South Africa’s Green TV
IN South Africa: “Spending fever has reached all walks of South African life. Here’s a fellow who lives in a squatter camp beyond Somerset West in Western Cape who now wants a television set – a new one, mind, not that second-hand thing in the pawn-shop window – so he buys one from the High Street furniture retailer.”
But he’s back next day, saying the things keeps switching off just at the crucial moment. The shop checks it out and can find nothing wrong, but soon enough he’s back with the same complaint.
This time the shop sends out a technician to pop round to see what the problem is. When the technician gets there, he discovers our guy’s shack draws its electricity from a nearby traffic light, and that the TV only works when the light is green.
Is is pelican crossing?
February 18th, 2008 at 4:57 pm
Wooohooooh, thank you Mr Anorak
A story right on my doorstep … and it’s probably true as well! Anyone not living in SA and never having seen a typical squatter camp with all the shacks will probably think this is a load of bogwash …. but I assure you they’re pretty inventive when it comes to getting things for free
February 18th, 2008 at 7:36 pm
Only in Africa.
But, most often, only in SOUTH Africa…
February 18th, 2008 at 8:23 pm
Necessity being the mother of invention, and all that.
February 19th, 2008 at 12:41 am
Was going to ask: how do you mount a flat screen in a humpy but what I really want to know is: can you hang a plasma in a tent?
February 19th, 2008 at 9:38 am
Yes, very South African. I tell you if the world systems we know collapse, these are the guys you want to hang out with.
He could always relocate to an area where there is a pedestrian light - in other words it only turns red if someone wants to cross.
And if there is something he really wants to watch he just needs to tie a vicious looking dog to the traffic light.