Hello Port Elizabeth!

Arrived at 6.30pm (6 hour drive from Mthatha) Uneventful journey except for a roadblock in Kingwilliamstown. A very chatty (aka bored) trio of police officers asked me where I was coming from and where am I going to.

"From Mthatha" made their eyes light up. They asked to search my luggage for illegal substances. Perhaps they thought I'd been to the Doobie Rally in Port St Johns.  Instead, I whined, "Do you have to open my suitcase, it took me all morning to pack it and get it closed. And besides, it's got a padlock. Do I have to go and look for the key now? I really don't want to drive in the dark..." It worked!

But they insisted on looking inside my hand luggage, which is stuffed with documents, files, keys, cables and my laptop.

"So," came the inevitable question, "What do you do in Mthatha?"

Here we go again, I thought. But before I could reply, he answered his own question,,,

"Are you a missionary?"

Which leaves me wondering if Helen Zille looks like a missionary.

Or if missionaries look like Helen Zille.