Crossing Over
On 25 August, in a nearby suburb, a minibus taxi carrying a school kids was hit by an oncoming train at a level crossing. Eight kids died in the accident. According to an eyewitness account, the taxi had overtaken several cars that had stopped at the level crossing. I guess the driver failed to see the train.
This sucks.
Off to work
I’m fairly sure that at some stage it became illegal to transport people in this manner – but even with several recent tragedies related to this form of transport it remains common practice. I guess the reality is that for many small businesses it’s completely impractical and too expensive to have a bakkie to transport goods and materials to a work site and a minibus to transport the workmen.
It’s one of those difficult debates to have because I can assure you that if the workmen are faced with a choice to take transport like this, or find their own way to a work site, or lose their job, they’d jump onto the back of this truck in a flash.
The reality is that most people believe that an accident won’t happen to them – so they’re happy to take chances like this. Call me over-cautious or a wet blanket, but Russian roulette – it isn’t my game. 
A running tap
Fortunately, contrary to how it appears, this tap isn’t actually leaking – I turned it open a little to illustrate a leaking tap and have the opportunity to share with you the City of Cape Town’s share-call number (086 010 3054) where you’re able to lodge any complaints about water wastage, leaking taps, poor sanitation, etc.
I’ve been saying it for ages – but I really need to get working on my grey-water solution for summer. Either that, or I need to pave my entire lawn… but it’s a catch-22: Pave the lawn to save water while killing off more plant-life that we can’t afford to lose. Perhaps the answer is to make sure that my garden consists mostly of indigenous plants!
A diesel pump
While observing the destruction that was occurring on my paved areas I was reminded of a dubious weed remedy shared by someone (whom for their sake) I’ll keep anonymous. This person told me that diesel fuel is the best weed killer ever – and it’s way cheaper than herbicides you’d buy at a nursery.
How do you think your husband, wife, or neighbour would feel about you spraying diesel all over your driveway? Awesome idea? I don’t think so.
