More postcards from beyond

I say!

Here are some more postcards from my collection.

The first one shows the first (of many) establishments from which Spud was given the sack. As I understand it, he was working as a salesperson at Dick Smith's. A potential purchaser of a warmed toilet seat got into a discussion with him as to how warm a toilet seat should be before use, and suggested that the product in question wasn't sufficiently efficient. Spud got rather flustered, and not knowing what else to suggest, dropped his trousers, sat on the seat, and declared "Well...is THAT warm enough for you now?"


The second postcard shows, in effect, the Zimbabwean equivalent of Hotboy, outside his hut. Actually, the chap in question is a bona fide witchdoctor.


The final postcard shows a Turkana women, preparing lunch.


MM III

Postcards from beyond

I say!

Postcard writing seems to be a dying art nowadays, what with digital cameras and email etc. Here are three postcards I found in my collection, all from people in Australia. What a wonderful country Australia is. I can't imagine why the cricketer Shane Warne has decided to become a German.

Anyway, the first card was from Carslemane. It's dated some time ago, and the only words I can read from the drunken scrawl on the back is "...bonzer new station at Waly Waters..."

The second card, I believe, shows Spud's Mum's holiday chalet. The caption, which seems to have been cut off at the bottom, reads "Australia's High Country". Presumably there's a dagga plantation nearby.
The final card was from Spud, from a holiday in Thailand. Spud is not what you would term a mental giant. He does not seem to understand that the reverse of the photo is where one is supposed to write one's message.

MM III

Bushmen and numeracy

I say!

In my last post I explained the game of Backwards Roman Viz Biz Buzz, which involves lots of numbers, and mentioned that I had been introduced to the game in a bar in Maun. Maun is on the edge to the Kgalaghadi (place of thirst, otherwise known as the Kalahari Desert).

The original inhabitants of this area are known as the Bushmen - which is not very PC, but they prefer this name to San, etc. Now then, a long time ago, the Bushmen had very little concept of numbers. In fact, they didn't really have any words for numbers. They had a word for 'one' and another word for 'more than one' and not much else. I know this is true, because the late Laurens V-D-P told me this. In fact, he told me this, plus much more, in Rileys Bar.

Anyway, this was quite appropriate for the Bushmen's surroundings, for in the Kgalaghadi there is not much of anything at all, apart from emptyness. So it is no wonder that their numeracy was basic. In the Kgalaghadi there would tend to be, for example, either a lone zebra (one), or a herd of zebras (more than one), or one snake, but very rarely more than one snake (as snakes don't mix well), or one baobab tree, or lots of baobab trees (signifying a likely place of water).

It was particularly touching to be introduced to a game of numbers in such a setting.

Here is a snap of one car (our trusty Toyota) in the Kgalaghadi, which has come along one path, along which more than one car has travelled before. There is more than one cloud in the sky.

And here is a snap of one broken branch, in the Kgalaghadi.

Ah, but if the traditional Bushmen had come upon Rileys, this is what they would have found out the back. Of course, Rileys was not built in the time of the traditional Bushmen.


MM III

Backwards Roman Viz Biz Buzz

I say!

I noticed this mental arithmetic test over at Opening Time, and it reminded me of a game I learnt at Rileys Bar, in Maun, some years ago. The snap at the bottom of this post shows a young Menzies IV outside the grill at the same establishment.

Anyway, the game is called Backwards Roman Viz Biz Buzz, and it is quite simple, once you get the hang of it.

Many people will have heard of the game Buzz. To play Buzz, you sit in a circle and in turn, progressing to the right, shout out numbers loudly, starting with ONE! then TWO! then THREE! and so on, until you reach a number with either a 7 in it, or a number which is divisible by 7. For those numbers, instead of shouting SEVEN! (or FOURTEEN!) etc you shout BUZZ. Shouting BUZZ reverses the order of who is to shout next.

Its quite simple. Viz Buzz is a variation. Shout VIZ instead of any number divisible by 3 (this does not reverse the order). Viz Biz Buzz is a further variation. Shout BIZ for any number divisible by 5, and this misses out the next person in order.

Roman Viz Biz Buzz involves shouting out Roman numerals instead of normal ones. i.e. I...II...III...IV... and so on.

Backwards Buzz involves shouting out numbers in reverse order, and one has to start at a reasonably high number.

Therefore, to play Backwards Roman Viz Biz Buzz, starting at 21, the sequence would be:

VIZ BUZZ (reverses order)
BIZ (miss out next person)
IXX
VIZ
BUZZ (reverses order)
XVI
VIZ BIZ (miss out next person in order)
BUZZ (reverses order)
XIII
VIZ
XI
BIZ (miss out next person in order)
VIZ
VIII
BUZZ (reverses order)
VIZ
BIZ (miss out next person)
IV
VIZ
II
I

As you can see, its a simple game, and I recommend playing after a few MGTs. If a participant makes an error, they forfeit something.

Maun was a particularly appropriate place to learn this game. I will tell you why, next time.


MM III