Semolina sandwiches
“Aaah, no - not again!” That was my youngest this morning. He was not at all happy! “Dad - why do we have semolina for breakfast every morning?”
I corrected him - we alternate between semolina one day, and mealie meal porridge the next.
“But Dad, come oooon! - why can’t we have fruit hoops (his favourite) or something else?”
“Because we can’t afford them, that why! And if you don’t eat up, I’ll put it on your sandwiches for school!”
“Yeah, right Dad”, was the retort, but that did the trick - he finished the whole bowl. Semolina sandwiches? There was a thought dark enough to dissuade the stoutest of ten-year-olds! Even I cringed at my own cruel humour.
But - that’s what Zim is coming to. Inflation is destroying lives and livelihoods right across the social spectrum. We, as part of a fast-disappearing middle class, are being driven to save money wherever possible. Breakfasts are just one small example.
Good old basic cornflakes are Z$90,000 to 130,000 a box, and fancier breakfasts are even worse. Oats are not even available, but you can buy imported breakfasts for over Z$200,000 a box.
Well, no - that is just a figure of speech isn’t it?
Only the rich are able to buy it! A quarter of a million dollars for a box of breakfast cereal !! And by Christmas?? Maybe we might just have to get down to semolina sandwiches - that is supposing that we can still afford bread, if it it is still available!
