A Walk At Dusk
In the dusk of an unusually warm July evening, I go out walking. It is a long time since I last did so. I usually take the dog to Hillside Dams, but sometimes it is nice to walk around your home area and get a feel for the place you live in. Hillside in Bulawayo was always known as the 'posh' part of town, although today people will tell you Burnside is. Years of economic decline have taken its toll on the area, though its past grandeur is still evident from time to time. Sometimes I pass huge plots with tennis courts and swimming pools and jungle gyms and swings, where nannies in smart uniforms sit with toddlers on lush green grass and fierce dogs growl and bark behind high fences and closed gates with notices give warning of alarmed premises and armed response units ready to be deployed. Enormous houses tower out of rocky outcrops, surrounded by jacarandas and eucalyptus trees, while fountains of multi-coloured bougainvillea spill over six-foo...