Birthdays, bouquets and diesel.

 It is hot at this time of year. Well, it is as hot as Malawi gets the climate being generally mild with temperatures rarely rising about 32C. There's a touch of humidity to the air - the wet season having hiccuped the other week and then choked on itself - so we wait for the rains to arrive in abundance.

The roses are in glorious bloom and Limited has plenty of floral material with which to work. He really is very clever as photos of his bouquets, above and below, reveal. in any other world he would be a florist.

I am going to bring him some seeds back from Australia so he can grow some flowers at the quarters and perhaps his wife can sell the bouquets to bring in some extra money. Limited, who is not a gardener can grow and sell his produce in the way that Fred, who is a gardener, cannot because his employer won't allow it.

Fred seems to be staying out of such trouble but I have no doubts that with seven children he would be working in some way to augment his income. I am wondering if some of it involved my mulch. Before I left last time I bought some mulch from the nursery and we did all of my pots.... some six or so with a nice mix of soil and mulch. Looking at my pots today and feeling the concrete nature of their 'face' I don't have a sense there is much mulch left in any of them. I suspect when I was away the mulch was removed and garden soil replaced it... but what do I do? Fred has been in enough trouble as it is and it is not worth bothering about. My herbs seem to be doing reasonably well once they have struggled forth from the strangling clay!

The most exciting thing to happen this week was getting a jerrycan of diesel for the generator. The power cuts are increasing and in that stimulating way of life in the Third World, utterly random.


It would be easier if they were regular and one could plan but life is not like that most of the time and definitely not like that in Africa. It would be too easy after all if you knew when power shedding, for that is what it is, was about to take place. Or for that matter when someone was going to cut the telecommunication lines in Mozambique to collect the copper wiring.

I woke up two mornings to find no power, and no landline either but that's a separate issue, and then had to wait between four to six hours for it to be restored. With diesel low there was no cooking until I had the power back and then a frenzy because while the preferred 'power-shedding' moment seems to be six at night just when everyone wants to cook dinner, it is neither predictable nor regular.

There can be a cut at three or four for an hour or two; then another at six for an hour or four... thank God for the slow-cooker which has been an absolute life-saver. With the battery inverter we have toaster and kettle operational and other equipment but the slow-cooker is the only piece of cooking equipment I have which will run this way. I am thinking investing in an electric wok might be a good idea. I did have one once, in another life.

But the complication this week was that there were no supplies of diesel, and the generator was very, very low and the diesel it contained had to be kept for my coffee machine... some things are more important than food. We did manage to get the car filled and had high hopes of syphoning off enough (because they refused to fill jerrycans) to put in the generator. But again, in the way of Africa, of course the car has been fitted with anti-syphon devices to prevent theft. Of course. But luck would have it and the company had an allocation which allowed us to get one jerrycan filled.... as of last night our yellow plastic container is full... so life is almost normal although my repertoire of hot dinners which can be prepared without a stove has risen exponentially.

And there are leftovers. The freezer is rapidly emptying as I discover quiche, beef soy noodles, soup, oxtail stew, curry and other such ready-made delights which can often be re-heated in the slow-cooker or which require little time or diesel to be made edible.  At this time diesel or petrol are like gold... if you have them then conserve them. Hence the inclination to work with available power supplies as opposed to cooking at whim and using precious diesel.



I have also mastered the art of pre-preparing so that food can be cooked and then quickly reheated when the window of opportunity is open. That and eating dinner early.... just before six is a good bet because the only other alternative is after nine which is a bit late. Well, it is for me anyway.

It is also a reminder of what creatures of habit we are. When the power has not gone out by ten I find myself feeling unnerved, waiting for something to happen. It only impacts the oven but that is pretty major here for me because I do cook a lot and working in around diesel shortages and power cuts is something of a contortionist feat.

Beyond the normal issues of functionality, life muddles along in Malawi, clearly easier for me than for most. Andrew turned forty the other week which is something of a milestone in a country with a worryingly low longevity rate.

We gave him the same as we had given Limited a few months ago - a block of chocolate, a packet of good steak and K10,000 which is more than enough to make for a celebration of any event, with some left over. I did hear the next day that Andrew had been dancing at his birthday party so it sounds as if celebration was the order of the night. As it should be.

Life expectancy for men in Malawi is forty-four years and for women fifty-one. On those odds it is no wonder that Andrew celebrates although I suspect the most energetic dancing will be done at his fiftieth. Malaria and Aids are the big killers here and while it is only perception, both Andrew and Limited seem to be very responsible and happily married which should lengthen their odds accordingly.

So the highlights have been Andrew celebrating turning forty and me celebrating a jerrycan of diesel. Says it all really!

Although I would add, while not a highlight, more of a resolution, we also got our dryer back this week from Johannesburg. Some $A530 later we now have an electronics board which will enable the dryer to function with Malawi's erratic and low power rate. We can dry things if we need to and actually have fluffy towels. Funnily enough I think I have gotten used to the 'sandpaper' version of towels dried into boards on the line and then ironed by the guys ... sort of a loofah drying process.

It is nearly a year since we moved into the house and unpacked all of our goods and the dryer repair was the last on a long list of 'to-do's'.... something of an achievement really and while the highlights and progress of the past two weeks may seem trivial to most, the reality is that living in Africa one realises how important supposedly trivial things can be.

Familiarity may not necessarily breed contempt but I do know for a fact that deprivation breeds appreciation.