Of Coffee with New Adventures Of An Old New Year

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If you were having coffee with me, I would be glad you dropped by and ask have I been wishing you Happy New Year every time we met, sometimes I cant keep track of the people I have yet to say compliments of the new season to, so I just say it to everyone ^_^

Balance me real quick when do you stop wishing people Happy New Year…There has to be a point when it’s awkward right, like, I mean you definitely can’t say Happy New Year on the 14th of February… So Valentine’s is coming….. 🎶*sang that part* Let me just plug the Kabusa Orienta Choir video below for context:

If you were having coffee with me, I would tell you that I remember the words our headmaster used to start the new year opening school assembly with “A good beginning makes a good ending… and a bad beginning….” It was supposed to be a motivational maxim to get us to hit the ground running make the most of the year, set the pace, set the success that would come at the end of the year especially if you were an examination class.

Its similar to how each year beginning we make all sorts of resolutions, to do more, to be better, to lose weight or gain it, read more books….

Sometimes we win some, sometimes we just pile up unnecessary pressure on ourselves—I joke that my resolution is to not make a resolution and how I instantly break that resolution just by making, it’s like a paradox of success, for example if you set out to fail and succeed to fail didn’t you succeed yet fail at the same time…. 🤔Hows your head holding up? … would you like a refill?🤣🤣

If you were having coffee with me, I would ask you, if you remember the debacle with henceforth all citizens are required to have e-passports I told you about over Coffee With E-Thingies…. Well, the government has made an U-turn on aspects of that announcement. They have scrapped the $20 application fee which was supposed to be paid at only CBZ bank and valid ordinary passports will still be valid till their expiry date and not December 2023 as previously announced.

Passport Fees Statutory Instrument 273 of 2021 repealed
Statutory Instrument 273 of 2021 repealed

They didn’t give any explanation as to why they have repealed their meticulous plans. I mean you can’t say one thing today and later you say that thing we told you,… yeah,… forgot about it…. The government doesn’t seem to owe us any explanations only statutory instruments.  Another interesting example, the Zimbabwe Energy Regulation Authority ZERA has gazetted new prices for fuel….

ZERA Petroleum prices January 2022

We are now back to using unleaded petrol and no longer blending it with ethanol as had previously been the usual when they assured the nation it made the fuel cheaper regardless of how people worked out the math and showed how the process actually made the petroleum more expensive and also less efficient and only benefitted the company which had a monopoly on the blending process… Anyway blending is out… and of course, no explanation issued.

If you were having coffee I would tell how the increase in prices of goods and services in terms of the Zimbabwean Dollar versus prices staying the same in USD is also an indicator of how the year, a new year may have started but the economic blues are carrying on.

I noticed an interesting development where some shops and businesses are now offering a “Discount” when you settle your bill using hard cash USD. It’s a creative route of circumventing the Official Inter-back Auction determined rate of the USD that businesses are gazetted to transact in. So instead of a customer looking for a black market dealer to change forex at a favourable rate it saves cents to just use your US dollars directly in a shop that gives a good rate/discount.

Initially, the government had deemed that such an incentive discount was an illegal transaction and then later backtracked saying it only applied to businesses that got their forex at the official Forex Auction. The business world had asked what that meant for those who could not qualify to get their forex needs from the Reserve Bank Auction (which is actually more people than those who do) and so looks like for now, they can use discounts as an incentive while still displaying their prices as being consistent with the official rate, yet coming to close to matching the black market rate…

Money Changer in the street

If you were having coffee with me I would tell you schools should have been opening today but schools opening has been deferred indefinitely because of COVID except for exam classes who are finishing off their examinations from the 2021 academic year… Meanwhile in Uganda schools are opening today after being shut for close to 2 years cause of the pandemic its probably been a hectic day today…

Each year I start the year thinking this is it, this is my year, like I said the year before that and the year before that, and the year before that, and the year before that….

2022 is my year

This is it, this my year…. Whats going on in your neck of the woods?

~B

of-coffee-with-new-year-2022

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24 Comments

  2. Yeah, don’t make targets too stretching! Serious madness going on in your govt, make SA seem sane (don’t mention the c-word though).
    Happy New Year… 10th Jan isn’t too late 🙂

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    1. You know!!! Break down your goals into smaller actionable objectives 🤣🤣
      It’s crazy times in this teapot shaped country
      Happy New Year 🤣🥳🥳🥳
      ~B

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  5. Heheheee 🤣 You’ve clearly tickled my funny bone with that valentine’s satire song, my brother. I couldn’t help my ribs. Anyways, going by what you’ve written (which is quite truthful), achieving resolutions is often a hard hit for everyone and every entity, including governments. I love the twists and turns in your writings, dear. And you know now I’m just left wondering, why is Zimbawe adopting the widespread use of US dollar over their currency? Aren’t they strengthening neocolonialism in so doing? And why has Uganda put the future of her youngsters on the line by letting them stay home for two year? Two years is not a small duration for saucy kids to get spoilt (some older ones might have even married and given birth 😀, just saying though 😂). They’re just our neighbours (Kenya) and we’ve been up and running. Really, COVID has got quite a lot happening across the globe. Your detailed opinion piece has really made my day. Oh I love this! 💖

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    1. 🤣🤣🤣 you are muchly welcome Glad to have given you a chuckle

      Zimbabwe adopting the USD because the local currency suffering from viability challenges and shortages which doesn’t instil confidence as in the past the zim dollar had hit a record crazy inflation rate where a trillion dollar note could not buy a stick of chewing gum And it got so ridiculous it just got abandoned….
      The zim dollar got reintroduced again and looks like inflation is catching up again plus people suffer from the trauma of just waking up and finding their savings worthless kinda prefer the USD which seems to be the benchmark

      Thanks for visiting 🍵
      ~B

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      1. Oh O get it now. That is quite sad 😥, I mean the issue with Zim dollar lacking market value. But it’s agreable 😀🤗

        Thanks for the detailed explanation.

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  6. LOL someone once told me that you have to say “Happy New Year” if it’s the first time you’re talking to someone in the new year. That has a lot of blanks because what if I only end up talking to someone in June? With that said, Happy New Year Beaton!

    Also, fuel prices were also just increased in Zambia. We are seriously the same country. Fuel subsidies were removed. You know how it goes, when fuel prices go up, everything else goes up.

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    1. Hahaha imagine what if you see someone in December…. 🤣🤣🤣but that’s OK they’d think you are wising them for the New Year to come 🤔🤣

      Happy New Year Wonani

      Fuel goes up and you know what follows, these our countries are so predictonly similar

      ~B

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  9. So all the things that I prayed for last year all came true. Now am asking myself shall I ask for more? Am still compiling the list of my new year’s resolutions which is obviously going to be longer. Triple in fact. 😃

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    1. So the blending the ethanol with petrol…. The idea behind was that since ethanol is locally produced and the petroleum is imported, they can add a small percentage of ethanol to blend into the petrol to increase its volume so we have more of the petrol albeit “diluted” with ethanol

      ~B

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  11. An enjoyable coffee indeed. I especially enjoyed the updated resolution list😁. Though even buying a card continues to slip my mind. And I’ve given up trying to remember to whom I said what🤷🏾‍♀️. Happy New Year☀️

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  12. Pingback: Cracking Up in 2022 – The Hot Goddess

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