Driver's licence saga - RESOLUTION

I finally have it!

Having fought with seemingly every government department in Gauteng Province, and beaten my head on just about every bureaucratic wall to be seen – and some even unseen – I have my temporary drivers licence in my grubby little mitt!!!

And to top that, my credit card style drivers licence will be available for collection in the mythical “6 to 8 weeks”.

This little piece of information makes no difference to me being able to drive in South Africa – but it does mean that my car finance has finally been fully completed and that I can now buy the car I have been wanting…

The process has been long and painful and frustrating, but somewhere hidden in the miles of red tape, there is a process to follow… I will give full detail of the requirements and the process, as to be honest, I have not been able to find a decent set of instructions for this myself – so I may as well make one up and share it with everyone.

But that will have to wait for another day.

Right now I am busy dancing on the ceiling, temporary driver licence in hand…

That's just how it is done in Africa

In the UK I got used to a very British way of doing things. Like waiting for a delayed train. When trains didn’t run because there was the “wrong kind of leaves” on the rails, I was amazed at the way people merely accepted this as being somehow normal – and acceptable.

Yet in South Africa we appear to be little different from this almost apathetic response to life.

If you have been reading this blog for a while, you will know that I have been beating my head against a brick wall trying to sort out an appropriate driving licence for myself – just to have a finance deal on a new car approved, not ACTUALLY for anything related to driving said new car. And as this saga develops, and I tell locals of my frustration, I am amazed at the response I keep getting… “Well, this is Africa – and this is how things are done.”

Like Load Shedding… When we turn off the electricity to vast swathes of the country in the middle of the business day because we cannot supply the demand for power in the country – this is Africa, and this is how it is done.

Like taxi’s – I cannot believe the rules (or apparent lack of them) that apply to the taxi industry that allows them to ride down roads on the WRONG side of the street to avoid the tens and dozens of cars that are waiting in patient, if frustrated and irritated, queues for a traffic light to change…

But this is Africa and that is how it is done.

It makes me wonder. With some very high profile sporting events being prepared for in Africa, just how African will they be? Will everyone have to understand that this is Africa, and that is how it is done?

Off to the 'Berg: Rush Hour traffic and dramatic scenery

Saturday morning dawned bright and early, and despite good intentions, I was not there to see it, or the sunrise - which must have been magnificent.

But after the cursory shower and clean, it was back to Alpine Heath for a family breakfast - a Full South African you could say - made on a hot gas braai, beer in hand (not me - the chefs).


Afterward, having fuelled for the day, it was time to explore an area of the country I had not been before. And so, armed only with good intentions and some petrol in the tank, we headed out into the unknown. Despite it being a Saturday morning, we did encounter some rush hour traffic - on several occasions in fact - as random animals and herds of goats and sheep moved across the African plain - seemingly oblivious to the tar ribbon of road they were crossing - or indeed the several motor vehicles they were stopping.

From Alpine Heath resort we headed through Bergville, and then randomly took a road marked Cathedral peak, unsure of what it held, but knowing that somewhere in a Geography class at primary school I had heard the name - so it seemed like a reasonable thing to do. The road meandered through hills, up and over small ridges, giving spectacular views both of the valley below, but also of the towering peaks ahead and around us.

Still further, past Zulu villages of a few small round huts of various sizes, past more cattle, sheep and horses, and over small, clear rivers where the locals were bathing and washing clothing while children cooled themselves from the heat of the day. All the while the mountain range around us changed and towered closer and higher.

We eventually reached Cathedral Peak Hotel where we took a quick break before retracing our steps back to our resort in time to get to a family birthday party that evening. A great day of discovery drawing to an end.

On Sunday it was time to return to reality - to pack up ourselves back into the humdrum or routine and the 9 to 5. The drive home up the N3 was uneventful - in a good way, and gave opportunity to reflect on the weekend, a weekend of dramatic scenery, of great company and fine memories.


Stark reality will return with the shrieking of the alarm early on Monday morning...

As a foot note - one of the photos taken over the weekend really should be titled "An Englishman in Africa"... Hopefulyl I will find a tan before they let me out into public again!!!

How many men does it take to change a (traffic) light bulb...?

In the midst of a particularly long and harrowing commute home, I came upon this scene which caught my eye and tickled my sense of irony.

So how many men DOES it take to change a traffic light bulb? In Grayston Drive in Sandton, the answer appears to be 15.....

Drivers licence irony

If you have been following recent posts to this blog, you will be aware that I am having a huge bureaucratic problem trying to finalise financing for a new car, all centred around a South African drivers licence.

In summary, it appears that credit legislation requires me to have a valid South African drivers licence, in the correct credit card format, before any financing can be approved.

You can imagine then how my heart leapt into my throat this morning, when a traffic officer pulled me off the road in a routine check and asked me for my drivers licence. I greeted him politely and casually gave him my UK drivers licence, which I have been using for the last 6 years in England, and last 6 weeks in South Africa. Having checked it over, and checked that I had a valid tax disk on my car, the officer returned my licence and allowed me on my way without further query…

Strange, I thought, how I can drive a vehicle – a large hunk of metal capable of killing and maiming, with my UK drivers licence – but without a South African drivers licence, I cannot purchase one.

I am not sure that the alternatives I am thinking of are printable here….

Extreme Makeover

I was a little late in heading out of the house this morning, and so was treated to a "slightly" longer commute - the odd 30 minutes loinger than normal.

What I did notice is that there appears to be an extreme shortage of TIME for people in the morning, because the number of poor women I saw who were seemingly forced to do their make up in the car, it was clear that they had no time to do this at home before they left.

So my question has to be really, if it is too dangerous for me to drive while talking on a mobile phonem how come it is safer to be driving while doing your mascara? (or using an eye liner pencil in the traffic)?

This certainly is the Land of the Extreme Makeover....