Apartment

The drizzle persisted as I lugged myself to Entrecampos station for a train to the Algarve. The Harris family are convening for the third year in a row, so I boarded a train to Loulé and then caught a taxi to the coastal town of Quarteira where I have reserved an apartment for the week.

When showing me the apartment and learning that I work in Mozambique, it transpired that the Portuguese owner had spent many years working in South Africa. As sure as night meets day, a white person with tendencies towards racial prejudice will feel compelled to conspiratorially share his or her views with another white person about how majority (black) rule has led to a deterioration of the country.

There are many factors contributing to South Africa’s challenges but the racial profile of the current leadership is not one. You can objectively say that the supply of electricity in South Africa draws more controversy now than during the apartheid era, and the instability of this service in South Africa is a common talking point. But on this, and so many other things, white superiority and subjugation of others are the ultimate causes. The root of South Africa’s problems is the racist pillaging and abuse by people of Dutch and British ancestry and the hideous inequality this has led to, which plays out now in what is still a very young country in terms of everyone having equal rights. It’s a bit difficult to hold this debate whilst an Airbnb host is handing over the keys to his apartment, so as usual, blip provides a useful platform to gather my thoughts.

Anyway, the apartment block has an appealing retro hallway, and after settling in, I toddled off to Vilamoura to reunite with the family.