badger, badger, badger.. SNAKE!, want to kill a SNAKE!

i saw a snake in my garden today- it was quite a long green one, that was just chilling on the piles outside the back door. i feared that today would be the one day that i didnt have the camera around, but luckily it was there.. ran out and took some snaps before the little bugger had a chance to run screaming away from me. he did run pretty fast, as you can see by the pictures. what do snakes do- its not run.. slide, glide, snake? huh.

anyway it was world aids day today- international recognition and realisation of this serious and dire problem, and to find possible future paths and solutions. i heard yesterday that 40% of women in south africa, between 15 and 24 years old are HIV positive: that means there are four women infected out of every ten in my exact age bracket. this on top of the stat that one in three tertiary students in this country are positive. jesus christ- and this evening on the news, what do we see, but our beloved health minister standing at an Aids rally here in durbs, saying that things would be okay if only more people would eat lemons, olive oil, and veggies such as carrots. are you kidding me. this is going to be the solution to the millions that are now infected in this country. because i know for sure that people who earn around R10 a week can afford basic necessities such as olive oil and good nutrition basics. this is important, but clearly cannot happen with the rampant poverty and disadvantage we have here- surely we need more drastic interventions and serious medical support to alter this, not some carrots. days like these make me so incredibly angry- its such a fake, false meaningless show, an absolute farce. wear some pretty red ribbons today and everything will be okay. who are they kidding, and why do they persist to wear such thick and ridiculous blinkers. i hate it. as nothing will change if we carry on in this way. my mother, who works for government, which is pretending to mainstream HIV into all spheres and aspects of its work- and not one person mentioned world aids day, not one besides my mother wore a red ribbon- the only time it has been mentioned of late, is because its a prerequisite from national that it must be part of each project; "because we have to".... what possible way is there to improve this most ridiculous depressing situation. very serious topic, but again days like these just piss me off now. just makes me tired and frustrated that people are so ignorant, and blindingly stupid.

at least the snake was cool. and i ate too much for supper. watching a very long engagement with my mum again- she's sad i returned north and south to you, so i had to placate her with this. so sad. again. sniff.