In the heat of Zululand, it is not always easy to get fired up about anything. I do however enjoy the relaive cool of Mtunzini. I was in Empangeni yesterday to get my head examined - again - and it was like I remember Zululand summers - not so hot, but VERY humid.
Mtunzini is so much more cool - both literally and figuratively. Just about the only downside is that there are only a few supermarket type stores, with the main one being the Spar store. Typically Spar is the most epensice chain of stores. What would be ideal is for a Pick and Pay to be built here, but that WILL happen sooner or later. I was in Mtubatuba last monday, and they have opened a Pick and Pay there - on the site of the old hotel, that served the BEST Flat Chickens. It was worth a 130 kilometer round trip to get a Flattie for supper!
If a backwater like Mtubatuba can qualify for a P&P, it is not inconceivable that the local Spar in Mtunzini will have to plan in the short term for some competition. Apart from Spar, there are a few Greek type corner cafe operations, open later than Spar, but they load the prices accordingly!
For me it is cheaper to shop in a relatively large centre - Empangeni - where there are some competing chain stores - Pick and Pay, Checkers, OK and a very nice new Spar. I am generally in Empangeni once a week, to make sure I am not getting to mentally messed up! I do my large grocery shopping then, although I DO like to shop in the local Woolworths - not a cheap option, but the quality of food there is worth the extra cost.
Our local Spar is part of a chain - one in Mtunzini, one in Gingindlovu and one in Eshowe. Apparently there is a divine butchery in Ging, where my folks buy their meat - at wholesale price!
The new Spar in Empangeni is an amazement. The owner started off with a tiny Spar where a mysterious fire destroyed the building! With the insurance payout, this guy built a new Spar, that was obviously really profitable, so he built a much more impressive centre. To look at this guy, he looks as if he could not rub 2 coins together in his pocket, but he lives in a really impressive house, directly overlooking the Golf Course. He works hard, and has not much private downtime, but it has paid hansome dividends. One is forced to wonder if a huge bank balance is worth not having much private life! I dont think he even drives much of a car - a close neighbor was killed in his Ferrari. If you have a huge bank account, that must be one of the best ways of being taken out - driving a really fast imported sports car!
Sure if I worked, I would probably be in a senior well paid position by now, but since I was retired on ill-health grounds, I have found that I receive plenty of cash for my needs and wants - I do not need 2 Landrover Automatics, but I WANT them! (what is wrong with that?) I sense a member in Richards Bay resents that I own 4 cars - my Dicovery Landrover, my smaller Freelander, a Porsche and a Renault - although my daughter has commandeered this car - in truth, bought for her, since a teen does not need a 4x4 Landrver, or a Porsche! I sense that this member resents that I do not just give my cars away to the black members, but little does she realise that none of them are easily affordable for repairs. New tyres on my Freelander recently cost me R 6 grand, and so too did the 2 rear tyres on my Porsche. If I gave a black member one of these cars, they could not afford to run it, and they pretty soon would be on the Branch Presidents doorstep begging for Church assistance! I know that the government is keen on wealth creation, but if I gave a "needy member" one of my cars, I would be promoting poverty! The Church promotes self reliance but I could not give a member a car to get them to Church - that would impoverish them!
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