Wednesday, December 28, 2005

Leaded or Unleaded? Sails for Me, Actually.

Since once again I was unable to find a 2-hour slot in my day to sit down, have some juice, and write in peace about my Christmas adventures that ended up in the gas station, I have decided to write about something vastly less complicated.

Sub-Saharan Africa is set to completely phase out leaded gasoline by the end of 2006. Before moving to Mozambique, I didn't even know that people still *used* leaded gasoline on a regular basis. The last time I saw it was a good 20 years ago at the Allsup's in Belen, New Mexico. But, as I've discovered, leaded gas is alive and well in many countries, to the detriment of the environment and people's health.

The transition to unleaded only is being accompanied by some hilarious tv commercials. The one most common on the cable network in Chimoio is actually from Angola and features a guy grinning, practically jumping up and down, letting us know that there is an exciting new option for *new* vehicles that will improve performance and reduce health risks. The guy then goes on to specify that new vehicles are those manufactured after 1989!

On that note, Ricardo and I are off to bed early tonight. Tomorrow we are waking up early to go sailing on his uncle's boat. Yes, sailing. And since his uncle just had varicose vein surgery and can't do any lifting or moving around in general, I am going to learn how to sail tomorrow to help Rico man the sails!

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