UGU Speaker Sthembiso Cele certainly had egg on his face at the ‘state of the district address’ in the Port Shepstone Civic Centre on Tuesday night.
He warmly welcomed everyone to the dinner and was especially “pleased to see our MEC for Human Settlements (Ravi Pillay) in the audience”.
He only realised his gaffe after guffaws from the audience.
The man he had singled out was actually none other than car salesman and colourful local personality, Bobby Naidoo.
The latter was chuffed as anything and admitted that he would be dining out on the story for a long time.
Councillor Cele took it in good spirit as well and will, no doubt, chalk it down as a minor embarrassing moment in his long political career.
Sards too ‘fishy’ for some
One can understand fishermen going ‘sard crazy’ at this time of the year, but why the rest of us?
The phenomenon was dubbed the ‘Greatest Shoal on Earth’ by the late John Tack who was the South Coast Tourism head honcho many years ago.
From a spectacle point of view, John was right… it certainly is a great show (if one is in the right place at the right time), but that’s where it stops for many people.
An unscientific poll conducted recently revealed that the vast majority of subjects preferred their sardines out of a tin.
“The fresh ones are bloody awful,” said one interviewee. “I’ve tried braaing them, pickling them, currying them and none of my family (except the cat) will eat them.”
Another subject said his son was caught up in one sard frenzy and waded into the sea with the rest of the mob. He caught enough to fill two shopping packets.
“He rushed into the house, proudly displaying his smelly, but bountiful booty and, as all proud parents do, we praised him for his hunter-gatherer skills. Luckily, I had already defrosted steak for the braai so I convinced him to store the sardines in the freezer for another day.
“A year later, I buried them in the garden.”
From now on, if anyone phones the Herald to ask: “Where will I find sardines?” – our switchboard has been instructed to say: ” Pick n Pay, Checkers or Spar.”
If you are looking for ‘fresh from the sea’, you would be better off phoning the Sharks Board hotline: 083 9139495.
