Signs of the Times

Most of us are familiar with most of the road signs. However, in the last few years, new signs have started appearing on our roads.  This one is quite new to Cape Town:

 There are also signs which we don't see too often in suburban Cape Town, like this one:

However, when driving from Port Elizabeth to Mthatha last month (a 5-hour drive), I realised that road signs actually tell a story...  

Often, this is the only indication that you are approaching an inhabited area

This sign is seen regularly between PE and East London. There are none after East London.  Is it because most of the land after EL has been given over to cattle grazing, or because the vegetation before EL provides better opportunities for concealment?

This is quite a common sign along the N2, so it may not always be a good idea to travel at 100kph as the sign in the background suggests.

  The first time I saw the 'Cattle Crossing sign, I was reminded of this call to a radio station in America:  

 

After a while, it seems as if the authorities got a bit fed up with putting a 'Cattle Crossing' sign every kilometre or so, and changed their strategy:

But even that, they decided at the Great Kei River, was too onerous to repeat every 10km, so they just put this one up, to get the warnings over and done with:

This one makes statements about several things:

1. There are quite a few schools in the rural areas
2. These kids have no means of transport to get to school
3. They walk along the N2 
4. They have long distances to walk to school and back each day

This was my absolute favourite.  It ranks up there with the 'Toads Crossing' signs in Noordhoek and the 'Tortoises Crossing' signs on the West Coast

But there's no sign like the sign that tell you you're home.  Ads like this are nailed to the trees all along the N2 as it comes into Mthatha.

Hunnee, I'm home!

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.