Mzanzi comes to the party ... and what a party it was ... IS.

I had my doubts about our ability to successfully organise an event of this magnitude but I need not have worried ... everything went more than well. It was cheerful and not even a shambles ... you had to be dead not to feel the 'gees'.

It was at the last minute, but Mzansi (South Africa's darkie nickname) came to the party with all the vigour of a diverse people who suddenly realises that they are capable of greatness and unity of spirit.

This morning I even left my laptop in the care of three strange young darkie guys while I went walkabout to think what I was going to write about.

While walking I suddenly realise that it is typical of us South Africans. We are always oscillating between hope and despair.

This thought brings me back to Amanda's beautiful painting called "Slave to Hope".

It is a very '70s painting in style and was done in that style deliberately. Amanda is a decor fundi and she went through a '70s phase' some eight years ago. So the painting is round ... about a metre in diameter and it hangs in the middle of my room.

On the 'hope' side she depicts herself sitting cross-legged on the edge of a magic carpet.

She's wearing a '70s reddish/pinkish flowery dress and is high up in the sky and blowing bubbles into the clouds.

It is really beautiful and I hang the painting so that I see that side the most. That means it is hanging facing me where I sit and use my laptop ... if I have a signal at home which is not often.
Otherwise I just sit and stare into space and at Amanda's painting.

Facing my bed is the 'despair' side ... so I wake up to that. Here Amanda plays Ophelia ... she is drowning in a inky blue sea and almost slipping out of the painting.

Above her ominous jellyfish float ... ominously.

Some mornings when I rush out of bed to get to the alarm clock I bump into it and it swivels on its mounting. When I finally get up after hitting the snooze button three times ... I always set my alarm for half-an-hour before I really have to get up because I find those 10-minute snoozes almost more rewarding than the night's rest. Your dreams become clear and memorable and it is ... lovely.

Okay ... so when I finally get up, I bump into it and when I sit down to have my obligatory cup of tea. It is a general rule that you should not try to speak or engage with me in any way before I had my first cup of tea in the morning.

Let's try again... When I am finally sitting down with my tea and cigarette ... I look to Amanda's painting for inspiration for the day and all I see is the thin metal frame.

Stasis between hope and despair ... a thin line ... one all too familiar to the citizens of Mzansi and I am always happy to realise that it's mine too.

But now I'm off to engage with the World Cup tourists ... I am very disappointed that there are so few female World Cup tourists. I am oscillating between hope and despair concerning my investment in Viagra that I made recently ... will the blue pills reach their sell-by date before I can try them out? I am a slave to hope...

Okay I lied... I'm off to watch SA play France ... in RUGBY!

When I get home I see the painting is actually called 'Slave of Hope' .... I wonder if my mis-representation of the title did not spring from a Freudian slap ... ok slip...

LANGUAGE IS INDEED SOMETHING THAT SWIMS IN YOUR HEAD.