If you were having coffee with me I would happy to have you visit and tell you that coffee is served… by which I mean the water is boiled and you can sort yourself out. Been having a spot of thundershowers which are a welcome relief after the past week’s crazy high temperatures.
On the downside, the electricity has been playing cat and mouse games with us. Just a little bit of rain and the power goes out, I have never quite understood why this happens, maybe it’s just the way it is. Do your lights go off when it rains?
If you were having coffee with me, I would ask you about the old adage on how it never rains but it pours… After a bit of a dry spell instead of nicely spaced out rainfall, you get a deluge, with lightning and thunder. People have lost their homes and lives…
Zimbabwe is one of the world’s most lightning-prone countries: the holder of a world record in lightning-related fatalities. Zimbabwe is cited in the Guinness Book Of Records as the country where a single bolt of lightning claimed the largest number of victims. This occurred in a village near the eastern border town of Mutare in 1975 when 21 people were killed while sheltering in a hut.
Lightning deaths average 90 – 120 per year in Zimbabwe. The high lightning toll in Zimbabwe can be explained by the prevalence of granite outcrops all over the country. According to a report by The University of Zimbabwe, it was established that granite is radioactive and discharges gamma rays up to the cloud, thus ionising the air molecules. The granite deposits coupled with soot offers the much-needed opposite charge on the ground.
If you were having coffee with me I would tell you that I have a healthy respect for lightning. When I was younger I made sure not to wear anything red during a thunderstorm. Don’t ask me where or I exactly I believed that wearing red during a lightning storm would increase the chances of you being hit.. If you havent, you can read about a close encounter I had with Lightning at Bruno Hostel from back in high school.
Meanwhile, the national broadcaster has released its new pricing regulations for TV and Radio, as if one needs to pass a course to own a TV. There is a shocking rise in the prices which are quoted in United States Dollars and one wonders wasn’t the government making a big deal about not charging prices in USD… Do as they say I guess.
The notice says one can pay in local currency using the auction-rate… so there is that. The last time I paid for a TV Licence it was $50 for the whole year and now it would be a $100 for the year, how the times doth change and the forex rate does its thing.
Speaking of the rate it has also breached the $100 mark at the official auction-rate where 1 United States Dollar equals 105 Zimbabwean Dollars… At some point, it was 1:1 (so they said) and now here we are.. The unofficial rate is much higher than that but we cant mention that one. Perhaps the powers that be assume that if we don’t publicise it, maybe just maybe the rate will stop its runaway spiral.
If you were having coffee with me I would tell you that homeownership has become the all-new rage or is it scam. Maybe it’s because property as an asset would still be valaubale even after the almost inevitable collapse of the economy. The prices of property are ridiculous.
A government official shared about a housing project in Aspindale Aspire Heights where for a deposit of a cool $20 000 and monthly instalments of US$4000 you can own an apartment….
While they say that this is open to everyone, I really don’t know what kind of employment one would be in to afford those kind of prices, maybe, I am just not the target market; so are most of the civil servants whose salaries barely pass the equivalent of USD$200 in pay.
Maybe it’s our education system that failed us and the government in its great benevolence seeks to build 3000 new schools by 2025. My Maths might be a bit rusty but doesnt that mean they would build two schools everyday for two years…
What do I know? Let me just drink my coffee and write.
If you were having coffee with me I would ask you waiting out for any Black Friday sales.. is it just me or this year (for this side of the world) there seems to have been more hype than usual about Black Friday Deals. I have seen some “specials” which aren’t even discounts, it’s the regular price except marked as 20% off and Black Friday Deal added to the price tag… 🤣🤣🤣
Whats going on in your neck of the woods?
~B
Buy me coffee
Buy me coffee or a deposit towards a flat ^_^
$2.00
Becoming The Muse 
Sheesh about the lightning, what’s your reasoning on the who red shirt?
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Hahaha as for the lightning…. Someone told me that’s what it did and I took it to heart 🤣 I even convinced others it was so… But hey I was six years old and would wrap a red bathing towel around my neck like a cape and jump off from the bunk bed like I was superman so….
