High-wire act to beat 'em all
A DAREDEVIL is to attempt walking a tightrope across Niagra Falls. Nik Wallenda – member of a famous high-wire stunt family – has been granted permission by the Niagara Parks Commission (Canadian). The American authorities had already agreed.
The last person to tightrope walk across Niagra Falls was James Hardy, in 1896.
And in Australia two German tourists, Florian Herla and Niklas Winterwere have "slacklined" across a dizzy drop between cliff faces at Hanging Rock, in Victoria state.
A slackline is the opposite of a tightrope, the manoeuvre possibly even trickier and more dangerous. And in this case it was illegal because the daredevil pair didn't have the permission of the park authority.
Meanwhile, a local daredevil is said to be planning a high-wire balancing act to beat them all. Municipal Treasurer Krish Kumar plans to balance the Ethekwini budget, in spite of the Manase Report, billions in new loans, billions in non-payment for services and a seething cauldron beneath him of corruption, nepotism, and political cronyism.
This puts Niagra and Hanging Rock absolutely in the shade. Krish will probably perform his high-wire act at Moses Mabhida stadium, a symbolic first step in getting it to pay for itself.
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White elephant
THE ARCHITECT who designed the stadium that has been completed in Stratford, in the East End of London, for this year's Olympics says there's a danger it will become a white elephant because its future use has not been properly thought through.
Steve Lawrence says a joint athletics/football legacy would never generate the cash needed to sustain the stadium.
"In its present form with athletics only, it's definitely not viable. If you look at the 1928 stadium in Amsterdam, if you look at the Barcelona Olympic Stadium, if you look at Munich ... All of these stadiums require support from the state and have done in the long term.
"The stadium in Amsterdam is now nearly 90 years old and it still needs state support and, as things stand, we will be supporting the Olympic stadium for the next 100 years."
Now why does this sound so familiar to us in Durban?
| In the red ECLIPSED rather by the pyrotechnics accompanying the release of the Manase Report into skullduggery in municipal government is an item that Ethekwini municipality plans to borrow R2 billion. What happened to Durban's previous standing as one of the world's two debt-free cities? (The other was the City of Westminster, in Greater London). It would be interesting to know when exactly we began sliding into the red. Diamond geezer PRIVATE Eye, the British satirical magazine, celebrates Queen Elizabeth's diamond jubilee with a piece written by the Queen herself about BBC television personality Andrew Marr. Headline: "'What is Andrew Marr really like?' asks Her Majesty the Queen." Teaser: "Elizabeth Windsor has had unique access to the long-serving interviewer and here exclusively gives her inside view of the man they call 'the Diamond Geezer'" The Queen describes Marr as charming, witty, incredibly well read and "very keen to ingratiate himself with the Royal Family." He is also an intensely private man and has had regular audiences with prime ministers over the past 20 years. "It hasn't always been easy for Andrew. – one thinks back to the Annus Horribilis when he was editor of the Independent – but he has triumphantly weathered the storms and emerged as the key national figure in Britain today, without whom I cannot imagine having the will to carry on being Queen." "© Elizabeth R" Oh, lovely stuff! | |
Tailpiece
PRODUCTION line dialogue:
"Oi, mate! You're wearing an earring."
"Yeah, so what?"
"But you're so conservative-like."
"We can change."
"When did you change?"
"When me wife found the earring in me truck."
Last word
No animal should ever jump up on the dining-room furniture unless absolutely certain that he can hold his own in the conversation.
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