We also have a booking for five days, starting tomorrow. It's the same people who booked and cancelled last week. I can't help hoping that they went somewhere else and were bitterly disappointed.
About two years ago, we had a Czech couple book for two nights. Unfortunately, they were delayed in Bulawayo with car trouble as the rental agency had given them a car with no spare wheel. There was what is referred to as a 'biscuit' tyre, which, as its name suggests, is very thin and therefore only designed for emergency purposes. These are banned in Zimbabwe, probably because people would use them all the time. Obviously, the couple did not know this - until they were stopped by the police. Their English, although good, did not extend to the peculiarities of Zimbabwe so I ended up being a go-between them and the rental company in Harare and the tyre company here in Bulawayo.
The couple needed to stay longer than their initial two nights, but we booked for one night and so they looked for another place to stay. They said they found somewhere in Ilanda and we said our goodbyes. The next day, I got a call. Could they come back? The place was awful. For the same amount of money that we were charging, they were squashed into a double room with broken floor tiles and bare sockets that was part of somebody's house. The roof leaked - in fact, the roof sagged - and they had spent the night fearful that it would fall on them whilst they slept.
Especially around Trade Fair time, a lot of 'b&bs' spring up. Some of these are very decent, clean and affordable; others are far more suspect. Spare rooms, sheds and domestic quarters are suddenly viewed as lucrative sources of income. It is absolutely amazing what people charge and how stupid they think people are that they would pay these amounts.
In the evening, we go to a classical music concert at the Academy of Music. I close my eyes as I sit and listen to the beautiful music of Hayden and Schubert. I am not a great classical music fan and I am no expert on composers or styles of composing. I just enjoy the music for what it is. It is thoroughly relaxing.
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