Ron’s Thoughts …

Some ads are very amusing, for example Cremora with “It’s not inside it’s on Top!!”

Or Lays chips with Francois Pienaar jealously guarding his crisps.

Some ads are pointless and a waste of the advertisers money. At the end of the ad I am often not sure what they are actually advertising.

Some ads are memorable, for example, “The fifth rose is for you.”

Some ads are simply irritating or obnoxious.

In this group the worst of all are the ads on radio for TV Licences.

They are coarse, high-handed, Big-Brother threatening and worse still, they are using my money to pay for that rubbish.

If I am compelled to pay my money to the SABC then should I not have an opportunity to indicate what programmes I would like to hear on radio and see on TV ?

Will Big Brother simply decree that You Shall Endlessly Be Brainwashed By Our Politics, (especially black-versus-white politics.)

In my later grandparenting years I have become aware of the strange anomalies of words we use in relation to our relatives.

Using myself as an example, I had a very close relationship with my mother. She died in her early fifties and then I found that I couldn’t call my mother-in-law Mom or Ma.

I was let off the hook when my first-born arrived and I could refer to my mother-in-law as Ouma.

For non-Afrikaans speaking people, Ouma literally means Old Mother.

I called my one grandmother Ouma and the other grandmother Nonna.

My oldest uncle I called Oom Ouboet and my youngest uncle I called Boetie.

I called my father Pop.

My sister called him Popsie.

My freinds refer to him as Your Father.

My children call me Dad.

My grandchildren call me Papa.

My wife calls me Ron.

I call her Lovie.

The grandchildren call her Oumie.

My son-in-law and my daughter-in-law call me Dad.

I like that. I think it shows a sign of love and respect.

It is a pity about the Proteas loosing their Twenty 20 cricket game.

It shows that the self-proclaimed experts were wrong and that we need the steadying influence of world-class players like Kallis when the pressure is really on.

Never mind, the world goes on and we are still very much alive in the World Rugby Cup for the Webb Ellis Trophy.

Come-on guys, we are pulling for you, ( and need you ).

Our financial experts are now proposing that we reduce the basket of contributing cost items from about 1300 to about 350.

Also that we should change from the cost of  VCR’s to the cost of DVD’s and from Audio tapes to CD’s  and that we should include the cost of Lotto tickets.

Big deal !!

Maybe they should add into their basket the inflation that results from Tito raising interest rates, (to curb inflation but actually causes more inflation.)

It is senseless to penalize home-owners with their bond repayments and farmers with their bank overdrafts so as to smack the naughty boys and girls who run up chemist and clothing accounts.

It is only day-one of this madness of South African politics whereby an elected member of parliament can change to a different political party and take his seat and his vote  with him.

As I said, it is still only day-one of the circus and we are waiting for results but, in my view, any politician that uses this gap to enrich himself or herself with no regard for the electorate that put him/her there in the first place is dishonest, immoral and a “skelm”