We no longer think it odd

We no longer think it odd

We no longer think it odd when someone in the street starts talking loudly to themselves

We no longer think it odd it when someone’s handbag starts vibrating and that person jumps

We no longer think it odd when people in the office shout loudly at the machines for doing the wrong thing

We no longer think it odd when our car tells us which way to go

We no longer think it odd when we can see the photo we just took

We no longer think it odd when a love letter is electronic (remember when love letters were scented?)

We no longer think it odd when we can order anything from anywhere right to our doorstep

We no longer think it odd when a stranger starts to spend the money in our own bank account

We no longer think it odd when leaders say they did not say what they just said (on camera)

We no longer think it odd when our leaders attempt to control oil supply by invading other lands and causing hundreds of thousands to die

So what, now, do we think is odd?

You really know you are living in 2007 when ...

YOU REALLY KNOW YOU ARE LIVING IN 2007 WHEN …

1. you try to change the TV channel using your cell phone keypad;

2. you feel your belt or purse vibrate even when someone else’s phone is ringing;

3. you trust your car GPS route finder more than what you can see through the windscreen;

4. you choose your friends according to the size of their MP3 music collection, and of course whether they are prepared to share them with you;

5. you try to warm up your take-out meal in your hotel room’s electronic safe;

6. you wish you could put one of your relatives in hibernate mode, or yourself in log-off mode;

7. you try and press ‘page down’ when turning the page of the novel you are reading, and are surprised when it does not work;

8. with hundreds of zooty ring tones available, everyone selects the antique telephone one;

9. your laptop picks up twenty wi-fi networks in an airport but none of them is free;

10. you have three mice on your desk and are not sure which machine they link to;

11. you spend more time obeying what your computer and emails tell you to do, than listening to what your manager tells you to do;

12. when there is a power outage there is no option but to go home, and even the home experience is limited;

13. you are really really sick and tired of messages ending my telling you to pass them on to your friends, but you obey anyway…

Ringing the changes

Well, it is 2006 and the war in Iraq continues. Mr Bush has owned up to the unfortunate demise of some 30,000 Iraqis (no profile of the number of women and children within this figure who may be counted as collateral damage) and others have announced that reconstruction projects will be scaled back. I recommend reading Iain Bank's travel/ drinking book "Raw Spirit" which was written when the war began. I don't recommend looking at Pat Robert's website to get his views on the justification for the war. And there seems to be no end in sight.

Slight improvement on the worst toilets in Africa

Well, it's good news. On 6th July there was toilet paper in the Cape Town International Airport (see June 17 below) and the broken toilet had been fixed. The general murkiness still hung heavily in the air which combined nicely with the slippery floors giving the toilets a kind of Mediaeval farmyard ambience. So I think the CTIA can be upgraded in their classification from outright scary to barely acceptable.

Oh yes, I wrote to SAA about this and they say that I should contact ACSA which is the organisation which cares for the airports. I should combine this message with reference to the Johannesburg International airport where the escalators were not working on Wednesday, and the lifts regularly break down. This turns the airport experience into a combination between a high tech gym and a shopping mall where you have to walk the maximum distance in order to reach your destination to make sure that at some point along the way you definitiely need to stop for a health drink, a hamburger and a gucci handbag.

Union Buildings

The worst toilets in southern Africa

Going through Cape Town International airport yesterday I again experienced the worst toilets in the southern part of Africa. Last time I was there I went to the departure lounge toilets. The toilet seat was cracked, the walls were greasy, the doors were covered with graffiti, and this in SA's premier tourist attraction. Yesterday was a similar experience. One toilet was permanently out of order: they had even fixed a long term notice onto the door to the effect that this one was out of bounds. Eventually I got into a cubicle to find no bog roll, cracked ceramic tiles, dented doors, and badly fixed pipes. Well so much for a recently revamped airport.