MONDAY MONDAY

MONDAY 22nd NOVEMBER

  Breakfast was yet again served in the guest room and not the cafe, and yet again I opted for the fruit and yohgurt.  However after emerging from a satisfying repast I found the lift seemingly out of order.  I adjourned to the reception desk and inquired if the lift was out of order.  They confirmed it was and an engineer had been summoned.  So what was I too do in the meantime?  Walk up seven stories up the stairs?  Well yes that appeared to be the option as I haven't yet learnt the secrets of levitation from Jim.

  The weather was warm but totally overcast.  I had found out that "People Mover" buses ran from outside the shopping centre at the back of the hotel, and a ticket was 4 Rand.  Although they run every 15 minutes, one arrived just as I got to the stop.  The bus went up Anton Lembede (Smith) Street as both it Dr Pixley Kaseme are one way.  I got off some way past the City Hall and wandered westwards for a few blocks before moving over to Dr Pixley and walking back eastwards.  I wandered into a clothing shop where I found an item I thought I would purchase for Nick.  After queueing for ages to get to the till I proffered a 200 Rand note with a slight tear in the middle.  "We can't accept that, you'll have to take it back to the bank", the cashier told me.  "How can I do that when the bank was in London?"  (In fact I got the rands from Jim, so I hold him enirely responsible for the whole fracas and the massive inconvenience he has caused me.  He will be fined at least a pint of beer when I next see him!).   Any way back to the cashier, who responded that I could take it to any bank.  "I've no idea where there is a bank, can you give me any clues?"  By now I was starting to get irritated.  The name of some street came up which I didn't catch, and summoning all my dignity, I turned on my heels, saying "Thank you so much for your help", leaving the sealed back with the goods on the counter.  Am I deteriorating into a Grumpy Old Man?  Answers on the back of a fiver.

  The far western end of Dr Pixley Kaseme Street is definitely got an Asian tinge to it compared to tho the central part.  Upon reaching the City Hall I realised that I had been looking at the Cenotaph from the back, and realised that the front view is from Church Street.  I wandered on towards the Workshop Shopping Centre, and at one of the numerous street stalls enroute, purchased an item for Nick, carefully not offering the 200 Rand note this time!  At the back of the workshop is the Gugu Diamini Park, and there a large area of grass was cordoned off which contained Santa on his sleigh being pulled by reindeer, a crib, a choir and various other Christmasy displays.  All this was seemingly courtesy of the Natal Electricity Company.  It looks as though it is all illuminated at night.  This is one of the relatively few manifestations of Christmas that I had come across.  There is certainly little in the way of marketing in the shops relative to Christmas.

  I walked on up the park which leads to the Kwa Muhle Museum which I visited.  It shows how the city council raised money to administer African affairs by granting itself a monopoly of brewing sorghum beer which it sold through its African only beer halls.  It was known as the Durban System.  It also showed the working and living conditions of the native Africans.  There were also photos of Cato Manor, a connubation that saw Durban's worst riot in 1949 in which 142 people died.  During the apartheid era the government started moving out the inhabitants as the area lay in the middle of a white area.  It resulted in a derelict wasteland with only a few Hindu temples left standing until the late '80s when Africans started pouring into the area, building closely packed tin shacks.

  After concluding my visit I walked back to Dr Pixley Kaseme and sat at the bus stop just outside Medwood Gardens.  I sat and watched with fascination the operation of the minibuses, that move around with constant honking of horns, the doorman with his head hanging out the open window, issuing piercing whistles and shouting encouragement for passengers to board the vehicle.  The drivers don't seem to care where they stop or whom they impede, and everybody takes it as a part of daily routine!  I noticed that all the passengers were black.  I eventually boarded a bus back, having let several go to continue watching life go by.  I dropped into the Spar supermarket where yet again the cashier refused to accept my torn 200 Rand note - looks like I'm going to have to find a bank!

  I got back to the hotel and spent considerable time trying to catch up with my posts but experienced considerable difficuties with downloading photos, a problem that I still haven't quite got over yet.  Eventually I gave up and watch Sunderland play Everton, before calling it a night.  Just as I was about to go to bed an enormous storm broke with the sea being illuminated by the lightning and the the rain teemed down.  I'm glad to say it didn't stop me dropping off to sleep soon after my head hit the pillow!