I flew to Johannesburg yesterday and had a very interesting day. The first thing that I managed to achieve was a fine for talking on my cell phone while driving. My personal policy has always been that I return all calls while I am driving home, that way I am able to use that wasted driving time to good effect. The only difference is that I am able to connect my phone to Bluetooth in my car and that way talk 100% legally. Like an idiot I was talking on my phone while driving a hire car and so I have a lovely new fine to show for it. Quite frankly, I broke the law, now I need to pay. I had the most interesting discussion with the traffic officer who gave me the fine. I think he was most surprised to have a conversation with somebody that he was fining. Regardless I explained that in Tanzania it is not illegal to drive drunk but you may get fined as an ex-pat if your car is dirty. He was intrigued! Before I drove off, he apologized for messing up my day. I was gob smacked. Here I had broken the law and he was apologizing for doing his job! Where have we come to in society when the norm is not to accept your just punishment when you err? After that I actually felt good about accepting my fine as that conversation was probably the highlight of his day!

After a great meeting, I left Sandton in Johannesburg to get to the airport. The tiny, small, miniscule factor that I had overlooked was that there was power shedding in place. This meant that a number of key Johannesburg traffic lights were off. The traffic jams were endless. The local radio did not seem to have any idea of the extent of the problem and so neither did I. After realizing how bad the jam was I thought that I would get clever and use my old knowledge of the area and perhaps escape the congestion. Boy was I wrong. I tried three other routes with the same result – more traffic at every turn. My problem was that it was now peak hour and I was now more stuck than before. A mere two and a half hours later, I arrived at the airport. I had been thoroughly beaten by the system!! My boss who was in the same traffic managed to get to the airport about an hour faster than me. Serves me right for being clever – I need to learn that I am a country bumpkin now! I am looking forward to my commute in the future – roll out of bed and walk upstairs (try not to trip over the cat)!

I got to wondering what traffic was good for. The message was pretty clear that using my cell phone was out! Sure you could eat your lunch (but that is messy). Perhaps you can meditate, certainly one could pray. Calf lifts or leg raises may also work. A question, why do cars not have a traffic feature where you can link up your laptop and do a bit of work in those busy times. In fact that idea inspired me to write this piece while driving. Now there was a good use of wasted time. I sure was not going to touch my cell phone though!!!!

If you sit in a mess of congealed cars on a daily basis – my thoughts are with you. Hang in there and find work closer to home……..