Now I know our national carrier has had recent severe problems, but you just can’t beat their direct, non-stop 10 hour, 15 minute flight between the two capitals. (If it goes!)
I find it frustrating to fly over my own home in Harare nine or 10 hours after I left it, having spent much frustrating time in Jo’burg, possibly having luggage looted. Extended stops at Nairobi or Addis are also annoying, as you don’t have time to leave the airports and do anything if you could afford extortionate visas.
So bad, totally chaotic, is traffic there, that the last time I was in Kenya it took just five minutes less to get from Jomo Kenyatta International Airport to Parliament Square than it did to fly from Ha-ha-ha-rare (Africa’s fun capital) to Nai-robbery!
A bus from Mombasa’s Moi Airport to our south coast hotel actually took 11 minutes longer than had the hop from Kenya’s capital to the ocean!AirZim certainly let me down: badly.
The main purpose of this latest UK trip was for the joint Christening ceremony of my two grand-children at 10:30 on Sunday June 19, butas AZ’s Wednesday night flight was mysteriously “cancelled” at the 11th hour, we didn’t leave Harare until 30 minutes before the service was due to begin 10 000km away in rural Oxfordshire.
I arrived in Faringdon almost exactly 12 hours after the ceremony ended; it was followed by a picnic on the banks of the upper reaches of the Thames, or the Isis as it’s known hereabouts.
Still, I had a pleasant if hectic Monday with my family here in Oxfordshire, then a wonderful drive up the west side of England with son and daughter-in-law; a memorable gourmet lunch at Penrith in Cumbria and on through the lush, verdant borders to join the meandering scenic, Clyde River Valley route, through well-watered rich farming areas east to Edinburgh: “Auld Reekie”, the Athens of the North, where the Royal Highland Agricultural Show and the city’s prestigious Film Festival were in full-swing.
- Chamisa under fire over US$120K donation
- Mavhunga puts DeMbare into Chibuku quarterfinals
- Pension funds bet on Cabora Bassa oilfields
- Councils defy govt fire tender directive
Keep Reading
I hadn’t realised “The Edinburgh Festival” was one of several the capital city hosts and boasts.
The Edinburgh Science Festival is in March-April; the Imaginate Children’s Festival in May; Edinburgh Film Festival June 15-26 and in July there’s the Jazz and Blues Festival.
August is a big month. The city would be full of tourists, anyway, for what are allegedly the finest four weeks (weather-wise) in Scotland. I was there for part of “Flaming June” only to find it flaming damp…and cool!
But travel arrivals are enormous, boosted by enthusiasts of the Edinburgh Arts Festival (August 4-September 4); the Edinburgh Festival Fringe (August 5-29); the spectacular Edinburgh Royal Military Tattoo is from August 5-27; THE actual Edinburgh Festival from August 12-September 4 and the Book Festival August 12-29.
The Mela (correct) Festival (originally a South Asian event) is September 2-4; Storytelling Festival October 21-30 and Edinburgh’s Hogmanay (I was there for 2010’s very bibulous one) December 30-January 2. Whether the weather’s good or not, there’s only one place in the world to welcome New Year: Scotland!
In the Monomatapa, a few months ago, a gushing Third World Groupie tried to tell me Hifa was nowadays second only in size and importance to the Edinburgh Festival.
Hmm…if true… a very long way second.
So whatever happened to Grahamstown’s Festival?
I asked my son, Rhoderick, why Edinburgh had no Beer or Real Ale Festival or even, more appropriately, a Whisky Festival.
He replied that of course they did: every day — especially payday — in the lovely pubs of Rose Street and Edinburgh’s Grassmarket, all character-filled and full of characters!
As you can’t be in two places at once (not even me!) I missed the much anticipated Faringdon (population 6 000) Festival held here last weekend.Three days of music, dance, poetry, photography, art, typography, excellent country food and splendid drink,with roads closed to transport in this ancient market town on the cusp of the rolling Cotswold Hills, where Oxfordshire meets Wiltshire, Berkshire and Gloucestershire.
I wasn’t here; I was in Agadir on the cusp of the rolling, sere, Sahara Desert in south-west Morocco, North Africa, for my sins.
There, a large number of posters attractively announced the Fete de Miel (Agadir Honey Festival) would be held last week.
Sorry….I must have blinked!
Other than — possibly — being served a special alternative pudding of splendid light-as-a-kiss crepes (pancakes) drizzled with honey from bees which buzz around argan tree groves on Friday night, where was this “fete” worse than death?
(Argan is supposedly nature’s latest miracle cure: allegedly knocking aloe vera and tea-tree oil into a cocked hat as a universal panacea!)
While in North Africa I also missed Henley’s Royal Regatta (founded 1839) to which I’ve been invited by a Harare-based steward for several years. There’s a strong local contingent to this major British sporting and social event often attended by members of the Royal Family. Zimbo wags have invented a totally fictitious Shangani University Rowing Club to which they all purportedly belong.
Yesterday and today the RAF’s Royal International Air Tattoo is at RAF Fulford about 15km away, but we are moving my mother-in-law/ ex-mother-in-law/ the mother of my children’s mother! from hospital, so can’t make that event. In any case, tickets (if available) cost a fortune; parking nearby in a farmer’s muddy field is (pound sign) 50 a day!
Oh well, back to Zimbabwe tonight for, no doubt, a future feast of culture!
Opposite of feast is a famine. We had a dreadful Horn of Africa-style Zesa famine, often with no power for days, just before I left Zimbabwe. I escaped four weeks of that misery and much of the Highveld winter, but it will still be a long time before I forgive AZ for making me miss the lighties’ baptism.l [email protected] [email protected]
