The fans' instrument of choice is louder than a chainsaw

South Africa makes you think. This morning I took the Metrorail from Fishhoek on the Cape peninsula to Cape Town city centre. As we pulled into the station car park my host said “you’ll have to decide what ticket to buy, first class or third class.” As with so much in South Africa, there is no second class, no middling position. There’s the expensive carriage or the cheap one. Sensing my surprise, my host looked at my laptop bag and asked, “are you carrying your gear?“

“No, just my phone” I replied.

“Well then, you can go either way, but they’ll be more to see and hear with the people”.

First and third class on an urban light rail system? As an experiment I bought a first class ticket and took a trip through the train as it snaked its