Avatar photo

By Dirk Lotriet

Editor


The good and the bad of 2023

I, for one, am glad to see the back of this year – 2023 was perhaps the most challenging year of my life. I faced many obstacles this year.


Wow! Didn’t this year just fly… I, for one, am glad to see the back of this year – 2023 was perhaps the most challenging year of my life.

It started with the lovely Snapdragon developing a life-threatening condition which necessitated a dangerous operation.

ALSO READ: Driving on the Rea Vaya lane? You will get bust!

I was confronted with the finality of death in a family such as ours, and the many hours spent in front of the mirror was life-changing.

She survived, but the malfunctioning hands and the never ending pain is a constant reminder of just how fleeting the structures are that we see as permanent.

Workwise, the challenges were huge. Financially I had to pull my belt in. I battled with my health…

There were also good things happening in 2023. I became a grandfather. Egg, the apple of my eye, went to “big school” when she started grade one.

But overall, I can’t be more relieved to see this terrible year passing. Next year will be great, I’m sure… Of course the pressure took its toll.

ALSO READ: Christmas shopping is ruthless – good thing I had a plan

I’ve always seen myself as above being involved in parking lot incidents – something I’ve always considered as Snapdragon’s domain.

Yesterday alone, I have been pivotal in three parking lot arguments. While doing my Christmas shopping, I took a wide turn to manoeuvre into a particularly tricky parking spot.

A bossy woman – judged by her looks she will be described as a Karen – shouted at me: “In this country we drive on the left side of the road!” I exploded.

I explained to her, in language that cannot be repeated in a good publication such as The Citizen, that we were in a parking lot, not on a public road.

ALSO READ: Kunene says minibus taxis not to blame for attack on e-hailing cabs at Maponya Mall

That nobody appointed her as a metro police assistant. And that I seriously doubt her intelligence. On my way home, I had words with a parking lot assistant when my parking ticket didn’t work.

And that evening, I had an argument with a taxi driver at my local supermarket because he insisted on parking in a bay reserved for people with disabilities.

I think I won those little battles, but I have lost the war. Those incidents were mere symptoms of the fact that 2023’s pressure had made me a jerk.

I’ve got work to do on myself in 2024…

Dear reader, may you all have a terrific festive season. And may you avoid conflict in any form. Particularly in parking lots.

Read more on these topics

taxi drivers

For more news your way

Download our app and read this and other great stories on the move. Available for Android and iOS.