Often the laws of the jungle seem to have free reign. Those with money or power (or both) go ahead and others take it as the natural way of things.
Some days seem to be made up of just frustrations.
Returning to town from Kigamboni on a random Thursday and being stuck in traffic on Julius Nyerere Road for more than two hours.
A few passing policemen are happy to explain: important officials are supposed to arrive at the airport and need free passage.
The rest of us will just have to wait.
Arriving early at a bank to withdraw one’s money, there is already a queue and only one employee at the counter.
Other workers are very busy walking around with one or two documents.
For an unknown reason some customers filter in front of us — apparently acceptable.
One needs patience and then one’s turn will come as well.
A fundi prepared the electrical wiring for lamps, fans and other appliances in the gym and all works fine but one day, as Tanesco returns power after an outage, various machines break down due to a short.
The original specialist returns to check – apparently another fundi who installed a CCTV system made their own connections to the existing lines — with the described result.
What to do? Just replace the broken parts, pay the fundi and continue as usual.
Once, not so long ago, a good cemented road was built to access our large residential area.
Then came a company commissioned by the local municipality to improve drainage systems.
Big bulldozers broke the road to lay huge pipes towards the sea.
Enormous trucks carrying the cement pipes passed by on a daily basis.
What’s left are bumps and holes, lots of sand and the memories of a good road.
Often the laws of the jungle seem to have free reign.
Those with money or power (or both) go ahead and others take it as the natural way of things.
It’s just another day.
