June 19 - Armed response

OK, so I've said before that our apartment is like a maximum security prison, right? Well, today, we met the guards.

On every home or business around in Johannesburg, there is barbed wire, electric fences, and signs that promise "armed response" in the event of a security breach. Our apartment is no different. Every day when the last of us leaves, that person arms the alarm system. Today, when I was the first person to get back to the apartment, I forgot the alarm system was on and just walked in like I owned the place.

What's funny about this is that the alarm did not go off straight away. It wasn't until Fawzi walked into the garden that the motion detectors out there were tripped and the alarm went off. At first, Fawzi and I did not realize our alarm was going off. The alarm itself was only sounding in the master bedroom, where Joe was taking a shower. As I sat in my room and Fawzi sat in the garden listening to what we thought was a far-off alarm, Joe was trying to shower through an air-raid siren in his ears. When I finally realized that our place was the one with the alarm issues, I frantically ran to the master bedroom to try to shut it off, further disturbing Joe's not-so peaceful shower. When I was finally able to turn the alarm off, the question was really when, not if, there would be an "armed response."

After about ten minutes, I heard the phone ring. There is no reason for anyone to call us, and in fact that phone is only there to control the gate on the street. They were here. I obligingly buzzed them in from the phone, but did not speak to anyone. I told Fawzi to brace himself, and we opened the door to meet our guardians. When I walked up the steps a bit, I was confronted with two burly black guys, both with what looked like automatic weapons. Each had their hands on the weapon in a ready position to open fire. They were very cordial, however, and believed my story about how we were renting the place from a guy named Graham and that we accidentally tripped the alarm. My biggest regret was that I did not get a photo with these gentlemen before they went on their way.

That was to be the most eventful moment of an otherwise uneventful day. Shortly thereafter, the apartment owner Graham stopped by. He stopped by so shortly after, in fact, that it seemed he had been alerted about the security breach and was stopping by to make sure everything was OK. In fact, he had no idea about our alarm-related issues and was only stopping by to clean up a bit. When I told him we needed a number of someone to help get the scratch out of the car that we put on it leaving the Worst Parking Spot Ever™ at Ellis Park, he simply produced some silver polish, and completely obliterated the scratch himself. Avis will never know. Heh heh.

Later, we visited the African Craft Market at Rosebank Mall. It is a classic bargaining market, where you can get discounts as much as 50% off the "original" price (nothing has a price tag). It reminded me a great deal of bargaining in Istanbul at the Grand Bazaar. I shopped for a while, making sure to pick up some lovely trinkets for each and every one of you reading this. One stall was run by a young man named Norman and his brother. I bought a stone rhino from Norman, who was unfortunately wearing a Mexico shirt, but was the artist who had produced the rhino.

Norman the stone-carving guy and I in the African Craft Market at Rosebank Mall - Johannesburg

All that was left to do was have a great dinner, and we went straight back to the Local Grill, which is walkable from our apartment. Another great steak dinner down, and just a few more days in Johannesburg. OK, gotta get rolling, until next time...