Spar

Another day, another trip to SPAR. This time, excitingly, to the vast one further away from the city centre. It was a cool breezy day, with atmospheric skies close to the trolley park. As I was carting a new bin, a clothes dryer and some big cartons of water, I was waiting here for Paulo in his txopela. As usual we chew the fat over the din of the engine and traffic. He often implies that my observations about Maputo already make me X% Mozambican, to which I respond by saying the Portuguese needs to go up a notch.

‘Amigo, já sabes como pedir água em português?’

‘Friend, you already know how to ask for water in Portuguese?’, implying that learning the language is a job done.

Yes Paulo me old mucker but I’d like to increase the complexity of my chats just a tad.

Everyone is happy that today, the curfew is extended (from 9pm to 10pm), shops can now open until 6pm (from 4pm) and restaurants don’t need to close until 8pm (it was previously 6pm). I will be doing less rushing halfway through the afternoon when I realise I don’t have food for the evening.

I also achieved an overdue haircut today. Todd, my old timer in Cambridge, was out with Covid during my final days in the UK, so I imported my mop to Mozambique and finally had a window to sort it.