In and December 2000 and then January and February 2001 I spent a total of nine weeks in Johannesburg, South Africa, helping to set up a campus of Monash University. One of the souvenirs I brought home was a coffee mug depicting a variety of the country’s insect life.
For sixteen and a half years I’ve drunk many a wonderful coffee from that mug. Then, alas, on I was putting away the washing up, my dislocatable shoulder chose that moment to play up and not lift my arm in a straight line and I managed to bash the mug against the edge of the kitchen bench. Off came the handle, no more is my mug. It’s been put aside to be glued back together but I’m always very suspicious of mugs repaired like that, so maybe I’ll just keep the photos and turn it into a keepsake, or maybe even throw it away.
