Lifestyle

So there are certain things that we natives have learned from the coming of the civilised. Well, I will not say learned, but rather cultivated to certain systems. This cultivation is particularly rife when it comes to our food. Why do you think people have subjected themselves to the consumption of raw fish eggs and […]

I don’t know about you, but I find Randburg profoundly depressing. I am not entirely sure why, though I suspect that the reasons are rooted in my childhood. Here’s a thing about Joburg geography. If, like me, you grew up in Sandton (and, even worse, Bryanston, with its intellectually flaccid, waspish assumptions about its own […]

A meme that has been doing the rounds, where rude and obnoxious cyclists are insultingly called prawns. You know the type, they walk into the café while still wearing their cycling helmets and shoes, the salt from their evaporated sweat powdering their neck and shaven calves. I approve. Life is littered with prawns, and all […]

So ol’ Joe falls sideways on the bed after the most marvellous sex and sighs. His lady companion Roxanne asks him, “Do you still smoke after having sex?” Joe’s eyes twinkle and he gives Roxanne a crinkly, mischievous grin while he lies there with his arms behind his head. “I don’t know. I’ve never looked.” […]

Suburban living is a whole new experience to me. Having grown up mainly in rural and peri-urban areas across the country (with the notable exception of eMalahleni / Witbank), “big city” living (if one can call Tshwane that) was foreign to me. At least I was eased into it by spending the first two years […]

I attempt to give an imaginary person who wants to visit South Africa an idea of what South Africa is like. Thank you so much David from Uzbekistan for your questions about my country. I must say, your name is pretty normal, not that it wouldn’t be normal if it were Uzbekistani-sounding, not that I […]

As I type this, it’s late Saturday afternoon, and my hands are shaking deliriously, my eyes have shrunk to the back of my head, my gums have gone all mushy, my teeth are falling out, my bones are like butter and I’m pretty sure the dull thudding sound in my ears isn’t normal. I had […]

By Michael Baillie The idea of individualism is not new. What is new, however, is the importance and prestige attached to one’s individuality. We are constantly told to embrace it and to relish in our uniqueness. It’s a message pumped out by the mass media that is both insidious and ubiquitous: you are your own […]

Baby cats are cute little things called litter. That’s not the litter I’m talking about here. This is about human litter. Not the daily verbal type either, the physical mess we scatter around freely. It’s the product of a nasty, filthy habit of those with no regard for the environment or what happens to the […]

A job is a job is a job is a job some might say — as long as you bring in the dollareuroyenpounds to pay the bills. Not quite. Try rent a house, open a new account or get a loan where you have to write down “musician” next to occupation. Although the look on […]

In case you missed it, Ubuntelligence is generally defined as the “ability and courage to seek out and connect to other, seemingly different, fellow human beings. It is about establishing meaningful connections with others, within given timelines, without due regard for individual or personal gain. It focuses on collective value in the short, medium and […]

You know something, this sucks mightily. Tourist-hunting season opens, and we hear of it first from the British? Typical of our authorities. This is incompetence at its most apathetic. How African of the government. No wonder the Brits want to re-colonise this place. What, have you never heard Uncle Bob Mugabe speak? Wouldn’t that be […]