If you look there are Z$500,000 / Z$750,000 and Z$10,000,000 notes. While we were there the bank issued Z$100,000,000 notes. I kept one - now framed, and madly it is only valid for 3 months - expiring on the 30 June 2008.
One of the stories we were told - I can absolutely believe it's true - revolves around the dual exchange rate scam. There are two exchange rates; Official - Z$30,000 to US$1 and Street - Z$4,500,000 to US$1. (Even the Government uses Street at times, and they even admit publicly to buying grey imports). Say you happened to be the son of a senior party/general/government figure - you may perhaps one day walk into the Central Bank and say "Give me US$1, I'm going overseas and need it." (I'm using small numbers deliberately). You put the crisp dollar bill in your wallet and leave. Getting in your Mercedes Benz your Dad paid £25 for (yes that's right), you drive to see your friend who buys your US$1 at Street value. You exchange the bill for Z$4,500,000. Armed with your Z$'s you go back and change this to US$ at the banks official rate. You get handed US$150. This handily still fits back into your wallet. You do the same again and from a couple of trips to the bank and the money changer having started with nothing, you now have case full - US$22,500 / £11,500. An amazing way of stripping the Central Bank of all foreign currency and ruining a country - but its only a story!
Back to life in Ted's house and our daily routine of getting all the kit out in the morning having to hide it away at night once done, just in case we were raided, hopefully we could explain ourselves away as tourists. In the middle of one session squirreling away tapes on the top of the wardrobe in my room I came across a very fetching number in the head gear department. Honestly it is a wig and not what I look like at midnight.
A couple of days in, Roger arrived. He, again, simply flew in to Harare and came through with out problems. Somehow I don't think he declared himself as a journalist either, telecoms this time. He was here to oversea the land invasion - the mass deluge of presenters / engineers and more crews once it was safe to come in which looked imminent. He did bring valuable bits for the camera that we needed and lots of chocolate too. Half of which was spirited away by someone somewhere in Jo-burg or Harare.
He didn't get very far in completing his task as I think it was the day he arrived a hotel in downtown Harare got raided by the police and ruling ZanuPF party with an American journalist and opposition MDC worker being arrested. As soon as we heard that, very quickly via the grapevine, everything was immediately packed up, London called to say we were done for the day and we sat waiting, watching and thinking how we would get out should we have to make a move quickly. Within the next couple of days both ITN and the BBC pulled out very swiftly. After a short conflab about it, as we still felt safe in our house and trusted the people around us (they had as much to loose as we did), we stayed put. Lesson of the day - sometimes it is better to stay and not be seen rather than run and risk being seen.
One of the major benefits of Roger's presence - it allowed us to play whist. Once the sun had gone down we lit the candles in the dining room, as there weren't any working light bulbs in left there and the cards came swiftly out. With MTV or VH1 on in the background providing the tunes, it was a very pleasant way of passing the time. Nick and Roger were partnered together and I was with Stuart. We absolutely trounced them 30 points/hands to 0 on the first day. I don't know how but our hands were very strong and we played well off each other. Sadly for the next two nights we didn't do so well. Lost both times - the cards just not being with us no matter how we played. On aggregate though they didn't catch us up. And then Roger left - and the cards stayed in their pack. Do need to find a game for three.
Can't go any further with out starting on the food. The first couple of nights we did have take-aways. Spicy chicken and chips which was lovely though you can only eat the same thing so many times. A luxury in having our own house and not being in a hotel was home cooking and not having to suffer the same menu. Herbs and spices were in the kitchen - though not the freshest, the biggest bind being having to crush peppercorns using a mug and wooden soon. With a reasonable stock of food in the house - most staples left by the owner, Nick and I started to cook lunch and dinners - fried rice with spicy beef (reconstituted burgers) / pasta arriagato / omlette's and even managed stunning pork steaks with a delicious peppercorn sauce. All went down very well on the whole with no leftovers. If I could remember more I would. We didn't starve. The one thing that does vividly stick out is the quality of the fresh food. The eggs were superb and the pork steaks - even though very well cooked by Nick (deliberately) remained very juicy and succulent. Free range natural organic meat you can't beat it. According to Stuart, Nick and I constantly sounded like a pair of old queens discussing ingredients and tasting dishes. Heathen - though he did eat what we put in front of him! Our restaurant when we open in is going to be called 'Three Queens and a B-gan".
Stuarts role in food preparation however seemed to be asking if it was 'that' time of day yet - usually around 4 or 5 pm - and on the whole - it jolly well was. It really was a very important role and one that should not be diminished at all. All in all we did go through a few bottles of gin and crates of beer - not every day! (But almost). It also helped considerably in calming the nerves when the gate opened at night and send us to soundly to sleep.
The two other people at the house who were helping to look after us - doing the washing up / washing clothes were Micky and Sisser. Micky was the gardener, who when Sisser wasn't around turned his hand, deftly to the household chores without asking. He worked tirelessly and was always on hand to help out. Sisser offered to cook us lunch one day - which Stuart said would be different and not very nice. It ended up being very over cooked sheep or goat on the bone - which I don't like anyway - with some maize meal and tasteless leafy veg - he was right - though worth a try. Personally the Three Quee's restaurant rocked!
Big trouble at mill. Through a source - I'm not sure where from but we discovered that there was a list of names at the airport. Stuart & Emma's appeared on it. A list of 'undesirables' which meant the idle conversation we had before about which way to leave were now our only real options. Three main areas we had to consider where - whether to go through a border crossing or not, which country to go to (Zambia, Botswana, Mozambique or South Africa) and how would we get to the border. In the days to come we spent a lot of time planning how to leave. Not sure whether it increased or decreased the paranoia but it somehow seemed to help keep spirits up. This was in between the jokes about me not wanting to be let out of prison as I would be notching up too much overtime and days off!!
When Roger left going through Harare airport he had no problem going through check in and immigration - but before getting on the plane there was a second deliberate name and passport check. A few days after the American journalist's arrest he was admitted to hospital having fallen out of his prison bed - very badly! Hmm. Sadly we did miss our whist partner.
As you may have noticed there hasn't been a photo of Nick yet - its coming later on - its just that I didn't take many photos just in case we got lifted. The real reason is actually Nick's a spy. No really - he's looks about 20, has been to every country in the world, can vanish into a crowd without a trace in a blink in an eye. To prove my point he once smuggled political papers into Serbia or somewhere round there - only as someone at an airport asked him to! To back my theory up, Nick had a couple of small bits of paper with all his scribbles, notes and numbers on. Just loose - not in a notebook, and well worn by the time we left. Lastly and most importantly he's is a really nice calm easy going bloke. Case closed - spook.
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