Cape Town, the teenager people don't like

As a capetonian I am proud of being a teenager. Hell these are the best years of my life! Creativity, conflict the challenges dealing with hormones, fighting with authority. The teenage child who keeps their parents on their toes, still asking the important questions - not how much money can I make - pushing the limits, doing things different. The sort of things that old uncle Joburg seems to have lost. Hell for him its all about careers and money and big cars. I mean who the hell wants a big 4x4! Let him drive it on those streets up there, we dont need that stuff on our cobbeled roads and alley ways, made for people who walk and ride on bicycles. I know why people love me, because I know the importance of a Friday afternoon. In the good old days, everybody got the Sunday off to be with the family and head off to the beach and he parks- and appreciate whats important in life. Now that Uncle has got all the shops open on Sundays, and now they want the city to never sleep! What happened to Slaapstad- it was a good place! We love our Mountain, our beaches, our life. It reminds me of the time I was in Germany (those old folks), I landed up meeting some other teenagers from Barcelona - they told me that here in Germany they "live to work", I must come and join them in Barcelona where we "work to live". I went to stay with them for a while. Man, now there is a teenager with issues and what ever you do not insult them and call them a Spanish city! They still colonised, and discriminated, an older teen, trying to break free from their over powering parent for hundreds of years! The thorn in there parents side, Where creativity can thrive - Picasso, Dali, they choose it because it is the rebel, the protester, the fighter. Where Friday afternoons people live, Where their National holiday is celebrating their surrender- because life is more important than power! Kind of reminds me of home. We all love our town, but we love our conflict its what makes us know we are alive. We proud of our individual cultures and differences. We have a love hate relationship, where we have our borders but no walls, and anybody can go where they want - but most importantly - we family. Unlike those people up country in some places where its like half the population does not exist in the eyes of the others. Why do you think we got our big walks, low walls, and street life from Fishhoek to Franschhoek. I am not looking forward to growing up, I don't want my big car and the high walls, I don't want the Big TV showing showing me nature- while my natural areas are turned into factories, roads and Tuscan houses. I don't want those adults buying my land that I can no longer afford the roof over my head. I don't want to be a city of holiday houses of the wealthy, company head quarters, and big buildings. I want my Jazz, my Concerts, my Minstrels, my sunsets, my marimbas in Gugs, my dagga in Obs, and my tik. I want my conflict and my challenges. I don't want to be a "world class city" - I want my world, my class, but most of all I don't want to be a city, I want to remain my Town!