My business meeting in Sweden was in a town called Norrköping, about 150 Km south of Stockholm. The train ride was through a very picturesque country-side - very much picture perfect of forest and rivers. After the meeting, I was given a short tour of the area, and one very striking thing was the almost complete lack of fences between properties. Coming from South Africa, it is a very weird sight indeed!
It has been a strange week so far, weather-wise. Darmstadt and Frankfurt was cold - with almost no difference to the temperatures in SA. Berlin was warmer, but misty, overcast and mostly not too much fun (today at least, yesterday was not too bad). But finally in Stockholm, there is glorious sunshine and no forecast of rain for the foreseeable future. And it is in the mid 20s!
The SAS flight from Berlin was interesting - and unfortunately did not feature any hot blond hostesses :( The plane had three classes: business class which was basically the first two rows on the plane, economy seats and some legroom; economy plus (where I was) and economy. It was only when we got on air, that the differences became clear - business got food and drinks on nice cutlery; economy plus got food and drinks in the standard plastic/polystyrene packaging and economy had to pay for their food and drinks! It's the first time I have seen this kind of distinction on a plane - and in many respects it makes sense. I wonder who else will copy them ...
While flipping channels, saw this awesome World Cup ad. It starts with a young boy juggling an imaginary football, and slowly getting a lot more people juggling footballs, with a great tag "Rhythm like you you've never seen before".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMlKb1npzQ0
I have seen quite a few ads by Tourism South Africa, and they are generally very impressive, and many of them are available on YouTube. What is interesting however is the comments that are usually attached - especially the highly negative ones along the lines of South Africa is a den of evil and everyone who goes will step into a warzone to the defensive.
Many of the comments are by ex-South Africans (or from neighbouring countries) such as one I have seen calling himself "ex-Rhodie-racer". In those terms, the labelling of comments as racist is justified - but the fact is, many of the comments have some seeds of truth. After all, there are not that many places in the world where people live behind electric fences - although in other parts of the world, security guards for complexes wield machine guns ... so not exactly too different.
Ultimately, the success of the world cup will depend on visitor's overcoming the negative imagery of South Africa's security. Transport problems - people at some level expect them. I have been to sporting events outside South Africa, where it took hours to get to the gate because of traffic ... and I started at dawn; or where people had to queue for the next train or the one after that, because there was no space. And stories of players and supporters getting robbed (even if the players might be the ones to blame) does not help the image of South Africa's security. But in the same vein, the success of the IPL does give us hope - but how do we combat the negative image?
While queueing for the flight to Frankfurt last night, I met an old friend I had last seen at UCT about 4 years ago. He was on his way to Dusseldorf, and was seated in the row behind me. Furthermore, he actually lives in Centurion, not too far from me (last I heard, he was in a different province altogether)... it's a small world.
I arrived in Darmstadt early in the morning, and the hotel allowed early checkin. I had originally planned to travel to Stuttgart, but the journey times was not attractive (or I had to pay a lot of money for the fast train tickets) - I should have planned better. Instead, I took the opportunity offered by the hotel, and rested :) 10 hour flights on board Lufthansa economy class are quite tiring.
Although it is supposedly summer in Europe, it does not really feel like it. It is in fact only a few degrees warmer than it was in Johannesburg. And there is a slight drizzle - so exploring Darmstadt is not much of an option either. Well, at least Berlin is a lot more promising.
The Vodacom Funny Festival kicked off for the 3rd edition last night, starring a number of highly regarded local comics and two international acts. Of the local acts (3 dedicated acts excluding Marc Lottering himself), Trevor Noah was my personal favourite. I have seen him before at the Blues Room in Sandton, and he has an amazing ability with languages and makes full use of it. Tumi Morake, the opening act, and the only lady, brought a fairly different set of jokes to the stage; while Nik Rabinowitz was very much a comic taking the maximum advantage of Western Cape politics.
Of the international acts, John Lenahan's magic show was certainly very different to standard comic performances - although, as he himself commented, the magic itself is not the focus of the act.
But by far the best act on show, was the crazy Japanese duo called Gamarjobat. Part mime, part slapstick and very clever - they managed to get the audience laughing (in fact it probably ranked as a ROFL and not a LOL :D) without a single spoken word. Their act is theatre and comedy at its very best, and somewhat similar to the comics of the silent screen. They are not playing for the whole festival - only until 1 July, and if nothing else, they are the reason to go attend the festival.
After my first visit to the JPO, 2 weeks ago; I was hooked. Hooked enough to be contemplating a "season" ticket for the next season, starting in August. This time around, it was a Russian evening once again, with a young American pianist Pallavi Mahidhara, as the soloist.
The first short piece was the overture to Glinka's Russlan and Ludmilla Opera followed by Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No 2 in C Minor a very impressive musical piece, and Mahidhara's performance was brilliant, richly deserving the standing ovation at the end. The last piece, Tchaikovsky's Symphony No 4 in F Minor was really a celebration of what an orchestra is all about - a lot of different musical instruments combining with perfect timing. Particularly humourous for me, were the guys standing up to play the triangle and cymbals (after sitting down for about 90% of the piece).
Wonderboom are old hands on the rock scene in South Africa. With numerous hits, and a long time on the South African scene; they are one of the most professional bands - and their gigs show it. They have their own crew, mixing was perfect and guitars and equipment were all set up before the gig. But most of all, the band has chracters and great on stage performance - from the drunk and essentric drummer (Danny), the subdued lead guitarist, Martin to a very energetic bass guitarist, Wade and great vocalist in Cito - they combine well, and give a great show.
Back 2 Basix is a strange venue in many respects - it used to be a house - and so it feels quite intimate. But despite the great band, the crowd was quite small - about 30 to 40 - and not the 100 odd expected (as per the barman). But despite the small crowd, it was a rocking show, and definitely one of the best rock shows I have been to in Jo'burg.
According to the Mail and Guardian, the founder of Auto and General (a South African short term insurance company) has offered the government R1 Billion to fund a new approach to crime fighting.
Essentially his plan is to provide a lot more technology tools - satellites, helicopter patrols, computers etc. While the motivation is certainly noble, as is the business motivation (less crime leads to less theft leading to less payouts for A&G), two questions need to be asked.
1) Is funding the main cause of South Africa's, so far, unsuccessful battle against crime. And,
2) Are high tech solutions such as satelites and CCTV cameras worth it.
On the first question - I don't think money itself is an issue. The South African police need better pay, better training, more motivation, better tools. I somehow doubt R1 billion is what the government has been missing and thus could not implement. That said, every little bit helps.
In terms of high tech solutions, I am reminded of the quote:"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both." --- Benjamin Franklin
that is often brought up in privacy papers (and in Civ 4). There is always a trade-off between security and indiviual liberty. The tighter the security controls, the less individual liberty and vice-versa. It would be good for the police to all have computer systems that can efficiently capture reports (crime, accidents etc) and provide correlation of different crimes in terms of time and location. However, linking police solutions to high end monitoring solutions such as CCTV cameras with facial recognition would start to erode liberty that South Africa struggled to achieve.
Ultimately, the root causes of crime in South Africa, including the lack-lusture justice system need to be addressed. Better policing will help, but not necessary solve the problem.
