It’s been going on for some time now but this month I finally had to face up to not being able to afford my gym subscription. Well, I suppose I could afford it but it is no longer essential and what little real money I have must go into survival. I guess other people have different ideas of what essential means but for me alcohol and dinners out fell by the wayside some time ago. The cash flow at work is now a trickle that vanishes as soon as it appears. I guess we are at about 40% capacity which is not great but we have been there before. The difference then was that the cash had at least some value so was around a fair bit longer to allow it to be used a bit more successfully.
I have spent most of this week adapting the software that I wrote to take any currency. Yes, I am being a bit optimistic but not without cause. Real money is starting to trickle in and a few days ago I actually had to trade some to get some Zimbabwe dollars. The second-hand peat moss that we use as a medium for the seedlings is a by-product from a farm that exports African violets bare-rooted around the world and they wanted Zim cash to pay wages. I suppose it is preferable for them to sell a waste product for local money than to charge real money for it then have to find the local. Anyway, it did not hurt too much as I had bought the real money for local cash a while back so it had maintained it’s value and I still had a bit left over. Curiously local dollars are in demand at the moment as they are in short supply and the price has slipped a bit. I don’t know if the government printing presses are running slow these days or they are just not keeping up with inflation (not that they ever have, they just might have slipped a bit further than usual).
At least I don’t have to pay for the satellite radio station that is playing in the background as I write this. I don’t get all the stations of course but I do get the ones that interest me; BBC and Maestro (which is classical music). There have been two announcements of interest this morning; the veto by the Russians and Chinese of the Security Council resolution on Zimbabwe and Nelson Mandela’s 90th birthday. The resolution was probably not of great influence either way but the gloating of the Zimbabwe government will be nauseating.
I have never really understood why so many people get dewy-eyed whenever Nelson Mandela is mentioned. What did the man actually DO except go around and be Nelson Mandela? He has been disappointingly quiet on the Zimbabwe situation and I have just heard something about him being photographed with a whole lot of children. Yawn. Desmond Tutu – now there’s a man who has got guts and drive! He’s sounding a bit old these days which I guess is not surprising as he must be getting on a bit. I heard him talk way back when I was at university and the man was gifted and driven.
Essential – my internet connection which I can still pay in local currency even though I have had to deposit cash into my bank account to do so (horrors, you NEVER do that!) and dog food. The latter is still a problem.
Zimbabwe Absurdity 