It is a while since I last spent the period between Christmas and New Year at home in Joburg. Goodness! It is really really quiet. Except of course for the wailing sirens and alarms as the cops and robbers take their turn to visit the homes of those who are away. In our small office block we appear to have been the only business to have been open every day this week. Of course the roads are a pleasure, although I was surprised at how full the parking lots at some of shopping malls have been. These days there are fewer numbers of seriously sunburned, sensible-sandal shod senior citizens shuffling around the shops. The granny-run is now replaced by the flying visit from the adult children who have taken a brief break from their task of keeping the pubs and banks of London running smoothly.
From noon today the markets will stop running altogether whether smoothly or otherwise. The JSE All Share came pretty close to gaining 50% on the year – a performance I don’t think was predicted by too many people, and certainly by none of the experts! Similarly, most forecasts of the rand the dollar the gold price and the Dow were well wide of the mark so let’s not spend too much energy trying to guess what will happen in 2006.
Please enjoy a safe and happy New Year celebration. I look forward to all the new things that 2006 will bring. Like the Proteas holding onto some catches.
James Greener
30th December 2005
