Traffic Official Demands a Cooldrink
South African currency “THIS is a nightmare,” I remember saying to myself as a small handwritten sign pinned at the door, screamed: “... No bookings will be made today. Sorry for any inconvenience caused.” I had woken up at 4am that Friday because my driving instructor had told us we needed to be on the road by 5am or 6am, the latest. We were a group of four learner drivers going to Somerset East, about 180km outside Port Elizabeth, to make bookings for our driver’s licence tests. We went to Somerset East because the “nearest” dates we could get from both Port Elizabeth and Uitenhage traffic department offices, were in March 2010. The instructor, driving his idolised, left-hand-drive imported Jeep, came to pick me up at 5.30am; eventually leaving Port Elizabeth at about 6am. Those familiar with the R63 road leading to Somerset East - serene small town, nestled at the foot of the Boschberg Mountains - would agree that the hills, farms and wild animals, along the route form a pic