The road takes us through what used to be some of the best farming land in the country, now an endless wasteland of tall dried-blonde grasses, thorn trees, broken fences and crumbling farm buildings—no animals, no villages, no people following Mr Mugabe's land grabs.
He was the thorn in everyone's side, the gleeful imp who was just there to cause trouble.
I want them to carry on being a thorn in the side of the Tories and Labour".
I was twice-forewarned as I crashed down through a thicket behind the hamlet's church: a beetle impaled on a long thorn; nearby, a bee, still buzzing frantically, had suffered the same fate.
Obama's efforts to dissuade sceptics in his own party from undermining the agreement were dealt an unexpected boost on Thursday, when Bob Menendez, a Democratic hawk and a thorn in the administration's side on Iran, was criminally indicted.
Torn apart during the fighting, Brčko then became a thorn in the peace: both the Bosniak/Croat and Serb contingents claimed it as their own.
Lefebvre and all four bishops were immediately excommunicated for participating in the illicit ordinations, but their movement has been a thorn in the Vatican's side ever since.
The Bolshoi will no doubt be delighted that the man who's been a thorn in their side for so long will now be fully occupied in St Petersburg.
In the words of Noresi, "filtering is like having a thorn in your leg, a thorn you have forgotten is there".
With Nigeria a thorn in its side, it was little small surprise that Shell was considering a 20% reduction of its Nigerian workforce, although cutting 1,000 jobs in a poor country could further strain the company's relations with the Nigerian government.
