I could imagined the kids in the back of a passing car... "I spy with my little eye, something beginning with M ?"
Originally Posted by Snapshot
To be fair, if you have travelled on SA's road system, compared to other things you see sharing the tarmac, it isn't such a strange sight!
When I visited SA many years ago. We were driving in the middle of nowhere. Then all of a sudden we passed a guy walking along the side of the road. I still wonder to this day where could he have came from and where was he going? We were miles from anywhere.
I also remember guys selling coat hangers at the side of the road. Nobody stopped at red lights (or robots as they're called) though. I saw two V8 pick-up trucks with cranes on the back race from the lights, my SA friend said all the recovery trucks get the call for a car broken down and the trucks race to get there, winner gets the custom.
One day it was so hot, at a traffic light, I saw a car tyre valve blew off.
You could not leave a car park unless you showed the car keys to the security guy so he knew you did not hotwire the car. One shopping mall in Cape Town had a armoured personnel carrier gate guardian. While one shopping mall outside jo'berg would have an open air cinema in it's carpark, you tuned your car radio to hear the film and cook a bbq on the tailgate.
I remember a car with a green flashing light on its roof driving around the housing complex, I asked my SA friend what it was and he replied it was armed civvy contractors who you pay to patrol the housing estate. A large detached house with an outdoor pool, big garage, electric sliding gate, was £20,000.
If you could live there earning UK wages, Cape Town is a nice place. I never saw any crime but then I used a bit of common sense about where to go and when.