FREEDOM
Last night I had dinner among the Dutch, Norwegian, Iranian-German, Belgian, Austrian and Greek among us.
I had an interesting chat with the Iranian fella who now lives in Germany - and his views on whether or not Iran needed liberating opened my eyes.
He said that no matter what the reason for invasion (money/oil or liberation) - we all deserve to be free.
Lekker. I'll vote for that.
"AXIS OF EVIL"
What is it with the US/Bush and his "Axis of Evil"? Why doesn't he just say "Countries we intend to invade/attack"?
It appears that Bush has used this phrase before: See this article on the BBC Website.
I'm currently in Hungary on a course that is being attended by those from the CIS ("Commonwealth Independent States" i.e. Russia.) , Latvia (Independent from the aforementioned Independent States), Greece, Hungary, Netherlands, Belgium, UK, Norway, Denmark (who apparently used to rule Norway), Lebanon, and an Iranian German. We don't all see eye to eye - but to suggest that any other nation is "evil" because they are not like us, is absurd!
Yes - the countries listed as the "axis of evil" by the US may not be labelled as "democracies" - but does this give the US the right to claim supremacy over them?
Answers on the back of a postcard please.
I'm only annoyed because the country of my birth Zimbabwe, is listed. Zimbabwe is not in a good way - but will a US invasion really set political partries like the MDC free?
Lekker is dit nie.
CHIP AND PIN AT LAST - MARVELLOUS!
Is it just me?
Am I the only one who suffers from perfomance anxiety, and loses the plot half way through signing for something with a debit/credit card? I start off ok..
A.
K.
Whoooooah I've forgotten what I'm doing
brain malfunctioning
keep calm
keep caaaaaaalm
No? Just me then.
Well - all hail the chip and pin - the "new" technology that was prevalent in Australia zillions of years ago. (Australians all let us rejoice..) And No. It probably hasn't quite made it to Saaarth Ifrika yet.
No more dodgy scribblings of my own signature!
Lekker.
And while we're at it - why don't we just accept that the National ID card is on it's way. (Now that's something the South African's DO know about. Gee vir my jou passboek, boetie.)
Crazy world.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
I remember one New Year's party in South Africa once where I met some Zulus living in the foothills of Pinetown. (Does Pinetown have foothills?!) who said they were looking forward to daybreak, because they all celebrated their birthdays on new years day. This wasn't because it was the day that everyone in the village was born - but rather, I was told, Zulu tradition, and that very few of them knew their actual birthdays.
Another Zulu tradition on New Year's Day was to all go down to Durban beachfront and take a dip in the sea to "cleanse" their spirits for the year ahead. A yearly baptism if you like.
I really like the sound of that - but figured a dip off of any part of the British coastline at this time of year would be madness (although I know people do it.)
To purge myself of all demons, and to cleanse myself for the year ahead, I went Ice Skating in Queen's Square on New Year's Day. It didn't have quite the same spiritual effect as a baptism in the Indian Ocean - but was a lovely start to the year.
Then we went and sat in the rain to watch Bath Rugby lose to Saracens.
Oy vey.
Wishing you all a lekker 2005.
