Sunday, February 02, 2003 

Lets not milk the Cows tonight

I can now add Dairy Maid to my increasing list of new skills that I have acquired since we were prevented from farming. For those who take an interest in our lives you will be pleased to know they are far from boring. We are almost settled in Mutare but have had another mishap with the horses. We leased John Logan's farm in Headlands and all was going swimmingly until a group of settlers arrived led by Major Kawere and his hit man Mhiripiri and gave us 24 hours to leave. They told the young manager to leave and locked the house and took the keys so now we start the whole process again of looking for grazing and finding accommodation for the labour it seems the war vets and ourselves are going to keep each other company for ever. 

In the midst of all this the entire labour force on Lonely Park (Pat's brothers farm) went on strike so there was an urgent appeal for us to rush out and milk the cows. It was wonderful to see so many wonderful volunteers from milkers to silage cutters and even people in the kitchen to make sure we were well fed. Milking the cows was no easy job and we ended up covered in cow pooh don't know where we were going wrong but we seemed to get it everywhere. We had some hilarious moments but I wasn't looking forward to the second shift and was most relieved that the police intervened, rooted out the trouble causers and got the Lonely Park Labour back to work, we even had the Member in Charge in the milking pit. That night as we crowded into Paul's bar for a well earned drink and I looked at the smiling faces covered in cow dung my heart nearly burst with pride where in the world would you find such wonderful people and now so many of us have left or are leaving. We are soon learning the system of buying our essentials in Mutare and Gaydia bartered today getting our bread for 200 dollars a piece plus fresh milk. So it was a double whammy. 

After all my waitressing I am thinking of opening up a coffee shop in Chimoio which will give me a chance to show off my cappuccino skills. I am now looking for a coffee machine and an investor!!!! We are all thrilled with Katie's O level results. Maths A, Physics A, Geography A, Bio A Distinction, French A, Chemistry B. Accounts C which shows she survived the stress of the moves and managed to concentrate. Johnny has just had to have a camera inserted in his bladder through his "you know what it" which caused him grave concern but he survived with it in one piece. Fortunately it looked okay other than two nodules which they are testing, this is possibly what has caused all the blood in the urine and they think it is bilharzia damage. He is very well though considering I still wince when I think of it. To all my darling friends and family we miss you and when you hit the Bvumba we need your company. Pauly is still in Thailand I can't imagine what he is still doing there as he has been there long enough to see the whole of Thailand three times over, but I hope he is having a good time. Beryl is loving the Bvumba and walks every day, she has given up on taking Jonny's dog, Popeye, it has annilhated our neighbour's turkey population and has now started on his goats. Lots of love and see you in the diesel queue. 

Mandy Retzlaff
Bvumba
Zimbabwe