Memory and Memorylessness. Zimbabwe.
Remember That fork incident? Did not happen to Lisa. Each time I tell a story, I come to grips with a sad truth. I can not remember things.
My views veer from reality.
I was in Zimbabwe during the 2001 Total Eclipse. Even then, the economy was in the toilet; thanks to Mumbabwe (sic) forcibly possessing farms and placing inexperienced men at their helms. The Zimbabwe currency didn't, and doesn't, float on the world market. And that means Zimbabwe can't buy supplies from outside.
Signs everywhere forbid tourists from exchanging money with locals. But the bank exchange rate was far lower than the locals would give; they wanted the inflation hedge, they wanted to have US dollars.
A young woman, school age, fell in love with my pen. My pen! I gave her the pen. She was happy. The school books were tatters, literally tattered and torn. Paper was rare. People lived without electricity. They carried grain to the mill on their heads, or on overloaded donkeys.
The economy of Zimbabwe has only gone downhill. Inflation is staggering; hundreds of percent every few months. I weep sadly for the kind people of Zimbabwe.