January 12

I find the only comfortable chair I can sit in and stay there most of the day.  I manage to finish the short story.

Around lunchtime, our guest goes out with her friends. It is her last day.  I wonder if they are glad to see the back of her as well.  They did not visit her often. She is leaving early tomorrow, but does not come and say goodbye.  I find her very odd.

January 11

I wake up late and in a daze as I had to take strong painkillers again last night in order to get to sleep.  I am in such pain, I consider going to A&E, but I don’t.

In the afternoon, I receive a message from the lady in the cottage saying that the internet has run out.  This is just too much.  It has lasted five days.  I go down to the cottage where I am greeted by a very glum face.  If she were an emoji, she would be the one with the straight mouth.  She can hardly say hello.  I ask her if she has been downloading movies or large files (we ask guests not to) but she is adamant that she has not.

               ‘I have only been streaming youtube videos,’ she says, ‘and that shouldn’t use up too much internet.’

               I don’t know too much about these things, but that doesn’t sound right to me.  I am sure that being on youtube 24/7 must use up a lot of megabytes.

               I tell her that I cannot renew the Internet as it is Saturday afternoon and the TelOne office is closed.  I do not have enough Ecocash to buy it online.  The straight line of a mouth becomes even straighter.  Her voice is low and monotone.  I suggest that her friends might be able to help her but she says no.  She just stands, staring at me. Eventually, I manage to escape the straight-mouthed brooding figure.  I find her attitude very odd.  All she has done in the two weeks she has been here is stay inside the cottage with the curtains closed the entire day, watching youtube videos.  On Monday, she will get on a plane and fly back to the UK and her African holiday will be over.  I wonder what she will tell people at work about where she has been.

January 10

I have had a terrible night’s sleep and am in a lot of pain with my back.  I ended up taking a strong pain killer late last night and am very groggy this morning.

We have a good booking for February.  Two adults and a child from Harare who are coming to watch some cricket match or other on two different weekends.  This is heartening news.

John phones ZESA who say that the fault is throughout Hillside and the electricians are ‘working on it’.  After hearing John speak to them on the phone, Elizabeth approaches me and whispers that whenever the man next door phones ZESA, they always come at once.  Elizabeth obviously lacks total confidence in our ability to be listened to.  I am not sure what she is suggesting.  Should I go next door and ask the man there to call ZESA on our behalf?  If I do so, should I tell him that they do not listen to us and only obey his command?

I consider phoning ZESA again and asking them if the electricity cable should be lying on the ground sparking in the way it is and is it OK if I go and fix it myself?  Would this get them round here any faster?

I am desperately trying to finish a short story for a competition that closes on Monday, but I cannot sit for long.  

The lady in the cottage actually goes out with her friends.  Her visa runs out on Saturday, but she is only leaving on Monday.  We advised her to go to Immigration and extend her stay.  It is generally very quick and easy, but she is afraid that she will be charged US$40 for another visa as the one she came in on was a joint Zimbabwean/Zambian visa and cannot be renewed.  In the afternoon, she pays us the outstanding amount in a grudging way.

In the late afternoon, we discover the sockets are all working again.  However, the screens on the meters are still both blank.  John and I share a look.  Have we found a way to tap into free electricity?

January 9

After numerous attempts to phone ZESA, John eventually goes into their office in town to make a report.  They assure him that the matter will be sorted out later today.  The electricity has become increasingly erratic with some plugs working sometimes.  Although the lights are working, both the meter for the house and the one for the cottages are blank.

The woman from the cottage comes up to the house to use the internet which we run off the inverter.  It is the first time I have seen her leave the cottage since she arrived.  Every day, she wears the same dress or wraps herself in a piece of cloth.  She makes various skype calls and spends a lot of time on her laptop and, at the end of it all, says that she is arranging to receive money via Western Union.  Then she disappears back into the cottage.

A lady contacts me about a piano she would like restored.  She describes it as ‘vandalised’.  When I tell John, he pulls a face, but says he will go and see it.  

Another lady contacts me about staying this weekend, but our German visitor does not leave until Monday.

By the time evening comes, ZESA have not responded to the fault.

January 8

Someone comes to cut the grass at the back of the house.  It has grown very wild here despite the lack of rain.  This lady has horses and is struggling to find food for them due to the lack of rain. Unfortunately, the grass cutting machine that she brings, does not work so her workers have to cut the grass by hand.  They cut as much as they can put in the back of her truck.  I am glad the grass went somewhere and has helped someone.  We still need someone to come and do lots more cutting though but now I think I will feel it is such a waste if the grass doesn’t go to feed animals.

The woman in the cottage now says she doesn’t know how she will pay us the remainder of the money she owes – she has paid us half – as she did not know we don’t have credit card facilities.  She was sent all the information about payment when she booked.  We suggest she asks her friends if they have any suggestions.

In the afternoon, all the sockets in the house stop working, but the lights are fine.  Everything works in the cottages so I am not sure what is going on. 

January 7

More messages of fear to start the New Year:

When you write the date this year, make sure you write the year as 2020, not just 20 otherwise people can add their own figures to it.  The question is why? How this would be helpful to a criminal is not clear.  Most things these days are printed so would it be that easy to change the date on a receipt or invoice?

Another more strange message:

Hello beloved saints.  I'm sure that you know that the New International Version of the Bible was published by Zondervan but is now OWNED by Harper Collins who also publish the Satanic Bible and The Joy of Gay Sex.

On and on the message goes about how certain words, including Jehovah, Calvary and Holy Ghost have been removed from the Bible as well as various verses.  It ends with the dire warning that 'Rapture will take place any time from now.  Everything hindering the Rapture has been removed. Please be prepared, there is no more time. Whatsapp this message to at least 10 people. Do not ignore.'

Where do people find the time to write this rubbish and why do people believe it?  

Rain has built up for a second day, but nothing has happened.

January 6

It is always sad to take the Christmas tree down, although we know it can’t always be up.

‘Why can’t we be that odd family that has a Christmas tree up the whole year?’ asks Ellie.  I know this would suit her.  Ellie is one of those people who would run a Christmas Shop the whole year round.

In the afternoon, my dad, Sian, Ellie and I wash my car.  I have a theory that the car you drive represents you as your energy is transferred directly onto it.  My car is looking decidedly neglected so we give it a good scrub and even clean the engine.  Hopefully, this means I will wake up tomorrow and feel as though I have had a makeover.

People who have gardeners don’t realise how lucky they are.  When you have to wash your own car, you don’t do it as often.  There are people I know who drive into their properties and are immediately surrounded by a host of people who carry their bags and their shopping and then give the car a clean before it is used again. When we lived in Ndola, we were in a townhouse complex.  The man opposite us was absolutely fanatic about his car.  The maid cleaned it before he left for work in the morning and, when he came home at lunchtime, she would run out with a stool and bucket of water and wash the whole car, including all the mats.  The car was clearly only used by him so much of her daily work was entirely superfluous.  The funniest thing was that this man would lock his car with his remote control and then walk around it, checking every single door before he went inside his house.

Before Christmas, I was going to pick up a parcel from someone’s house.  I messaged to say I was coming and received the reply that ‘the staff had been informed’ and I could pick it up.  There are many days when I wish I could talk about ‘the staff’.  I imagine a life of gardeners and maids floating about in crisp, clean uniforms, running the show with expert efficiency.  Sadly, 100-year old Elizabeth who can’t even answer a phone, does not quite fit the picture.