Left a good job in the city

For anybody who cares about these things, you may have noticed a long break over the weekend. That’s because Sunday was Human Rights Day in South Africa – it’s the anniversary of the Sharpeville massacre in 1969. 69 people were killed and 180 injured when presenting themselves for arrest in what started out as a peaceful demonstration against the apartheid pass laws. These laws required any black person to carry a pass if they were in a white area. The pass would show the details of the job that they were going to or from, and for which they needed to intrude upon the white suburbs. Surprisingly enough, lots of people objected to this, hence the demonstration. And the holiday. Great thing about living in a country with such an interesting recent history: loads of public holidays. South Africa has 13 I think, plus an extra one this year for the election. ALso 11 official languages, but that's another story.

Anyway, the highlights of this weekend were sporting: England’s cricket win in the Windies, and beating the Welsh at Twickenham. The former is out of synch with my time zone, not to mention not being on telly over here. The latter I watched at a bar in Hout Bay which obviously isn’t used to the pressure: the pub was about half full when they ran out of glasses.
“Pint of Windhoek draft please.”
“Would you like a bottle with that, sir?”