Lists - but no resolutions... yet

My time in SA is drawing to a close. While on holiday, I was going to:

• blog
• catch up on my Dutch lessons
• taunt friends overseas (via facebook) about the weather
• exercise
• play golf, tennis, not pig out etc etc

I managed one thing on this list, and only just. And I'm doing it now.

I can't believe how quickly it's all gone. Mills and I will be back on a plane on Tuesday evening. Yuck. I must admit, I am starting to feel a vague need to get 'home', although I'm definitely not looking forward to the weather again... 4 degrees and raining. I just checked.

Being back in SA has made me realise that I have so little content to write about in the Netherlands. Have I become complacent in my first-world environment? Sure, I moan about the weather and having to slum it on public transport (hardly), but I've realised that I feel so much more passionately about issues in SA, such as:

• Bank charges. What can we do about bank charges, is South Africa one of the only countries to charge so exhorbitantly?
• Road rage. I haven't even been driving and I suffered from it. I want to punch the (sorry for people with internet censors) fucking arseholes, who are so special that a string of solid one-lane traffic on the road back from Bloem can be leapfrogged by 10, 13, however many cars at a time... forcing oncoming traffic to drive in the verge so that these fat sphincters can push in whenever it suits them. Of course, by pushing back into the queue further on, everybody else has to slam on their brakes behind them. Even if an accident occurs from this, the overgrown anus drives on unaffected. These people irritate me.
• Drunk driving. It seems to be something that only foreigners and returning expats are aware of. Drunk driving is still very much an accepted phenomenon in South African culture. I realise this is a huge generalisation - but when we stopped at a Engen One Stop, in the middle of nowhere, how can the guys behind us justify buying Hunters Dry? You are clearly going back on the road, in heavy holiday traffic, as there is no where else to go. The weather is stormy (lightning and hail) and it's almost twilight. Are those Hunters Dry really necessary, or are you just topping up your alcohol/blood stream after the festive season?
• Banning u-16 PDA. Public Display of Affection for under-16s. Obsene and disgusting, yes. Keep the saliva swopping to the school discos where I can't see it. But is this seriously a legality that has to be tackled? How about focussing on the number of people breaking already existing laws, instead of adding new - possibly unenforcable - laws for issues which should be tackled by communities, schools and (here's a thought) parents.

On a more positive note:

• Aids Awareness. Plenty of TV ads and publicity campaigns. People are trying to educate and lose the stigma of HIV and Aids, despite our leaders' best efforts. This makes me proud.
• Bus stops. Seems like a stupid observation, but I've noticed more (and new) bus stops dotted around Jozi, as well as in some rural - slowly developing - parts of Eastern Cape. It's nice to see where at least some of the tax money goes.
• Traffic police and cops. On the way home from the coast, they were very visible. Parked under trees on the side of the road, random road blocks here and there in residential areas. Maybe not completely effective, but it's a good first step.

All things that I would love to blog about... but not now. Not while I'm soaking up the last rays of warmth and sun (inbetween splots of rain). I'll think about New Years resolutions, when I'm done with turning my brain into mushy holiday slush.