A stroll through Government Enclave and Central Business District

Zombie post brought back to life after a few months of abandonment.

This morning I found myself at the bottom end of Main Mall, Gaborone without any wheels (that’s another story) and, since the weather was favourable, decided to walk home.

Gaborone is a relatively young capital city, with almost none of it having been built before the 1960s.  I didn’t take any pictures in Main Mall as it was all a bit grey, in fact everything was a bit grey and a battered phone camera lens gives everything a dodgy soft-focus effect.

Government Enclave was pretty much deserted, except one hawker with a set of scales and an assortment of chest-expanders, I need to go back and see what his unique selling point is.

Parliament Building

Continuing towards the new Central Business District you pass the Ministry of Health and Attorney General’s Chambers.

I then crossed Nelson Mandela Drive and the railway into the New Central Business District, home to more architectural wonders complete and incomplete.  Some of them have been incomplete for years.  I can’t bring myself to comment on the architectural, urban planning and construction achievements… draw your own conclusions.

Eventually you get to the northern end with the High Court and Three Dikgosi (Chiefs) Monument.

Gaborone Central Business District panorama at the eastern end.

There was a wedding group taking pictures at the Three Dikgosi Monument, and having had my eye caught by a BMW in a used car showroom the cars associated with the group caught my eye (mainly for the wrong reasons…).

From CBD I strolled out onto Willie Seboni (a road) and up hill past the Mass Media Complex (Botswana’s equivalent to Broadcasting House), across the Western Bypass and home.

A pleasant stroll through parts of central Gaborone showing that you don’t need to drive everywhere: the slow lane can be just as interesting.

Botswana Price

You would expect that when there is a “special price” sign on the shelf it is the best deal going on, and that is cheaper to buy in bulk.

Shop management use all manner of deceptions to capture our attention and extract more of our money from us, some of which are prohibited in places where consumer protection is taken seriously.

A simple one to start off with, 2 for slightly more than the price of 1:

Single lemons for P4.95, two in a pack for P12.40
Multiplication matters.

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Casual Racism – Hoedspruit 737-200 Incident

I have low tolerance for people reposting bullshit stories on social media, how difficult is it to fact check something?

Even less tolerance for racist assumptions and stereotyping.

This appeared on Facebook lazily reposted by Jenny Meredith in October 2015 (probably not the originator – have also seen it attributed to “Boere Krisis Aksie” in 2013– a Boer preservation movement by the look of it) and just now reposted by an acquaintance of mine.

SOUTH AFRICA: PROBABLY THE ONLY COUNTRY IN THE WORLD WHERE THE PILOTS DRIVE A PASSENGER PLANE AS IF IT IS A 20-SEATER MINI-BUS TAXI!

B737-200 at Hoedspruit, South Africa.

The ‘previously disadvantaged’ pilot of this B737-200 landed at Hoedspruit (ex airforce base) in the dark.
And he proceeded to take the wrong taxiway.
Having arrived at a dead end he then attempted to turn around by reversing (using reverse thrust).
He misjudged and put the main gear off the concrete. It then rolled back down the bank. He then tried to climb out using full power.
Of course with the engines that close to the ground, they ingested grass, stones, mud, sticks, dust, sand, etc.
If it wasn’t raining – the jet blast could have set fire to the surrounding bush.

Hoedspruit 737-200 incident - Facebook casual racism
Hoedspruit 737-200 incident – Facebook casual racism

There are two unnecessary words in the post, and they tell us exactly what we need to know about the person/people that repost it.
Continue reading “Casual Racism – Hoedspruit 737-200 Incident”