industry", well this ill devised plan nearly nearly brought a once fine country to its knees.

But now with a new man at the Financial helm, with US dollars and Rands as open currency, we are heading for sanity once more, thanks be to God !!

There is still a long way to go, but so many valuable people are returning home, so many of our kids are determined to make their country their future.

The really bad places in the roads are slowly being repaired, there is such a buzz in town, its raining, and if we can continue to hold out against tyrants and troublemakers, the best is yet to come, what more could a man want ?