BACK AT THE FACTORY.....

Before I start whining about what a talentless golfer I am........

As you might have figured out from my previous post, I DREAD driving back to Bloemfontein. As usual, I was bored shitless and I mean LITERALLY shitless. The arid climate of the Free State is constipation inducing. That's just one of the few reasons why I hate going back. So yes, I'm constipated again. No shit since Friday. I'm looking forward to toilet intoxication.

Don't think anyone will really be interested in my conjested bowels. By the way, there is a medical term for it. It is called SPASTIC COLON. Whatever.

Anyway, I decided to take a couple of pictures of this drop-dead-BORING 500km drive to the factory (50km outside Bloemfontein) with my useless Sony Ericsson Z600. The resolution is screwed. Well, at least it will justify my whines.... I think.

::: LEAVING JOHANNESBURG :::

After the first toll gate (Grasmere Plaza) leaving Johannesburg. It is Winter so note how DRY the fields are. Also, NOTE how constant the environment is from start to the end.

The STRAIGHT road with the sun blazing right into my eyes

About 181 km from my home (reset the counter after adding petrol). Attempting to be a "good girl" by setting CRUISE CONTROL at 130 km/h. A speed cop once told me (after bribing him of course) that if one will not get caught driving 10 km/h above the speed limit, This DID NOT last very long. Ha!

AND THE YAWN-YAWN JOURNEY CONTINUES...

227 km... And more dry fields..... (Note: Not many cars on the road. Just FYI, Bloem is despised as the 'countryside' city of SA) *yaaawwwwnnnn*

Ahhhh..... KROONSTAD. If those who read my earlier posts... this was where I got CAUGHT speeding and nearly got detained because I didn't have my passport with me blah blah blah. This is where the traffic cops congregate. Everyone goes at 120-130 km/h at this point....

My halfway landmark - VENSTERBERG... Getting there... Getting there....

And everything still looks the same.... Straight road, arid fields.... Good God... Still feels like I'm never getting there. Argh....

Start of R703 (just before the last toll gate entering Bloemfontein) towards the N8. Another 100+ km before reaching Botshabelo (that's where the factory is).... dreeeeaaaaddddddd.............

Finally on the N8 towards Thaba Nchu & Botshabelo.... But damn... traffic cops galore again.... *sigh*

My PET PEEVE - Road Works! Alternate halt of traffic, each side for about 20 mins. So close but yet so far.... bitch bitch bitch.....

::: WELCOME BACK TO BOTSHABELO :::

Same 'ol Botshabelo... as dry arid as ever. FYI, the street names at this area of Botshabelo are named after COLOURS. So there's Blue Street, Pink Street, Yellow Street, and the factory's at Orange Street. Funky huh? Breathe.... breathe..... going back to the factory won't kill.

Argh... this was the last shot I could take before my phone ran out of memory. So you've got to squint a little here.... Friday is like a 'happy day' at Botshabelo. See those vans? They are the TAXIS for the Blacks. Usually overcramped with humans. At the left, those Coca-Cola signages are individual stalls selling don't-know-what things. Botshabelo is an industrial area but ALOT of factories have closed down.... so quite depressing really. This photo is SO blur... otherwise you can see the mob of Black workers along the street. Oh well... maybe next time I will get better shots.

It is a fact I hate going back to the factory. It is not a racist thing or something. Simply, I get soooo bored whilst everyone else is running around the factory like a headless chicken. Since I moved to Joburg last July, I have been so detached from the factory that I end up feeling like an alien there.

Going back to Bloem and Botshabelo puts me on abit of a "celebrity" status. It is HILARIOUS watching those fascinated expressions from everyone - and I mean EVERYONE - both the Taiwanese and the Black workers. My celebrity status is more like being a source of amusement and scrutiny for everyone. An opportunity for them to jibe at my horizontally-endowed midget frame. I promise ya! I get so amused at their reactions.

They start out being nice... gasping in surprise when the stranger (me) turns up at the factory. And then it is "How are you? How are you?" THEN... it is like striking on bullseye.... "You've grown so fat!". Ok, thanks everyone. Thanks for telling a girl she's expanded horizontally once again. She so doesn't need to know that.

This time, however, was different. No FAT comments. I was actually anticipating the usual FAT remarks. However, when the first one gushed out with, "You've grown pretty!", I didn't know whether I should take that as a compliment or an insult. Sometimes, it feels like there's some conspiracy going on at the factory. Like someone had pre-warned them that I'm coming back and between the staffs and workers, they decided what they're going to tease me with. I SWEAR that everytime I go back, whatever remarks that come my way, it is unanimous. So this time, it is "You've grown pretty."

However, only one person realised the implication of that statement and he gushed out in embarassment after 2 minutes, "No no no, not that I mean you were not pretty previously..."

Whatever!
I still insist there is a conspiracy to make me the object of insult.
So yeee-yep! Friday was a day was walking around the factory hearing the same remark over and over and over again, "You've grown pretty. You've lost weight."

Just for the record, I have not lost weight and I have not grown pretty.
I STILL LOOK THE SAME.

Whatever!

I have marked my favourite question of this trip from the workers.

"Kerina (that's how they pronounce my name in their Sothu accent)! Where you come from?"

It is like, hello? Earthling calling earthling.....

Okay, I'm being mean.

I know what they mean by that question but it amuses me. I couldn't help but tease one of my favourite (no sarcasm here) sample room lady, Marshaba (no idea the true spelling of her name), "What you mean where I come from? You mean I might be from Pluto? Or Jupiter? Or Mars?"

I admit I've got abit of a soft spot for some of the workers at the factory. There's my Queen of Sample Room (can never remember her name. I always call her "My Queen", then there's Johannes, Ephraim (skinny guy who has heck was a strength!), Marshaba, this other quiet young girl (quite cute looking) from Sample Room, the cheeky dudes of cutting floor....

Amazingly enough, some of those sewing floor workers whom I have no recollection whatsoever ever meeting them during my time at the factory, would be yelling out excitedly, "Kerina! Long time no see! How are you?"

Then I stare at them in embarassment at my inability to identify them. Can I find an excuse for that? We used to have a few hundred workers at this Botshabelo factory so it IS quite impossible to remember them all... right?

I think I may still have some photos of the factory that I took eons ago before the sewing lines were moved Lesotho....

Yep! I do.....

::: THOSE FAMILIAR WORKERS AT THE FACTORY :::

The Sample Room - Lady at far left corner... That's "My Queen" of the sample room. Marshaba and the other cute girl is not in the pic.

The Cheeky Buggers of Cutting Floor. Missing quite a few of them in this pic. There's one who walks around with purple tongue caused by some sweet that he takes. Issac, the cutting floor supervisor, is not in the photo either. Hmmm.... They used to get traumatised by me. Haha.