As I write this column I feel particularly virtuous because, although I downed a good few celebratory glasses of alcoholic cheer during the past couple of days I did not drive at all, thanks to my loyal designated driver who ferried me safely and soberly from party to party.
I kept hoping smugly that we would run into a police road block so I could put on my virtuous face and say, “of course I wouldn’t drink and drive, officer. Good gracious, what a thought!”
Things have changed in our corner of the Cape. Many years ago, when I was a student, I spent the day at Fish Hoek beach and was involved in rather a nasty car accident on my way back to university.
The first thing the police asked me afterwards was, “Had you been drinking?”
When I answered, “I had been in Fish Hoek, officer,” the reaction was,”oh that’s okay then. You couldn’t have been drinking if you’d spent the day in Fish Hoek”.
Now that fine old Fish Hoek tradition has been trashed and our town is as alcohol-sodden as the rest. I think it’s a pity. We’ve lost our uniqueness, but nobody seems to care.
As we approach 2020 I am planning to make my New Year’s Resolution, which usually lasts only a week or so, but I am particularly resolved to keep it up this time. I am promising myself that all through next year I will make a point of smiling and greeting at least one stranger every day.
I have a feeling smiles might be infectious. Maybe somebody I’ve greeted and smiled at will do the same to another stranger. Oh, I realise it’s probably just a Mary Poppins sort of notion, but I see no harm in trying it.
We all meet several people during the course of each day - receptionists, check-out ladies, bank tellers and petrol attendants among others - and if each one gets a smile and a cheery greeting it might just make their day a little brighter.
We have to do something to counter-balance the gloom and depression that’s being spread by our idiot political leaders.
In spite of Eskom’s incompetence I wish all our readers a bright year ahead.
Last Laugh
A man walked into the doctor’s surgery with a frog perched on his head.
“What seems to be the problem?” the doctor asked.
To his amazement the frog replied: “It’s my backside, doctor. This thing started as just a little wart and it just grew and grew.”
* "Tavern of the Seas" is a daily column written in the Cape Argus by David Biggs. Biggs can be contacted at [email protected]
** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Media.