A tale of romantic love
WHO CAN RESIST a tale of romantic love? I was discussing with a friend the architecture of some of the Berea's old homes when he related to me what happened one winter's evening in a magnificently gabled establishment that still stands today.
It was in the temporary care of a couple who were beyond the first flush of youth but very much in love – she a ballet mistress, he something in industry but an incurable romantic.
That winter's evening he lit a fire of pinewood in the lovely Edwardian fireplace. He'd laid about the room several baskets of roses. He'd opened a bottle of Dom Perignon. A violin concerto sobbed from the turntable. They lay on a sheepskin in front of the fire and took it all in. They gradually disrobed (whether because of the heat of the fire is not known).
Then the idyll was disturbed by a pounding on the front door, followed by a splintering of axes at work.
Aghast, they scrambled into semi-decency. On the verandah they found the Durban fire brigade.
Nobody had told this couple the chimney had been blocked off. Smoke was billowing from every upper floor window. The firemen fell about laughing.
The path of true love ne'er ran smooth.
Tough cookie
MARIA Ramos is flexing her muscles over rugby issues. This is a feisty lass who has handled all kinds of portfolios such as running the Reserve Bank and the railways. She doesn't flinch, she gets things done.
With uncertainty as to whether Peter de Villiers will stay on as Bok coach for the World Cup next year, could Ramos herself be the replacement?
It's not just the Kiwis and the Aussies who must be looking on with some nervousness. What about the Boks themselves? Maria Ramos is a tough cookie. Would our rugby players be able to handle the pressure?
Like a wedding
MORE news from the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi. They are likely to go ahead in spite of the shambolical state of preparation.
In a TV interview, Chris Jenkins of the Wales squad – who are already there – said it was best compared with an Indian wedding.
"With a few minutes to go, everything is still total chaos. But somehow it goes ahead."
Tartan knickers?
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, is in the news again, this time for asking Annabel Goldie, a member of the Scottish Parliament, if she wore tartan knickers when she was presented to Pope Benedict XVI on his recent state visit to Britain.
Goldie hooted with laughter and said: "I couldn't possibly comment - and even if I did, I couldn't possibly exhibit them."
She later remarked: "It's marvellous to know that humour is alive and well in the royal family."
Here's tae the Duke of Edinburgh,
Last of the kilted Greeks,
But dinna blaw his trews awa',
It's Lizzie that wears the breeks ...
Gorilla warfare
LONDON was recently invaded by hundreds of gorillas. In fact they were 700 humans in gorilla suits, taking part in a fund-raising race along the Thames in aid of the Great Gorilla Organisation, dedicated to the conservation of the mountain gorilla, which is under severe threat.
The number of runners corresponds to the 700 mountain gorillas that still exist in the wild.
The 4.3-mile Great Gorilla Run raised £150 000, but I wonder how many Londoners really caught on to what it was about. Many might have thought it was just another trainload of Scottish football fans.
Nifty builders
TO THE BARRICADES, brothers! Protesters in Britain the other day didn't quite take to the barricade, they took the barricade to the object of their protest. They blocked the entrance to Barclays Bank in Bournemouth, Dorset, by bricking it up.
The protest, organised by a property developer named Cameron Hope, was against "the banking industry in general", citing huge bonuses that are being paid to bankers and their banks' failure to lend to small businesses.
They must have been pretty nifty builders because by the time the police intervened and made them demolish their work, they'd bricked up the bank's eight feet by four feet entrance.
Maybe they should be diverted to New Delhi to help built the infrastructure for the Commonwealth Games
Tailpiece
WHO has eight guns and terrorises the ocean?
Billy the Squid.
Last word
To be great is to be misunderstood.
GRAHAM LINSCOTT
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