Time really flies, doesn’t it? Before you completely shake off last night’s vodka from your system it is drinking time again! There are easier ways of explaining things! And the vodka having taken the place of testosterone…oh, forget it. Just curious, what is it about the vodka orange mix that attracts the fair sex? I’ll tell you when ‘they’ tell me.
Noise, noise, and more noise. The noise level in this city is becoming so disturbing . It is becoming like a house where everyone is so drunk no one appreciates the value of lower, manageable noise and even complete silence now and then.
It is not uncommon to hear the clanking of Stiletto heels in hospitals, clinics and places supposed to be relatively quiet. It’s unfortunate that the pretty faces of the ladies aren’t supported by serious matter ‘upstairs.’ One doesn’t need a Godfather to be told the sick and the frail need silence and solitude more than anything. This is a city where noise, and a lot of it too, has become the norm.
Ear-piercing music from bars on the ground floors of condos has become too common. Especially those residents with young kids experience that feeling of being defenseless with no one with the legal muscle coming to their rescue. I find it hard to blame the owners whose life’s calling seems to be making as much money as possible.
But, those issuing the licenses should talk to the nearest psychiatrist. Once in a while this office or that warns about noise pollution. They even seal some businesses for not respecting the sound limit rules. A couple of times there were high profile incidents and people started thinking, “Finally the guys are up in arms to pump some sense into the senseless money-chasers. But with practically no follow up things get worse.
This is a city here you can make as much noise as you can and no one cares! The types of noise makes you think of… ‘A Tale of Two Cities’ sort of scenery. Megaphone assisted calls for money for the repair of this or that religious place often in a part of the country you never heard of. You aren’t even sure if such a place exists on the map of some regional office.
We’ve heard of stories of people who repaired their own houses, like replacing thatched roofs with corrugated iron, with the funds they collected from Good Samaritans. And the verdicts on such people are …, Entrepreneurial, for some, Mafiosi-minded for others! We’re in times where it is difficult to differentiate the genuinely clergy from the conmen.
Then there are announcements of the miracle medicines that can cure a hundred plus medical problems, including cancer. This shouldn’t have been one of those things that you pass with a simple shrug of the shoulders. Some office should have investigated the credibility of these claims and flash the red or green lights. I mean when you use loud speakers to announce that you’ve some miracle medicine to cure everything some responsible office should have said “What the hell is this all about!” But no; no one really cares!
The past few months announcements of another ‘miracle’ have taken over the city’s streets. The claims are that this chemical or something makes you cellphone screen so strong you don’t have to worry about dropping it on the cobblestone pavements. This should have been a scientific ‘discovery’ worthy of a space in science journals! They even use little hammers to show you that they meant business. The miracles never
seem to end; one other ‘miracle’ we have been hearing about for more than a year is this discovery of ‘local scientists’ which completely annihilates the mice and other rodents. The noise they make in the four corners of the city is so loud one can’t claim of not knowing about them.
Even the beggars with horrific looking wounds use megaphones these days! Of course, as to their injuries, well, numerous stories of foul play make the rounds. Just for the fun of it, have you watched how ‘injured’ players in the major European soccer leagues act? The way an ‘injured’ player rolls all over the field makes you think “Surely, this would be the end of his football career!” (Remember Neimar’s a famous- or is it infamous- roll!) Hey, the guy is in great pain! There is no time for ambulances to rush through the congested streets.
Get the helicopter ambulance, and get it ASAP! Wait a minute; not so fast. The guy is getting up; he is limping a little, and now he is running! Just like a Biblical story of someone suddenly walking on water! He is running like he was determined to prove Hussein Bolt was some sort of low league. A miraculous recovery deserving a whole section in a medical journal.
The Ethiopian Herald Friday 7 February 2020
