Comments

When I was driving home at 530am after a school bus drop off this morning, I passed a man parked on the verge off The Chase.  I pulled over to ask if he needed help, to which he said he had stopped to take a photo of the magnificent sunrise.  Looking in my rear view mirror I saw a perfectly round red sun in the middle of the road lined with purple jacarandas.  Beautiful!  What a way to start the day ... such Glory.  If only we, as Zimbabweans, could keep positive through all the negative around us by looking up!  I came across this quote by Billy Cox today “Focus on what you have instead of what you don’t have.  On what’s right in your world instead of what’s wrong.  On where you’re going instead of what you’ve been through.”  Nix

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With the rains almost upon us, I was thinking that it would be a good idea for people to TRIM their tree branches that maybe hazardous to Zesa lines.   By doing this we could avoid any danger to people/property  as well as the brutal & unnecessary tree cutting that we previously experienced.   If you can - it is really worth staying safe & saving a tree  Angela 

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Lot's of the schools  do the basic first aid course which covers cpr etc. It's a very good course and all nursery school teachers have to have a valid first aid certificate. I also believe that all staff at all the games lodge and things also now have to have the basic first aid course too.  It's a good thing to have for everyone. 

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Deep Freeze - it would seem that the more ‘vacant’ space you have in your deep freeze, the more quickly the contents defrost.  I have found that filling up the ‘air pockets’ with scrunched up newspaper and then putting a duvet over the top of all the contents helps insulate and keep the meat etc. frozen for longer. Leonie.

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Instead of whining about power cuts please spare a thought for all the elephants being poisoned with cyanide at Kariba !!!  There were 3 reported yesterday., today it is 15 !!  How many more will die before the monsters responsible are caught - if eve?.  We may not have power but at least we are still alive. Daisy

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I remember umpiring colts games with the Curran brothers tearing my bowling and batting attack to pieces. I was always in awe of the outstanding ability of these boys. The biggest crime is that the country they were born in could not keep them here to play for the chevrons.

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We have paid a price to live in this unique country since 1965. So my new philosophy is: I will henceforth regard the dire power situation as one of these payments for my somewhat dissolute idle old age - luxuriating in a daily 12 hours of heavenly sunshine and endless blue skies, surrounded by myriad colours under a canopy of purple Jacarandas, endless beauty; smiling, friendly people with their "we're all in this together" attitude - even though their lot may be immeasurably harder than others; and somewhat third world charm. The last would be considered elsewhere as dereliction, decay and disorder (and by me if it hadn't been the case for time immemorial). Deprivation over the years has made me so thrilled by the small gift of what is the norm in the First World, from a full fuel tank through to burgeoning supermarket  shelves, a relatively stable currency to prices that don't leap up as you deliberate on your purchase, and, yes, a running tap to having the power to send this email. Ah contentment!  

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I did chat with the ZESA people at Harare Show in August.   I asked if private households would be able to supply power back to the grid through their solar panels on the roof, and get a deduction from their ZESA bill, similar to what happens in the UK.   ZESA advised me that currently the legislation only allows Government entities to supply power into the National Grid.  (this is possibly why the Triangle Sugar Estate was unable to supply power back into the grid).  I am assuming this is a decades old legislation.  However ZESA did say that they are working on this solution.  The technology for the ZESA meters is being developed to monitor power in and power out.  ZESA will also bring this to Parliament and I am sure with the current crisis, hopefully the legislation will be changed to allow private supply into the National grid to ease the crisis.

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I was wondering if anything could be done about the “big advertising billboard companies” For example the blue billboard that spans across Borrowdale road just before TM Borrowdale.  There used to be an econet advert with some famous rugby player which has since been changed but the old metal scrap from the econet ad has been lying on the side of the road for months now and has never been removed.  Surely the billboard company should remove it and not just leave this scrap metal lying around??.  Sorry I don’t know how to go about getting this removed or who the billboard company is to contact them and ask if and when it will ever be removed. Regards Thea

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First off - seems there might be a potential scam ...... the toll gate for road tax $2 now claim they have no change. Yesterday I paid with a $20 note but was only given $14 change. If I wanted the remainder, I had to join a queue of 4 other vehicles who were also waiting for change. This was at the toll unit on Old Mazoe Rd.

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CPR - I think it is a fantastic idea!   I would like to take it a little further by saying from experience.   Having done a first star divers course (30 years ago) in SCUBA diving, CPR & first aid in general is a must. What you learn from it is so many people die in accidents, at home, at work, on the road because of the lack of basic first aid skills known by anyone first at the scene.  In general everyone just stands around watching people die. Once you have done a  basic first aid course which I am sure includes CPR it will open your eyes to how many lives could have been saved by the public, family members at home & work associates. I believe this should form part of the curriculum at schools, colleges & varsities. It should also form some part of an annual event for people to do refresher courses because it is very easy to forget what you have learned and cause more harm than good to an accident victim if moved on certain injuries.

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