~B
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Ha!😂
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Aah, lovely read Beaton. An inspiring way to start my day since your posts tend to make me want to return to regular blogging despite my poor performance, hehe. I am surprised you are paying for television. In Kenya before the digital takeover, we used to have aerials so the only cost you incurred was buying the television however the channels were free. Then after the digital move, it actually got better. One just needs to buy a digital tv and an aerial which is about $8 USD. Then you are set. The channels are clearer than before and the variety has increased tremendously. However, if one needs a wider variety of channels, they can get a subscription service either Zuku or GoTv.
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Happy to be of inspiration here’s to Becoming The Muse 🤣
Don’t tell anyone but haven’t paid for television in a fair bit of time, I think quite a lot of people don’t, yet it’s compulsory if you own a TV and Radio set. For those with car radios the license inspectors team up with police and mount roadblocks to check for those…. But for going door to door to people’s houses yeah I doubt they have the resources for that and for the most part people won’t pay till the TV license inspector comes knocking at your gate… Or you could pretend you aren’t home 😅😅
Anyway we have only one local TV channel and it’s kinda terrible, they keep talking of going digital and adding more channels but for now oh well…
And those who can get DSTV subscriptions
Or be like me and instead of paying for TV subscription pay for internet and can find what to watch on the internet… Streaming services are going to take the job from traditional broadcasting soon as the internet prices rich acceptable levels
Thanks for visiting
~B
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Hi B, pretending you aren’t home is a great move for dealing with any official visitors 🤣
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Pretending to not be at home is such a simple technique…. Or if you do run into the official visitors you can pretend not to have what they seek unless they have a search warrant 🤣🤣
~B
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Haha! 🤣
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You make an excellent case for moving to Kenya 🤣
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I’m even tempted 🤣🤣
~B
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Haha, cheap television service is a great draw!
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Hehehe, Please do!
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Don’t tempt me, I just might do it 😆
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Then let me be your last push. Move here! Hehe
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It seems that fewer and fewer things can really be called ‘ours’ nowadays. We have to pay for everything. But, that’s why I don’t care for a TV.
Lightning… yea, I live in a place that is prone to those, too… Power does not go out when it rains. SOmetimes it goes out when it doesn’t rain and it’s the funniest thing. So… a hurricane didn’t interrupt power but blue skies did? Ummm ok… There was a power outage for about an hour (or maybe 1.5h) a few weeks ago and with me working from home… I was considering going into the office, but thankfully, it came back before I left. Thankfully, I still can do things offline.
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Hahaha how crazy is that power lasts throughout a hurricane and then goes for no discernible reason 🤣
Right now I’m thinking my Christmas wishlist would be a powerbank that can power up a laptop for 24hours 🤣🤣🤣 cause our power outages are going back to crazy times… Read somewhere that the power utility company has put out a tender for a company to put up a solar installation on top of its head office building because of the power cuts… And I’m here like okaaaay sounds like a signal to actively look into alternative power solution.
~B
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Am afraid of lightning. I always curl up in my bedroom on the floor beside my bed until it stops raining. Lightning makes me freak out! Even my dog is afraid of lightning it crawls under the car to hide too. 🤦
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Well it is some scary stuff haha some of us pretend to be brave…
Why does it have to be so noisy??
But then if you hear the thunder it means you still alive
🤣🤣
~B
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I have been schooled about how lightning claims life in my home country. Thank you Uncle B😊
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Glad to share some info 😎
Thanks for the visit
~B
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Interesting and informative post as usual, thanks for coffee.
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Thanks for visiting
~B
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Hello, Beaton! I am seriously unimpressed with today’s Black Friday deals as well, I like reading your blog, it gives so much information about the history and changing times in Zimbabwe. I otherwise would not be learning this. Thanks for sharing, and have a great week to follow!-Pamela
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Hi Pamela
I’m always happy to know that someone learns a bit more about the place I call home… I like joking how who knows this blog might actually be a historical document kept in a museum 😂😂😂 the way we preserve ancient artefacts that tell our history
Happy New Month
~B
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That would be awesome, Beaton!
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Hi B, I didn’t do any Black Friday shopping, because I don’t have any money, but a friend of mine went shopping and posted photos. It’s crazy to see how dead the stores were in my hometown…I mean some of them were totally empty. It’s crazy to think that when I was a kid this town was bustling with commerce, and now there’s just nothing – unless everyone’s shopping online.
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People shopping online and then there’s the pandemic making changes to the world it’s crazy times out there.
Happy New Month
~B
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Very true! Too much change for my little brain…
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