If you were having coffee with me I would welcome you to my tangle of words and ask how you have been doing and if you have any great expectations for this year…
Did you ever read the classic novel Great Expectations by Charles Dickens? The thing with great expectations is that sometimes they might not work out as expected. I studied Great Expectations for my secondary school literature class and I recall my mum summing it up in a mouthful of English that it should have been titled “Great Expectations that amount to nought“
If you were having coffee with me I would tell you that’s been 2 weeks since schools were supposed to re-open but the school calendar was deferred indefinitely due to the disruptive pandemic. Sometimes I worry about what will become of the current crop of students in a world where connections seem to matter more than education. Then there’s the shocking statistics of the incidence of teen pregnancies and the rise of drug abuse….
I am still reeling from the fact that crystal meth found its way into our streets, thought it was a drug from TV and episodes of Breaking Bad. Colloquially meth is known as guka, mutoriro or dombo; teen drug abuse has become another pandemic….. coupled with idle minds…… when school eventually start running on schedule there will be many empty chairs in the classroom.
If you were having coffee with me, I would tell you that not unexpectedly our soccer team got eliminated from the Africa Cup Of Nations even though they surprisingly won their last game… a first win at AFCON matches since 2006. I know a lot of people (me included) hadn’t expected them to win and didn’t even tune into the match ….. and guess what they won!!!! I think there is a life lesson on unexpected expectations somewhere there.
And the day The Warriors (that’s the Zim Soccer team) won their match against Guinea, Tuesday 18 January will go down as a landmark day in Zimbabwean sport because that’s also when The Chevrons (Zimbabwe cricket team) won a match against Sri Lanka and The Zimbabwean Women’s Hockey team won against Uganda on ‘Day Two’ of the 2022 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations Hockey tournament in Accra, Ghana.
But of course, before you start jumping around with joy celebrating these great expectations, the soccer team proceeded to get eliminated from AFCON, the cricket lost the next match against Sri Lanka thus losing the 3 Match ODI series and the hockey team lost the match for the bronze medal to Kenya in the semi-finals. The hockey team’s performance was still an impressive run because since 1998 no other senior team has reached the semi-final stage in the Africa Cup Of Nations.
The announcement the Ladies National Hockey qualification into the Hockey Africa Cup of Nations had caused some social media stir as people questioned what kind of criteria was used for selecting the team with allegations of racism, elitism and bribery being levelled against the selection process. If there any lesson to be drawn from this, its that the ministry responsible for sport must pay attention to resource allocation for supporting sport not only at grassroot levels but even at the national team level….
If you were having coffee with me I would tell you that speaking of government institutions fully supporting sport, shocking reports have emerged that the former cricket captain Brendan Taylor might face an ICC cricket ban over allegations of a match-fixing scandal, with the former captain having issued a social media statement on how he had been blackmailed with a video taking cocaine to accept a bribe and at a time when the cricket team hadnt been paid for 6 months.
If our government officials paid as much attention to lining their private pockets as they did in making sure that sportsmen representing the country didn’t feel like they were all alone, perhaps we would have more wins… I wonder if there is a research into the correlation between an economically sound country and its level of sporting excellence….🤔
But then again the government’s solution to solving problems is TAX!!!. It appears the wheels are turning and soon bloggers and other online businesses will be taxed!!!
I haven’t been able to find the actual article which the above caption is from (so take it with a pinch of salt) however, I did see the government gazette notice on the government partnering with Daedalus World Limited of Tortola, British Virgin Islands to assist the Republic of Zimbabwe by providing a revenue collection service through taxing qualifying companies that provide digital advertising, content, cloud computing, e-commerce [and] gambling
I cant even imagine how they would make this work, do they imagine we make a fortune of money? Do they even empower us to make this money… Just now I have seen a notification that my mobile network provider is going to Review prices with effect 25 January 2022.
Meanwhile, if they can be trusted, the power utility company says they have completed their upgrade to the power generation hardware and load-shedding should ease up… Great expectations, although I am rushing to post this before my laptop battery runs out because there’s no electricity right now….
And for some interesting expectations, the main opposition party under Nelson Chamisa has changed its name to Citizens Coalition for Change, CCC adopting yellow as their colour…🟨 New Values, New Standards, New ideas…Everything NEW!
