YOU KNOW YOU'RE FROM ZIMBABWE IF:          - 17/ 4/ 2006      <--Prev : Next-->




YOU KNOW YOU'RE FROM ZIMBABWE IF:

You can still remember Sally Donaldson's voice.
You failed your driver's license first time.
You saw "Grease" more than three times.
You still wear vellies without socks.
You miss the smell of rain on a hot, tar road.
You miss Christmas by the pool...
You horrify people by eating raw, dried meat.
You horrify other Zimbos by cooking boerewors "to death".
You took driving lessons in an Anne Hunter Anglia in Bulawayo.
You still own some Springbok Hits LP's.
You still pee on the lawn at night.
You carved your name on a famous landmark in Zim.
You chatted up a farmer's daughter at a Country Club get-together -- with one eye on her Dad.
You did wheelies on the Enterprise Road outside Gremlin's or on Selborne Avenue in Bulawayo.
You almost lost the family jewels on the rock slide at Mermaid's Pool
You can still sing "Ach pleeez Daddy".
You whinged to the waiter at Caribbea Bay at the outrageous price of their beers during the Tiger fishing Competition.
You injected Cane spirit into a pocket of oranges to beat the booze ban at the Rugby at the Police grounds.
You still refer to toilet paper as 'bog roll', and the toilet as a 'PK'.
You got a speeding ticket trying to make the border by 6 PM.
You sang rude or witty words instead of the originals to hymns in school assembly.
Your forearms and the areas between you lower thighs and mid calf are irredeemably burned brown by the sun.
You once owned an 8 track car tape player!!!

You have given up looking for a good meat pie.
You miss the smell of red stoep polish.
You bore or frighten your children with harrowing tales of your deprived upbringing in the days when TV started at 17H00 and kids were expected to ride push bikes to school...
You still butter bread by holding the slice in your hand...
You wish you'd had the presence of mind to keep mum's Morris minor
You ate supper in Vila de Manhica, the Vila Perry, Maxies or Guido's on occasions.
You can remember the beer adverts on the tin trays the hotel waiters used...
You can remember thinking that Bengal Juice was OK.
You still believe it's wrong to use bad language in mixed company
You still think of traffic lights as robots
You know the words to more than two ABBA songs
You used to call your parents' friends "Uncle" and "Aunty"
You have driven on a strip road

You long for that soft morning glow that brightens the Zimbabwe sky between 6am and 8am.
Really miss a great, fantastic, bed rattling, window shaking, earth tremoring, all-kids-and-animals-in-the-parents'-bed tropical storm.
You parked your car in a car park and couldn't find it again, because it was a blue Renault 4.
You remember watching the brown grass turn green after a day's rain.
Arguing that Castle was for men Lion was for kids, and pommies.

You still wonder what this thing polystyrene is, ... you know it as kaylite.
You still refer to Koki pens as Neo's.
Muuush is still common in your vocabulary, as is 'lekker'.
You still have Wrex Tarr's "Chilapalapa" LP's and know the words to "Cockie Lobbin".
You hear crickets in July and remember the December Christmas beetles.
You know or still write to someone from PE, Saints, Churchill, Ellis Robins, Falcon College, Eveline High, Townsend School, Chaplin, Plummers, Guinea Fowl or Gwebi Agricultural College.
You drank Tanganda tea or Preema Coffee (or Day Break).
You shopped at Truworths, Edgar's, Meikles or Kingston's.
You had an avocado, mango, guava and pawpaw tree in your garden.
You played in a sand pit and on a jungle gym.
You thought bilharzia was an incurable disease but still swam in the rivers, dams anyway.
You remember jacaranda trees in full bloom.
You remember when a Coke or ice-lolly cost a tickie.
You miss the taste of bream fried on the side of the dam five minutes after you caught it.
You have at least one ivory, soapstone or wooden carving.
You still remember the taste of gemsquash and melted butter, mealies, Mazoe Orange Juice, mealie meal, Creamy Meal and Maltabella porridge.
You think there is no green surpassing that of the Sandawana emeralds.

You still expect to see a chongololo after an afternoon rain and a few flying ants.
The following names mean something to you: "Sandro's", "Arkies", "Club Tomorrow", The Carlton Club and The Stork Club.
You collected coke cans on your trips to South Africa 'cos they were so cool.
You still can't get your head around the idea of throwing away a glass bottle, instead of taking it back for the deposit.

You've ever sat at Castle Corner in the cricket grounds - and can't remember who won the cricket match.
You were there when the 'chicken farmer' beat England.
You think the "all Blacks" are the Zimbabwe Tennis Team.
You were a member of Hellenics / Callies / Raylton / Alex / Old Boys/ Postals / Old Miltonians / Mac Club/ B.A.C. / Queens / or Raylton.
You've ever been boating on Lake Mac - before the hyacinth.
You've ever driven up to Montclair for an evening's gambling and been back at work the next day.
You still think the most haunting sound in the world is the cry of the fish eagle.

You know at least one person who has 'streaked' at the Harare Cricket Grounds.
You remember sitting for hours in petrol queues - and not getting any.
You ever got fifteen people into a VW Kombi - long enough to get past the gates at the 'drive-in'.
You made out in the back of a car at the 'Nitestar' , the Sky View or the Mabelreign Drive-in.

You think of the four major food groups as beef, chicken, sadza and tea. You carry jumper cables in your car.
You only own 3 spices: salt, pepper and Tomango.
You know all 4 seasons: Almost summer; Summer; Still summer and Christmas.