What about bunnychow, pap en wors?
WE'VE missed a trick. At a conference up in Nairobi, Unesco (United Nations Economic and Social Commission) has been busy doing things like put France's traditional gastronomic meal on to the world's "intangible heritage list".
The traditional gastronomic meal, I gather, is the full thing from hors d'oevres, right through six courses to the coffee and cognac. Were it not for this Unesco intervention, there would be a danger of Paris going over to McDonald burgers and hot dogs.
Unesco has also put on the list traditional Mexican food; plus cultural non-food items that are considered to be at risk in today's globalising world – Spanish flamenco dancing, Colombia's marimba instrument and chants from the Pacific coast (also Colombia). Also the huaconada, a traditional dance of the Mito people in the Peruvian Andes. Plus Mongolian folk dancing, the tango in Argentina and Croatian lace-making.
It's nice to know Unesco is not shirking these vitally important issues but what is our diplomatic service doing to get our own cuisine and culture on that intangible heritage list? Things like bunnychow, pap en wors, spook 'n diesel and the gumboot dance.
We pay our dues to the UN. Let's get value for money.
Street names
A LAND surveyor of my acquaintance was at work in one of the townships on the periphery of Durban when he was approached by a group of men carrying sticks and looking none too friendly. They wanted to know if he was responsible for putting in the street name signs.
He was not. It turned out they were annoyed that people from elsewhere had been employed to dig the holes and put in the signs. Local people should get those jobs, they said.
The tension had vanished. To make conversation, the surveyor asked what names had been chosen. Mbeki? Malema? There was a great stock of heroic names from which to choose.
The leader of the group shook his head vigorously.
"No, we name our roads after trees and animals. People are only trouble. If they name a street after a person, we pull the sign down"
Yet Ridge Road becomes Peter Mokaba. Essenwood (a tree) becomes, Oh, I forget now. Broadway becomes Swapo (a group of people). And so on, and so on. You have to go to a township to hear some sense.
Mind you, the thing is still sub judice, to be decided by the Court of Appeal. We of the St Petersburg Forum – St Petersburg, Leningrad, St Petersburg again – look on with amused detachment.
Carbon hysteria
STOCKS analyst James Greener does not share our city manager's enthusiasm for the international climate change conference being held in Durban next year.
To quote his newsletter:
"Once again throngs of carbon-based life forms with zero knowledge about science will gather to demand in voices filled with carbon dioxide that the rather vital 6th member of the periodic table be banned from the globe. It will be a mess and another bill for ratepayers."
You could hardly put it more pithily.
That's showbiz
READER Brian Kennedy notes that RTE Ireland's radio and television had a headline on its website last week: "Britain's Prince Wiliam to marry". It was under the heading "Entertainment".
Well, that's it: bread and circuses.
High heels
IF YOU'RE flying Air Asia from Kuala Lumpur to London, don't get a fright if the stewardess in the red outfit and high heels has a beard. It will be Sir Richard Branson, owner of Virgin Air, paying off a wager with Tony Fernandes, CEO of Air Asia.
Each had agreed to dress up as a stewardess and serve on the other's airline if his Formula One motor-racing team lost to the other.
Branson's Virgin Racing entry to the F1 lost to Lotus, headed up by Fernandes. Although both teams completed the season with zero points, Lotus were placed ahead in the rankings because of better finishing positions.
These international financiers play it tough.
Tailpiece
BUTTERCUP and Daisy are chatting and chewing the cud.
Buttercup: "'Ere, have you heard about this mad cow disease?"
Daisy: "Yes. Sounds nasty."
Buttercup: "Makes me glad I'm a chicken."
Last word
Computers make it easier to do a lot of things, but most of the things they make it easier to do don't need to be done.
No comments:
Post a Comment