"S" for Security

Moving to South Africa has opened an entirely new category of words in our games of Eye Spy.  Back in Australia, no one ever chose "Something beginning with S".  Too obvious.  Sand or sky, and very occasionally, an old Sandman panel van.

But here, there are options aplenty under the ignominious "S".  Here are just a few:

• Security fence
• Security man
• Security gate
• Security wire
• Security car (aka Armed Response Unit)
• Security guard
• Security bars
• Security stickers
• Security buzzer

...and all that's just 200m from leaving home!

The "B" words also seem to benefit from the heightened requirements for security over here...barbed wire, boom gates, brick wall and bollard, just to name a few.  As an aside, they even have a security company over here called "Black Watch".  I kid you not. Unsurprisingly, the owner of this firm is a fat white guy with a massive boat of the same name.

Keys
Being somewhat of a minimalist when it comes to keys, I am struggling a little with the phenomenal number of alarms, boom gates and locks I need to be able to access on a daily basis.  My key ring in Perth had 2 keys on it - one for the car and one for the front door.  More often than not, they could be found cunningly hidden in a random shoe in the basket on our verandah.  Clever.

We've also never used our house alarm, and have been known to go away leaving the front door wide open.  The amusing thing about that weekend was Simon's assumption that the state of my bedroom cupboards meant that someone had to have been rifling through them...

So, in addition to car keys, I now require one swipe card, three different remotes and a key to get past the security guards, two boom gates, house alarm and finally, the front door to get into our house.  We also have a post box key as delivering mail in this country seems nigh on impossible.

So these are the keys I needed to have with me today....

In a positive move, the sports club we are members of has just moved to fingerprint identification which makes me think they are more progressive than most of the banks here.

Vehicles
At this point, it seems appropriate to introduce you to our latest acquisition.  The lacky bands on the Avanza were just getting a little too thin, so it was time for an upgrade.  After discussing the many options and possibilities, we decided to bite the bullet and purchase our first ever NEW car.

"What?" I hear you say with total disbelief,  "Are you two totally crazy?" 

What indeed, and, yes, quite possibly.  

I can just imagine the poor Jackaroo turning green with envy as we marvel at all the amazing features of the new Landrover Freelander.  At every turn we are greeted with interesting lights, chimes and funny beeps.  It even has a USB port to charge our various thingamijigs.  Perhaps to all those 21st century people out there, this is nothing new, but for us it is like we have landed on Mars (...hang on...?).  These exciting vehicular noises are usually accompanied by a call from William in the back seat, "What are you doing wrong now?" to which we reply, "We're not sure, it should stop soon...."

So here it is in all it's visible white glory, complete with Simon in his spiffy LandRover jacket (complimentary of course, so we definitely paid too much):

At the time of publishing this post, I have yet to open the door into another car, petrol bowser or random hippo, so for the moment, the duco is holding up, and Simon and I are still friends.

Aside from the obvious fashion factor, one of the reasons we purchased a Freelander is that they are not currently on the hit list for vehicle thefts.  Most vehicles around here are stolen and taken across the border to Mozambique where they are dismantled and sold off as spare parts to intrepid travellers who venture north and get stranded with a broken down vehicle.  Look out if you own a Toyota.

Security features of the Landy are as follows:

• Automatic locking - once inside, all doors in the vehicle lock automatically.
• Window coating - this coating is designed to keep people rather than UV rays out of your vehicle.  The coating offers anti smash and grab protection, so the window won't shatter when someone attempts to steal your handbag from the front seat while you're waiting for the lights to turn green.
• Datadot - kind of like a second VIN number, but only identifiable by specialised tools, so stolen vehicles that have been tampered with can still be identified.
• Netstar Cyber Sleuth - doesn't this sound intriguing?  This is a hidden GPS, so that if the car goes off on holiday with someone else, we know where it is without it having to send a postcard.  How convenient.

And so...
...let's not get too bothered about security.  One of the most exciting features of the Little Landy is the sunroof, through which we can poke our heads (and bodies for that matter) whilst on safari.  Can't wait.  Just have to remember to keep an eye out for any low branches...