Close to flawless
WHAT a weekend of sport it's been. An epic at King's Park, to rate with the 1990 Currie Cup final at Loftus – a game of close to flawless rugby, high drama all the way. Then the July Handicap. Then Wimbledon.
The July was a humdinger. I'd got a horse in the Natal Cricket Society draw. I thought I might as well put a few bob on him at the tote as well – ramp things up a bit.
So I strolled down the road and did just that. Then I sat me down at the TV to watch. Then I dozed off. When I woke up, the thing was over. My horse was still running.
But they can't take King's Park away from us.
Monkeys
READER Sarita Mathur says she was having breakfast with her son when suddenly a troop of monkeys appeared on the verandah and in the trees outside. She felt a pang of sorrow because it is we who have stolen their habitat.
She penned some lines of verse:
They've taken away my habitat,
That is what I say,
They've taken away my habitat,
And I can no longer stay…
In trees surrounding dwellings,
Houses built up high,
Or low on the ground
I cannot run around,
Swinging from tree to tree,
Eating bananas and fruit
Without pellets being shot at me.
Yes, I can no longer myself be
Without water being thrown at me.
Or the cry "monkey thief!"
Being shouted at me.
They've taken away my habitat.
What would you do
If this happened to you?
Would you defend yourself
And be proudly You?
Or just run away, never to return,
While your habitat
Was stolen from you?
Would you
Keep cutting down trees,
Spoiling the ecology,
Reducing bio-diversity,
The habitat of the birds and bees?
They've taken away my habitat.
What you would do
If this happened to you?
Well, Sarita, what we can all of us do – so long as we have the tiniest patch of ground – is plant a couple of indigenous trees. If you live in a flat, persuade the body corporate to do the same in the garden, however small.
It's amazing what these islands of indigenous vegetation can do to restore islands of habitat for bird life, monkeys and other wild things. They also counteract carbon emissions.
But don't deliberately feed the monkeys. That only brings hassles, for we humans as well as eventually for the monkeys themselves.
Skirts
OVERHEARD the other night in the Street Shelter for the Over-40s: "You attract attention if you wear a skirt on a windy day ... especially if you're a man."
The spear
READER Denzil Bazley is in a quandary. One of his staff failed to pitch at work the other day. He lives in a hostel and had gone to take a shower, armed with a spear for self-defence (it's a rough life in those hostels).
His shower coincided with a police raid. He was led away half-naked and charged with possession of a dangerous weapon. After he'd spent the night and the following day in a cell, the police released him and said they would drop the charges if he could prove he was gainfully employed.
Denzil says this staffer is a good guy, the soul of honesty. But the dilemma: "Should I provide him with the requisite proof, given all the recent controversy around half-naked men and reference to spears?"
Frog romance
FROGGY went a-courtin', he did go … Two frogs have been married by Hindu rites at Berhampur, in India. The ceremony in a local temple revives an ancient custom in the area, in the hope that the Rain Gods will be pleased and will end a long drought.
The frogs were togged out in colourful gear and people blew trumpets and sang as the nuptials proceeded. The female frog was especially glam as the local farmers poured yellow, red and green dye on her head.
In fact so colourful and eyecatching was it, I thought for a moment it was one of those July fashion features.
Has it rained at Berhampur? Watch this space!
Tailpiece
THE HIGGS Boson walks into a church.
Priest: "We don't allow Higgs Bosons in here."
Higgs Boson: "But without me how can you have a mass?"
Last word
Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm. - Winston Churchill
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