My, how things have changed.

What’s new:

1. Apparently, the Ugandan government has been on a standards binge, bearing down on Chinese businessmen for failing to import things of quality.  The problem?  The measures they use are largely subjective (e.g., pulling at shoes to see if they come apart), and some items they are complaining about are actually made in Uganda.

2. Cissy, my hapless lawyer, got married.

3.  The migration of workers from China is palpable.  Children no longer shout ‘mzungu,’ but ‘China’ instead.  And Ugandans have started to adopt a sensitivity to the Chinese: they nearly all try to speak with a Chinese-inspired accent, which, in typical Ugandan fashion, sounds as ridiculous as it seems.

4. Those meddling European consultants keep trying to improve working conditions in Uganda, but are just fucking it all up.  For instance, Uganda’s thinking about a minimum wage.  The problem is that it’s just another tax on foreign investment, since Ugandans are the ones who set the market wages to begin with, and are the only ones able to flout regulations with ease.

Europe, America, just leave Africa alone.  Clearly, the progress you’ve failed to make in the last 50 years should tell you that you’re not helping anyone.

5. Plastic scrap is now sold at a whopping 1000 shillings a kilo.  Who would’ve known it could go so high?

6. Traffic is now everywhere, all the time (we’re up to the UAM series of license plates).

7. Nakumatt may be going down the tubes: I’ve never seen so many closed shops.

8. Puppies!  Chicken and Beef procreated, making 8 more.  Naturally, I’m calling the one we’re keeping McGangbang, a fusion of chicken and beef.

What hasn’t changed:

1. URA: still bureaucratic as ever.

2. The guys at Surgipharm are still rude.

3. Emirates service still sucks (it figures: Beatrice has gone to Canada).