Page 54 - Gilbert & Me_Neat

and down the country, seems hell bent on destroying public confidence at every opportunity it
gets, especially when dealing with youth in public. A seemingly innocuous meeting, between
youth and police, quickly turns bad, when just one officer simply can’t control himself, and
resorts to physical assault. These confrontations are captured and within seconds, are being
viewed and shared by thousands of people on social media platforms.

The usual apologies are given, the usual suspects are blamed for the confrontation, but,
regardless, the damage to the police and its reputation is done and trust is shattered.

I have personally witness this self-destruct mechanism at work among the police force, and have
many times commented on it publicly. I do not see anything changing, unless and until a civilian
police commission is established with broad powers to investigate and prosecute errant police
officers.

Anyway, ‘nuff of the lecture. Back to the day at hand. As I said this is day ten. Lawd, how
depressing is that? I need something to cheer me up!

COFFEE! With fresh beans!!!
It’s 7am: Shower, shave etc etc while the coffee is brewing.

I stood on a balcony savouring a nice, aromatic coffee and watched the world drift by. Actually,
just one man on a bike drifted by, otherwise it was pretty quiet outside. Except for the breeze and
the birds. It is exceptionally breezy today, I just notice that as the curtains are dancing widely in
the doorframe, flapping in every direction, as though they are for all the world trying to break
free and fly off down the road. I don’t mind the breeze – would be great if it brought some rain,
as often good breezes do, but there’s no sign of any relief from this heat wave and drought. I
consider watering the plants in the garden, but I don’t have a hose and the neighbours might
complain about me wasting water. I could argue that plants are living creatures too and deserve
to be treated as such, but it would be a dangerous argument to get into, especially as I’m atheist
and would be treading a thin line in terms of arguing about plants being living creatures. Maybe
I’ll sneak out later when nobody’s around.

Gilbert remains on the couch, he doesn’t go out on the balcony – I think he’s a little afraid of
getting sunburn, which is understandable, given his colour. He’s also too short to see over the
balcony wall.

A few minutes later that same man came drifting back, carrying the obligatory two black bags
containing whatever he’d been able to purchase at the store round the corner. It was early
enough that the queues hadn’t formed yet, so he was lucky enough to get in and out fairly
quickly.

I decide to do some housework – the place is dusty from the breeze bringing in dust off the road
outside and probably some of that Sahara desert sand that apparently gets brought across the
Atlantic (according to some meteorologists anyways). I start outside on the balcony, sweeping
the red brick tiled floor – bwai there’s a lot of dust! I gather it and empty my dustpan into one of
the planters, Done. Then I turn my attention to the living room and dining area, the hall way and