Whats going on in your neck of the woods, any great expectations?
~B
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support my blog with a cup of coffee ^_^
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Becoming The Muse 
The best Expectations seem to be low or naught, so they might be exceeded, like that one extraordinary day when all your team’s won for the day. A good day for all.
I think the pandemic will mark a generation shift, life before and after it. No great expectations, no idea, just seismic shifts and change. Thanks for the coffee and musings.
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Thank you for visiting Claire
The pandemic will probably go down in history as the time a generation came to terms with the fickleness of normalcy, the certainness of death and the uncertainty of tomorrow…..
I should totally write this down somewhere Hahaha
Thanks and have an awesome week
~B
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Yes, write that down and frame it! And if they were to name the post Covid generation, I wonder what they might name it “Generation 19” perhaps or Generation V?
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it feels like a news flash lol of things happening around, love it its like Zim at a glance through your lens
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I like to think of it as watching the present unfolding into history over a cup of coffee ^_^
Thank you for visiting
~B
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Hmm. Speaking of expectations. I’ve been getting mine crushed every week for months….. And letting go….. Only to discover with anger each week that I still have “hope” left to be dashed. But what will I do? Stop expecting good things?
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I hope we never get to a point where there is none left … HOPE that is 🕯🕯️
To a bright future tomorrow 🔆but first we survive the night
~B
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I love this. To a bright future 🥂
Thanks B
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to the bright future ☀️
~B
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I’ve got a coffee mug just like yours! Well, almost. Mine’s Pride and Prejudice 🙂
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Should probably get one for sense and sensibility…. the world could do with some cup of sense
~B
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👍😆
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All I can say is that, “Expectations hurt!”
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Great expectations carry great disappointment
~B
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So are they going to tax bloggers in general? That seems way out there.
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I would like to think its more of a general idea as opposed to something they have actually thought through on actually carrying out.. like hey we should tax people for using solar energy as a potential stream of income but its not something that would actually be done…
They still cant even get around to collecting TV licenses and everyone who owns a radio should pay one but well, well, well….
~B
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Well thank goodness then. I guess score one for incompetent governments 😀
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To this extent, the government has turned into a bitch eating her puppies. Mmm… it’s happening all over the world. Money runs and wrecks the world. 😀👏
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“Money money money”
Just reminded me of a quote I read that how one day the poor will have nothing else to eat except the rich
~B
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It’s very true, my friend Beaton. At this rate, the government will one day even start taxing couples based on the times they spend together and the number of children they have, the old hut tax, only more infringing. 🙄 The saddest thing though is that the money obtained goes into the hands of a few individuals and their henchmen, and not even a dime goes into supporting the young generation. Look at what the govt does to young talents… no support. It certainly hurts.
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Hi B!
Thank you for the coffee and yes, I’ve read the classic Great Expectations. It’s been so long though since I’ve read it. Definitely many moons ago! What you’ve shared reminds me of The Good, The Bad and The Ugly ~ Love Clint Eastwood! The good = is your teams winning! Yay! The bad = say no to drugs, and the ugly truth of it all as I pray schools will open for all the youths out there. I worry so much about the younger generations and this darn pandemic! 😥
I’m hoping the electricity stays more consistent for you soon with the upgrades they made! 😉 And I hope you stay safe out there. And thanks again for the brew! ☕❤️
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Classic Reading!
If we were having coffee I would tell you I’m getting over a bout with Covid as is my wife. I’m actually enjoying my 3rd cup this morning but my wife can’t taste anything so she skipped coffee this morning.
Happy Sunday from the other side of the big pond.
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Great Expectations is classic!!!
By now you should be over the Covid I hope and back to good form? had you gotten the jab by the way.
Thanks for the coffee much appreciated!!!!!!
Have an awesome month
~B
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Will you help me with the accounting? How much tax do I have to pay for my $0000000000.00000000000 blog revenue?
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let me see, using the assumptive tax percentage of 40% as gazetted in the statutory instrument then the tax would be exactly
$0’000’000’000’000.00000000000
seems about right
~B
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Hahahahha
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