English

Hello 

Create Profile

Creating your profile will enable you to submit photos and stories to get published on News24.


Please provide a username for your profile page:

This username must be unique, cannot be edited and will be used in the URL to your profile page across the entire 24.com network.

Settings

Location Settings

News24 allows you to edit the display of certain components based on a location. If you wish to personalise the page based on your preferences, please select a location for each component and click "Submit" in order for the changes to take affect.









Facebook Sign-In

Hi News addict,

Join the News24 Community to be involved in breaking the news.

Log in with Facebook to comment and personalise news, weather and listings.

 
 
David Moseley

Meandering in the city

2009-05-12 10:39
line

David Moseley

It's a great pity that our cities (or specifically, our city centres) aren't built for casual strolling.

We have vast, blunt shopping malls, but they leave little to the imagination and offer little joy to the inquisitive ambler. You walk around in numb circles, praying for a swift and merciless end.

Meandering to and from work through the city centre is probably the highlight of my day, though. And depending on what time I leave in the mornings and the evenings the sights change quite dramatically.

Early mornings bring with them lucid and innocent streets that, by evening, are normally honking angrily with traffic or oppressive with belligerent beggar children.

The start of a shaded day down Long Street comes with backpacking tourists poking their heads out of dozy backpacker's, apparently checking for the all clear before sleepily walking to the nearest Spar for a breakfast roll.

Bar cleaners sweep out the debris and slosh from the night before, while an infinitely more polite kind of beggar, before the drug-addled street kids are roused, amiably asks for money for a cigarette.

You notice a fair amount walking the same route day after day. For example, it's clear that Africans (black and white) care little for dustbins. Unwrapping something and dropping the paper or plastic instantly to the ground all occurs in one flowing movement that seems second nature; like blinking or stepping out suddenly into the traffic firmly believing that the human body will win the duel against a speeding Volkswagen.

Looking for changes

After a while, the home-to-work-to-home path becomes ingrained so you start looking around for changes in scenery.

Construction sights slowly start to become buildings (while construction workers test the limits of safety, dangling over building edges to wave at their chums), certain bars and restaurants become more or less popular as the seasons change (though one dingy establishment, aptly named The Crypt, is a perennial favourite and not afraid to serve beer from sunrise to sunrise. The earliest beer I've seen slaking a thirst was at nine am, certainly a more abrasive start to the day than the traditional cornflakes).

For me, the slow stroll is an essential part of slowing life down; it's also an opportunity to feel more connected with the city I live in. You see the people and you talk to the people, you don't simply rush from A to B. And, naturally, it's the easiest way to score cheap drugs.

Walking home in the early evenings, I pass the same three stooges without fail. There's a moth-eaten car guard, an indifferent security guard and a young, well-dressed man. They look a disparate group, but they're always huddling together, seemingly conferring over the day's non-events.

They're always on hand to volunteer their wares with such wide grins and graceful congeniality that I half expect them to be selling Tupperware and not "the strongest chronic", "the smoothest Malawian" or "some coke that will make you buzz all night".

A comic moment

Last night there was a comic moment thrown in for good measure, c'est la vie on the side streets of Cape Town. The well-dressed gent, as always, listed what he had in stock as I walked past unhurriedly.

At the same time he boldly handed me a leaflet that read "Education Loans: provide for children's education." I looked up. "Loans or weed," I asked, "which is it?"

He just smiled a kind of bashful smile, as if to say "yeah. I know. Peddling narcotics and student loans isn't exactly what I had imagined either."

I'm not sure the authorised financial provider printing the pamphlets would see the funny side.

But at the man distributing their promises of "funding for education" clearly has a keen sense irony. And at least he's offering a choice.

Send your comments to David.

Disclaimer: News24 encourages freedom of speech and the expression of diverse views. The views of columnists published on News24 are therefore their own and do not necessarily represent the views of News24.

- News24

Read News24’s Comments Policy

Comment on this story
27 comments
Comments have been closed for this article.

inside news24

 

Latest comment in Columnists

Meshack Letswalo says... Dear Ferial Since you took over editorship of City Press, the newspaper has simply become an English version of Die Beeld. Just publish it in Afrikaans. Read the article...

 
Traffic
Lottery
 
  • Wednesday Ladysmith - 22:09 PM
    Road name: N11 Both Ways
    ROADWORK - two sets of stop / go controls just south of the R68 Dundee exit - expect waiting times of up to 20 minutes between Ladysmith and Newcastle (ends March 2013)
  • Saturday Pretoria - 08:07 AM
    Road name: N1 Both Ways
    ROADWORKS - lane closures on both carriageways for long term roadworks between the N4 Witbank Highway Interchange and the Zambesi Drive exit - EXPECT DELAYS (until Jan 2013)
 
More traffic reports...
 

Jobs [change area]

Cars[change area]

CHEVROLET

Utility 1.4 Base MY12 PU
2012
R 110,995.00

VOLKSWAGEN

Caddy 1.9 TDi Life MPV Dsl
2006
R 153,995.00

VOLKSWAGEN

CitiGolf 1.4i 5-dr MY04
2007
R 72,995.00

Property [change area]

Vulintaba Country Estate, Upper Drakensberg

A lifestyle estate beyond compare. Home Package Options From R990 000

Travel - Look, Book, Go!

Casa Rex, Vilanculos

Spend 5 nights in at the magical Mozambican resort of Casa Rex from R7983 per person sharing. Includes accommodation, return flights, taxes and transfers. Book now!

Kalahari.com - shop online today

Legos

Let your child construct his own fun with only his imagination limiting his creations. Buy now.

iPad

Update the way you socialize, work and play with the latest iPad models. Buy now.

Max Payne 3

Seeking Redemption from the past, Max hopes to enter his last fight and finally put his demons to rest. Buy now.

Sins of the Father

Foul play in New York City sets the tone. Boundaries pushed, Loyalties tested and secrets unravelled in Jeffrey Archer’s, Sins of the Father. Buy now.

Nikon Camera Range

Capture and preserve your life’s precious memories with the Nikon Camera Range. Buy now.

OLX Free Classifieds [change area]

pool table

For Sale, Toys - Games - Hobbies in South Africa, Gauteng, Johannesburg. Date May 6

Lexus: IS

Vehicles, Cars in South Africa, Gauteng, Johannesburg. Date May 7

stylish bachelor furnished in sandton from 1st of june

Real Estate, Houses - Apartments for Rent in South Africa, Gauteng, Johannesburg. Date May 7

The Hunger Games Trilogy Box Set

Only R299.95

Teenage Anguish, Poverty and the constant fight for survival. The Hunger Games Trilogy is a futuristic thrill ride, that’s gripped audiences’ worldwide. Buy now.

Visit www.kalahari.com for millions of books, music, DVDs, games & more!

Nokia N9

The Nokia N9 has a beautiful one-piece, unibody design where...

From R3698.59

I'm shopping for:

Horoscopes
Aquarius
Aquarius

You’re on a creative high today so hopefully you’re utilising this ability to the best of your ability. By simply allowing...read more

There are new stories on the homepage. Click here to see them.