The Horn Of Africa

When I were a lad and still able to take in data and retain it (age 13-16), the horn of Africa meant that part of East Africa made up of Ethopia, Somalia, Eritrea and as we all know, Djibouti.

Who said Djibouti was a song from Family Guy ? Peasants !

Anyway I think some of you might know where I'm going with this. Yes the World Cup !

The South African 'vuvuzela' is a metre long horn which is causing a lot of discussion around the world and somewhat distracting from the event itself. Opinions are as varied as the nations taking part but you either love them or hate them and as someone who is firmly in the later camp, I just want to shove them up.....will somewhere painful anyway.

Those who are in favour of them use words like 'traditional' and 'cultural' to make their case and say that as South Africa 'won' the right to stage the competition, we should respect how their people celebrate it.

Well for one thing, this plastic horn only appeared in 2001 so is hardly traditional. Yes a metal version was mentioned a few times going back a few years earlier but that's it.....it's not some tribal instrument used over the centuries.

Then just because a nation gets the right to stage a competition doesn't mean it has a right to annoy visiting nations and those who watch at home. The point is, South Africa DOES have a wonderful tradition of singing, chanting and dancing and no one would mind seeing and hearing some of that. The monotonous vuvuzela is NOT traditional, is very annoying to listen to even via tv and I can't imagine what it must be like sitting or standing in front of someone blowing one for 90 minutes. The spit coming out of it must be a health and safety issue alone, never mind the ear splitting decibels.

Anyway as with a lot of things, those who like them won't be swayed by those who don't and vice versa so I'm trying not to enter into 'discussions' on Twitter or Facebook etc.

I'll just continue to watch the games with the audio muted and Kenny G on the cd player.

Ok not doing my case much good there I guess !