So where did I go wrong?

Last Saturday I went to 3 birthday parties, (no I am not that popular) I helped Keith to deliver 3 x jumping castles. 2 of them where up in Lovemore heights (just 1 of the Larney areas in PE). What an eye opener and hence the title of this Blog. I am 47 years old, have worked bloody hard ( I still am) all of my life and while I have a home , car etc I have nowhere near what other people my age living in these areas have, So where did I go wrong? Did I take the wrong career path, have I got no head for business, Did I not have a wealthy dad, I am obviously not dark enough to take advantage of the BEE??. Some of you may be saying don’t be like that, be grateful for what you have (I am) but you have to wonder where (if your like me) we went wrong.

Clarens was full of wealthy people but in PE it seems that every second mommy is driving an upmarket SUV or sports car, so if they are driving that what is daddy driving? What type of job does he have to support a 4 million rand house, 2 cars, a boat, motorbike, jet ski’s, 3 kids in private schools etc etc ? Perhaps he owns his own business, perhaps he is a top accountant or even in the IT field, but surely PE can only have so many of those before saturation point takes hold?? As I have mentioned I am 47 years old, I have a job as a trainee (trainer/consultant) for a Health and Safety company (Please don’t get me wrong I really enjoy this job and have decided to change career paths, but still it wont bring me in millions when I am fully trained and at a decent level of competence) I live in a house that I consider to be nice, but to me cost a fortune and is probably worth one of the luxury upmarket Moms taxis. I suppose the saying “who said life was fair” comes to mind.

Some of you may remember the Taxi Boss neighbour that got shot dead, here is the newspaper article.

2 gun down controversial taxi boss in tavern

A controversial taxi boss of New Brighton near Port Elizabeth was shot dead in a tavern. The police’s Brigadier Marinda Mills said Melikeli Hani (47), was in the Sevens Tavern in Nibe Street, New Brighton, around 11pm last night when two armed men walked into the place. They approached Hani from different sides and both opened fire, hitting him several times. Hani was killed instantly. Mills said after the shooting, the two men left the tavern, but one of them was accidentally wounded during the shooting. His partner helped him to exit the tavern, but just outside the door he shot the wounded man in the head, killing him. He left the body at the premises while he escaped. Mills said it was not clear why he had shot his fellow assailant. Six other people were injured in the shooting and were taken to the Livingstone hospital for treatment. Mills did not have information about the severity of their injuries.

Police recovered two .38 revolvers at the scene. One has already been linked to a robbery in Cape Town. The other’s serial number was filed off and police were still trying to find out if it had previously been used to commit a crime. Twenty-one spent 9mm cartridges were also found at the scene. Mills said Hani was the chairman of the Border Alliance Taxi Association (BATA) and was on the forefront of taxi strikes against the Bus Rapid Transit system.

Police were investigating several cases against him, including one of attempted murder. He had previously been accused of murder but the case was withdrawn due to a lack of evidence. Mills said the police’s specialised investigation unit, the Hawks, was investigating Hani’s murder.Police were also monitoring the situation in the New Brighton area.

It was good to see so many of his P.D friends arriving with BMWX6’s top of the range Audi’s etc etc. Obviously they got on the BEE bandwagon. We woke up on Saturday morning with two stretch Limo’s one for the body the other for the family parked in the road outside our house as well as more traffic cops than I have seen in 4 months living in PE, not to mention the 300+ card carrying members of the SACP (South African Communist Party) yes our taxi boss was a communist…………….A rich communist but a communist nevertheless. Taking to a few of the mourners I learnt that this MR Hani was brother to Chris Hani shot in April 1993 by Clive Derby Lewis and a Polish dude who’s name eludes me at the moment A Huge “wake’ was held on Saturday for Mr Hani with local as well as national dignitaries attending and more freeloaders than you could throw karl Marx at. A open piece of ground at the bottom of our street had a huge marquee erected, caterers where hired and they really had a good send off for Mr Hani. “Only in Africa”…..thats why I love it here, every day is an adventure and a new learning experience. Tania made a comment that i bet he did not have a R50 00 a month funeral policy!!

I think that the PE traffic department must have hired more staff because in the last week there has been a sudden increase in the amount of traffic cop cars, roadblocks ect on the roads

Tania had crafty stuff information in the latest Essentials magazine (pages 111 and 112) I am so proud of her. Well done Tania.

Took a photo of this Trike at the local beachfront, has a V8 engine and is a Clutch plates delight.

Have you seen the new Wimpy advert on TV? If not look for it as it is BRILLIANT whoever came up with it is a genius. Also talking about adverts try this link for an Advert The village idiot and brother in law are in , using for PE advertising as well as in a TV advert for the World Cup (see stadium scene near end and look in middle for me and Ryan) Here's the link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lX1AWtOKPtc

19 days and counting for the World Cup, PE is starting to get the “Gees”, Flags and banners going up, more and more flags on buildings and cars, people wearing football shirts on Fridays, dropped gabby at a movie on Friday night and the restaurants full of people wearing BAFANA BAFANA or South African shirts (Looks great).

I see some genius from BP has stated that catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico is not that bad (Tell that to the marine life and the people who depend on the water for their livelihood asshole) seems that up to 50 000 barrels of oil have been pumped into the sea daily since 22nd April. Oil has now hit the Louisiana coastline. The well was capped 2 days ago but aready they say that this spill is equal to 3 x Exxon Valdez. For those that don’t remember that in 1989 a oil tanker ran aground and dumped 250 000 barrels of oil polluting 2100 square kms of beaches and 28 000 square kms of ocean (was classed then as the biggest human made natural disaster) So well Done BP you no hold the record. DUE TO BP’s LACK OF CONCERN FOR ITS WORKERS (11 died when the rig blew up and sank) AND THE ENVIRONMENT. I FOR ONE WILL NOT BE BUYING ANY BP PRODUCTS. I KNOW I WONT MAKE A DENT IN THEIR 25 BILLION DOLLAR PROFITS BUT I WILL FEEL BETTER.

Sports roundup for this week is

The Proteas beat west Indies in 2 20/20 over games (why could they not do it in the recent T20 tournament)
The Proteas beat West Indies in the first of 5 50/50 games
Bulls beat Crusaders
Stormers beat Waratahs

Next Saturday will be an awesome day for SA, two teams, North vs South and in Soweto, its going to be a massive game, sure the Clarens Rugby supporters club will be out in full force at Friends, wish I could be there to join in the fun.

I was wondering is it bit early for Iceland volcano jokes? Should we wait a while for the dust to settle.

I will leave you with this “success does not come to you, you go to it”

Ciao

The Village Idiot