I have realised that bloging is not easy. It takes up a lot of time and energy. I need envy those daily blogers who also have a full time job. It's taken me about three weeks to write this blog. I simply haven't had the time, energy or focus to sit down and think about what to write about. You probably wonder, why the hack did I choose the title "Potholes on the Highway", so here goes....

I was driving down from Waterford Kamhlaba to Mbabane town on the not complete highway (MR3, I believe it is called). I would assume MR stands for main road and this is the 3rd main road!??? But then again I'm not an engineer at the Ministry of Works and Public Transport. Anyway, continuing with my tale...on the exit from the Manzana 'roundabout' next to Mbabane Central High School, I noticed a small pothole on the recently completed road!

I was shocked because I thought that section of the highway would be of very high quality and standard. Two days later, I was, again from the Sidwashini area but this time going past SCOT on Somhlolo Road when a sudden thud on the front left tyre gave me a fright. There was a deep pothole on side of the road which I inexplicably drove over and I could not avoid driving over it because this would have meant swaying onto the opposite lane and hitting the oncoming cars. Then I started thinking about the hundreds of potholes on the roads in Mbabane and Manzini that are just ignored by the relevant authorities until they become dangerously problematic. Why aren't these potholes attended too earlier? Why do we have to endure the annoyance of having to deal with potholes in almost every corner of our 'cities' in Swaziland? Someone please explain to me. I was happy when I saw an article in one of the local newspapers, the Times of Swaziland or the Swazi Observer recently.

This pothole issue bugged me so much that I kept noticing small things everyday and somehow this lead me to thinking about a more symbolic analysis of potholes....

The Concise Oxford Dictionary at home defines the words 'pothole' and 'highway' in the following ways:

• A pothole is defined as a hole in the road caused by wear or subsidence.
• A highway is defined as a public road or main route or a direct cause of action (on the highway to success)

In life we often have ambitions, goals, routines and whatever you want to call but in most cases achieving these do not go without some sort of hindrance or setback. The pothole represents and an obstacle that may stand between you and achieving what you had set to obtain. A pothole may not be noticed at first as things are achieved without fail but this 'pothole' may become apparent when things do not go according to an expected way. The thing about potholes is that you may pass around them and not worry about fixing them but in most cases unattended potholes eventually become a menace as they become wider and wider; making whatever path difficult to pass through...they simply become potholes that can ruin your journey. Some of these potholes in life may become black potholes from which people never come out of or recover from.

Then I started thinking about my life and the 'potholes on my highway'. I have ambitions about my life, career and future and each passing day, I try to ensure that I am getting closer to achieving something but there are always obstacles. Some of these obstacles are avoidable and some aren't. I am an aspiring young entrepreneur and things are working out slowly. It may not be at the back busting pace I envisaged but I am still very encouraged by my achievements thus far. I have tried to notice potholes on this highway to success and instead of just go around them, I have tried to notice potholes on my highway to success and get them fixed.

I know that a lot of us out there have many challenges but we should not be discouraged by them, we can deal with the challenges and prevent some of them and we can go on to succeed in many things. I truly hope that many of us have a great 2009 but we need to watch out for 'potholes on the highway'...

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