star newspapers

The thing I hate most about Jo'burg is people standing in the middle of the street - vendors, beggars, etc. It drives me insane, first having to dodge these people when I am driving by and secondly having my space imposed upon everytime I am stopped at a light (which by the way is called a robot here - don't ask, cause I can only speculate myself). I really don't want giftbags, garbage bags, sunglasses, toys, flowers, fruit, vegetables, cellphone accessories, you name it being forced upon me every block or so. I really don't want it. The beggars are even worse. The blind (many of them Zim refugees I believe) "hire" a sighted person and then they go from car to car at the "robots" begging for money. There are also people missing limbs, mothers with babies (which drives me really crazy) and the people holding signs blessing me in exchange for food or work. Also present at intersections are the so-called service providers. These people wash your windscreen/windshield persistently despite any and all overtures to the contrary and then demand their money. There are also the trash collectors which might just be the worst as pretty generally these are the people that give me the "die white bitch" look when I deny their service & therefore the two rand "owing" to them. And if you've "got nothing, really", you still get hit up for a smoke. Driving here becomes strategic, avoiding the worst places if possible - though there is rarely anywhere that is vendor/beggar free, except on the residential-only streets and being as cartographically challenged as I am, I kind of need to stick to the main roads.

So a couple of months ago, I found myself, strangely "adopting" one of the newspaper vendors (which by the way is the only breed of corner people that I find to be legitimate). I don't really know what happened, but every Saturday and Sunday I would drive by with the kids on the way to the grocery store and this guy was really friendly and non-intrusive and accepted the first time round that I wasn't interested in the paper. (You get a lot of - "but my business is doing so badly, just buy, I need...." What? I haven't been home in three years and the end of every month is a disaster & I should support you just because?) Then one day I had to screech to a halt at this particular corner because of some truck (that was clearly more important than me), cutting me off. And this guy caming running up to make sure the kids were ok - not to sell me a newspaper. So he was in. The next day I bought a paper. And every Saturday and Sunday since. We have a small chat. I give him a smoke, that he doesn't ask for, but certainly appreciates. Thats it, my one and only friendly interaction at the corner of Jan Smuts and Bolton.

Then I was rudely interupted by a "service provider" of the garbage collecting kind. He just appeared one day and was persistent in his pursuit of my money. Just 10 cents, c'mon, I'm not even asking for a rand. The answer is no, more no, and a bit more, um, NO! And he keeps bothering me. Look I go through that particular intersection, alot and although 10 cents a day is only R365 annually, the guy is just not deserving as I get a lot of the "die white bitch" look from him. One look in particular starts to really disturb me and I am so tempted to call the police. I mean these people aren't supposed to be here anyway and this is getting out of hand. Instead, I tell my newspaper vendor. He sorts it. He asks me to point out which one and then makes him come to my car and explain his actions and apologise to me. Problem solved. Friendly corner again.

Today was my first Saturday at the corner since returning to Jo'burg. And there was my newspaper guy - ready and waiting.
"Where have you been?"
"I went home to the States for awhile"
"I was worried something happened to you when I didn't see you two weeks in a row"
"No, everythings fine, but thanks for your concern"
"And the kids"
"They're well"
"Welcome home, see you tomorrow"

I wonder if thats what being home is - when you have a newspaper vendor concerned about you and your family. Now, if I only could really make Six my bar, I might be able to make it through the next couple of years...