Glass houses and all that
Snobs annoy me. I’ve never been one to judge (or at least I really try not to) so it really gets on my nerves when someone tries to include me in a little snobbish circle.
I don’t care whether people wear funny clothes or talk funny. I won’t hold them up for public ridicule even if I do have a private giggle.
Let them be what they will and you can be what you want.
Who are we to judge others anyway? Who gives us the right to decide who is common and who isn’t?
Who says we can decide who is shy or who is a freak; who is eccentric and who is weird?
I know it shouldn’t piss me off so much but it does.
If you’re a snob, please stay out of my way.
Manto vs Nozizwe
No points for guessing who I’m ro(u)oting for in this little saga.
Why women?
Dilemma: is it a good thing to have awards for women?
This is something I struggle with. After attending the Shoprite/Checkers/SABC2 Women of the Year awards I once again grappled with this issue.
The women there were amazing and I was completely blown away by what some of them were doing. It really is astonishing what people can do when they put their mind to it.
So on the one hand, yes, it’s a good thing to highlight when women do something well. But on the other hand, do we need to have a special ceremony to praise them?
Would we do the same for men? And if not, does this not mean we still think women should be given an extra push to do well or be noticed?
Are we not still regarding women as second-class citizens if we make special awards and public holidays for them? Why the special status if are supposedly equal to men?
I’m not dumb enough to think that women have broken all barriers. Really, I know we still have a very long way to go.
But have we not gone far enough to now start levelling the playing fields? We’re not as hapless as we were 70 or so years ago, surely?
By this, I exclude all the downtrodden, poor, abused women in our world. And this is fine because no amount of special awards or public holidays is going to help them anyway.
Tick tock
I’m sorry I haven’t written much in the past two days. Like with Mrs M, things have been a bit rough on this side.
It must be something in the weather – suddenly there’s no time in the day for anything and chaos seems to be the only thing you know and understand.
But don’t fret, I will be back and kicking as soon as I’ve removed these lead shoes. Have a great weekend.
SMSed out of a job
Now here’s something I didn’t think I’d ever read. Imagine being fired for sending a few thousand smses…
If you bought it, you’re a criminal too
If Robert McBride had half a braincell he’d send his men out to write those tickets when it’s raining. Because it’s in the rain that you can best see who should not be on the road.
Aside from not knowing how to stay in a lane, not knowing that you should treat a broken robot as a four-way stop and not knowing how to brake on a wet road, people simply go into panic mode at the sight of a few drops.
My theory is this: in the rain you can see who bought their driver’s licences and who got it legally.
I have absolutely no sympathy for anyone who bought their licence. I don’t care if you struggled; I don’t care if it takes long; I don’t care if everyone else does it.
If you bought yours, you’re as much a criminal as the rest of the villains in our society. If a 40-something woman can go back after failing five times, so can you. My mom can honestly say she did it the hard way, but the right way.
I’d be willing to bet that many of those who complain about crime have bought their licence. But you can’t really point fingers if you’ve done something illegal too, now can you?
Yes, hang your head in shame – you’re a criminal too if you’ve done it.
Just because it’s not violent doesn’t mean it’s any less dangerous.
The Eye is not bigger than the tummy
There is nothing better than a great steak (unless you’re vegetarian, in which case there is nothing worse than a great steak).
The best I’ve had so far is at Nelson’s Eye in Cape Town. If you ever want to indulge in a delicious chunk of red meat, head that way.
Even my food-fussy friend, Gen, gave her seal of approval (no seriously, she’s even more fussy than I am!) so I take that as a sure sign that they are really good and it’s not just me who thinks so.
The atmosphere is unpretentious, the décor is not as impressive as the food (something they pride themselves on) and the service is great. It can get a bit rowdy but that adds to the vibe most of the time.
If you like refined sophistication, this isn’t the place to go.
But if you’re after good food, this is a great place to go for a special celebration (they’re a bit pricey so it’s not the kind of place you go every week).
When’s my birthday now again?
Rating: 8 out of 10
Good news, bad news
Here’s an example of what I was speaking about in my previous post.
The Sunday Times had a pic of President Mbeki and Helen Zille smiling and almost embracing. Their story told of how the prez stuck up for the Democratic Alliance leader after she was boo’ed at some imbizo thing.
Rapport also ran a story about that imbizo but showed the two leaders, stony faced, with a piece about him running for third or fourth term. They looked annoyed, irritated with each other and very much “unreconciliatory”.
Based on the pictures alone you see two very different representations of the same event. The ST piece at least made me feel a bit hopeful and made me want to read the article. The Rapport piece made me feel more weary and despondent and I wanted to turn the page.
Why did their angles differ so much? And how many times has it happened before? But more importantly, how many times will it happen again?
TOBBHERHANK 