bridge

hi there

i do, look you see, retain an interest in all the places on the planet which were once home. this has always struck me as being somewhat a natural thing to do. it is, at the least, not something which has ever struck me as peculiar. i am still, for instance, rather curious as to why our family home in Slacks Creek (the one in Australia) is now nothing more than a lawn or patch of grass, but i've not yet found out what exactly happened there.

to the extent of the spirit of the above, if not the specifics, i was somewhat horrified yesterday. then, when my brother sent me word of an incident on Grayston Drive; the busiest intersection on what is widely regarded as the busiest highway one would find in Africa. a new bridge which was being built collapsed, killing at least two so far and injuring many, many more.

i believe (hope) that these are pictures he pulled from the net, although he tells me that we was more or less "an hour" away from being involved in this. obviously, i am relieved to learn that he was not, and indeed as far as my (considerably) better half and i can work out no one we know was involved. which is a relief, but does not detract from the suffering of others.

in the midst of trying to get to those injured in order to save lives, there has been the usual accusations as to what caused this. many have jumped to the conclusion that untrained and unsuited staff probably built the thing, whilst others have suggested that perhaps people have been stealing parts of the metal of it which were important to the structural integrity. whereas, wisely, a mother of one of the victims has pleaded with people to not start pointing fingers, the sad reality of South Africa is that one of those accusations is quite likely to be if not correct then very close to the truth.

whatever hopes, dreams and ideals were in place for the brave new South Africa, one that was to be free and fair, the reality is that the rulers and leaders are rotten to the core, with corruption outstripping responsibility at a rate which would make FIFA blush.

oh i quite agree, dear reader - for a man who loves the money and wealth as much as he does, it is quite baffling to see him wrestle with numbers so.

this morning i noted, depressingly, that the usual gobsh!tes had come out of the compost in regards of this terrible incident (the bridge, not the election of just about the most incompetent person you could think of to the highest office possible). across the internet - and no doubt all over radio phone ins, self designated "experts" were saying "ja, when i went past the bridge i saw it was wobbling and i just knew that something like this would happen". what a great pity that these twats didn't take a moment out of being so knowledgeable and patronizing to phone someone to alert them of the problems, rather than just waiting for it to happen so they could tell anyone prepared to listen that, in their minds, they told you so.

i once brought this intersection to a standstill, by the way. it would have been around Sept 6, 7 or 8 2001; a Friday afternoon. my beloved car, the original fanny magnet, kind of sort of blew up on the flyover.

this bridge collapse happened on Wednesday, and a team worked through the night to get the highway open again on Thursday afternoon. it was ready to be used for quite a while before it was opened again, but a delay was imposed. for safety and security checks? no, not quite.

a decision was taken to delay the re-opening of the highway, something which would relieve the no doubt incredible and almost unbearable congestion being experienced, by over an hour so that the Mayor could come along and officially re-open it. yes, reader, i will leave that there for a moment for you to consider before i write some really angry stuff.

welcome to the world of African political leadership. if an event is newsworthy and will secure an appearance in the press or television, an African politician will be all over it like sh!t in a toilet at a celebrated curry house. what the f*** were they playing at? it's not like closures on roads due to death and disaster are all that rare in Johannesburg, but i am not aware of the Mayor coming along to re-open roads once those scenes are cleared away.

is it, i wonder, that the Mayor is that thick that he thought it was an official opening ceremony for some completed roadworks, or is he just so callous and uncaring for the city he theoretically represents and serves that just not one single f*** was given about how much further delays and inconvenience he caused, so long as his excellency was further celebrated?

may those affected by this find peace. may those responsible pay. may no one, but no one, forget that an elected official thought that the above was a brilliant photo opportunity.


with the exception of certain dickhead elected officials,

be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!