Zimbabwe Absurdity

“That’s not my change up there, is it?” I said pointing to the packets of biscuits, sweets and crisps on a shelf.
“No” said Christine and giggled. “It’s nothing to do with Forestry Commission”.
I was in the Forestry Commission seed sales office looking for eucalyptus seed to grow in the nursery. They didn’t have the species I wanted as the seed had been sent for germination testing. It seemed that Christine, the officer on duty, was doing a bit of moonlighting to help get by. The civil servants in Zimbabwe are notoriously badly paid so I was not at all surprised.

Earlier I had driven past a vlei in Mount Pleasant where two tractors were busy cutting and baling grass and there was a sign by the road advertisng the bales for sale. It is municipal ground but I couldn’t determine if they were municipal tractors. At least they were making use of the grass which every year gets burnt. Elsewhere there are other people busy cutting and combing thatching grass in the hope that they can sell it. Despite the patchy rains last season the veld is looking good which unfortunately means the fires will be severe and there already has been one at the front of where I live. It was too early in the season to be hot and damaging. That will come later.