No no, to be honest, we probably could've been off a lot worse.

I'd like to mention some locals that's been supporting my page. Please make a turn at their pages to show some support. The first would be a lovely site dedicated to our West Coast (http://www.sawestcoast.com). Visit Avril and say Hi! U see, we do have a lovely country to be proud of!

I've mentioned Zimbabwe in some of my rantings, now go have a look yourself: Visit Lorraine at Zimbabwe, the Countdown Begins. (http://www.freesite.co.za/general/lorraine) And you thought it's just us that have a hard time?
Need I say more - I will. I will be using Lorraine's site to keep myself up to date with what's happening there. Anyway, sounds like we have a lot in common.

Now lets' see what 2001 holds in store for us -
Inflation should come down to around six percent.
Interest rates might rise, though at this stage the chances are good for a decrease.
Salary increases does not bother me too much seeing that I've had an average of six percent for the past five years! What's changed? Not much. My boss is still stingy!

Now for the shockers:
Medical Aid fund contributions has gone up in January by an average of Twenty Three Percent! Considering that my boss pays approx. 40% of my current contribution and my "out of pocket" (2000) is already over Eight Hundred bucks, it is going to become mighty expensive for proper cover! Who do we have to thank? Angry black people who believes that AIDS is a white plot to stop them from breeding.

Can you believe that South Africa has 219 Thousand private security officers compared to only 90 Thousand police officers? Crime prevention pays - that's for sure. Turnover grew from 1.2 Billion Rand in 1990 to 11 Billion Rand during 2000. Pay the cops better, employ educated people that is trainable
According to information available, Interpol reported that South Africa had the highest number of murders and rape per capita in the world during 1997. Crime increased between 1994 and 1999 by nearly 22 Percent! And this happened after all people got the right to vote. They voted and this is what we end up with!

A little story about house-breakins:
My homestead got burgled while away on holiday. Luckily it was discovered the same day and my vacation was cut short. Travelled from Durban back home and reported the crime at 01:15. Cops arrived at 03:30 and my case was the Forty-Fifth breakin for the night for these guys (the cops). The were TIRED.
Took a statement and left with the promise that during the course of the day, fingerprints will be taken. A week later the fingerprint guy arrived - no-one informed him that he was needed in this case! That's where everything stopped.
Can we blame the police for not actively pursuing this case? I think not. Sad to say but true. I'm insured and to be honest, the electronic equipment stolen were mostly very old. What gets me uptight though is that two more houses got broken into in my street. Same guys? One definetly was. It could've been prevented. Moral of the story? There's none, but make sure you're adequately insured.

Back to some more positive news -
The Rand is strengething against the Dollar, but oh my, don't try the Pound. And this is where I'm planning on settling in a year or two!

Okay, cat's out of the bag. Yes, I've had enough. But more about that later.

Death count on our national roads eventually turned (for the festive season) at over Nine Hundred lives lost. Unacceptable. We loose enough productive people to AIDS. We don't need this!