DUNDEE KZN: Parting Shot – We are evolving after a year of masking and washing

A year after Covid-19 got us to finally wash our hands, society has moved on after surviving the ‘hard’ lockdown, booze ban and a rather suspicious smoking ban.

But human memory is so short – perhaps even shorter than what’s her name from Nemo. During the dark days of April 2020 – when only litter, police and very hardy souls getting their SASSA grants seemed to move around the desolate town – it seemed as if we would never go back to normal again… not that we ever were. Now that the lockdown has eased, the bars are full, the bottle stores are busier than the post office queues, and cigarettes are no longer R80 a packet, many are foregoing wearing masks.

One feels for the kids at school, having to jump through all the Covid hoops of being masked up while being at school, having their temperatures checked, and many only attending classes every second day. But while children queue up with pleasing military discipline to undergo all protocols in Oxborrow Street, the morning posse of students – presumably from a tertiary institution elsewhere – rumble past that same queue and that posse do not bother to wear masks or practice what is euphemistically called social distancing.

The narrow pavement resembles a bit of a rugby scrum as the civvies-clad group literally elbow their way past those queuing up. But we guess that’s human nature and that’s why there is litter, noise pollution and a hundred other social ills as many live in their own self-serving bubbles.

Now that we are allowed to move around with a bit more freedom, we can consider exciting things to do in and around our fair area, considering that ‘big travel’ is not allowed.

You can watch the traffic lights change in Willson Street while playing “spot-the-mask”… and here are some other fun ideas:
– Avoid the plethora of car guards and beggars at every robot and outside every store selling food.
– Inspect the wrecked vehicles at the hospital or the SAPS salvage yard.
– Have a braai in McPhail Park. Oops, sorry! Ever since that VERY expensive fence has been put up, you can’t get into the place.
– Drag race down Union Street.
– Shoot a few shots in the air and see how long it takes for someone to post hearing shots on a Whats App group
– Dodge the informal settlements on the pavement outside Shoprite.
– Visit the muti-man whose business is now spreading out all over the pavement on the corner of Willson and Beaconsfield Streets.
– Detect where the municipal swimming bath / caravan park / Lions Clubhouse / show grounds used to be.
– Dodge the cars whose drivers seem to think that the middle of the road is a great place to park.
– Bonus activity: start a “ponzi” scheme.

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