I get a message from my friend, Angie, to tell me she is back from the UK and do we have any visitors we could send her. There are a number of us who run bed and breakfast accommodation in Bulawayo and we try and help each other out. If we are full and someone wants to book, I usually pass them over to one of them. However, business is not great at the moment. Zimbabwe must be one of the most difficult countries to travel through because of all the monetary restrictions and the shortage of fuel. For foreign visitors, it can also be incredibly expensive as people here tend to think anyone from outside the country is fabulously wealthy and equally fabulously stupid. The general thought is that they can charge exorbitant prices for the most basic of services and no one will blink an eyelid.
A lady called Wilma phones me from Harare to ask if we have a vacancy for two people for three nights next week. Wilma represents a Chinese television company. She first contacted me about two years ago when she was looking for accommodation for a film crew coming to Bulawayo to cover Mugabe's birthday celebrations near Matopos. The day that they were due to arrive, she had to cancel as all television crews besides ZBC were suddenly banned. Rumour was that it was because he looked so old and decrepit. The ZBC version of the birthday bash managed to capture everything except the man himself. The last time Wilma contacted me, we were in South Africa and I referred her to Angie.
The boy who comes from extra lessons tells me Rolo managed to take his shoe off while he was getting into his car last week.
The electricity comes on 'early' at 8.30pm and we manage to have a hot shower.
No comments:
Post a Comment