Monthly Archives: May 2012

On your marks, get set…

Ag man, it’s all bloody doom and gloom, wherever you look. Rates are up and the rand is down. Fuel, food, foreigners; it’s all a big F-up. And you know what? I’m done. I know I should be concerned, and people are suffering, and the planet’s about to destroy itself. But I can’t take it anymore. I’ve become numb. I’ve switched off.

It’s a purely defensive mechanism, I assure you. I’m normally an involved, concerned and committed citizen of SA and the global community, but there’s only so much bad news you can take before you go mad. And it’s even worse in South Africa. I mean, every time there’s a little crisis, we all put on our running shoes and prepare to leave the country. Continue reading

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The high Prius of living

Oddly enough, I bought a new car last month. By the look of things, I was the only one in the country crazy enough to do so, but my trusty 13-year old Audi was on its last legs and the time had come.

So, what to buy, and where? The second-hand market is in freefall and the numerous car repossession auctions are good places for people with a bit of liquidity to get great deals at the expense of those who have fallen on hard times. Sounds perfect! Why then, oh why, did I go and buy a new car from a dealer? Well, you see, I wanted a Prius. Continue reading

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Mbeki’s turning Japanese, I really think so

Once upon a time, I was prepared to give Thabo Mbeki the benefit of the doubt. He was a clearly intelligent man with noble aims to revive Africa and extract the dark continent from the dismissive rhetoric of western, post-colonial discourse. Admittedly, he did this by evoking the quinesstentially European concept of ‘renaissance’ and his speeches were somewhat academic, but the big lug had his heart in the right place. Continue reading

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Going to hell in a Lohan-basket

Well, whichever way you look at it, it’s been a helluva year so far. Honestly, I haven’t had a chance to catch my breath. In fact, I’ve become a bit of a news junkie. Every afternoon, when I wake up, I dash to my computer and hit the news websites to see what happened in the previous 8 hours, and I’m never disappointed. There’s always something new, something big, to worry about. I kinda knew that news was just entertainment for grown-ups, but lately it’s become a series of cliff-hangers that would shame a soapie. Continue reading

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