So it
turns out that the forecasters of ancient Mexico
were no better than today’s analysts at getting the future right. It is bright
and sunny here in the nation’s holiday capital and no apocalypse has been
evident. Not unless you count the disappointment that has overwhelmed the bulls
now that the All Share may have delayed its assault on the 40 000 level. That
treat looks as if it has been delayed until the New Year. Another disappointment
for both bulls and bears here on the southern tip is that shortly after noon
today the Earth reached the position of midsummer and will now begin to tilt the
other way. That means that the hours of sunlight in each day will begin to
decline as we slide downhill all the way to winter again. Very
sad.
So now we
know where Manguang is if not what it was for. In the words of Shakespeare’s
Macbeth : “It is a tale. Told by an idiot,
full of sound and fury. Signifying nothing”. Surprisingly for one
who normally wants everybody to be his friend, Jacob Zuma took note of who
backed the wrong horse and indulged in a spot of vigorous reshuffling of his
pack. The discards probably have little to worry about, however, because many of
the replacements also have copybooks which are far from blot-free. One does not
remain a pariah for long in politics especially if you can deliver a
constituency of malleable voters. Will readers of my age please explain to their
younger colleagues about nib pens, ink wells and copy books filled with rows of
“pot hooks” displaying the desirable characteristics of “thin up and thick
down”. Perhaps a word or two about blots and blotting paper will also be
enlightening. Hopefully it will not be necessary also to explain who Shakespeare
was.
It
remains to be seen if shoehorning a highly successful billionaire into a cabinet
of communists will cause a reappraisal of the rapid, alarming and soon to be
unsustainable policy of entitlement. The wealthy gent in question has already
instructed his people to take a good look at any possible conflict of interests
and them presumably to act speedily to arrange the ex-trade unionist’s affairs
so as not to trouble the tax man too much. There’s no point in letting the
government white-ant your nest egg even if you are that
government.
Despite
being told what to watch for in the slog and scatter form of pyjama cricket I
still find it hard to take the results too seriously, especially when we lose.
I am also baffled by yet another crisis which has just broken out at Cricket SA.
It involves the SABC and money and therefore sounds pretty hard to fix. Us
armchair umpires have little idea what goes on behind the scenes so we can watch
the game on the small screen at home where the fridge is close at hand and the
seats are much more comfortable. I suppose we ought to play our part and
actually watch the adverts rather than take the opportunity to go and tend to
the braai fire.
Please do have a happy and merry
Christmas
All the very
best
James Greener
Summer Solstice 2012.
