We receive a booking today for the 20 October 2020. I cannot believe people book this far ahead. It is one thing I cannot handle when I go to the UK. Everything has to be booked months in advance in order to secure cheaper deals. If you want to see friends, you have to inform them at least a year before you actually arrive as their diaries are so full - and so inflexible. When we go overseas, we are definitely the African relations who turn up without the slightest word of warning and actually expect people to be able to see us. Visits always end with a big sigh and those words: 'Now, next time you come over, let us know you're coming. Give us at least two years' notice otherwise -.' The knowing shake of the head says it all.
When I worked in the UK, I was always astounded by people who had booked their holiday for the folowing year and it is still something that astonishes me. How do you know what you will be doing in August 2020? How do you know you'll still want to go to that place? Will you have the money? Will you still be alive even?
What is more surprising about this booking is that it is for Zimbabweans. Zimbabweans don't book anything. We don't buy anything in advance and we don't do thinking into the future very well. We live completely and utterly in the moment. Look at the way people drive - as though they are the only car on the road and with absolutely no thought as to what might happen if they suddenly decide to stop - right there - in the middle of the road to let their friend out or their friend in. It's not our fault. In a country with rapid hyper-inflation, you don't know what the prices will be when you enter the shop, you don't know what your salary is worth every month. You don't know if you will get fuel for your car or if the electricity will be on any time that day or whether water will come out the tap if you turn it on.
That is why I do not believe these people are genuinely Zimbabwean. I don't know what their game is but I am sure we will found out - in eight months' time.
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