the drop

Payday this month started with an auspicious blood moon.We’ve all felt it — that sudden, glorious shift in the atmosphere. One minute you’re staring at your phone, nursing the last few rands and wondering how toilet paper has once again become a major financial consideration. Then, buzz. The notification drops.Payday.Suddenly, all those early mornings, late-night grinds and gridlock on Solomon Mahlangu Drive mean something. It is finally Ola Day.There is a strange kind of magic in that exact moment when weeks of invisible work transform into something tangible — into meat, toilet paper, petrol and all the other deeply romantic things that keep a household functioning.My heart gave a little leap when the notification came through.Unfortunately, because we live in the Middle Ages, there is still a day’s delay between seeing the money and actually having it.So Friday remained Friday.And what a Friday it was.Three colleagues were MIA, leaving those of us who had actually made it to work…