SPENDING fever has reached all walks of life. Here's a fellow who lives in a informal settlement who now wants a television set—a new one, mind, not that second hand thing in the pawn-shop window ~ so he buys one from the High Street furniture retailer.

But he's back the next day, saying the thing keeps switching off at the crucial moment. The shop checks it out and can find nothing wrong, but soon enough he is back with the same complaint.

This time the shop sends a technician to pop around to see what the problem is. When the technician gets there, he discovers our guy's shack draws its electricity from a nearby traffic light, and that the TV only works when the LIGHT IS GREEN.