On 25 July I reported that my telephone was out of order - there was no dial tone.

On Sunday 29 July, which I thought was quite fast, someone from Telkom came to check the phone and the line.  He checked the line where it entered the house, and it was dead there.  No signal.  He then disappeared, and later came back after some investigation and told me that the problem was with an underground cable that had broken.  They'd be seeing to it.

Later in the afternoon, person #2 phones, and wants directions to my place to fix the line.  I told him someone had already been, but he knew nothing about that, so I gave him directions, and waited.  Nobody came.

This morning (30 July), at 7:30am, I was phoned and told by a lady, person #3, that she was coming to fix my phone.  She said she'd be there at 8:30am.

At 9:50am I left for work to attend a meeting; their offices didn't answer the phone, so I couldn't let them know.  When she did arrive, nobody was there, so she went back.  She phoned later to say that we'd have to make another appointment, because it must be something wrong with my phone.  I told her that the first guy from yesterday (29th) had said it was an underground cable.

I'm also not sure how it can be my phone if it's dead where it enters the house.

Updates later.

Update 1 August: I got an SMS today saying that the fault had been resolved.  When I got back home, the line was still dead - nothing has been resolved.

Update 7 August: On the 1st, I reported the problem again online.  I got an SMS with the reference number.  I've heard nothing since.  Tomorrow it will be 2 weeks waiting for Telkom to solve the problem.

Over at LumenGentleman's site, the Summorum Pontificum Contact Database has been set up.

So far, only 3 from South Africa - one from Onderstepoort, the country's veterinary centre, and two from the Eastern Cape - me and someone from Grahamstown.  Quite far, and I'd hope for something closer, but I've never visited Grahamstown, and I might if they have the Latin Mass in its extraordinary form.

I went to Mass here in Umtata tonight.  This time they said the creed.  Communion was via the "take and dip" method, with no extraordinary minister of the Eucharist assisting - the chalice was on the altar, the priest down below.  Interestingly, half the congregation didn't self-communicate.  And at least they said the creed this time.

If you're from South Africa, and want to see more use of the 1500 year old liturgy, the one used at Vatican II, also known as the Tridentine Mass, the old Latin Mass, the Liturgy of Pope Pius V, celebrated according to the missal published by Blessed John XXIII, then go and register as a contact.

Driving in Umtata is quite amusing, and quite dangerous at times.  Probably a collection of the worst drivers in South Africa, probably excellent drivers compared to the rest of Africa.

I think a very high percentage of drivers here either have no licence, or they bought it.  If you're a government official, or work for one, the rules of the road don't apply to you, as the newspapers recently pointed out.  But they don't apply to anyone else either.

The yellow lane is a passing lane for taxis in many parts of the country; here, that holds true, but the oncoming lane is also a passing lane for taxis here.  As soon as it's dark, and you can no longer see the lines on the road, they become irrelevant, as I discovered in yesterday's power failure (almost as common as roads here in Umtata.)

When I had nearly reached my destination, driving in the middle lane of two, with cars passing me in the parking spaces on my left, I luckily didn't know whether I needed to turn left or right, so I turned left and parked.  Had I tried turning right, I'd have ended up in the funniest traffic jam I've seen.

In normal society, if the traffic lights don't work, they should be treated as a 4-way stop.  In Umtata, you just don't stop.  Other traffic has to wait for you.  It's a bit better at real 4-way stops.  There you just have to push your way into the intersection.  If you're second in line, you can get through without waiting your turn simply by going through on the tail of the car in front of you.  Generally, the unwritten rule here is that if the car entering the intersection hasn't yet obstructed your path, you can still enter and go.

The traffic jam was a perfect example of how rush hour traffic in Africa works.  Everyone has the right of way, everyone can go first, so everyone does.  And by refusing to allow anyone else right of way, it ends up as a huge mess.  Nobody can move.  Eventually the police arrived and I assume they sorted it out, after solving a dispute between a car and a Fidelity Guard van whose noses were almost touching, each refusing to move for the other one.  I left after getting a few photos - not ideal ones, in the dark - with my cell phone's camera.


A bit blurred, but you can make out the green van with Fidelity on the side.



Some cars had opened their doors.  The drivers had to explain to those who didn't have right of way how they should drive.

Will Africa ever learn?