Skills are not relative

Driving a physically larger motor vehicle or driving a very expensive car does not automatically make one a better, or more superior driver. You 'should' be a better driver, as the higher-end cars come with all the mod cons and luxuries these days.

Lights and wipers that switch on automatically. Sensors to help you park. Headlights that light round bends. Hoods that disappear in seconds at the touch of a button. With all that automation, you'd think that luxury car drivers would have more time to think about using the indicator, wouldn't you?

The lady driver thing

I did comment about this not too long ago, but while happily adhering to the speed limit on my way home, I couldn't help but notice that all the speeding and aggressive driving was done by.... women! Especially those in the ecosystem killing 4X4's.

So much for them being the more careful driver, worthy of less crippling insurance premiums. Men, free your females today. Put their car insurance in their name and watch our premiums come down drastically!

Jack(ie), the parrot

Jack is a three month old African Grey parrot now residing with the in-laws. The bird hasn't been sexed yet but my guess it's a he. Failing that, should he in fact turn out to be a she - the name becomes Jackie! Simple.

Welcome Jack(ie)! May you have many fun filled, messy fruit and seed filled years ahead!

A long way from Europe

Cape Town is at the tip of Africa. The bottom most tip of Africa. The furthest from Europe you can get on our continent. This is why it is surprising to see cars with South African registrations but EU style number plate flags. Your car's number plates are either South African, or not. Weird. If you miss Europe that much, carry a photo of the Matterhorn in your wallet or handbag, or go back once a year for a holiday.

Much like the few cars spotted in the UK with South African flags on.

Statistics

We have a car insurance company that excludes men from it's policies. Allegedly, females make for better and safer drivers. Yet, my humble eyes on the road see mostly accidents as a result of female driving. Perhaps male drivers cause more costly accidents but the vast majority seem to be caused by women. So why the special policies?

Perhaps when looking at accident stats it only seems that men cause more accidents as many women could have their car insurance paid for by and in the husband's name. Statistics and lies.

How the wheel goes round

You would have to have been living in the dark ages to not know that there was a big hoo-ha in South Africa regarding race. Whites oppressing everyone else etc etc. Then, then country gets democracy, a majority government is democratically voted in.

They then take turns to redress the injustices of the past by passing laws to ensure this a) never happens again and b) that favour is given to some above others (fine, we all have guilt and will let that one go for a few years).

Then, things appear in the media. A society for certain race groups. Politicians say derogatory things about certain race groups. Politicians and people say they wish certain race groups would basically move to another country.

Sound familiar South Africans, Germans, British, Americans, Australians - anyone?

Yes. The world's youngest and funkiest democracy is teetering on the edge of the slippery slope of all the 'isms' you could wish for. Let's just hope the framework put in place to protect our fragile democracy holds tighter water than the political system.

Is our number up?

Today is yet another of those, 'on the third stroke of the fouth minute of the fifth hour' days. The emails have been fast and furious about it. No doubt Google's search servers have been straining with requests.

666

I was somewhat surprised to actually wake up today seeing as the day had already started somewhere else and today is aparently the end of the world - so to those who are reading this after I write - I know the confusion you must be feeling!

The ladies in the office will no doubt be somewhat miffed that those email predictions didn't happen but hey, next year will be the seventh second of the seventh minute of the seventh hour....

Poor performance

My blogging of late, has been pathetic. Really pathetic. From a pretty good average of a post a day to a miserly once a fortnight. The truth is, having just taken on three real estate franchises, my plate has been a little on the full side. All this and making this venture (with my partners) a new career (and a massive learning curve). My car wakes the early bird!

Apologies to anyone who cares. Happy surfing to anyone who doesn't :-)

IE, the new Firefox?

I'm not a Microsoft fan, but even when you drive a Ferrari, sometimes it's interesting to have a look at what Kia are doing, just for interest sake.

So, having used Firefox, Opera, Mozilla, Safari and Konqueror for years it was no revelation to see that IE 7 has finally caught up with the rest of the pack. Tabbed browsing? Security features? Pages that render properly? Yawn. Show us something new and interesting Microsoft. Using IE is like catching your food by clubbing it with a stick.

Oh but then, don't they squash, bully and assimilate the competiton rather than innovate and write good, stable code? Lets see how similar to Linux and OS X the imminet Microsoft ShortHaul (Viiiiisssssttttaaaaa) happens to be, shall we?