Don't Drink and Walk on the Road - You May Be Killed

The other day as I was enjoying my little bottle of pinotage on a domestic South African Airways flight - yes that is right, complimentary wine and snack even on my 75 min flight, gotta love this country - I glanced at the warning label as one does and guess what it said? Don't Drink and Walk in the Road - You May Be Killed.

One thing I think this illuminates, besides the high rate of alcohol abuse in this country, is how many people rely on walking as their mode of transport. People walk on small roads, highways, on-ramps, across fields. . . When we first got here, it was so weird to be zooming down the highway and see people walking along the breakdown lane, or more disconcertingly, running across the highways to get to the houses on the other side.

Given this high rate of walking, you'd think sidewalks (or pavements as they are called here) would be plentiful and in good shape, but of course, the exact opposite is true. So people walk in the road. And cars, by custom though apparently not by law, have the right of way. When I wave a pedestrian to go ahead and cross, she will look somewhat bewildered and then scurry across perhaps afraid I was only kidding and plan on running her over. Or sometimes when I am lucky, I get a big smile like I have done a Mother Teresa kindness. I like those times.

Now, let me be clear. There is a certain segment of the population that hardly ever walks - and if they do, it is for exercise and then best done in a group. I belong to this latter category. A combination of affluence allowing us to own cars and then afford the petrol, and fears about crime drive us, no pun intended, to rely on our cars for every little errand. One parent of a Pridwin boy was joking that her son would get killed trying to cross the road because he has had no experience with it. Maybe we just need the warning, Don't Walk in the Road - You May Be Killed.