Can't quite imagine who in their right minds would want to walk, or slither and slide, along a dark wintery country road in Britain? They're always either wet or icy and full of pot holes. Perhaps though, a sensible precaution if you're too drunk to drive. Down here you still can drive drunk. The place is over populated anyway and you can see off the cops with a few buffaloes. But then if I lived in Britain I'd need to be inebriated. What else would there be to spend my benefit hand outs on apart from cigars? As for things going well in that part of Europe, it's a bit like mediocrity and the parable of the burnt matches. It's not as bad as those inside the country think it could be looking at their Greek cousins but the deterioration and corruption on the inside is noticeable to those on the outside looking in.
Anyway back to the topic and away from an insignificant little socialist island to the powerhouse of Africa and its quasi benevolent dictatorship.
South Africa thinks it should have and can afford a national airline. It's the privilege of rich nations to be able to waste their money how they will. Those nations who cannot even afford a train set should just be thankful that SAA, in being as dreadful as it is from a passenger point of view, might encourage people to desert to travel on other carriers such as BA and Virgin, ghastly and strike prone as they might be, thus enriching the coffers of those whose Olympic ideas of grandeur are on the point of discovering disaster.