Vacuum

Piece written jointly at Writing Group today with Jackie Collins, Lucy Tingay and Thea Cutler.

Manicured lawns and burgeoning gardens,
sprinklers sparkling in wintry sun.
The green caress and gin and tonics.
Our happiness bubbling over.
We forget the police road blocks
and the queues at the bank.
Drunk again on broken dreams
and promises unfulfilled in dust.

Strawberry Winter Moon

Hiking up the giant rock
to beat the sun to get to the top.
The bush quivers, dry and tawny.
Crisp blue skies are turning golden.

The ascent is steep
and on the horizon the sun does peep.
On lichen rock mounds we take our break
and on wood fire smoke our gaze does partake.

Harare's pollution smudges the sky
and below us the whale rock does lie.
The first stars prick our view
and soon the Milky Way is due.

It is the winter solstice and a full moon
which means it will take a strawberry hue.
The night deepens as we wait
and the chilly wind we can't escape.
Then up over yonder an orange slice
and rapidly the globe does arise,
an orb of light on this wintry night.

Much Ado was Something

Had a most enjoyable evening out tonight at the residence of the British Ambassador in Greendale watching a special performance of Much Ado About Nothing to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death. The cast included members of staff from the British embassy, with Benedict Latto making a brilliant Benedict (his real name was Benedict) and the Deputy Ambassador, Simon Thomas, a good hippy Don Pedro. Yes, it was set in the 60's and the costumes and twist were exceptional. The soldiers arrived in a decked out VW kombi love bus sporting rather tight leather pants. We loved the music selected, with the choice of a Whiter Shade of Pale being hilarious for the reappearance of the supposedly dead Hero. The set, designed by Angela Charitonos was a work of art and I had trouble deciding if the geraniums and ivy were indeed real or not. It was pitched perfectly under a magnificent msasa in the Ambassador's garden. 

The set

The love bus which later appeared on stage

The local cast members were strong, with Jamie Bell, Collina Mvududu and Zane Lucas particularly standing out. One of my Mum's students from the International School was Bathasar and it was amazing to see her shine, especially as she started at HIS last year not speaking any English. The director of the production Adrian Ellis' wife taught drama at HIS.

Collina Mvududu as Hero

British Ambassador Catriona Laing

The producer Adrian Ellis announcing that Jamie Bell has been accepted at RADA

With all the terrorist and British MP attacks this week my Mum went and made a blunder by forgetting she had the Pick'N'Pay promotion's steak knives in her bag and going through security at the Ambassador's with them. She had to return to the car with them understandably. Ooops. 

Perfume

The scent of beauty,

so wildly appealing.

It is an attraction

and leads to distraction.

Spreading through the room,

diffusing, infusing.

Assailing the nose

with its aroma and fragrance.

The female allure.

Generators, inverters and farewells

Am sitting writing this to the drone of the generator on the balcony of the flat where I'm house sitting.  There has been a fault on the grid since yesterday and as a result no electricity. The flats here need electricity for the pump from the borehole to fill the water storage tank, so we ran short on water this morning too before the generator was switched on by Given the gardner and very useful handyman. You can't run the generator all the time so it is charging the inverter which will give a bit of power for a few hours. Unfortunately this is a new inverter as the old one blew this morning when possibly the generator was on too high a voltage - I am learning but thank goodness for Given and a friend Matthew. I had to go get another inverter and had the option of one that can be charged by a solar panel or one like the old one.

So here I sit, waiting for the generator to charge the inverter (currently only the fridge, the wifi modem and the inverter are on - will have to sit in the dark for a bit). Can then have a few hours of light on the inverter and hope that ZESA fixes the fault. Am hearing horror stories of faults taking weeks to be fixed - here's hoping it won't take that long.

Otherwise I have been teaching. My one Swedish student at HIS had her last lesson with me yesterday as term ends next week for the school and her family is returning to Sweden. I said goodbye at the end of the lesson and she presented me with a beautiful box filled with Lindor balls with flavours I've never had before, as well as a hand made card with a sweet message inside. I will miss her as she was a delight to teach.

I have resumed teaching my favourite Chinese 3 year old, Runbo and have a list of vocab he needs to know for preschool. We read a book this week called "Don't Put Your Finger in the Jelly Nelly" and he enjoyed poking his finger through the different things in the book. He went to China in the holidays and was staying with family in high rise flats. When he came back he asked his mum if there were people underground under their bungalow. We do all sorts of things in his lessons, from me being a patient of Dr Runbo's, to building monsters and space rockets. I really look forward to his lessons.

Had writing group at The Bottom Drawer on Saturday and we each had to think of a topic for a poem, the next person had to give ten words that came to mind for the topic and then the third person had to write a poem but not use the ten words. I wrote on perfume. I will post it. In the afternoon my Mum and I went to a farewell for a French family whose children go to HIS. There was a petanque tournament and we met a lovely couple from Italy. The man who sells French patisseries at Maarsdorp Market and Amanzi Food Market came bearing a basketful of macaroons and meringues.

The Bottom Drawer