Walking through the streets, across Thibault Square, This could be any city in any country. Here are the same rich, the same downs-at-heel, The Fashionistas and the drones, Here are the purveyors of newsprint and labels Designer coffees and outrageous footwear, The buses and taxis, the flowing river of commuters, All moving or standing still […]

Flew home this winter evening, the Northwest wind blowing me along with swollen banks of raincloud. Timed my exit to a nicety, darting out into rain-slippery streets between driving downpours Ducked wind-shaken trees as they shed drops big as bullets, Danced across intersections, and wove through coated-and-capped crowds Got to the station to find storm-panicked […]

So this is me on the phone, being so inane that it feels like life is falling through my fingers. And you, all warm and shiny in the folds of a new love, being friendly and wishing me luck with the rest of my life. And this is me – the one who thought she […]

(Feb 2007) Just thinking about things today and safety, personal safety was one of them. Got me to thinking about how I felt years ago, aged 17, when I first saw the film Mad Max. Even though the film has obviously aged and we’ve been hugely desensitised to violence, it still maintains the hopeless, grey […]

I’d like to put on old-fashioned dark-red matte lipstick and a small black beret; light a cigarette and walk into a narrow spotlight on a tiny, dark stage. Dust-motes playing up and down the beam – I’d turn a little, look over the heads of the small audience and say: “Achtung, baby”. No – here’s […]

You know that it’s 2013 when a small child – say 5 or 6 years of age – on the upper level of the coffee shop you’re in is whining, begging and bargaining in an endless loop – not for cake, a milkshake or a smoothie – no, it’s like this: “I need coffee – […]

(verse 1 – 3 one of the saddest songs – inspired by Lionel’s funny Tweet) Oh, it sure is winter, baby – that sky is so grey It started out grey, baby, and it stayed that way ALL day. The wind is not my friend, baby – nearly blew me right away, And ……… I’m […]

Only if you kissed me very, very tenderly – then you might feel the tiny ridge of scar on either side of my lip – not visible, hardly even there. It’s not important that I tell you who smashed open my lips against my teeth, enough times that I should carry scars inside on both […]

I ran this blog post last year on Madiba’s birthday, but, considering all that’s happened to him during the last 12 months, it feels so long ago. Over 365 days SA’s former president’s face has been put onto each one of our banknotes, and he’s been hospitalised for two bouts of lung infection – the […]