Apartheid was bad

Okay let's just gloss over yesterday. It was poor on many counts and decidedly boring. Exciting points were that I got my phone working and we lost Kim's in a mall, then regained it (only after Sarah's histerical "why have you got my friend's phone!" phone conversation with the guy who found it in the burger joint". We got stuck in crap traffic for over an hour in the rain and then we had pizza. And we didn't find the blasted IT shop so our laptop is still not connecting to tinternet. This is Sarah's - cheers Sarah.

The key thing is that we still have no car, but we are working on it. You need one in South Africa.

TODAY we went out and did stuff, for shizzle. And it was a top, top day. First Soweto and then the Apartheid Museum, abley guided by Sifiso (which I have undoubtedly spelt wrong). He was awesome, driving us about in a wee old red VW Golf.

Soweto was not as bad as I thought it would be. No, I do not want to move there, but I was not as afraid for my life as the media would have me. We didn't get shot once. There was a range of expensive houses down to the wee corrigated iron huts that you see on telly. Not a rabble hoard in sight. Winnie Mandela's house is not very nice, Nelson's is better. Tutu's is silver and shiny, but he doesn't live there any more because some scumbag broke in and stole his Nobel Prize. You would, I do not need to tell you, have to be a complete a-hole to do that. Tutu is hilarious and very adept at taking the piss out of Mandela's crap taste in shirts. He came out and said that Afrikaaners have a place in SA. Not really controversial, but being used for ping pong by the papers and radio pundits.

Sifiso had really interesting chat about the place and merry banter to go with it. And, crucially, he didn't force us to go to all of the tourist stalls around the various sights we stopped at. He reckons Zuma is a 'good man', so we'll see how that goes.

The Apartheid Museum was really, really good. two and a half hours was not enough though. So much to take in there, with a nice mix of video, audio, photo and some hangman's nooses on the ceiling in case you missed the point. Actually the most interesting bit for me was video of white apartheid politicians justifying it (it is really 'just like being neighbourly', apparently) and ANC politicians condemning it (some of the most measured and articulate interviews I have seen, especially in the face of mental adversity). The tour ends with you coming out into a garden, which is a really nice touch as by then you are pretty messed up. I did that thing were I feel funny inside but I do not cry because I am emotionally disabled. Then I compared it with other hilarious destinations I have been like the killing fields and the S-21 prison in Cambodia and the Hiroshima Museum. All were so well thought out. There is also something really compelling about utter bastardliness. And a dose of overcomingness certainly helps.

But anyway, the really interesting part was when we left and got on the N1. Congestion like that at 4pm is a disgrace, and not a gantry in sight. They need our help, they need to open their hard shoulders. That was for my old work colleagues. DfT fo ev a.