Zimbabwe Absurdity

It’s depressing enough living here without the grumbling but we all persist at it. It’s a curious phenomenon; we grumble to the same people about the same things, day in and day out. I suppose that if we had a huge variety of things to grumble about we would not be able to grumble. Walking into the gym at lunchtime I stopped to grumble to Lucina (she’s Welsh but married to an Italian). It was a satisfying grumble. She grumbled about their water tank that had sprung a leak and emptied in the night. I grumbled about not being able to go places because of the expense of fuel (that’s my favourite grumble). When people ask “How’s it going?”, I don’t lie any more. “Grim” is the standard reply. Too few customers. Then the future, or absence thereof is mentioned and agreed upon. A few “I dunno”s are exchanged and we move on to the next grumble, somehow satisfied at the last grumble.  Excessively happy people are regarded with suspicion – have they discovered a source of milk? Why is their life so good that they cannot grumble?

The next grumble was with Brian on the way out of the gym. It was just a variation on a theme really. The theme is quite popular, how the amazing short sightedness of the government is killing the country financially. It’s worth mentioning. The latest price controls have caused all the supermarkets to become mostly empty resulting in massive VAT losses to the country. But a solution is at hand – just print more money. It’s slash-and-burn subsistence economics at its most explicit, don’t worry about tomorrow.

I am tired. Like most people I know I worry about money. Just existing is draining. I tasted some of Jenni’s dog food this evening (just in case I have to share when mine runs out). It was OK I suppose but I think I’d get bored of it quickly. I have not had a break for a year and though there is not much work to keep me occupied I still need to get away. But that costs money and where would I get the fuel…?