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letters
NORTHCLIFF MELVILLE TIMES
Week ending 18 June 2010
Joburg’s autumn colours
Local resident Mike Browne took these photos of the wonderful colours of the changing of the seasons at Emmarentia Dam.“Many people have a misconception of Johannesburg and don’t realise the beauty often found here,” he says.
A fairytale thank you Frieda Wolmarans writes: Driving home in her little grey car on 28 May, a young and naïve ‘princess’ takes a detour through Braamfontein hoping her little car will get her home sooner. While singing along to the radio waiting for the traffic light to turn green, the princess has a very unfriendly ogre and his friend - prowling the dark sidewalks of Enoch Sontonga Road - force his ugly ogre hands into her car, remove her keys from the ignition and shout orders in his deep ogre voice for
her to hand over her phone, handbag and little grey car. Luckily for the princess a knight on a shining motorcycle notices her distress and rides to her rescue. The knight rams his shining motorcycle into the ogres, sending them running for the dark swamps they crawled from. Thank you stranger. Thank you for getting involved and risking yourself for a stranger in trouble.
The Editor welcomes your letters. Letters must include the writer’s name, street address and telephone number, but a nom de plume may be used for publishing. The Editor reserves the right to edit, shorten and reject letters. The opinions expressed in letters are not those of NMT, Caxton or its staff. Write to: Northcliff Melville Times, PO Box 1797, Pinegowrie 2123 or fax to 086-683-0108. E-mail: nmt@caxton.co.za
Just not worth the trouble Bye bye Campus Square writes: It’s no longer convenient or safe to shop at Campus Square. Three weeks ago I walked into the centre as an armed robbery was taking place. Two shops were robbed and two innocent bystanders were shot. It took three weeks before I could work up the courage to return there. On 7 June I popped into Woolies for 15 minutes. The pay station next to Wimpy had a queue of about 10 people and it seemed to take a long time for every payment. I went downstairs to the pay station, which was out of order. I went back upstairs only to find the queue had now grown to about 20 people, with the same person still trying to pay. Eventually I walked to the pay station at News Cafe, then hiked back to my car which was parked directly outside Woolies.
By now there was also a serious traffic jam of cars trying to leave the single exit, so I joined the car queue after some difficulty. We sat waiting. The cars from the Woolies side politely maintained a gap to allow incoming cars to turn right into the News Cafe side of the parking lot but at least two inconsiderate drivers jumped the gap and forced their way into the queue. The reason for the delay? The booms weren’t working. So there I was, 15 minutes of shopping, 30 minutes of trying to pay and get out of the parking, and then forced to turn right into the service lane and make a wide detour through Melville to get back to Kingsway and University Road. And charged R3 for this inconvenience. Campus Square is no longer a convenient, local pop-in shopping centre. So I join the list of local residents who boycott the centre.
The BRT bus lanes are used to park fancy cars outside Luthuli House. This photo was taken on 15 March, the first day of the BRT rollout.
Practise what you preach Manny de Freitas, shadow Deputy Minister for Transport writes: I find it interesting that the Mayor of Johannesburg Amos Masondo and other city leaders have called on the public to respect designated bus lanes by not driving in them. This is quite correct. There have been a number of crashes and injuries as a result of motorists driving illegally in bus lanes. It is up to each one of us to ensure that road rules are respected and kept. However, the call for this by the mayor I
find amazing as his own party clearly feels it is above the law. Leaders of the ANC and their entourage are simply not respecting road laws themselves. Whenever meetings of top profile politicians are held at the ANC’s head office, Luthuli House in the centre of Johannesburg, one particularly finds their vehicles parked in our bus lanes. How can the government expect the public to keep to road rules when they themselves aren’t prepared to?
Big tip too much for students Nicola Dirker of Northcliff writes: On 29 May our son went to the Cape Town Fish Market in Cresta to celebrate his 21st birthday. He met five friends and they had a meal. Another two people joined the group but did not eat with them at the table. When the bill came it was R429 for the six of them. Each person (students) put in their money and paid R444. As my son was leaving the waiter informed him that they did not tip enough. He said on the
door there was a sign reading a table of eight must tip 10 percent, but at my son’s table only six people ate. I really think that as students they cannot be expected to add 10 percent onto the bill. It was embarrassing to be told this in front of a restaurant. We will not be eating at the Cape Town Fish Market again. With the way the economy is today it is a cheek to say you did not tip enough, especially to young people who are studying and not working full-time.