last bath

The black dustbin outside our Harare flat has disappeared. Caretaker George apologises. "I'm using it to keep water in," he says. It's a cheap option: taking advantage of this week's citywide water-cut, some vendors are selling small chigubus (containers) for 30 US -- a fortune for most Harare residents. The water was trickling back into our pipes Wednesday morning. It's ominously brown. Since then the pipes have wheezed and whistled as the pressure drops and mounts. In the Zimbabwean capital these days, you're never quite sure if this bath is going to be your last.