It seems hard to believe that we live in a metropolis. I wrote in a previous post that I needed an academic hood: colour gold. We don't have that hood, they said, but come in, and we can choose the shade of gold, and make one up: our address is on our website (shown). This address took me to a glazier's. Funny, said the glazier, everyone comes here for academic apparel. Their own website address was wrong! I found the place, several kilometres away. I passed through a steel gate (open), another steel gate (locked), a heavy wooden door (locked), I passed six CCTV cameras, and three PIR detectors. OK, now we would choose the gold. They vanished for some 20 minutes rummaging for gold. Like this? they asked. But this wasn't just gold -- this was the hood itself! I'll buy that, I said. That'll be R450, they said -- after they had quoted me R250 by e-mail. Well, all right, R450. Consistency is not a mainstay of Africa. However, before I could buy it, they'd need to call the boss. The boss said, "I'm busy. I'll call you back." They said to me, "Sit down." Some time after, the boss called back. Now they couldn't operate a POS terminal. Could I? Well, there's always a first time. I succeeded in making the payment. Printout please. I printed a receipt. Merchant copy, please. I printed out a merchant copy. They handed me the merchant copy and kept the receipt.
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