Shopping and Signage in Mthatha

A chain store is a chain store is a chain store.  Or is it?

In Mthatha, the similarities to Cape Town stores are remarkable, except for some of the signage and niche-marketing of products. 

As usual, there are some signs which are quite puzzling:

I've heard of Briketts, but this is a new one.  This sign was mounted at the butchery counter, and I've yet to see the actual product.  Even Google can't tell me what this is.

Some products are unique to each location:

I had to smile at this one.  And of course I bought it.  It's jolly good!

I confess I didn't buy this one.  Nor did I buy any of the several other similar products in the same cabinet.

There are also products which you might not have spotted in chain stores in other towns:

Duct tape in Game. Camo duct tape!  Just imagine what fun could be had with cow-pattern duct tape!  Set-building could be raised to a whole new level...

There are very few food products and brands that I cannot find in Mthatha (chicken stuffing being one of them), and there are quite a few new products which I still need to try (madumbi being top of the list).

But there are some signs which I am pretty sure I will not see in Cape Town.  I was telling a friend about the Nando's sign which I saw.  Not to be outdone, she whipped out her phone and showed me these two signs she saw in the last week or so:

Ew.  I cannot un-see this sign.

This is my personal favourite:

Downtime

In Mthatha, Downtime is a regular occurrence - no power and no water.  We even have a 5000 litre JoJo tank in our garden, as do the schools and  many residents. 

But sometimes Downtime is a good thing.  Especially when it means Down at the Beach.

A few weeks ago, Bob was called to meetings in Port Elizabeth and East London.  He suggested that instead of staying at guest houses by himself, we (dogs included) should join him and make the trek to the seaside for a looong weekend.  Excellent idea!

So off I go to stock up on essentials. As I leave the bottle store, the chap helping me take my purchases to the car asks me if I own a B&B.  I tell him no, I don't.  "Does ma'am own a restaurant then?" 

Then I realise why he's asking.  The trolley he's pushing for me contains 1 case Hansa, 1 case Savanna, 1 box red wine, and 4 bottles Old Brown Sherry (just in case we needed to ward off a cold front).  To me, this is a perfectly reasonable amount of refreshment for a four-day weekend for two, with a bit left over in case of visitors.  Apparently this is not the case in Mthatha.

As the weekdays away were business for Bob, he was allowed to use company transport.  As I clambered aboard, my olfactory nerves were assaulted to the extent that my nose hairs were singed.  We had to endure five hours of Stale while we drove.  Stale cigarette smoke. Stale sweat. Stale junk food. Stale farts.

And it didn't end there.  On arrival at the shack, we discovered that a bushbuck ram had died in our back garden a few weeks before. The neighbours had wondered for several days about the dreadful smell, and eventually discovered the carcass in our garden. The degree of putrefaction was such that the date and cause of death could not be determined, but the length of the horns indicated that the buck was about 8 years old.

When we thanked them for removing the remains, they said there was no need - they removed it purely because they couldn't live with the smell themselves.

The spot where the bushbuck ram was found. 

 Fortunately that was the end of the bad smells, and the Downtime continued as it should - lots of reading, eating, sleeping, walking on the beach, laughing, playing games and chatting to neighbours, friends and family.

(In case you were wondering, the four bottles of OBs returned to Mthatha intact.  Unfortunately the same cannot be said about the rest of the provisions.)

Pirates of the Caribbean - Round Table Fundraiser

Remember way back in June, when I was thrilled at being involved with the Round Table fundraiser?  Well, it's all done and dusted, and over R38,000 was raised for charity in one night,  How awesome is that!


I played a very small part in the preparation, but met some amazing, crazy people along the way, and had great fun at the same time.

I know a few of these pirates - here all ready to be waiters, waitresses and barmen on the night  This vibrant photo was taken by Don from The Studio in Mthatha, who was the official photographer on the night.

The function was on a Saturday, and Round Table moved into the venue on the Wednesday.  They worked wonders transforming an ordinary hall into this magical wonderland::

One wall was covered with this backdrop of a magnificent pirate ship.  It comprised three enormous panels of paper, which were each mounted on a wall before painting. Colour matching between the panels was quite a challenge...

The back of the hall was turned into a Caribbean bar - complete with banana leaves.

Isn't the decor amazing! The third wall represented an old map - of the treasure hunting kind.  This backdrop is the one I spent most time on.

I was asked to paint a whale to fill up some of the space in the sea, and was pooh-poohed when I said that I'm not an artist, I'm only good as a slapper - slapping paint on with a brush or roller.  So I painted a whale.  A rather large one (well, they are large, aren't they?) The next time I came back to paint, after my trip to Grahamstown, my whale was nowhere to be seen.  It was deemed to be TOO large, and had been painted over.  On the left in the pic above, you'll see a smallish island - above the candles. That used to be my whale.

A close-up of my ex-whale

A lovely touch was that all the names on the map are the names of the people who helped with the project - painting, costumes, catering, acting...you name it. So my whale became Wendy's Waterfall. All those names are hand-painted - I could do about three in one evening, with a glass of wine between each name - to ease the cramp in my hand, of course.

The entertainment was hilarious.  There were five skits, performed by Tablers and Friends. My favourite was the Miley Cyrus 'Wrecking Ball' Parody, very loosely based on this version by Jay-Jay, Mike and Dom. I was intrigued to see how the Tablers would recreate the actual wrecking ball.  No problem - they did it Mthatha-style - with scaffolding, chain, and a very, very large brake drum.

Another favourite, which has become an annual tradition, was The Hat Dance.  The closest I could find is this one.  Our vibe on the night was much the same, but of course our guys were better, WAY better.

After a delicious three-course meal, the dancing started...and Bob and I went home.  This was a good thing, as I believe the party ended at 6 the next morning.

Wouldn't it be great if all fund-raising was this much fun?