Well, we made it! 2012 here we come with all the supersticious nonsense surrounding it, some say it will be the end of the world, some say it won’t but I say this is my year, evolution of the man!

So I went on a quick jaunt to the motherland for christmas, first ever christmas in africa for 11 years and boy did it live up to my wildest imagination. Zimbabwe is on the up!, I hadn’t been home for 6 years and I had resigned to not going if things were as bad as they got in 2009 but many friends were coming back with rave reviews about Zim and Harare in particular so with little trepidation I set off home. A quick stop in Kenya was not a good advert for African  customer service but I was impressed by the goings on at Jomo Kenyatta, Kenyan Airways have called themselve the pride of Africa and I agree with them. Arriving at 0610 in the morning were hundreds of us all connecting to several regional destionations and the stewardess recited no fewer than 13 conecting flights feeding off that one flight we were on, and all departing within 2 hours. That showed me African airlines can do something that seems to have eluded Air Zimbabwe for decades, why are we even flying other countries’ airlines when our national airline has a departing slot from England? surely it is not because there is no business because the Kenyan flight to Harare was full of people coming from London!, But that is a story for another day

Back to Harare, the vegetation was green for a change, air was clean, there was a breeze unlike the stiffling humid stillness at JKA. There was a certain vibrance in the people that was distinctly lacking from my previous visits when people were grappling with the ever changing prices and exchange rates. The US dollar was a both an economic and political master stroke for those that championed dollarisation, because it brought back life into the economy. I noticed cans of coke were being made in Harare and not somewhere in South Africa, shops were full with anything you could wish for, I felt prices were a little too experience for an African economy but people seem comfortable with them so why worry? at least for now!. I remembered Cornelius coming back and inboxing me about the cars in Harare, wow, if it’s not there it’s not worth buying because you name it there have it, including a Jaguar dealership and the new VW truck, which I haven’t yet seen in the UK, they have it there, loads of them! I remember remarking to Tate about the calibre of people driving big ticket cars, it doesn’t matter anymore because a person’s outward presentation has no bearing on the car they drive, gardner looking dudes are rolling in benzez and bimmers in H-Town!

But some things never change, I went to the passport office to get a new passport and it seems the vibrance that has gripped everyone and everything else in Zimbabwe hasn’t found it’s way to the workers in the passport offices. Customer service is not a term or practice they have heard off but more on that later.

For now, welcome back to the blog, thanks for the time you have taken to read my rumblings and here is to a special 2012!!!!