Post election calm

A curious sense of calm has descended as we congratulate ourselves on being the brave ones to stick it out, while the chickens have run away to distant shores.

In fact we are all a bit disappointed that there wasn’t a bit more mayhem to test our mettle, even though, as time goes by more and more stories surface regarding ballot-box stuffing and other scandals; and more and more incidents of violence are reported. So that’s enough to keep us on our toes for the next episode which is the announcement of the election results on 6th December. It is expected to be very close. Could the fact that Gbagbo was been moved to the International Criminal Court in the Hague on 30th November be a warning to Kabila not to do anything silly if he loses?

Now is the time to take stock. Are we sure that we have enough to survive? I had a look at our larder. After having eaten most of our emergency provisions, we decided to go for it seriously, and bought a mountain. Then when we got back we found out that, in fact, we had more than we thought already in stock. So here’s an idea of what’s on the shelf:

Baked beans 7 cans
Chick peas 6 cans
Chilli beans 8 cans
Tuna 6 cans
Sardines 5 cans
Tomatoes 5 cans
Tomato paste 10 cans
Milk 10 litres
Cooking oil 3 litres
Butter and margarine 6

Spaghetti - about a ton

We’ve also got lots of chocolate, bread, biscuits, spices, tea and coffee for six months, frozen meat and fish and so on.

The old timers warn that you can’t rely on anything frozen because the electricity will be off so we won’t have electricity so must lay in stocks of food that doesn’t need cooking, but we’ve also got an elderly barbecue and masses of charcoal, and a tiny gas ring just in case.

But man cannot live on bread alone. Even she who must be obeyed needs a bit of alternative sustenance from time to time. So we have 95 bottles of beer, 73 bottles of wine, three bottles of whisky, and a few open bottles of gin, vodka etc.

Why worry?