National Braai Day Raises Concerns

According to one of those anxiety-inducing little countdown clock-widgets located here, there are currently only 12 days, 9 hours, 32 minutes and 59 seconds until the outbreak of National Braaiday.

Worse, and even more worrisome, by the time you read this, there will be even less time ticking away. And every time that clock ticks off another second, we can't help wondering, and worrying. And the big day falls on a Monday this year — what if nobody shows up, and the whole thing is just one big colossal failure? Will Emeritus Archbishop Dr Desmond Tutu, patron of this important event, have managed to wrap up that little mess in Darfur in time to get back for a bit of burnt boerewors? And how come those clocks running down always bring up grim thoughts of death and mortality and of how fleeting life is, and how much of it we're wasting standing next to the braai with a beer in one hand and a fork in the other? And what will happen to that little clock once its time has passed? And can any of this time-pressure be good for the meat-grilling business? It does almost certainly make us need a drink. Maybe the beer industry is secretly behind the whole thing. And that worries us too. But slightly less.