By Di Tipping-Woods

Let’s first get crime out of the way. An exciting new blog about the leafy capital of Thabo, boerekos and the ambassador of Mongolia should not be hampered by the usual nagging, downplaying or shooting from the hip. For fearsome figures and sulky stories you can pick up any random newspaper [http://www.thestar.co.za]. But “crime” has become some kind of euphemism in South Africa which, besides the literal meaning, hides a multitude of sins. This can include being poor, being foreign, being afraid and most of all… being different.

All I can say is: Stick em up punk, it’s the fun lovin’ criminal! ‘Cause home is Sunnyside. And I’m lovin’ it. So here I go.

Pretoria, Pretoria, wherefore art thou Pretoria? I am aware of the irony of beginning a blog about Pretoria with some pseudo Shakespearean banter. But it’s more than appropriate, because I’m an English woman in a city where the largest percentage of the population speaks Northern Sotho, followed by Afrikaans. My little language comes in sixth. Ke maswabi, I am sorry. I am not fluent in the dominant lingo and my Afrikaans isn’t that lekker either.

Which brings me back to my English, and my Shakespeare. The question of whether a Pretoria by any other name would be as lekker - would smell as sweet - is actually a hotly debated issue here. Pretoria falls in the City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality and there are many who’d rather rename our whole metropolis. Others loudly protest against this. Tricky politics and the complicated legacy of a darker, whiter time. Not for now.

It’s time to get personal, and to get to the point. Pretoria is my adopted city. I moved here two years ago and live in a flat in Sunnyside, where the green ´burbs and the downtown vibe collide in a colourful array of cultural idiosyncrasies. I’m not too sure if this is typical of the city at large, but it makes my ‘hood a good place to begin my online explorations. Sunnyside is a great place to live: diverse, intriguing and loud.

Should I explain my enthusiasm? There isn’t space in this first post since there’s so much around each corner to tempt the mind, heart and - stomach. Like the walkie talkies (chicken feet and heads) sold on street corners to the traditional skilpadjies and waterblommetjie stew of uptown BOER’geoisie to the creamy melktaart at the Magnolia Dell market. Other delights are plenty: two universities are just up the road, with all the attendant benefits of academia (noisy students included), the State Theatre is just blocks away and within a few kilometres are four hospitals - no load shedding, woo hoo!

SANParks headquarters are up the road, providing easy access to the acacia strewn bushveld on one side of the city and the grassy highveld on the other. Wait until the Jacarandas are in bloom and THEN see me blog…

But all in time. I’ll curb my enthusiasm for now, and bombard you with it later on. Because obviously I am more of a native Pretorian than I think. So until then: mooi bly, šalang gabotse, sayonara and - in homage to my bard - fare thee well!