I’ve met with Council and had them sort out the pegs showing the boundary lines of our property. I had done the elevation points of the property and knew the dimensions of the property but wasn’t sure of where the points were. Theoretically it all works out, practically is the questions and the answer “Madame I’m sure you’re fine, we’re not concerned” doesn’t work for me nor is it legal! But you never just talk to one person and it never just one meeting, it was 4!!!! One thing about the Shona they love meetings and love to met about meeting, which I am not! I want to meet and sort it out and move on, get things moving, I now understand the phrase TIA “This is Africa” and BMT “Black Man Time” and why it takes so long for anything to happen. That was Monday, Tuesday someone was to show up at 8:30 and do the marking, 20 to 9 he still hadn’t come, so I contacted him and he told me, he’d be there at 9. 9:10 he still hadn’t shown, so again I contacted him and said when he was ready to buzz me, as I had other things to do. By 11 I had still heard nothing, so I thought, if I hadn’t heard anything by noon I’d go to the office. At noon my other half for the project, the administrative one called saying he was on site and with the head of the construction department for Council. I got to site and found out the head of the department was on his day off, and just wanted to see how the project was coming. I told him what the issue was and what I wanted and he said the man who was to come and do the marking was in the rural areas for the day. He said to call him back and find out if he could send someone else. The head of the department said he was going to start hiding from me because I always wanted/needed something and caused him so much work. I see this as a good thing. He also said he wanted to do some construction himself while I was still around so I could help him! We called back our original contact and he suggested calling one of his workers. We called him and he came to site, looked around at what we wanted and said he needed more time to do the work than he had and would come back the next morning at 8:30 to do the work. Wednesday morning 8:30 I show up to site and surprise, surprise no on showed up. At 9 I contacted him and asked what was happening and he said he would be right there, 45 minutes later he shows up with the original man who was suppose to come and they say they can’t do the work today because they are meant to be doing inspections around the area, so can they come back tomorrow morning. I asked for a time and he said he would call me first thing in the morning, I told him if I hadn’t heard from him by 9, I’d call him. My administrative contact called and asked how it went and I told him, he was fuming, I said maybe we should just jump the line and talk to the C.E.O forget this business, we are on DAY 3, tomorrow DAY 4!!!

We haven’t had water in 4 DAYS!! This is not good, nor is it normal! But we have had ZESA or power, for the 4 days straight. However, 4pm it came back on!!! So the first thing I did was flush the toilet and take a shower! Due to the good rains, Wangie damn is full, this is what powers the east side of the country. Harare still has issues like always, so it’s nice for once to be in the bush (munda). I have a geezer, so there is piping hot water, scalding hot water, but once the tank empties that’s it, so I have to use it sparingly (showering has been a priority because it is CRAZY hot).However, my bathroom smells like an outhouse, which isn’t pleasant but like they say TIA.

I have a dog, her name is Molly and she’s 3 months old. I got her from a friend who has a farm and his female had a litter. I knew that being up in Nyanga on my own this time, I would want some company. Molly has been great company, she’s keeping me sane! She knows her name, comes when she is called and follows me EVERYWHERE! Like all puppies she chews EVERYTHING and especially enjoys my shoes and her bedding. She is currently being house broken (a challenge) and also keeping her in HER bed at night. My house has a mud room, which has her bed, and her food. So she knows that’s her place. However, spending the night there by herself is not ok. She just destroys the room, I’ve had to move things around, get things out of puppy reach and last night she cried for about an hour and then silence, she spent the whole night in there alone!!! We are making progress.

The weather is hot, well hotter than the weather I left it is also still raining mostly just drizzling in fits and spurts but there has been some heavy rain as well. It’s nice to be back in the mountains, people remember me and when I go out, people stop me and ask what I’ve been doing, why haven’t I been around and it’s nice to see me. They also say that they can see the bricks being made, and that they can see the project has started, so we are getting positive feedback.