Light Moments in City Streets: The day two dog Teddy Bears in the streets of Houghton put a smile on my face

By Edward Tsumele, CITYLIFE/ARTS Editor

I must confess that I have this rather unusual behaviour of sometimes taking a a break from work and simply walk in the streets going to no particular destination. Usually I pound the streets in the tree lined Houghton suburb, north of Johannesburg, which is not that far from my work place.

I do this after an intense time on the keyboard writing and poring through a mountain of emails that I received daily, especially from artists and their PR people requesting for interviews to appear in CITYLIFE/ARTS.  After a while, those used to this kind of a job on a daily basis, will tell you that from time to time, one needs to take a break.

For example to smoke, which I do not do, or simply stare in the sky. This is done to refresh your mind and hopefully inject new creative energy in your writing craft before again pounding the keyboard and reading an ever growing mountain of emails.

Personally I find it useful to just take a walk, enjoying the green scenery around Houghton, while somehow reflecting on matters that are important to me.  If ever there is anything special about this suburb, just like other suburbs that are a home to countless trees that make, Johannesburg beautiful, it is that taking a walk around Houghton’s clean and often pot holeless streets while in a contemplative or meditative mood is sheer pleasure.

One even tends to forget about the scourge of every day crime, and not to speak about load-shedding that have so much become part of our lives to the extent that If a day passes without encountering any of this, you become worried that something is not OK. That is how weird the times we live in have become, If you think of it. The ugly become normalised, peace and tranquillity become the abnormal instead. But as one walks in that state of contemplation and meditation, once a while your thought process is disturbed by something you suddenly notice in the streets. 

On Wednesday, I experienced such a disturbance, and this time a beautiful thing was right there in front of my eyes on Osborn Road: Not far from the green Houghton Golf Club. Two dog Teddy Bears seated on the pavement, deep in casual conversation as mesmerised motorists drove past. All smiles. I could not help but stop and chat to these two beautiful gentleman. It is then that I realised that these are not dogs but human beings hard at work.

“We advertise dog food and you can also have one If you like,” one of the two young men handed me a pamphlet advertising dog food. I quickly gave the pamphlet a glance to read as at the same time I asked to take a picture of this beautiful scene right in front of my eyes.

This could only happen in the streets of Johannesburg indeed. “Gourmet Paws, personalised meal plans designed by canine nutritionists for your furry friends, using high quality, fresh ingredients, fit for human consumption, delivered directly to your door. 0798097588/0723222159,” the message read. I quickly focussed on the two Teddy bears seated on the side of the road right in front of my eyes. I was not the only one who was touched by the scene. I noticed motorists smiling as they drove past these two human/Teddy Bear advertising billboard combination. Well, I thought who ever came up with this idea of street advertising is a marketing genius. There is no way you can ignore this piece of marketing genius.

“We are now just taking a break,” one of them said. They made my walk despite disturbing my thinking and walking rhythm that day a pleasurable. I thought as I continued my journey to nowhere and mentally recap where I had left of.  I found myself smiling. “This is a good disturbance,” I murmured while watching that no motorist heard me. Just in case. What a walk to nowhere on Wednesday in the well-0manicured streets of Houghton with its neatly manicured pavements.