Above: Two versions of the ’stop-nonsense’ wall. Other versions include the electrical wiring on the outside (at a 45o angle) with razor wire on the inside. God help you if you’ve locked yourself out the compound and the friends with your spare keys are away on vacation.
The intonation in which the name was related to me still has me tittering when I recall it. The subtext was “only serious thugs invited, the rest of you chancers…stop your nonsense”
Was chilling with a dude who has recently been to a police fitness test. You do a fitness test and a written test before the police decide whether or not to take you on as a recruit. The guy in question’s about… 5′2”.
Me (R): How did it go.
Him (T): It was alright, they were wanting a lot from us, it was very hard.
R: What did they want you to do?
T: Well, we had to sprint 200m, then carry a 75kg bag and climb a wall with it. All in 4 minutes.
R: 75kg? Are you sure? ’cause that’s way too heavy!
T: Yep
R: How far did you have to go with the bag?
T: Another 200m
R: How high was the wall?
T: It was…. (looks around for an example) it was like that wall there, that stop-nonsense wall.
R: Well, I hope you did well and that they’ll call you back.
T: I saw some very strong women there. A lot of these colored and white women. Very determined. I saw some very fat women sprinting and carrying (50kg) their bags and fighting to get up the walls. Eish. some people really needed that job. If I were a judge there, I would have given them the work on account of how hard they were trying.
*********************
A private security guard I’ve known for a couple of years calls me the other day. Says he’s changed jobs, moved on up to a prison job in his home province. In conversation with a colleague of his, I mention how impressed I am that he made that shift. The colleague indicates that for that shift to happen, he parted with R6,000. All that’s standing between the private security guard and a cushy permanent job with benefits.
