Category: this is south africa

Enjoy the experience

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You should always try any experience that you can. Who knows? You might find something that you really like.

I wouldn’t include smashing the little toe of your flop-clad foot into the back wheel of a Pick n Pay trolley, though.

I tried that so you don’t have to.

Talking of… If Woolies’ shelves are empty because they were unable to maintain their cold chain due to the delays from the taxi strike, then either Pick n Pay have somehow been using different roads (?!?) or they don’t care that their cold chain was compromised.

Hmm.

“I wonder which one it is?”, he thought, as the milk went off 2 hours after he bought it.

I might start on the prophylactic antibiotics with their chicken this evening before I end up trying another new experience.

About next week

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I mean, there’s no other word for it. I’m off on a jolly.
In the English, informal noun sense of the word.

Away far up North (in this country, at least), in order to celebrate a friend’s birthday.

I’m trying very hard not to feel too guilty about leaving the family behind for almost 6 days, but I am looking forward to a few days in Kruger, observing the animals and sampling the local beer.

My only previous Kruger experience was taking (camera) shots of the fences between the Park and the citrus farms that backed onto it: good fences, well-funded. And while that was great fun, and there was wildlife around, the chance to see some animals close up and then talk about it over a braai in the evening is something I’m very quite excited about.

No idea about internet coverage there, so I’ll be pre-loading some posts before Wednesday’s red-eye flight and the 8 hour drive to – almost – the Mozambique border. But as ever, keep checking in here for additional impromptu posts, and Instagram for ‘togs on the fly.

Shh…

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Up (relatively) early and ready to go on this public holiday. But no-one tell the weather about the day off, because it clearly doesn’t know that it’s supposed to be ruining it for everyone. The sun is out, the solar is charging the batteries and the coffee is doing the metaphorical same for me inside. The beagle is in the back garden eating unripe loquats and… oh christ… wait…
The beagle is now inside.
With tonight’s planned family dinner out now cancelled due to circumstances (not these ones), I’m ready to fire up the braai this evening for the first time in a long while. I’m just about to marinade my ribeye*.

I’m finally feeling better after this low-grade viral nonsense of the last week or so, and there are a number of things that need doing around the house before we head out to more horseriding adventures (again, not me) this afternoon.

Oh, and at some point, I need to tell you about next week, which is going to be rather exciting. But let me leave you on that cliffhanger, in the hope that you’ll pop back again tomorrow for more fun and games.

* not a euphemism

Sunshine, Moonlight, Good Times, Cape Town Taxi Strike

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As I mentioned yesterday, the Cape Town taxi strike has been – and continues to be – hugely disruptive to the whole city. At the supermarket this morning, staff numbers were low, service was even slower than usual, and there were several (or more) empty shelves.

These are genuine effects of the taxi strike, and that’s annoying for all concerned: for the people who want to work, for the people who want to shop. But for every incident of someone being honestly inconvenienced by the recent (ongoing) events, there’s another of someone using them to excuse something otherwise indefensible.

“I think I might need an extension on my maths homework because of the taxi strike.”
“The maths homework I set last week, before the strike began?”
“Yes, but there was always the danger that it might begin, and that has actually proved to be the case.”

“Sorry, I can’t do that spreadsheet for you this week. The taxi strike, you know?”
“But don’t you work from home? In London?”
“Yes, it’s had surprisingly wide-ranging effects.”

“We’re going to sell Sander Berge.”
“What? Our rangy, Rolls-Royce Norwegian midfielder? But why on earth would you want to do that?”
“Wish we didn’t have to, but it’s collateral damage from the Cape Town taxi strike. Very unfortunate.”

The taxi strike is due to end on Thursday morning, when the guys who have been shooting guns at people, stoning cars and burning out buses choose to risk the lives of civilians in a different way: by driving minibus taxis again.

But the effects and pseudo-effects will run on for a good while yet.

Strike One

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Of course, the intended effect of a strike or any other industrial action is to demonstrate the value of the service that industry provides, simply by withdrawing it. And there’s no question that the taxi industry in Cape Town (and South Africa) provides a very valuable service.

However, if you then have to resort to intimidation and violence to prevent people from circumnavigating your withdrawn service, then that does rather undermine the message that your service is irreplaceable.

And not allowing individuals to make their own decisions about how they choose to get around has implications far beyond the apparently spurious reasons for calling the strike in the first place.

But it’s all become a power game now, and the taxi bosses don’t care that hundreds of thousands of breadwinners aren’t able to get to work, get paid and put food on the family table. They’re happy to overlook the fact that kids can’t get to school with exams just a couple of months away. They have no qualms about healthcare facilities for the most vulnerable being closed. And they might pass lip service about “peaceful protest” in open letters, but the fact is that they are more than happy to sit on their thrones while their underlings fight each other and everyone else.

If it’s a battle for hearts and minds – which so many of these disputes seems to come down to in the end – you’d think that maybe they’ve lost this one. But with the alternatives too sparse and too risky to use, it’s not like it won’t just be business as usual anyway when the strike ends (allegedly) on Thursday.