Cars and things ..

Folks,

A friend of mine, Sean, was on business in Jo’burg last week, and I got to borrow his motorcycle, a 600cc Suzuki taken straight off the racetrack. Very nice.

I took it down to Cape Point, a pleasant ride to one end of the world, now full of foreigners arriving on airconditioned tour buses.

South Africa, I gather, does annual holidays somewhat like France, where everyone takes them together. In France they go to the beach, and it is the same here. All the (Trans-)Vaalies from Jo’burg come to Cape Town for December - eek !!

Traffic habitually travels too fast in Cape Town, with little respect for pedestrians. None are faster than breakdown trucks travelling to the scene of accidents, weaving through traffic in an effort to be the first on the scene. From our eagles nest downtown Capetown we witness about one crash a week at work. The last one was a breakdown truck jumping the lights ..

Parking downtown often requires looking for parking spots. However, in this low-wage economy it is very easy - there are innumerable street arabs (“Casual parking attendants”, in newspaper parlance) whom you can see from hundreds of metres away waving you into “their” spot, and helpfully (I jest) helping you park by indicating which way you should turn the wheel. I have to give you a performance sometime.

Owning a vehicle is an exercise in security. Every one has an immobiliser, a hidden button to press, of a thing on your keyfob to insert to start. The radio faceplate comes off. If you leave it in the street downtown overnight the drivers window will be broken. Walking to work there is always the little pile of glass near the kerb somewhere. Garage doors are automatic. I carry two security tags to get into the building where I work.

It is summer here now - with hot days. The wind, unless it comes from the northeast, has come over the sea, and is cool.

Our show, “Key for Two”, opens December.

Missing you ..

Cheers, Andy!