Hi All

January is always a very busy month for us at Softrite, and this year was no different with us adding an option to our Adaski payroll software to use Zimra’s Averaging method for calculating PAYE.

So, I felt quite justified in jumping on an Emirates plane heading off to see my kids and grandchildren in Australia for a few weeks. I arrived late on a Monday night so I booked into the nearby Prince of Wales for the evening. Checking in after midnight meant I had to pass through the “Pokies” lounge (1 arm Bandits) still teaming with eager gamblers. I am, in principle, against any hard-core gambling and am forever reminded of the destruction it causes to family households. In my opinion, such places should just be set up in holiday venues so that travellers can have a small “flutter” 

I had planned the trip to coincide with the first day of school for my eldest granddaughter. The transition from day care to “Real school” does, I feel, take a lot of getting used to for these youngsters.

I booked into a very comfortable Airbnb close to the family home with a 50-metre swimming pool situated between the two places. Most mornings I rode the short distance to the pool before popping in to play with the kids before school. Living so far away from my granddaughters, it takes time to adjust to how much they have grown up since my last visit – one of the downsides of living on the other side of the world!

One of the great designs they have in all the urban areas is the setting aside of large tracts of land for large parks that locals can visit for daily walks with many of them having well-constructed “Jungle Gyms” with a few gyms type bars for adults to have a small workout. Here in Zimbabwe, future town planners would do well to emulate these very important additions.

Having now officially taken up bowls as a competitive sport, I had to include a visit to Pine Rivers Bowling club on Tuesday after where I watched two bowling rinks full of “Retired Gentlemen” testing their bowling skills against fellow players – no grass just synthetic carpeting for their greens with a massive covering roof. 

As usual I ploughed my way through several good books including the murder mystery “It’s Not Her” by Mary Kubica – highly recommended reading. 

Ciao Mike G.