It wasn't like giraffes dancing under rainbows, it was just quiet. People walking, a car going by every now and then. Puffy white clouds, temperature in the low 90s on most days, dry heat.

The second photo is from the front of our house on Shottery Crescent. Not a lot of traffic, as you can see.

There was a white couple that lived down the block. I used to visit them, being lonesome for white company at times. They were a pair of stubborn old Rhodesians. Most of their white compatriots had left the country after the revolution of 1980 when Rhodesia became Zimbabwe. The Rhodesians had gone back to England, or moved on to South Africa and Australia where the white man still ruled..

But Bill and Mary Collier were too stubborn to leave.  They eked out a living somehow. Mary grew and sold nursery plants in her backyard. I don't know what Bill did. I would come by of an evening to watch TV and have a drink in their living room.

Precious didn't like them --  she wouldn't come with me.

The Colliers complained about things and their phone didn't work because they refused to pay a bribe to get it fixed. They said that rules were rules under the old system, and they had a point. They did not make derogatory racial remarks and nasty language and all that. After all, they were totally surrounded by black Africans and must make do as best they can, and what life would they have if they left? It's too easy to call someone a racist.

One white woman I knew at the secretary's office downtown where I made copies and sent emails, she said, "Zimbabwe is my country. I was born here. I am African just as much as anyone else."

But she is likely gone by now. Bill and Mary Collier down the street from us are likely gone or passed away by now.

Zimbabwe is hostile to white residence these days and I think that is a big loss.

If I had a few thousand dollars to spare, I would hop on a plane tomorrow -- and go to Europe, to visit France and Italy and Greece -- places I've never seen.

Africa can wait. It will always be there.