Today we celebrate 10 years of democracy, and the masses are off to the polls! I was in the queue at 7, whipped in and out in 15 minutes, and then came to work.
Due to the nature of things, our beloved leaders ensure that voting day is a holiday... THIS on top of the four days off we've just ahd for easter ... Now, emerging nations SHOULD really be doing as much as possible to get their manufacturing base on track, and productivity just might be a good idea ...
I digress - the fact that nobody is working today means that the roads are empty! A morning commute which would normally take an hour, in stop-start traffic (well, not for me - I roll over, go back to bed, and leave an hour later) whizzed past in a storming 15 minutes today. From front door to the office is dual carriage way, and three-laner freeway all the way! And today, ALL the lights were green for me in the fiddly bits round town!
Tore up the N1 at about 100mph (naughty boy) with a bloke behind me in a Gti Golf equally happy with the empty tarmac... screamed through the 'difficult' section near the harbour at speeds which would attract a large fine had anyone been watching! Just the sort of thing to set me up for a day at work (someone has to do it - see 'productivity' above) Aaah, the joys of driving!
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I don't know, I think having a national election is a good reason for a holiday maybe it would encourage more people to vote in this country
The roads have been quieter over here as well (apart from yesterdays accident on the M6) as there's a lot of people still on holiday with thier kids.
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Oh boy elections. May 10. Choice varies between current incumbent (unelected) who went to school with Slick Willie who got the job when she was Veep because her dissolute movie actor boss was impeached, another ageing film star lounge lizard who never finished high school, some gut who has 14 Hawaiian shirts all the same colour, a born again light night cheap hours bible thumper and an ex police chief alleged to have made a fortune in drug money and is still subject to a charge he murdered a gang of kidnappers (not that I'd hold that against him).
We will have a day off and normally votes are garnered by the traditional method of he who has the most money to buy chicken and rice for the masses to get them to sally forth on a 35 C day and vote.
Bur to motoring. Impact? You bet. Dozens of gaudily bedecked heaps of junk cruising down the street with crudely lashed up loudspeakers exhorting whatever candidate they support. Remember here EVERY government offical's job is up for grabs every 4 years, not just the President. Thus the city is totally uglified by millions of cheap posters which will stay there till the monsoon mercifully washes them away in July and the already horrendous traffic and pollution are compounded. I really ought to post some pictures. Worry is we may have another Taiwan looming if the vote is tight and I bet there are a few generals with their fingers on the trigger if that happens....
Democracy? Waste of time. Bring back martial law. Much more efficient....had jaywalkers doing 100 push-ups by the roadside and errant motorists put in a pen by the road for the afternoon so everyone could laugh at them or sent off to the police camp to trim the grass with nail scissors.
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Thus the city is totally uglified by millions of cheap posters which will stay there ... I really ought to post some pictures.
Oh? Running for Office, are you?
All our local parties put up tons of posters on the lampposts. Pain in the backside - made turning into main roads horrendous, as the visibility was severely hampered. The next day they'd all gone - the local informal-sector recyclers realised that cardboard/hardboard is worth something, so we have the sight of 'annexed' shopping trolleys loaded 6 ft high with posters weaving their way precariously along the hard shoulder towards the scrap dealers! Politicos are NOT happy. So bright sparks get the idea of climbing ladder, and attaching posters at greater height than the troley blokes can reach. Lasted one day. Greater height = greater exposure to the roaring south-easter, which rips them from the cable-ties used to secure them. Roads now strewn with large A2-size sheet of hardboard/cardboard. When passing over them at speed, they tend to get sucked up by the turbulence, and float up in the path of the next car ...
Oh, and now that the voting is over, I bet the few remaining posters will be ignored by the parties ...
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LOL! Same here exactly. I was wondering how I would argue my case for making an illegal u-turn when the no u-turn sign has a poster saying "Peewee Trinidad For Mayor" plastered over it!
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There is SOME homour in the situation. As well as election posters obscuring the lamposts, there are aslo several others, for pop concerts etc. While driving last week, I saw a poster of one of the local politicos (who has the nickname 'kortbroek' - literally 'short trousers' - because of his youthful approach) which had been over-postered, obscuring his name and party, by a poster advertising the band Limp Bizkit. Interesting juxtaposition!
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