Blabber mouth is back

I have missed my darling blog. MISSSSSSSSSSSED it! Thanks to all of you who have reminded me how long its been since I posted anything. I have been busy doing all kinds of work and when I finally got a bit of a lull my internet went on the blink. Let me explain this to my dear friends living outside Zimbabwe, where internet going on the blink is simply a matter of calling a call centre and being politely informed by a lovely lady in Hyderabad that it will be ok soon. Here when internet goes on the blink...it dies. Takes with it any evidence that it ever existed  AND all power to you if you can get through to a call centre! I am back though and crossing my fingers that this joy will last longer than a day.

So it's winter time here. When we came last year winter was lovely. It was a welcome respite from the heat of summer and we didn't know what the fuss was about. Hubbz even had a bunch of people beseeching him not to wear shorts to work because it was disconcerting! And no he isn't a weirdo who wears shorts whilst everyone else is in a suit. He works in Sport and can actually wear shorts! Phew...that felt like defending someone in court! Now it's winter 2013 and we are freezing. Funny how it didn't take us very long to acclimatise. It doesn't help that our apartment is right in the middle of a little forest. So we have no direct sunlight. We have tiled floor that stores up the cold in the harshest way. Walking barefoot on it is like having little daggers shoved up your feet. Hubbz and I spend hours dreaming about the rug we are going to get to cover the ice rink that is our flat and how amazing it'll be when we fire up the heaters and our guests don't have to curl up into a foetal position every time they walk in here. Watch this space!

My nephew will be 5 months old tomorrow. Up until recently they lived very close to us and I could see him everyday. Seeing him everyday meant he recognised my voice and I knew just how to make him chuckle. Now they stay a little while away and when I see him there's nothing in his eyes! I'm just some other woman making weird noises and contorting my face trying to get a laugh. That breaks my heart. Being an aunt is a serious job for me, a calling even! I need to get back in the game big time.

Because most of my work is usually behind a desk, typing away at a laptop, I often need something to keep me awake! I often listen to talk radio. My favourite online stations are London's Biggest Conversation and BBC Radio 4. I can see you rolling your eyes at me. But to be honest no one does talk radio like the Brits! I did try and listen to Zimbabwe's only online radio station and I spent a ridiculous amount of time trying to install it and bla bla bla ...I gave up. Another great way to stay up is to have a snack. I don't have a sweet tooth and so my favourite snacks are savoury. I can gobble through a bag of biltong without even blinking. When you're next in the Rolf Valley area, pass by the Willowmead Junction and at the grocery store, try their spare rib biltong. Granted it's only dried up bits of meat but it could change your life!

While I'm still babbling I might as well share that I got a gift in the post today. Isn't that the greatest feeling? I stood in a queue at the post office and wondered what it could be. I love gifts, surprise gifts are even better. Surprise gift in the post?? Heaven! So I am the proud owner of a white leather bound Message Bible. Thank you, kind people. I have even saved the envelope. There is something special about seeing my sister's handwriting and imagining which Post Office she sent it from and trying to remember if I've been there. Writing that out made me realise how much I live in my own head. Perhaps some things are best left cerebral!

And speaking of things that have been on my mind...when I was home alone last weekend, I decided to watch a DVD. I buy things to watch randomly. I often forget what I have and wait for days when I am all alone to watch some of it. So this weekend (I say this weekend, I mean on Friday night!), I watched the whole first season of the show Touch. You know the one starring Kiefer Sutherland and the cutest little boy as his son who saves the world from pain one mathematical riddle at a time. Riveting. Really! Anyway one episode is based in a shanty town that's supposed to be Soweto. And then comes the part that irritates me to the point of nausea. The actors begin to speak in ‘Zulu’! Something akin to me being handed a script in Mandarin and being expected to speak it fluently. It got me thinking...did they think no people who actually speak Zulu would watch the show? Did they care? Were there no suitable Zulu speaking actors? When other languages are mercilessly butchered in other films, are other people filled with as much righteous indignation as I am? Does it really matter in the greater scheme of things? Perhaps not. I'm just fussy like that!