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Aries:
Your financial outlook is bleak.

Taurus:
Your financial outlook is bleak.

Gemini:
Your financial outlook is bleak.

Cancer:
Your financial outlook is bleak.

Leo:
Your financial outlook is bleak.

Virgo:
Your financial outlook is bleak.

Libra:
Your financial outlook is bleak.

Scorpio:
Your financial outlook is bleak.

Sagittarius:
Your financial outlook is bleak.

Capricorn:
Your financial outlook is bleak.

Aquarius:
Your financial outlook is bleak.

Pisces:
Your financial outlook is bleak.

Isn’t it annoying when a Web service doesn’t realise that you can append useful tags to your username@gmail in order to create order in your mailbox, and separate mail out?

The New York Times Web site for example, won’t allow registrations to have the + character in them.

Sigh.

Gran Turismo

Originally uploaded by RetroJungle

There is something incredibly aeroplane-like about the design of the Vespa.

Just spent three glorious weeks in South Africa for a bit of R&R and a bit of work.

This has been the first time that I returned to the land of my birth in a year.

1. The sky in Africa is big. Really, really big. You think the zit on your nose is big – but that is nothing in comparison to the horizons of Africa.
2. The Overberg is still the most beautiful part of the world (certainly the parts that I have been privileged to see).
3. Johannesburg has descended into a pit of lawlessness. Small scale bribery seem to be rife and many, many motorists, especially those who operate very expensive and fast cars, drive without numberplates. How do they get away with it? Refer to the first part of point 3.
4. There are many pockets of hope. Spoke to a school principal who told me of positive things he sees in education. Heard from people in big business how they are working around stupid new legislation.
5. People are very lazy. South African work ethic is either a myth or it only exists in certain industries.
6. The lack of proper broadband is a biggie. I gave three lectures at different colleges/universities and none of the students either knew what cloud computing was or that Google offered hosted applications.
7. African people, generally, are incredibly friendly.
8. I’ve suddenly noticed many more West African faces in Cape Town.
9. The centre of Cape Town looks fantastic. It really is developing a unique city culture/fabric/architecture.
10. Creative people in South Africa are world-class.

And to close, a thought. All of South Africa’s many problems seem fixable. Specifically, I think networked thinking will play a big role in unpicking some of the knots that exist.

But …

There needs to be a clear demonstration of political will on the government’s side that they want to work with role-players from the private sector to do this.

Instead, they stay embroiled in corruption scandals.

The next 12 to 18 months will be telling.

Hopefully everything can be saved before all the good skills emigrate.

Here’s holding thumbs.