TO PRUNE OR NOT TO PRUNE

I do wish the powers that be would desist from changing our holidays. The dreaded "Ministry of Confusion" has now moved the August school holidays forward a week !! Have they given any thought to the ramifications therein? How many schools, nice orderly, well run schools, will have their term-ends turned topsy turvy after months of careful planning?

How many school plays will be affected? Many school hold their annual plays in the second term, its an absolute must to have every child down with a cough and cold during the mid term school rehearsals after all isn't it?

How many sports events will be affected? The poor wee sporty bairns will be playing their matches during the holidays while all their peers are relaxing in front of the telly? How many extra trips will boarding parents have to do to hone down the collection and delivery of their children with an extra week tagged on willy-nilly?

Mind you I suppose its better to cut a week off rather than add a week on, many teachers will remember in horror the middle term a couple of years ago, that was extended from an acceptable length to a term of horrendous proportions that caused much illness and anguish amongst pupils and staff alike'.

And then of course there is the other end of the school holiday when the schools will start a week earlier, how many parents had made plans involving the last week of term? Fishing trips, camping trips, seaside holidays, dental and doctor and hair cutting appointments? The bus companies have laid on extra buses to accommodate the "learners" as they are now called, Man proposes and the God of Ministry definitely disposes in Zimbabwe.

As one gets older, one is recalcitrant about change, I mean my whole world was turned upside down when they stopped the July Rhodes and Founders holidays. Thirty years on I am still recovering !! Not from any filial loyalty to the name of the holiday I hasten to add, but Rhodes and Founders was when we pruned the roses for goodness sake !!

A new holiday weekend was granted in August "Heroes Day and Armed Forces Day" but no one in their right mind prunes the roses mid August, mother nature does not allow for ad hoc calendar changes does she ?

Another inconvenience was that your truly always took a turn for the worst with influenza at Rhodes and Founders, the ideal time to act poorly and have the family wait on one was it not? My system just has not been able to attune to a Heroes and Forces malady however hard it tries.

We do have rather a lot of public holidays in Zim do we not, especially around April/May? Many factories (those that have survived that is) now choose to close down over that period, as the holidays are so disruptive to business. I was encouraged to see recently that President Mandela refused the idea of creating a holiday for his birthday, but instead advocated that everyone worked for the good of the community. Communities in South Africa dedicated 67 minutes of the day to volunteer work and projects for the needy - one minute to mark each of Mandela's 67 years in public service. Now that is progress instead of declaring yet another public holiday. Don't get me wrong, I love a public holiday as much as any but the poor old economy is struggling so much we need to work every hour we can to try and get the country back on its feet.