Return to London from Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe...what can one say...........the country, it's people, the infrastructure appears to be being wilfully destroyed. There is no natural/act of god event that has created the disaster that is taking place there.
Arrived...whatever day it was..........and was offered $Z40,000.00 to the pound, the following day that had increased to $Z50,000.00 and for the next two days the rate increased by ten thousand dollars a day.............I exchanged enough money that day...the fourth...to last two weeks........so I am uncertain if the rise continued.............but hey...........whew.........how can any one living in the country deal with that sort of situation.......and the official rate.............jeeeeeeeeeeeeez, not real, not real at all.
For the first time in my life I was a dollar millionaire........wow!
What else happened in Zim, well......the electricity went off every day....a thing called "load shedding". It usually lasts for a few hours....the principle is that it helps conserve power. Various parts of the country and cities are affeceted every day........however, I doubt that Big Bob would have a power cut............he's tooooooo important............tooooooooooooo much business to do...............like fuck the country a bit more each day. The power went off for two whole days, that meant that there was no water as well as lights and anything else that runs on the sparky stuff. This power cut was due to a fault that took two days to rectify...............but we should have been happy that it was ONLY two days............those who live there have to put up with NO POWER for up to a week and beyond......and guess what........they also lose municiple water for days on end.
Foreign exchange...Forex....is at a premium...even the Reserve Bank of Zim is in on the act........they barter fuel for it. There are two filling stations in Harare that only accept Forex. The stations are run, apart from the petrol pump attendants.....by suited bankers who exchange Forex at $US1.00 per litre of fuel. The exchange rate for sterling was something like 36 liters for £20.00.
Around the city on any day there will be very long lines of cars at one garage or another where there may be petrol, there are rumours that there may be fuel delivered there or there might actually be some.
Some supermarkets were well stocked with food and vegatables.................at a price. A very small trolly of food wold set you back over a million dollars. That is what a house cleaner would earn in a month....however with the inflation rate running at something like 600%..........that money becomes rapidly worthless. This is depressing............
The people are wonderful....the contry side is beautiful, especially at this time of the year...spring. The trees are fantastic in their yellow, orange, red and greens.
Arrived...whatever day it was..........and was offered $Z40,000.00 to the pound, the following day that had increased to $Z50,000.00 and for the next two days the rate increased by ten thousand dollars a day.............I exchanged enough money that day...the fourth...to last two weeks........so I am uncertain if the rise continued.............but hey...........whew.........how can any one living in the country deal with that sort of situation.......and the official rate.............jeeeeeeeeeeeeez, not real, not real at all.
For the first time in my life I was a dollar millionaire........wow!
What else happened in Zim, well......the electricity went off every day....a thing called "load shedding". It usually lasts for a few hours....the principle is that it helps conserve power. Various parts of the country and cities are affeceted every day........however, I doubt that Big Bob would have a power cut............he's tooooooo important............tooooooooooooo much business to do...............like fuck the country a bit more each day. The power went off for two whole days, that meant that there was no water as well as lights and anything else that runs on the sparky stuff. This power cut was due to a fault that took two days to rectify...............but we should have been happy that it was ONLY two days............those who live there have to put up with NO POWER for up to a week and beyond......and guess what........they also lose municiple water for days on end.
Foreign exchange...Forex....is at a premium...even the Reserve Bank of Zim is in on the act........they barter fuel for it. There are two filling stations in Harare that only accept Forex. The stations are run, apart from the petrol pump attendants.....by suited bankers who exchange Forex at $US1.00 per litre of fuel. The exchange rate for sterling was something like 36 liters for £20.00.
Around the city on any day there will be very long lines of cars at one garage or another where there may be petrol, there are rumours that there may be fuel delivered there or there might actually be some.
Some supermarkets were well stocked with food and vegatables.................at a price. A very small trolly of food wold set you back over a million dollars. That is what a house cleaner would earn in a month....however with the inflation rate running at something like 600%..........that money becomes rapidly worthless. This is depressing............
The people are wonderful....the contry side is beautiful, especially at this time of the year...spring. The trees are fantastic in their yellow, orange, red and greens.
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