I am on a road trip, randomly driving across South Africa. I have to say that I have seen more police on this road trip than any previous ones here. There seem to be a lot more speed traps (hurray!!) and road blocks to check for driver's license (another big "Hurray!!").
Today I was stopped at one of those road blocks. It was a police woman (Yet another "Hurray!"). When she saw my road atlas opened on the seat next to me she asked "where are you from?". I answered and she said "You are here alone? Where is your lover?".
Yep, "Where is your lover?" not my husband, boyfriend, sister or anything else.... my lover!!!
Quite a few answers came to mind. I can't remember exactly what I said but kept it to something like "No, I am alone".
From my experience culturally, South Africans do not get "alone" or "silence" (though I would add that San people do seem to get both "silence" and "alone" but I am not the expert), so I get that kind of comments a lot but usually not from the police. On the plus side (and yes another big "Hurray!" for that one) she never asked for a bribe, and that's always a bonus. And, for the record, yes, I have been asked for bribes by the South African police, but not on this trip. Maybe things are getting better.
Though, a few weeks back, driving home after a found raising dinner I had been to a police car blew through a stop sign without their lights on. I don't mean their flashing lights, I meant their head lights, at ten at night. And the husband of the friend I was with said: "One of the charm of South Africa is that the police is part of the problem". I don't know him nearly at all, but he does not come across as sarcastic, and this comment in particular did not sound sarcastic. So maybe things are not getting better. I don't know.
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