Tag: South Africa

In two weeks’ time South Africa is having our national elections…

…and initially that was all I was going to say about that. I don’t want to sully this blog with local politics, which can really take anything good and utterly corrupt it (but I suppose that’s true of local politics everywhere, isn’t it?)

But last week there was a new development that piqued my interest. Someone said something that got me thinking about the meaning of words, and George Orwell, and the abuse of language to manipulate people. And my hammer started vibrating (and if you know anything about hammer-lore you’ll know that means it’s time to whack something).

What was said that awakened the urge in me to apply some percussive maintenance? Someone accused a group of people trying to bring about change of being counter-revolutionary. Continue reading “In two weeks’ time South Africa is having our national elections…” →

On speaking English only in self-defence

No, I haven’t gone missing. I’m holding a camp for the school’s student leaders this weekend, so I’ve been too busy with preparations to think of any nonsense to write down here.

But I don’t want to neglect you wonderful readers, so I thought I’d share something with you I wrote a while ago. At one point last year I discovered Quora.com. In case you’ve never heard about it before, it’s a website where people can ask questions and other people can answer them. It’s also a quite nice community, though I don’t follow specific people over there, nor do I care whether they follow me. It’s just very interesting, and at times highly entertaining, to read people’s answers to the questions.

I also try answering questions from time to time, and I want to share one of my answers with you. The question was: “What does it mean when an Afrikaaner (sic) says, “I speak English only for self-defense?” Continue reading “On speaking English only in self-defence” →

On blogging the flood – the aftermath

When I left you yesterday we were still expecting some more water. It never came. In fact, by sunset the river was well on its way to being back where it’s supposed to be.

Muddy flooded road — Though it left behind plenty of mud.

Actually, the river’s drainage is quite effective and the moment new water stops coming in from upstream it quickly reverts to its normal level. The exception was in 1988 when some trees got caught underneath the bridge by the weir and formed a dam. That time the river rose until it covered the surface of the bridge visible in the background on this photo.

Speaking of the weir, yesterday morning it looked like this: Continue reading “On blogging the flood – the aftermath” →

KokkieH Reviews Spud – Exit, Pursued by a Bear by John van de Ruit

Spud - Exit, Pursued by a Bear cover — Publisher: penguinbooks.co.za

Spud – Exit, Pursued by a Bear is the fourth and final installment in John van de Ruit’s highly successful (at least in South Africa) Spud-series chronicling the adventures of one self-conscious teenager as he navigates the perils of boarding school.

For those of you unfamiliar with the series, John “Spud” Milton is a South African boy from a middle class family in the suburbs of Pietermaritzburg. He wins a scholarship to attend Michaelhouse, a prestige boarding school left over from the days of British colonialism. Spud differs from the other boys in the school as his parents aren’t wealthy (or classy) and when the first novel starts he also hasn’t yet hit puberty. And he keeps a journal. In fact, that’s what we get to read, as the novels are written in the style of Spud’s personal journal, one novel for each year in the school. Continue reading “KokkieH Reviews Spud – Exit, Pursued by a Bear by John van de Ruit” →

Rest in Peace, Tata Madiba

By now you’ve probably heard the news that Nelson Mandela has died at 95 years of age. I’m sure many will write tributes in the days to come. I’ve already seen a few, with at least one turning it into a soapbox to criticise our current government and others rushing to point out that Mr Mandela had been a terrorist in his early life, thus hardly deserving of our tribute and respect. This saddens me, for though he was far from perfect, he was still a great man in the way that very few men in history have been. Continue reading “Rest in Peace, Tata Madiba” →