A tsunami of students has hit Grahamstown this week. Only a few days ago we lived in a quiet little town
where we didn’t have much to talk about except the weather and how the drought was getting worse while
other parts of the country were busy opening the sluice gates.
A tsunami of students has hit Grahamstown this week. Only a few days ago we lived in a quiet little town
where we didn’t have much to talk about except the weather and how the drought was getting worse while
other parts of the country were busy opening the sluice gates.
An enormous wave of students has crashed into our shores and life will never be the same again – well, at least not until the next vac. It is not surprising that a group of about seven thousand young adults abruptly descending on our sleepy hollow should provoke a sharp sea change inour town.
The entire atmosphere changes completely. We knew it was happening. Why shouldn’t it? This happens
every year, but maybe our brains, in an effort to retain some sanity, dull our memories of wild parties that blared out bizarre thumping noises until the next day.
They’re back in town – driving cars up and down, blocking the streets, taking all the convenient parking, filling the cash registers, stealing street signs and having raucous parties almost every night.
We quickly forget the long lines at the supermarket and the difficulty at getting a place in the cafés.
Certain watering holes near campus and even some restaurants have virtually become no-go areas for other
adults wishing to go out and relax.
Some traders see the students as cash cows, and put up with them merely because they make up the most important economic engine of Makana Municipality.
While we sometimes have to grit our teeth to tolerate occasional excesses, we can also enjoy the vibrancy and youthful energy that the students bring with them.
Can you imagine how dull this place would be without them? Would we want to live here without the annual flood of students? I know I wouldn’t.
