Thoroughly Modern Millie

I had a meeting at Johannesburg Civic Theatre....COMING SOON...'Thoroughly Modern Millie'. On the poster is a blonde-bobbed girl in some 20's cabaret outfit.

What a strange place - Modern Millie rubbing shoulders with the actors in an Athol Fugard play and Jay Z.

Filling up at the petrol station today, taking advantage of lower petrol prices. The guy fills up the tank, washes the windscreen, checks the oil and water and the tyre pressure while I sit in the car. At the supermarket someone packs my shopping into a bag while I stand waiting. At the guesthouse someone cleans my room, washes my dishes while I work.

Someone used the phrase the 'culture of entitlement' that exists in South Africa. He didnt mean the situations above but how that's what exists for the average South African post-Apartheid.

We talk about the image South Africa is creating of itself for its own people. In the soaps and adverts on TV there's colourful textiles, masks, drumming and cowrie shells. When you look out of the window you see something different.

Contradictions whichever way you look.