Blue Monday and Oros PART 2

I arrive at work with the welcoming sight of closed doors with signs that read: "ENERGY SAVING TIP: IF THE HEATER IS ON CLOSE YOUR OFFICE DOOR" And in smaller print: "Thanks for caring for the environment".

We are working for a environmental programme after all and being by now a kind of heat-seeking missile after a hell-ride in a real skoroskoro, complete with holes in the floor through which you could see the cold tar passing and what is worse the cold air coming in at high speed, I'm all for preserving heat in whatever form.

I politely knock on one door and find nobody home. But it is warm so I stand there for a while, while cunningly thinking about my next move ... which is to go and politely knock on the second door ... same story.

At Charles Moore's office I found them all huddled around what they called a 'production meeting' and I join in with the repeated assurance of how happy I am to be there. They are really huddled in a production meeting not just around the heater and have scant regard for my travails.

So having attended the production meeting I am eagerly at work in my office where the erudite Mister Zee has turned the aircon up to the maximum ... to my great delight.

In the meeting it was made clear to me that I should prioritise an interview that needed transcription ... so I open my inbox and see 'interview', open it and start beavering away ... for about three hours ... before I gently inquire about the spelling of a name mentioned in the interview ... I am told that I was not supposed to work on THAT interview because it has to be shot again.

I work on something else and catch a lift home with Charles who complains bitterly that the public broadcaster which is commissioning the show, the SABC, is still cash-strapped but they did find it in their budget to buy R3 million to spend on tickets for the World Cup.

Corruption is rife in that organisation and every new broom they bring in seems more keen than the previous to sweep ever larger amounts of taxpayer's money into their own pockets. The carpets are already too worn to sweep anything under.

I tell Charles to stop depressing me further and we part ways in silence as I get off at Nuno's and he heads home ... equally depressed.

There I meet Jan who is in possession of my spare credit card which I badly need since I lost my main card in the Lollipop Lounge last Thursday after a night of ... well let's put it politely ... excess.

(The Calvinistic part of me, that can suddenly make a forceful comeback after such an event, would have me believe all my other troubles stemmed from that night... I decline the invitation of believe.)

So happily re-united with some form of cashflow I drink a dram or two with Jan and friends only to walk home into further darkness in my area. I turn on my heel and head for Charles's house to watch our Monday night edition of the show ... only to see if some glaring error did not slip through.

I've been working on the show now for three months and have not seen much of it. I only watch the sub-titles.

Anyway Charles invites me to sleep there due to the energy crisis at my humble abode and I gladly accept. Another cold night and fighting with polar bears would have been too much for my frail frame of mind.

TO BE CONTINUED...